a Q related to Raw Is Owen

[Guest the_last_rites]

I just wanted to know something. Does anyone in here have any idea why Undertaker was absent from the opening segment of the same RAW? I cant understand why someone who was close to Bret Hart would do a no show there. I mean I am not trying to malign Taker's no showing. Its just that I find it really curious because it just doesnt seem right unless there were some extraneous circumstances

[Cheech Tremendous]

Two reasons:

 

1. They thought it was distasteful to have a "dead man" gimmick appear on a show for a wrestler who had just passed away.

 

2. He was the no. 1 heel at the time and they didn't want to break kayfabe by showing him in such an emotional setting

 

 

And you should have put this in the Old School Questions thread. That's why we have it.

[Dobbs 3K]

Yeah...'Taker didn't "no show"...they didn't want to put someone whose gimmick was basically being the Grim Reaper on TV after another wrestler had just been killed. You have to remember, Undertaker's character was a lot different back then. He wasn't in his "American badass" biker stage yet. He was presented as an evil occult-type leader....really wouldn't have been appropriate on that show.

[AlexPuma]

IIRC, Undertaker didn't appear on RAW/SmackDown! is Eddie either.

[Guest the_last_rites]

Damn I should have figured that out. But the part about not wanting to break kayfabe is silly. I mean everyone else who were present at Raw Is Owen were given the choice to either wrestle or not and most of them ended up doing something or the other that couldnt quite be kayfabed. I mean they could have had Taker come out in street clothes and talk like he normally does. I can understand the 1st point though, I mean they'd probably have to resort to calling him Mark Calaway for the entirety of the show, if he had turned up. Sorry about not posting it in the right thread either. Dont worry the next time I decide to bother you folks I'll post at the right place

[Jingus]

If you notice, Taker is one of those Arn Anderson types who never appear out of character or talk about shoot stuff.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski]

I have a clip of him on Off the Record. He was out of character.

When he was Bikertaker, he was more willing to be out of character.

[Darth Vader]

I watched OTE '99 not too long ago. I can't believe that JR announces Owen's death then they immeadiatly go to a video package involving HHH smashing a casket with a hammer.

[AntiLeaf33]

You know, I've never actually watched OTE '98 all the way through. I could have downloaded it a hundred times over, but I guess I really don't want to watch a wrestler die on PPV that bad.

[Dobbs 3K]

Well, Owen's fall and death weren't actually televised...but that PPV was pretty horrible, so I wouldn't bother, unless you want to see wrestlers awkwardly go through the motions.

[Boner Kawanger]

You know, I've never actually watched OTE '98 all the way through. I could have downloaded it a hundred times over, but I guess I really don't want to watch a wrestler die on PPV that bad.

That's a shame. The Dude Love/Austin main event's pretty good.

 

(You meant '99)

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I watched OTE '99 not too long ago. I can't believe that JR announces Owen's death then they immeadiatly go to a video package involving HHH smashing a casket with a hammer.

What else could they do?

 

I did watch it at one point. Right before Owen's video package, JR introduces it and says, "we've got big problems out here."

[Jingus]

They should've stopped the show and eaten the loss of money. I don't buy all this "Owen would've wanted the show to go on!" crap. The fact that they never announced to the live crowd that Owen was dead tells you that they KNEW they were wrong, but they went ahead with the rest of the show anyway.

 

I liked Bret's comment on the matter: "Let's drop little Stephanie from the rafters, and see if Vince thinks the show must go on then."

[MillenniumMan831]

In all honesty, I bet the show would go on if it were Stephanie.

[Guest the_last_rites]

They should've stopped the show and eaten the loss of money. I don't buy all this "Owen would've wanted the show to go on!" crap. The fact that they never announced to the live crowd that Owen was dead tells you that they KNEW they were wrong, but they went ahead with the rest of the show anyway.

 

I liked Bret's comment on the matter: "Let's drop little Stephanie from the rafters, and see if Vince thinks the show must go on then."

 

 

I believe the fear of crowd rioting also had a part to play in it.

[mysterious_w]

I've never seen any of that show, how were the crowd reacting for the rest of the night?

[Cheech Tremendous]

I've never seen any of that show, how were the crowd reacting for the rest of the night?

 

 

I haven't seen it since it originally aired, but I remember the crowd being shocked/silent most of the night.

[AntiLeaf33]

Aside from the Main Event it looked like a pretty middle of the road PPV. That, and the fact that I really don't feel like watching something so somber is why I never bothered to watch the entire PPV

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

There's no reason to watch it anyway. Until Owen's death is announced wrestlers like RoadDogg pay tribute to him in their promos. The wrestling is lackluster throughout.

[PLAGIARISM!]

I remember the opener being alright for some reason, but yeah, worthless show.

[Mecca]

I was actually at that show......I can speak to many thing about the crowd. It was a very surreal thing, he fell and you wouldn't believe the number of people saying things like "scrape his ass out of the ring I wanna see Austin" "it's fake anyway hurry up" things like that.....

 

If they had ended the show right there and most of this crowd, which was heavily trailer/white trash infested on that night hadn't gotten to see Austin. There may have been a riot, there was unrest that these people thought they may not see Austin people were starting to flip out that they wouldn't get to see their hero. Then the show went on and everyone calmed down.

[Sideburnious]

I believe they also played out that he was "injured" for about an hour or so before they officially announced he was dead. I sort of remember JR somberly refering to Owen's "accident" and they'll keep the fans updated and it's not until later when they actually say that he died. I'm guessing it was a moral choice on whether or not they should tell the viewers then or wait until Raw the next day.

 

Whats "funnier" was at Bad Blood '97 when Vince looks at the screen all serious and awkward announcing Brian Pillman had died the night before...only to turn around and be real jolly and amused about the midget match that's taking place.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I believe they also played out that he was "injured" for about an hour or so before they officially announced he was dead. I sort of remember JR somberly refering to Owen's "accident" and they'll keep the fans updated and it's not until later when they actually say that he died. I'm guessing it was a moral choice on whether or not they should tell the viewers then or wait until Raw the next day.

 

More likely they needed to notify Martha and other parties first before putting out the news on live pay-per-view television.

[MillenniumMan831]

Besides the obvious, I'll never forget Mark Henry press slamming Kane with ease at that show. Haven't seen the show since it aired but I remember X-Pac/Kane vs D-Lo/Henry being pretty good.