Pro Wrestling’s Top Five Reunions including Macho Man and Elizabeth, Christian and Copeland, Undertaker and Paul Bearer

I had the opportunity to visit my local theater to see “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” when it opened. It was a little sad being the only one in the theater to see it, but then again, I was able to laugh at all of the dry, inside humor it had to offer as loud as I wanted to with no one to annoy.

It was really fun to see what had been considered amongst England’s loudest bands reunite in a movie, about a reunion concert for the band. Like many things, bringing something back, it’s not going to be as good as the original. That’s not what ‘Tap was going for here. It was a chance for friends to get together in what is their twilight years, and become those characters one last time.

The film was a love letter to its fans, not recapturing magic. It was perfect for what it needed to be. Had I gone into the theater with expectations that it was going to be as good as it was the first time, or exceed the first movie, I would have been greatly disappointed.

In professional wrestling you have break ups and factions form. Sometimes we get a nostalgic feeling about that old group, and want to see them come back. Maybe after some maturation of the characters or a member shake-up, hopeful promoters want to see if there’s any juice left in the orange.

There have been incarnations of the NWO and the Four Horsemen that were attempted. And while I have a soft spot for the era with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in the group, I have to admit that it was not the Horsemen of old.

This was not as easy an article to write as I thought when I sat down to name a top five. So many of the reunions we thought we wanted to see never live up to expectations. Like when the D in DX stood for Dad Jokes. Or great reunions, but we’re still “fingers crossed” in the midst of another Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens feud, so there’s still more to come. Then you have solid options and well done angles that capture what was great about an act or build to strong stories.

Adam Copeand (Edge) & Christian Cage

Even during their tag years, I always thought that Edge would be the one to break out into singles success, and while all found some level of success as a solo act, I wasn’t wrong that eventually, these two would become solid solo performers. That’s not to say they aren’t a legendary tag team in their own right, which I love even more that both Adam Copeland and Jay Reso can be in any hall of fame both as a tag team and for what they accomplished on their own.

While the first couple of chapters felt rushed, because they wanted to get to a certain place. In a perfect world, there would have been more teases of Christian needing help, and a little longer before “finding himself.” What I’ve really enjoyed, though, is Christian’s reluctance to embrace his past and his friendship. The logic of being there for each other when they really needed one another is great storytelling.

Christian playing the cynic stays true to the character he’s been portrayed as. Still not sure why the younger generation standing up for themselves to Christian’s abuse made Christian the babyface, so it’s good he gets the nostalgia pop and the “we respect you” cheers, because it’s a little hard to cheer for a guy known for ripping on young guys with no fathers.

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Undertaker & Paul Bearer

There was a time that The Undertaker knew he needed to change. The world of hero and villainess characters was leaving for the reality based characters that had helped WCW takeover the WWF as the top wrestling brand. Being a dead guy shooting lightning from his hands had played itself out and Undertaker had an idea.

Undertaker became Mark Calloway for a stint. He was a big ass-kicking biker with terrible taste in music, so that is what The Undertaker character became. This was my personal favorite incarnation of ‘Taker (despite the Kid Rock song). I grew up more a fan of the reality based characters in wrestling and took me until having children to understand why people love the parts of wrestling I didn’t enjoy.

When time came that the mood was correct for Undertaker’s return to form, it had to have one piece that had been missing. When The Undertaker had been missing, but was set to return at Wrestlemania XX, we weren’t completely sure what to expect, but after hearing that familiar, “Oooooh, Yesssss!” the audience was set for seeing the return of the dead man.

Hulk Hogan & Hulkamaniacs

Am I cheating here? Maybe.

Hulk Hogan was the World Wrestling Federation. It thrived at its strongest when he was the main character for a long time, especially in a television era. While away from WWE and working with WCW, Hogan had reinvented into a mega-heel. The idea was to bring that mega-heel version of Hollywood Hogan to WrestleMania 18 and have him face the new legacy star of The Rock. But the fans had other ideas.

In the first time I can recall a major show being hijacked to that degree, Hogan was cheered in everything he did as though he was dressed in red and yellow and it was 1987 all over again. The two pros worked a great match around the crowd with a performance that tops some people favorite WrestleMania match of all time. So strong that plans had to be changed and the nostalgia of good guy Hogan was given its moment.

Hart Foundation

Family is difficult and everyone can relate. We can love that person deep down, while still being angered by their actions. We can have a different set of expectations for those we are related to than those we don’t share lineage with. And while we can even verge on hatred, we ultimately will be there for that person when they need you.

When Owen Hart joined the WWF and was in the shadow of his older brother, it bothered Owen. He wanted to be known as Owen, not Bret’s brother. Separation gave Owen his own path to develop his character on his own, but then there came a time when Bret had a change of heart.

Bret, from his perspective, had been burned by management and fans too many times. He decided that he would go to those you can trust when you can’t trust anyone else, and that’s family. This family reunion was for more than just the two Hart brothers, but also brothers-in-law Davey Boy Smith and Jim “The Anvil” Neihart.

Calling themselves The Hart Foundation, the same as Bret and Jim’s legendary team, it set up one of the all time great angles where the Hart Foundation were hated heels in the United States, but beloved everywhere else. Great logical storytelling that helped set up the Austin Era beautifully.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage & Elizabeth

There isn’t a bigger reunion when you ask a long-term fan for their favorite. The “Macho Man” Randy Savage had been on a tear as a heel after the Megapower explosion where Savage lost his title. As the Macho King, he had aligned himself with Sherri Martel and he was a far cry from the man we cheered for at WrestleMania IV when he won the WWF Championship.

This terrible man was in a match against The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII where he lost his career. With her meal ticket gone, she swiftly turned on Randy, physically assaulting his defeated body until one person could no longer watch. Elizabeth had entered the ring to throw Sherri off of him, as the crowd loved seeing wrestling’s power couple back together.

For me, this is the reunion angle, and is what all other wrestling couples and wrestling weddings would be compared to for years to come.

(Griffin is a lifelong fan of wrestling, superheroes, and rebellious music of all forms. He is the owner of Nerdstalgia, and you can shop online, learn about visiting the store in Colorado Springs, or catch him at a comic con in the Rocky Mountain area by going to http://nerdstalgia.shop.)