411’s Countdown to Wrestlemania XXVII: The Undertaker’s Streak

I was five when I began watching wrestling. Even though I don’t remember the date, I remember the exact moment. It was a Saturday Morning and I had gone with my grandfather to a house in Santa Barbara, CA. He was working on a bathroom for a friend, doing some tile and grout work. The owner of the house told me I could watch TV while my grandfather worked. There I was, knees bent, turning the dial of the television in 1991. I landed on a station with this evil looking man. I was instantly stuck to the television. He was walking down a ramp towards a squared object surrounded by ropes, following a fat man with a large and shiny looking egg object. It was The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. I have since tried to remember the actual show but to no avail, however I can still pinpoint this as my first time watching. I do remember The Bushwackers on the same episode but little else. Nonetheless, The Undertaker was the first wrestling superstar of any kind I had ever seen and his dominating presence, his stalking walk and his unique characters hooked me. I asked my mom to get me anything wrestling related she could get her hands on, specifically The Undertaker, and she gladly did, while at the same time explaining that it wasn’t real and I wasn’t to try and emulate any of what I see.

20 years later and The Undertaker is still someone I call my favorite. With a more knowledgeable mind and a more wrestling savvy background, it would be easy for me to denounce him the title and move on to someone more technical or more charismatic, but just as my wrestling fandom has grown steadily over the last twenty years, so too has The Undertaker’s career. Today we’re going to look at something that has only added to The Undertaker’s legend; The Streak. While I won’t recap each match (because that would be quite boring) I will try to give a rough background as to why the match is happening as well as my own thoughts and what impact (if any) it had on The Undertaker’s career. I hope this is as enjoyable a trip down memory lane for me as it is for you to read.

WrestleMania VII March 24, 1991
Opponent: Jimmy Snuka
Match Time: 4:21
Best Moment: Suplex from the outside.
Best Commentary Line: “Yeah, right around the old ah, pineapple…adam’s apple. Close Enough.” –Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Fun Fact: At this point, Snuka was used as a talent who would make others looked good and there were no intentions of having him win the match.

Tony’s Tidbit: There isn’t much here other than that Jimmy Snuka was the go to guy in getting over newbies. The Undertaker was a huge presence so it makes sense to want to put him over in convincing fashion. In The Undertaker’s first Wrestlemania, he would put his opponent away in less than five minutes. Something you’ll notice is the commentators calling Snuka The Phenom, a nickname that would become synonymous with The Undertaker in the coming years. While The Undertaker wasn’t nearly as big a superstar, it was noticeable that his star was rising and it was rising fast.

WrestleMania VIII April 5, 1992
Opponent: Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Match Time: 6:42
Best Moment: The Undertaker kicking out of two DDT’s!!
Best Line: “Always that smell of formaldehyde when you’re around him.” – Gorilla Monsoon
“I thought was your cologne.” – Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Fun Fact: Jake Roberts was on his way out of the WWE at the time which was more a reason for The Undertaker’s win than anything else, a trend that would continue in a few of his Mania matches.

Tony’s Tidbit: Just one year later and The Undertaker had already won and lost a title, nearly unheard of for a rookie to do so. Roberts was in a feud with Randy Savage at the time and one night on Saturday Night’s Main Event, he lost to Savage which outraged him to no end. Jake ran backstage with a chair in hand and said he’d cream the next person to come backstage, regardless of who it would be. It happened to be The Undertaker. Although Roberts didn’t hit Taker with the chair, it did lead to a Funeral Parlor interview where Roberts trapped Taker’s hand in a coffin, DDT’d Paul Bearer then smacked Taker with a chair as well, leading to another short match at Wrestlemania, thus making him 2-0.

The match itself was slow to start, which makes sense considering how intent they were on making Taker a zombie-like character, but the story lies in Taker rising from not one but two DDT’s! With only about 2 extra minutes than last year’s Mania, this one already had a much bigger effect on Taker’s career and to the fans.

WrestleMania IX April 4, 1993
Opponent: Giant Gonzalez
Match Time: 7:30
Best Moment: Paul Bearer raises the Urn to help The Undertaker survive.
Best Line: “That proves The Undertaker’s not real, he’s from down unddeeerrrrr.” – Macho Man Randy Savage
Fun Fact: Giant Gonzalez was first used in WCW for 3 years in a feud with Ric Flair before being signed to WWE for just one year.

Tony’s Tidbit: Harvey Wippleman and The Undertaker had been feuding for some time before Wippleman brought in Giant Gonzalez at the Royal Rumble to eliminate The Undertaker which set up this match. The less said about this match, the better. However, there is some important aspects of this match that make it somewhat unique. Aside from the behemoth opponent, this was a match that could have quite possibly ended the streak before it even began. In doing so, it may have destroyed the luster of The Undertaker for the past five years as the streak wouldn’t be anywhere as significant as it is today. This win would be the only indecisive win that The Undertaker would get. The match itself left much to be desired. Giant Gonzalez lasted all of a year before going to New Japan for a minute as Taker continued to feed his legacy.

WrestleMania XI April 2, 1995
Opponent: King Kong Bundy
Match Time: 6:45
Best Moment: The bodyslam to a nearly 420 lb King King Bundy
Best Line: “I’m still having audio problems, you know why? I could hear you!” – Jerry “The King” Lawler referring to Mr. McMahon
Fun Fact: King Kong Bundy tried his hand at Stand Up Comedy in the 90’s and was on a Norwegian Television show titled Golden GOAL! Which was a comedy talk show.

Tony’s Tidbit: At that year’s The Royal Rumble, The Undertaker fought Irwin R. Schyster, part of The Million Dollar Corporation. During that match, King Kong Bundy stole The Undertaker’s urn to set up this match. This match was circled largely in part by the urn and the power it possessed and a majority of the action took place outside the ring with interference from Ted DiBiase, Kama and even Paul Bearer. In ring, there wasn’t anything spectacular other than The Undertaker getting a nice body slam on King Kong Bundy which caused the win. It was a testament to the strength of The Undertaker to be able to do that.

WrestleMania XII March 31, 1996
Opponent: Diesel
Match Time: 16:46
Best Moment: Double Big Boot to the Face!
Best Line: “I’m the shit, I’m tellin ya!” -Big Daddy Cool
Fun Fact: Nash’s last televised WWF match before heading to WCW in 1996 was at In Your House Good Friends, Better Enemies. He lost to Shawn Michaels in a no disqualification match for the WWF Championship

Tony’s Tidbit: This was a match that happened just prior to Diesel leaving the WWE so it was no secret as to who was going to win. With that being said, politics of the WWE weren’t as widespread as they are now, so a lot of people saw this as the first real threat to The Undertaker’s Streak (which was still only vaguely mentioned). Both Diesel and The Undertaker traded opportunities at the belt which lead to them going head to head at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

In comparison to matches prior, this one showed The Undertaker taking quite the beating. In fact, he was on the defensive side for a majority of the match. Among the others, he probably no sold the most here as after two jackknife powerbombs, he still stood tall and won the match. They were really using the zombie-like threshold of pain here in the third match in a row of someone as big or bigger than The Undertaker. Something that would continue on for two more years.

WrestleMania 13 March 23, 1997
Opponent: Sycho Sid
Match Time: 21:19
Best Moment: Sycho Sid stealing The Undertaker’s pin pose.
Best Line: “The question is, can you squeeze the life out of The Undertaker?” – Shawn Michaels
Fun Fact: Rumor had it that Sycho Sid wanted to take time off from wrestling to focus on a semi-pro softball league he played in during the summer months. Thus marking the third superstar Undertaker defeated due to them leaving the company.

Tony’s Tidbit: The main event(s) of Wrestlemania 13 were surrounded by 4 men: Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Sycho Sid. In a four corners match for the #1 Contendership, Bret Hart won with the vacated World Title. The Undertaker, being the 2nd to last man standing became the #1 Contender but the next night on RAW, the title was won from Hart by Sycho Sid. Due to The Undertaker seeing Sid as an easier opponent, he helped Sid to win a match that would give Sid the belt and thus the match that Main Evented (although not the bloody-faced No Quitting match that stole the show) would be The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid in a No Holds Barred match.

The match was yet another big man match with the added bonus of HBK on commentary. There were bear hugs galore, Big Boots, Double-Axe Handle Drops, etc. Sid worked the back of The Undertaker for a bulk of the match and pretty convincingly, to be honest. I think what’s perhaps most important about this match is moreso what it led to. After the win, Taker would take on Bret Hart at Summerslam of that year with HBK as the special guest referee. Michaels was the man who cost Taker the belt which would lead to their infamous bout at the first ever Hell in a Cell Match, also the debut of Kane. So although the Wrestlemania match was nothing too spectacular, it may very well have been the lightning bolt in The Undertaker’s career that we still feel the electricity of today.

WrestleMania XIV March 29, 1998
Opponent: Kane
Match Time: 16:58
Best Moment: The Undertaker coming out to “O Fortuna” with his druids or The Undertaker hopping atop the shoulders of Kane effortlessly only to be dropped on his ankle shortly thereafter.
Best Line: “The Undertaker swore he’d never do it. He had promised his dead parents he would never face his flesh and blood. But he has been pushed over the edge and now it’s going to happen…” – Jerry “The King” Lawler
Fun Fact: The Undertaker was first billed as Cain The Undertaker before it was dropped and he became just The Undertaker. The name Kane would later go to Glenn Jacobs as Kane

Tony’s Tidbit: The Attitude era was in full effect during this Mania. I’m sure we all know the story leading up to this one. At the Hell in a Cell match between HBK, a large red figure came down the ramp to tear off the cage door of the cell and attack The Undertaker with a Tombstone Piledriver. Things got really freaky after Kane “killed” The Undertaker and sent him to hell. The Undertaker had spoken to his parents and realized that it was up to him (and maybe even him LOSING!) to get this horrible family back together. Kinda cute, no? From a personal perspective, this was when it was cool to be a wrestling fan and even though I was never the black nails and long haired type, while everyone was loving The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was The Undertaker and this horrible story I was most interested in. Just watch that promo video and tell me you’re not pumped! For once we had someone who could possible no sell as much as The Undertaker due to character. Kane was also able to display quite a fair amount of agility in the match which was relatively new in terms of a big man and the top rope. All in all, this was one of the better encounters between two behemoths, especially considering the matches The Undertaker had before this. Taker finally ends it with not one, not two but THREE Tombstone Piledrivers and he still gets attacked after the match!

WrestleMania XV March 28, 1999
Opponent: Big Boss Man
Match Time: 9:48
Best Moment: The hanging, obviously…
Best Line: “King I tell ya, I know it sounds weird but The Undertaker’s been inhuman as of late.” – Michael Cole “He’s always inhuman! – Jerry “The King” Lawler
Fun Fact: Tommy Dreamer was reportedly the last man to be in the ring with Big Boss Man in the WWE before his death.

Tony’s Tidbit: 1999 was an awkward year for The Undertaker. He went through sort of a rebirth and it was possibly the only time where I wasn’t as interested in him as usual. Basically, The Undertaker had died again in December (marking one of now NUMEROUS times that he’s done so) after being Buried Alive. He would come back only a month later sporting new garb and a new attitude, a more cult like and satanic attitude. His big plan in returning was to take over the WWE and Vince McMahon was none too happy about it. (of course, that would all go to hell a few months later). McMahon would set up the match of The Undertaker vs Big Boss Man at Mania in a Hell in a Cell. Between that time and Mania, fun mind games such as Taker dressing up as Kane, a lit up teddy bear and Bossman being crucified were to be had but the ultimate statement was made at the end of the Wrestlemania match. Bossman gets the upperhand for a short second after he handcuffs Taker to the cage and beats him with a nightstick. After a scuffle in the ring, The Undertaker hits the Tombstone and gets the pin….and here’s where it gets weird. The Brood (consisting of Gangrel, Christian and Edge) are lowered from the ceiling to the top of the cage and drop a noose down to The Undertaker, he proceeds to place it around Bossman’s neck. As the cage rises, so too does Bossman and he is left dangling in the center of the ring, grasping for air until finally he goes limp. Now as a fan, I was stunned. Now that I look back, I think what upsets me the most is the fact that the very next week, Bossman is up and at em like no biggie. Theatrics aside, the match was boring.

WrestleMania X-Seven April 1, 2001
Opponent: Triple H
Match Time: 18:17
Best Moment: Chokeslam off the tower of camera equipment
Best Line: “Have you ever met a referee that you actually liked?” – Paul Heyman
Fun Fact: This was the only Wrestlemania Paul Heyman commentated. Shortly thereafter, the Invasion angle began and he was hoisted away by the returning Jerry Lawler.

Tony’s Tidbit: The Undertaker was injured in September of 1999 only to come back in January and tear his pectoral muscle. Both of these injuries kept him sidelined until May of 2000 but this time with a different gimmick and a different look. After being on the face side and in the main event picture, he teamed up with Kane to create The Brothers of Destruction during his self proclaimed Decade of Destruction. It was during this time when HHH, fresh off of his 2 out of 3 falls would go out and say that he’s beaten everyone there is to beat. The Undertaker took offense and voila, a match was born. The build up to this was all kinds of awesome with arrests, restraining orders, and Paul Heyman commentary! This match marks-in my opinion-the first match where The Undertaker’s streak was in jeopardy and where actual wrestling was done. Before this match, we had two short matches in Snuka and Roberts then four Big Men matches followed by a match that was mostly for show (Bossman). This match would test the fortitude and the wrestling skills mostly due to the fact that at this time, Triple H was a very solid player in the ring.

In what is hailed by many as “The Greatest Wrestlemania Ever,” The Undertaker and Triple fought for nearly 20 minutes in one of The Undertaker’s best matches. This match starts off somewhat tame but hits a second gear after a ref bump and subsequent ass kicking to Chioda by Taker, it goes crazy. We go all over the arena, both men bleed and yet there’s still a story being told. Being the American Bad Ass as opposed to the Deadman gave The Undertaker a certain sense of vulnerability that was unseen before. The moment where he puts HHH up for The Last Ride and Trips hits him with the sledge, I recall sitting on the edge of my couch thinking this was it! But it wasn’t to be as Taker was able to hit the Last Ride, bloody faced and all for the 1…2…3!!

WrestleMania X8 March 17, 2002
Opponent: Ric Flair
Match Time: 18:47
Best Moment: Taker stopping the pin to continue the ass kicking of Flair.
Best Commentary Line: “Are you insinuating that Mr. McMahon holds grudges?” – Jerry “The King” Lawler
Fun Fact: This would be the final Wrestlemania under the WWF name as later that year, they’d change to WWE and have stayed that way ever since.

Tony’s Tidbit: Good ol Ric Flair was co-owner of the WWE at the time and The Undertaker was full fledged Heel. A month prior to Mania, The Undertaker had decimated The Rock much to the chagrin of Ric Flair. So much in fact that Ric Flair interrupted in their match at Now Way Out. The Undertaker challenged Flair to a match at Wrestlemania but Flair decided that due to his position in the company, he would not wrestle. Just as Kane had done 4 years prior, The Undertaker continued to coax Flair by doing various things like attacking Arn Anderson then Flair’s son. Taker said that if Flair didn’t accept, he’d have no choice but to continue the onslaught of attacks on his family. Flair finally accepted and we had a hell of a battle in a No Disqualification match.

Ric sold in Flair Fashion for The Undertaker, as a majority of the match was him getting his ass handed to him. Flair even bled more than “Random Death Scene #4 of the SAW films.” There was a nice moment where Arn Anderson ran in and hit a rather convincing Spinebuster, nearly giving Ric Flair the win, but Taker was able to capitalize after a Big Boot and hit a Tombstone for his 10th win in just as many Manias. This match showed that Taker could play a very convincing heel with his new persona and both men showed that in this newer era of wrestlers, they could still put on a convincingly good match. In case you were wondering, yes it’s just as nauseating to see Ric Flair bleed buckets in 2002 as it is in 2011.

WrestleMania XIX March 30, 2003
Opponent: Big Show and A-Train
Match Time: 9:45
Best Moment: Big Show tossing The Undertaker around like a rag doll in the beginning of the match
Best Commentary Line: “Well the A-Train’s got one hairy abdominal area…” – Tazz
Fun Fact: This is the first and last time (as of this year’s Wrestlemania) where The Undertaker was NOT in a one on one match at Wrestlemania.

Tony’s Tidbit: Ten years prior to this match, The Undertaker faced a behemoth of a man with patches of hair all over his body (or suit, rather). This year, he would face something similar in Albert (going under A-Train at the moment) along with his partner The Big Show. The Undertaker’s match with Triple H and Ric Flair were both considered pretty good to great. With that string of goodness, you would think he’d continue it but unfortunately not. The match was originally going to be a tag match pitting The Undertaker and his protégé Nathan Jones against The Big Show and A-Train, but WWE didn’t have enough faith in Jones to actually compete. They did an injury angle before the match and made it a handicap match, pitting The Undertaker against both Show and A-Train. What insued is probably the second worse match behind the one with Giant Gonzalez.

Imagine The Big Show five times slower, Albert before he became the great Japan legend that he is now, and The Undertaker. Now imagine them all in a match. NOW imagine it being played in slow motion. That’s essentially what you got here. On occasion, someone would press play and it would move in normal speed, but a bulk of this match was sloppy and plodding. Jones came out at the end to give Show a spin kick and Albert a big boot, allowing Taker to hit the Tombstone Piledriver for the win. It’s odd that there was no DQ here on Taker’s part due to Jones’s interference, but if there was I probably wouldn’t be able to write this column, right?

WrestleMania XX March 14, 2004
Opponent: Kane
Match Time: 7:45
Best Moment: The moment the gong hits and Paul Bearer gives the infamous OOOO YEEEAHHHH
Best Commentary Line: “You’re not real! YOU ARE NOT REAL! I Killed You!” – Kane
Fun Fact: Kane would be the only opponent before last year that The Undertaker faced twice in his illustrious Wrestlemania career.

Tony’s Tidbit: In November of 2003, The Undertaker fought Vince McMahon in a Buried Alive match and, as per usual, he lost. The Undertaker would then go on a hiatus for months while Kane reigned terror. Just before Wrestlemania XX, Kane would be continuously interrupted by ominous music and The Undertaker’s logo. The ring would quake as Kane did such dastardly things as orchestrate a eulogy for The Undertaker and continuously remind us that he is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD, DEAD! The match was set for Mania and I can remember never being so hyped for a match. By this time, I had already been a large follower of 411wrestling.com and knew full well that The Undertaker was dropping the biker gimmick and coming back as The Dead Man. I went to a friend’s house, fresh off the high of meeting Lita and sat on the edge of his couch only to stand and scream as Paul Bearer screamed out OH YEAH! The Undertaker would bring back yet another incarnation of The Dead Man, this time more Walker Texas Ranger and less Creature of the Night.

The match could hardly be named as such as it lasted about as long as The Undertaker’s entrance. A few blows by Kane was all he could get in before The Undertaker hit all his signature moves and finally ended it with a Tombstone. This marked the return of The Undertaker (something that would get old fast, actually) but more importantly, it marked the return of The Dead Man. No longer would he be making people famous, no longer would he consider the ring his playground. No! From here on out, he only wanted one thing from his opponents, and that was to Rest….In…Peace!

WrestleMania 21 April 3, 2005
Opponent: Randy Orton
Match Time: 14:14
Best Moment: Orton’s counter of the Chokeslam into the RKO, before he found a way to do this to nearly every move.
Best Commentary Line: “Give me a break, the streak cannot end this way!!” Michael Cole
Fun Fact: Just 2 days before the event, Randy Orton celebrated his 25th birthday.

Tony’s Tidbit: The first Wrestlemania at the Staples Center was also the Wrestlemania where WWE went “Hollywood” by doing some hilarious mock trailers for famous movies, my personal favorite being “The Taxi Driver” parody, but Taker did “Dirty Harry” justice as well. As for the buildup to the Orton/Taker confrontation, it’s quite simple. Orton was dubbed ‘The Legend Killer’ and The Undertaker was a legend. The brash young superstar Orton had destroyed Cactus Jack, Harley Race, and others before setting his eyes on The Undertaker. Well The Undertaker wasn’t going to take that lying down. I think I enjoyed this build up due to Orton’s arrogance. From slapping Taker in the face to RKO’ing the beautiful Stacy Kiebler and even bringing in Bob Orton to try and dupe The Undertaker, he was making a statement. Even if I never saw Orton winning the match, the build to the match was done proper and the match just as well.

The match itself was – I think – the beginning of what I call the Fab 5. This and the matches following (Mark Henry being an exception) were some of the best matches, not just of The Undertaker’s career, but also of that year. There were some moments where Randy looked great (clothesline off of a Snake Eyes) but not since Triple H did I think the streak was in question. Nearing the end of the match, Bob Orton comes out and knocks Taker out cold then wakes up the sleeping Hebner (no wonder he was fired) and the three count was soooo close. It was great. This, followed by an RKO mid Chokeslam which gave another close count! Of course, Orton would try for a Tombstone only to have it reversed by Taker and the win is sealed. This was one of those matches that gave Orton tons more of credibility while at the same time losing and was one of the better Mania match, possibly in the Top 5.

WrestleMania 22 April 2, 2006
Opponent: Mark Henry
Match Time: 9:26
Best Moment: The Suicide Dive over rope and casket.
Best Commentary Line: “There’s no pins Mr. Henry!” – Michael Cole
Fun Fact: Out of the 17 Casket Matches in WWE History (involving The Undertaker), The Undertaker has won 12 of them, giving him a winning percentage of approx 70.5%

Tony’s Tidbit: The build to this match was admittedly pretty crappy. The Undertaker was set to fight Kurt Angle for the title on Smackdown and nearly had it won before Mark Henry would make his presence felt and interrupt, costing Taker the match. Thus, a match was born. Mania 22 was probably more famous for the Crotch Grab of Trish Stratus and subsequent V-Lick, but that wasn’t the only cameltoe present.

Mark Henry vs The Undertaker has no right to be good so keeping it under 10 minutes was the right thing to do. With that being said, Mark Henry is quite the competent competitor and knows what to do in the ring. The match had enough action within the nine minutes to not bore me, but it was admittedly not as awesome as it possibly could have been. One moment in particular was Henry going for the pin after a nice World’s Strongest Slam, another being an incomplete Last Ride from the corner by Taker. Taker made it up, however, with a sweet over the top rope (and casket) dive to Henry on the outside!

WrestleMania 23 April 1, 2007
Opponent: Batista
Match Time: 15:48
Best Moment:
Best Commentary Line: “All The Undertaker has been through, Michael. All these great Wrestlemania moments, he has never had it brought to him like this. “ – JBL
Fun Fact: This would be the first time in 10 years where The Undertaker fought for a World Heavyweight Title, the last time being against Sycho Sid

Tony’s Tidbit: This was the first match in a long time where The Undertaker was in the title picture at Wrestlemania. With The Undertaker winning the Royal Rumble, he was able to choose his opponent for Mania and chose Batista. Now throughout the year, both Taker and Batista had been trading wins back in forth, with the more notable ones being at the Cyber Sunday and Hell in A Cell PPV’s. I will admit that I had low expectations for this match. Sitting at the sports bar, I figured Taker would win but I expected a rather slow match with lots of power moves. Which is fine, but not all the time. I was in for one hell of a surprise.

It immediately started with a spear followed by a barrage of ass kickery. The story is Batista being able to at times overpower The Undertaker and with the crowd actually booing their otherwise face champion, Batista had a fire in him that was lit the entire match. A fast paced yet very methodical match with a running powerslam onto an announce table is really more than I could have ever asked for from Batista. The Detroit crowd was all over Batista yet his aggression never swayed and this made for a great 15 minute match that really surprised the hell out of me.

WrestleMania XXIV March 30, 2008
Opponent: Edge
Match Time: 23:50
Best Moment: The Hells Gate
Best Commentary Line: “Did The Undertaker just arrive?!” – Jim Ross after the lights went out during the Diva’s “Bunnymania” match.
Fun Fact: Before this match, The Undertaker had only ever had the Main Event slot once and that was against Sycho Sid at Wrestlemania 13

Tony’s Tidbit: Some could say that this match had its start all the way in May of the year prior which was win Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank win to cover a bloodied Undertaker for the Championship. Throughout the year, Edge would continue to interfere in The Undertaker’s matches and continually pissed him off. With Edge being the great heel that he is/was, he was the perfect foil for The Undertaker. Edge also had his Edgeheads and Vickie Guerrero by his side, causing The Undertaker quite a bit of problems.

Interesting note that I’m sure all readers know but I’ll say it nonetheless; The Undertaker’s pyros at the end of the match went a little crazy, shooting into the crowd and causing a reported 45 injuries. Edge played the mind games here with multiple counters to all of The Undertaker’s signature moves and even kicking out of a Tombstone Piledriver! This was Taker’s longest Wrestlemania match up to this date and to be honest, at times it felt like it. This also marks the first time The Undertaker won a Wrestlemania match with a submission move, and also the last as of today. This falls in line with Edge’s ability to counter nearly every move Taker had in his arsenal save for this one. The Undertaker and Edge would continue to feud afterwards, but it was early 2009 where shit got real.

WrestleMania XXV April 5, 2009
Opponent: Shawn Michaels
Match Time: 30:41
Best Moment: Moonsault into the Tombstone
Best Commentary Line: “This is awesome!” – The crowd
Fun Fact: Kid Rock’s performance sucked ass.

Tony’s Tidbit: This and the following match will probably be the hardest thing to write about. I mean, what hasn’t really been said? The build to this was amazing. With the rumor that HBK and The Undertaker had creative freedom, they were obviously able to come up with something that tugged at the strings of our fandom (our heartstrings would be fucked with the following year). HBK really got the upperhand here with some crafty promos and visuals. From his all white entrance, descending from the heavens above, he really was the light to The Undertaker’s dark.

Now the match…whew, the match. HBK isn’t deemed Mr. Wrestlemania for no reason, and The Undertaker more than held his own. This would be the longest match of The Undertaker’s illustrious streak and yet I could watch 20 more minutes, easily. A fast start continued until HBK used his wily style in faking a knee injury and gained the upperhand. Both men showed why they were possibly the last two legends in the business and that they deserved that title. For me, it was emotional in the essence that HBK had a chance. He had a chance to end it. The crowd that chanted “This is Awesome” only mirrored the patron’s of bar in which I was sitting in.

WrestleMania XXVI March 28, 2010
Opponent: Shawn Michaels
Match Time: 23:59
Best Moment: The Undertaker telling Shawn to stay down only for HBK to do the cut throat gesture, finally met with a Tombstone.
Best Commentary Line: “I will open up the gates of Hell and I will unleash a fury that no mortal man has ever seen to make sure your career is over! – The Undertaker If I can’t beat you, I have no career. – HBK
Fun Fact:

For the rest, please, please purchase the DVD or check it out on Youtube, it’s worth it.

Tony’s Tidbit: Before I speak about this match, I’d like you all to please read Scott Slimmer’s most recent column to the site, An Hour of Last Things. Truly a great read. Now then, this was just last year and yet we still feel the resonance of it today. HBK was torn inside due to his loss last year. He was practically obsessed with defeating The Undertaker. He claimed to know that he could win! The Undertaker and HBK summed everything up I the exchange listed above.

Having a match back to back is hard to do. How does one top a Match of the Year? Well watch this match and take notes because they did just that. I know I recap NXT so I should be able to recap this particular match, but not even my quick typing can give this match justice. The heavy emotions in this match were pulling hard on the heart strings. Even in writing this while watching the match, I shake my head at the audacity of these two performers. Both supposedly past their primes; HBK with a back that shouldn’t be in one piece, The Undertaker with a laundry list of injuries and more “RETURNS” than a period. These men, these current day gladiators gave us their all and in some ways continue to give us their all. If this is HBK’s last match, then it’s a perfect cap to his legend and as for The Undertaker…

This year, he faces Triple H and although I don’t see The H’s winning, I do feel that they’ll put on a match similar to that of their one ten years ago; a good one. Do I think the streak will end? No. Do I think it should end? No. I don’t see one good reason as to why. The Undertaker has been a consistent performer and a loyal one at that. As a fan, he has never disappointed me. He has never led me astray or did something offensive. He has is and forever will be The Undertaker. When you say The Undertaker, whether they’re fans of wrestling or not, they know what you’re talking about.

When people ask me who my favorite wrestler is, I still say The Undertaker. To me, he is the quintessential big man, the mold in which everyone over 6 feet try to fit and those under want to face. Some say he should hang his boots up and I can’t say I completely disagree. But I will say this, the day that this moment comes where The Undertaker will hit the stage with his arm raised in the air for the last time or roll his eyeballs back in his head as he slashes his throat for the last moment will be a moment that I am not looking forward to and a moment that I will forever remember. Supposed politics aside, The Undertaker has been a mainstay in the WWE and in my heart. I truly dread the day that our Wrestler-fan relationship will REST….IN….PEACE!!!