WWE 2-21-11: How WWE Is Still Tricking Us Into Thinking It's The Undertaker

Last Monday night we were again given a look at a promo hyping the date, 2-21-11. This date marks the night after the Elimination Chamber and the first of six Monday Night Raw's that will lead from Pay-Per-View to Wrestlemania.

Now, as I suspected and stated in my last article, this promo was slightly different than the first one we saw. Instead of seeing the dark, trench coat wearing figure walk toward the old western style building, we see him standing in the doorway briefly, appearing and disappearing like an apparition. We are also treated to a new shot of the building and its front door where the numbers "2-21-11" appear sideways, running vertically alongside the door at the end of the promo. The promo also seems to have more background music than the last installment, giving the short clip a darker feeling. But what really makes this promo more significant than the last is that we hear words for the first time.

As the numbers "2-21-11" begin to appear, we hear Johnny Cash singing the lyrics to his song 'Ain't No Grave.

"There ain't no grave, can hold my body down. There ain't no grave, can hold my body down."

There is even an ominous bell toll as the lyrics finish, followed by darkness and the sound of wind and rain. Not to mention that this same song played during a particular Wrestlemania 26 promo to hype the Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker match.

So I guess it looks like WWE has gone and ruined the surprise; we'll be seeing The Undertaker make his return in less than two weeks.

WRONG.

It's too easy. Every single sign points to The Undertaker at this time, and that is exactly why when February 21st comes along, we will find out that he is not the man behind these promos.

Lets all think logically about this for a few minutes. If you were the one in charge of this promo, and you had everybody scratching their heads, wondering if it was The Undertaker, Sting, or someone else, why would you go and put something as simple as those lyrics, which make reference The Undertaker in two ways (the word "grave" and the Wrestlemania 26 promo), into this weeks version?

Up until this point, you have reports on both Sting and The Undertaker. The New York Daily News reported that Sting had signed with the WWE, though it has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, TNA has taken Sting off of their current roster. On the other side, The Savemart Center in Fresno, CA has advertised 2-21-11 as the "Return of The Undertaker."  So what do we believe?

While I am not arguing that the man behind the "2-21-11" promo is indeed Sting, or any other superstar for that matter, I strongly feel that it simply cannot be The Undertaker.  Here are my reasons.

The Savemart Center Announcement Is Unreliable:  Think back and tell me if you can ever remember a surprise return being leaked by the arena.  I'll bet you can't.  By searching around and by comment left on my previous story by Dr. KickFace, you can easily find out that WWE does not inform arenas as to what will be happening at the show as far as storylines go.  They'll generally only give the arena a dark match main event to promote locally. 

The list of appearing superstars always has an asterisk near it with "card subject to change" written somewhere. Why?  Because WWE doesn't supply that list, instead the arena creates it with the assumptions that those superstars are likely to show.  If they don't, well, that's what the asterisk is for.  The return of The Undertaker announcement was made after the promo ran, so it is very likely that someone saw the promo and claimed that it will be The Undertaker on an assumption, nothing more.

The Raw Return:  Why on earth would Undertaker return to Raw?  If he were to come back on February 21st, he would need some reason to return.  Kane, who defeated him in the Buried Alive match at Bragging Rights, is on SmackDown.  Wade Barrett, the former leader of The Nexus, as well as half of the former members are on SmackDown as well.  Are we to believe that when The Undertaker does return that he is going to forget all about what happened to him and start anew on Raw?  Again, I just don't believe it.

WWE Is Very Good At Keeping Secrets And Fooling Viewers:  For the most part, WWE is able to keep surprise returns under the radar, at least until the day of, or before, the event when the surprise superstar is spotted at the airport or seen walking into the arena.  Remember when John Cena returned to win the Royal Rumble in 2008?  How about when Edge returned to win the WWE Championship at Survivor Series later that year?  People even believed that Jeff Hardy had been found unconscious in his hotel room earlier that day prompting his removal from the match, when in reality it was all a hoax.  I find it very hard to believe that WWE would let something like the return of The Undertaker slip out and let it remain on the Savemart Center's website if he was the man behind the promo.

Also, as far as the Johnny Cash lyrics go, we are all left to assume that because the song mentions "grave" and is tied into one of The Undertaker's past promos that it must mean that it will be him this time as well.  This is very similar to the promos which hyped Chris Jericho's return in 2007, when they inserted the numbers "8.2.11" which corresponded to Shawn Michaels' "HBK" nickname.  The only difference now is that this time it's more believable.  Just remember what happens when you assume.

I'm not trying to say that I know who the "2-21-11" promo is hyping up.  I'm not claiming that because TNA removed Sting from their roster earlier today that it is a sign that he's WWE bound.  I'm just trying to keep us all aware that contrary to what most of the IWC thinks, WWE doesn't mess up things of this magnitude very often, and I strongly believe that they haven't this time either.

We're likely going to see one more new "2-21-11" promo before the date comes.  Whatever that promo brings, I will guarantee that it will only try to lead the fans on even more and set us all up for an even bigger surprise.