The Undertaker talks end of the streak, throwing Mick Foley off cage and more
1. Legendary WWE superstar The Undertaker (Mark Calaway in real life) joined me on this week's SI Media Podcast to talk about his "Final Farewell" appearance at this Sunday's Survivor Series and his storied 30-year career.
We covered several topics during the 35-minute conversation, but two highlights stood out:
First was Taker talking about what it was like famously throwing Mick Foley off the top of the Hell in a Cell cage in 1997. That portion of the conversation takes place beginning at the 18-minute mark with Taker revealing that he didn't want to throw Foley from the top of the cell.
"I didn't want to throw Mick off the top of the cell," Undertaker said on the podcast. Mick did. And I kept telling Mick, 'No, I'm not doing it. I won't do it.' But Mick went to Vince [McMahon] and sold Vince on it and told him, 'I can do it safe, I can be all right.' So they double teamed there and we know how that turned out."
The second highlight was Taker opening about Brock Lesnar ending his WrestleMania streak in 2014.
"I don't think Brock needed that victory," said Taker. "Brock was huge. Brock was just coming back from UFC and he's an attraction all to himself. And whether he loses to The Undertaker isn't gonna hurt his stock one bit. He's still gonna be the Beast Incarnate.
It would've done much more for Roman Reigns than it would've for Brock Lesnar. Roman Reigns would've made a lot more sense for me than Brock."
I asked The Undertaker if he could've changed McMahon's mind on the decision to end the streak.
"Through the course of my 30 years, I've had several conversations with Vince and not agreeing with a direction we were moving in or a finish," he explained. "I'd go into his office and we'd discuss it and go back and forth, back and forth and finally, it's like 'O.K., we'll do it your way.'
Could I have probably changed the finish? Maybe. I think probably I could've. It had gone back and forth several times. The day of WrestleMania when I showed up, I was going over. The finish got changed during the day.
I remember clear as day. I was sitting in the dressing room by myself. Vince comes walking in. Vince never comes into the dressing rooms. Usually you get summoned to his office. As soon as I seen him come in the dressing room, I knew exactly what he was coming in for. He gave me his spiel. I said, 'Are you sure? Cause once we do this, we can't go back. Once the streak's broken, it's broke.'
So I just had a few questions that made him think for a second and he was like, 'Yeah, this is what I want to do' and I said, 'O.K., that's what we'll do then.'"
You can listen to the full podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play.
2. Here's another reason I always say that Good Morning Football is the best sports morning show on TV.
3. The best part of the incident involving Giants head coach Joe Judge and fired offensive line coach Mark Colombo yesterday is that it led to this tweet from NFL Network's Kim Jones, which generated some tremendous replies with people sharing their thoughts on the "dirty word."
4. This is a strong contender for Quote of the Year in the NFL via Jaguars wide receiver Keelan Cole.
5. Joe Burrow gets it.
6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today is Larry King's 87th birthday, so that gives me an excuse to post one of the greatest videos in the history of live TV.
7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Two years ago today, the Rams beat the Chiefs, 54–51 in one of the most memorable Monday Night Football games ever.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram