Talking Taker

We're watching the greatest Royal Rumble of all time on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they fill in one of the gaps of their encyclopedic exploration and take the time-traveling hearse back to 1992 for a star-studded Royal Rumble Watch-Along event! We'll give you the time stamp so you can watch with us on the WWE Network, but it's just as fun of a listen even if you aren't able to watch with us. Of course, Ric Flair's performance is what everyone remembers about this match. But The Undertaker plays a pivotal role in the storyline and the bulk of the match. We'll analyze his performance as he gets a featured role just over a year into the WWF and just a few weeks removed from his first WWF Championship reign. We've also got plenty of our signature Watch-Along riffing as we discuss the hilarious eliminations of Big Boss Man and Sgt. Slaughter, El Matador's mismatched gear, Hulk Hogan the heel, Roddy Piper the legend, newfound Barbarian appreciation, The Nasty Boys, Haku, Col. Mustafa, Sid Justice, Texas Tornado, The Macho Man, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Repo Man, I.R.S., and so much more. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!

It's Mr. Kennedy's Last Ride! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover Armageddon 2006 and the final encounter in a trilogy between Kennedy and The Dead Man. It's easily our favorite match between these 2 as things get crazy in this No DQ contest including the wildest bump we've seen The Undertaker take in 16 years! We'll review the match in-depth plus discuss the all of the build including more evidence of Teddy Long as the World's Biggest Brothers Of Destruction Fan, JBL's memory loss, self-driving hearses, hearse cams, hearse vanity plates, some good old-fashioned attempted murder, Teddy calling the Ghostbusters, The End being here yet again, out of context Bible quotes, and Kane singing Christmas carols! Oh my! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 

The curse of Kennedy (Kennedy) strikes again on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the First Blood battle between The Dead Man and Mr. Kennedy at Survivor Series 2006. It's the second match in a trilogy and we're still as confused as ever as to what made this Mark With A Mouth such a rising star back in the day. This month however he's joined by another Smackdown star in the making in his fight against The Phenom - Montel Vontavious Porter! We'll discuss our thoughts on him as he teams with Kennedy against a reunited Brothers of Destruction. We'll also discuss the annoying comedian Mr. Kennedy reminds us of, Teddy Long's fascination with "See No Evil", some of the dumbest commentary flubs we've ever covered by JBL and Cole, the questionable logic of internal bleeding in a First Blood match, the Vaseline strategy, and much more. Plus Alex and Travis share some fun memories about a spontaneous trip to the Raw Homecoming show during this time to see Taker vs. John Cena live and in person! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! Church! 

Pick up the BRAND NEW King Of *GONG* Style shirt & merch at TeePublic to help support the show!

It's Mr. Kennedy vs. Mr. Dead Man on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the first match in a trilogy between Taker and Kennedy at No Mercy 2006. Mr. Kennedy was a rising star at this time and seemed set up to be a future WWE Champion. So what the heck happened? Travis and Alex try to figure out where it all went wrong and just why this guy was so beloved back then. Before we get there though we also wrap up The Great Khali rivalry with a Last Man Standing Match that gets bumped off the SummerSlam card. We'll also discuss a couple of matches with King Booker, Big Vito's big mistake, William Regal horseplayin' backstage, exploding microphones, Kennedy's A.C. Slater impersonation, who can and can't say "Taker", and our Jurassic park movie rankings. 

Plus, we kick things off by giving our in-depth review and analysis of the recent "Broken Skull Sessions" special on the WWE Network with Stone Cold and The Undertaker! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!

Pick up the BRAND NEW King Of *GONG* Style shirt & merch at TeePublic to help support the show!

The Undertaker goes to prison! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover the colossal cluster of his Punjabi Prison match at Great American Bash 2006 against The Big Show. Wait - isn't the Punjabi Prison the signature match of The Great Khali? Why yes it is - and we'll discuss the three bizarre words that led to Big Show stepping into the bamboo cage in Khali's place on the day of the show: Elevated Liver Enzymes. But before we get to the cursed PPV and the incredibly confusing Punjabi Prison, we've got a wacky build-up to discuss including a Piper's Pit filled with stuff you can't say on TV anymore, Khali's tongue, The Undertaker in ECW, another Saturday Night's Main Event, Daivari's fashion faux-pas, JBL's debut on commentary (with even more stuff you can't say on TV anymore), the break up of the Mexicools, Gunner Scott (who?), Tatanka, Simon Dean, more incomprehensible Khali promos, and some behind the scenes stories involving Dusty Rhodes and Pat Patterson crafting the big match. Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy! 

Pick up the BRAND NEW King Of *GONG* Style shirt & merch at TeePublic to help support the show!

We're covering one of the bleakest moments in The Undertaker's timeline on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they cover his Judgment Day 2006 encounter with the dreaded Great Khali. It's hard to call this anything other than a shocking squash - The Dead Man's most devastating and surprising defeat in 16 years. We'll discuss exactly why it was so shocking and so disappointing to see the Punjabi giant run roughshod over Taker, the WWE, and the English language in his first two months. We'll also discuss Taker sliding into Teddy Long's DMs, the unexpected resurgence of Finlay, young Joey Ryan, The Gymini, "The Longest Yard", Funaki, Rey Mysterio's flop of a World Title Run, that one time Khali killed a guy (literally), our thoughts on the Terminator franchise, the brutal Smackdown roster during this time, and the cinematic spectacle that was "See No Evil". Plus Alex and Travis share about their brief time training to become backyard wrestlers that took place in early 2006 - you don't want to miss these stories! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!

Check out minddriftbooks.com to pick up a copy of John Doriot's new book "Intersections"!

Pick up the BRAND NEW King Of *GONG* Style shirt & merch at TeePublic to help support the show!

It's the first and only Casket Match in WrestleMania history on this week's Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their journey through every Undertaker PPV match as they hit the Big Time of WrestleMania 22 to cover Taker vs. Mark Henry as The Dead Man tries to take The Streak to 14-0. It's an interesting match-up as we discuss the evolution of The World's Strongest Man, why we weren't all that excited or intrigued about this one at the time, and how it's a lot more fun than we remembered. We also discuss the amazing rematch between Undertaker and Kurt Angle on Smackdown, the exciting return of Saturday Night's Main Event, awkward casket poses, Mark Henry's awesome eulogy, excellent crowd signs, the best opening video ever, Shinedown, Peter Gabriel, and much more. Plus Alex and Travis reminisce about watching this one live together in Travis's college apartment back in the day! Download, enjoy, and Taker Easy!

Check out minddriftbooks.com to pick up a copy of John Doriot's new book "Intersections"!

Pick up the BRAND NEW King Of *GONG* Style shirt & merch at TeePublic to help support the show!