ZeeWI: Undertaker vs. Triple H – The Superest Show-Down!

It’s just a little over two weeks until WWE will broadcast their Super Show-Down, LIVE on the WWE Network, from Melbourne, Australia. In the same vein as April’s Greatest Royal Rumble and the upcoming Crown Jewel in November – with both being held in Saudi Arabia – it’s a huge international show featuring some big-time matches that, while not necessarily built off current feuds, have some familiar names either in intriguing matchups, or rekindling some past issues. At Greatest Royal Rumble, that was manifested with a clash between John Cena and Triple H, as well as a Casket match between The Undertaker and Rusev.

This time, that theme will see John Cena return to team up with Bobby Lashley against Elias and Kevin Owens, and a main event pitting Triple H against The Undertaker. Oh, yeah – Shawn Michaels and Kane will be cornering both men. No big deal. Just a little tidbit, really.

The main event, of course, is humongous. You don’t need the Editor-in-Chief of ZeeWI to tell you this. Yes, of course, this is a collision of two of WWE’s all-time greats. Two dominant superstars from past eras, who can still get it done today, looking to lock horns again. The owners of three classic WrestleMania encounters, testing their powers against each other… One Last Time.

Hardly surprising was that Michaels would want to be involved in this. Hell, he refereed the contest the last time Taker and Triple H competed against one another. Besides, while he may not agree with every single choice Triple H makes, that’s still his best friend, and he’s always going to support him. To hear him break down to Undertaker exactly why he felt that Triple H was going to win, you knew it wasn’t lip service. He thinks Undertaker’s done, and he thinks Undertaker’s making a big mistake by taking a match against someone as good as Triple H.

Without wanting to be overly combative here, I do think that Shawn Michaels is making a bit of a mistake here by selling Undertaker short.

This is a man who is only a few months removed from absolutely thrashing John Cena at WrestleMania, no doubt rejuvenated after spending time healing at his home in Parts Unknown, Texas. In under three minutes, Undertaker showed everyone that he’s not the same guy that lurched through contests against Roman Reigns or Shane McMahon, but instead remains the phenom upon which he built his entire reputation.

He was fast, he was powerful, he was dominant. Cena – a man only a little over a year removed from his last run as WWE Champion – was completely overwhelmed, made to look absolutely ordinary. Per the logic of Shawn Michaels, Cena is someone who certainly has “more left in the tank” than Triple H, and Undertaker handled him without much issue.

Undertaker also has the benefit of having a singular focus as we head towards Super Show-Down, whereas Triple H has many irons in the fire. Super Show-Down, for Triple H, is just a red circle on a calendar – for Undertaker, it’s the only thing to which he’s looking forward.

Eyebrow-raising – to me, at least – was the announcement that Kane would be backing Undertaker when the match goes down. The Brothers of Destruction share a troubled, twisted, and tumultuous history together, but have appeared to make peace in recent years. And while Kane may not have much hatred as it pertains to Shawn Michaels, he has more than sufficient reason to want to be there, up close and personal, to watch his brother take out The Game.

The Devil’s Favorite Demon has long suffered as a rival of Triple H, nearly always unable to get the win that would shut him up. The opportunity to not only watch Undertaker make him suffer – but to possibly inflict some pain, himself – was entirely too good for Kane to ignore. And frankly, if he has to deal with Shawn Michaels, too…

… he’s shown in the past that he’s got ways to handle The Heartbreak Kid just fine, thank you.

Basically, what I’m saying is that it’s a huge leap to think that Undertaker is someone that’s going to be completely walked over, even by someone like Triple H. And while I can respect Shawn Michaels just sticking up for his buddy, I do have to wonder why he’d so severely doubt the man that sent him into retirement into the first place. The man who is 3 – 0 against Triple H in their WrestleMania matches. Is it possible that Shawn’s completely overestimating Triple H here? Has the friendship blinded him to the effects of time?

In a word, no. Triple H won the 2016 Royal Rumble – which also crowned him WWE World Heavyweight Champ, and gave Roman Reigns absolutely everything he could handle in a classic encounter at WrestleMania 32, before topping that by pushing Seth Rollins to the limit the following year at WrestleMania 33. Year after year, Triple H has stood up to the best and the brightest WWE has to offer, and he’s shown time in and time out that he still has what it takes to compete at the highest levels. His 2016 run as WWE World Heavyweight Champion saw him defend successfully against Dean Ambrose, showing that he’s still absolutely that damn good.

His familiarity with NXT allows him to scout future-opponents years before they’re even at the main roster, which allows him to devise the perfect game plan to beat them. We can never forget that while he is an assassin, he’s a cerebral one, and not all of his plans end with someone getting hit in the head with a sledgehammer (brilliant!), but rather, with the vanquished foe counting the lights following a Pedigree.

There has to be something I’m not seeing that Triple H does. There has to be a reason that he thinks he can defeat The Undertaker this time, and why he’s so sure. And yes, he’ll say to the public that it’s simple: The Undertaker is old, has lost more than a step, and isn’t as great as he once was. It’s exactly what Shawn Michaels said. But someone as smart as Triple H can’t honestly believe that. Not in the face of the evidence. Not in the face of what Undertaker did to John Cena. Not after the beating he put on Rusev.

But maybe the plan isn’t about The Undertaker’s weaknesses, perceived or real. Maybe it’s about his strength.

Is it possible that Triple H has reached out to Kane? Has he managed to poison the mind once again, and convince Kane to betray his brother? Even with all the years of hatred between Triple H and Kane, they were still working together as recently as 2015, with Corporate Kane helping The Authority run a smooth ship intent on doing what’s best for business.

It’s a wild theory, to be sure, but it’s a possible one. Kane is not beyond reproach. Kane and Undertaker’s relationship is not rock solid. Triple H is willing to do whatever it takes to get a victory over The Undertaker.

But maybe the theory is true. Maybe all this “Undertaker’s old” talk is just the red herring, the trick to make everyone lose focus. Undertaker will only strive to prove Michaels and Triple H wrong, but won’t see it coming when Kane betrays him. Maybe. Maybe not.

What is real, however, is the power of the timeless Undertaker. Lost a step? Hardly. And at Super Show-Down, WWE will once again provide us with an insane clash between two of its very best – then, now, and forever.