Keys to the Game 3.30.07: Batista vs. Undertaker

The Dream Match is something that is all but extinct in professional wrestling today. This is mainly due to the fact that the WWE controls most of the top wrestlers. Even with the brand split, Undertaker vs. Batista doesn’t feel like a Dream Match because there has been a very realistic possibility of these two locking horns; both guys have been on the SmackDown! Roster for almost two years now, so there has been a sense that they could cross paths. But make no mistake about it; this Sunday’s World Heavyweight Championship match fits all the criteria.

THE PLAYERS

Name: Undertaker
Height: 6 foot 10 ½
Weight: 305 pounds
From: Death Valley
Signature Move: Chokeslam; Tombstone; Last Ride
Career Highlights: WWF Champion, Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, World Tag Team Champion, WCW Tag Team Champion, Hardcore Champion, 2007 Royal Rumble winner, undefeated at WrestleMania (14-0)

The Undertaker is a true legend in professional wrestling. Over the past sixteen years, he has defeated the top names in wrestling history. From Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, to Steve Austin and The Rock.

What’s interesting is that Undertaker very rarely goes after the belt. He’s usually content being the “Conscience of SmackDown!” as Michael Cole would say. This time however, for one more run at the top, he’s laying his greatest legacy on the line: The WrestleMania Undefeated Streak.

Over the past several years, Taker has dominated the SmackDown! roster. Working a lighter schedule than others, The Dead Man prefers to hand pick his opponents at his choosing.

At the Royal Rumble, Undertaker won the right to challenge for any title he wished at WrestleMania 23. Let’s see who he called out.

Name: Batista
Height: 6 foot 5
Weight: 290 pounds
From: Washington, D.C.
Signature Move: Batista Bomb
Career Highlights: World Heavyweight Champion; WWE Tag Team Champion; World Tag Team Champion; 2005 Royal Rumble winner

Batista is a two-time and the current reigning World Heavyweight Champion, and like the Undertaker, has dominated his brand for the past two years. After his initial ten-month reign, Batista was injured by Mark Henry and forced to surrender his title. Upon his return he engaged in a lengthy series of matches with King Booker to finally regain his World Championship. Over the past two years, Batista has defeated the likes of Triple H, JBL, Randy Orton, King Booker, Chris Benoit, and Kane to name but a few.

Batista’s early days in the WWE were spent as the strong man for Evolution. He took that time to hone his own skills and eventually broke out on his own, taking Triple H’s World Title but leaving Evolution behind.

RECENT HISTORY

While the hype may say otherwise, Batista has not been at the top of his game since he relinquished his World Title 14 months ago. Upon his return, it took him several high profile matches with King Booker before he was able to regain the title. Batista experienced so much difficulty closing out matches during his feud with Booker that he resorted to a belt shot to the head to finally capture a pinfall. I was at SummerSlam this past August, and it was clear that Booker out wrestled, outlasted, and outthought Batista at nearly every corner. Granted, Batista had the King’s Court to deal with, but if we look at what guys like John Cena and Bobby Lashley have gone through recently, it’s clear that Batista is a step below his previous self.

Batista’s match against Mr. Kennedy at this year’s Royal Rumble is a prime example of this. Kennedy dominated the tempo of the entire match, kept The Animal off his feet, worked a body region, and contained Batista’s power advantage. It was only Batista’s physical resiliency and a few well-placed power bursts that finally put him over. If Batista comes out this way on Sunday, he leaves without his title.

Undertaker on the other hand has never looked better in this writer’s opinion. Taker’s physique is cut and lean. He looks in the best shape that I’ve ever seen him in. His feud with Mr. Kennedy, while losing a key match via disqualification, was totally dominated by the Dead Man. Not even taking twenty-five shots from Mr. Kenney’s microphone was enough to prevent the legendary sit-up.

Over the past several years, Undertaker has only been cleanly defeated on two occasions; To the Great Khali and to then World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle in what amounted to be the 2006 Match of the Year.

KEYS TO THE GAME

POWER
Both men have tremendous power, and a knee-jerk reaction would be to place them even with a possible edge to Batista. But after some careful inspection, and looking past Batista’s chiseled physique, you notice that Batista’s power is somewhat overrated, while just the opposite is true with the Undertaker. At SummerSlam, Batista had a difficult time delivering a post match Batista-Bomb to King Booker. As a matter of fact, many images of Batista struggling with power moves jump into my mind’s eye. Undertaker on the other hand Tombstoned the 380 lb Mark Henry at least year’s WrestleMania. Because of Taker’s height and lean build, it’s easy to forget just how powerful he really is.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

TECHNICAL SKILL
Another thing commonly forgotten with respect to Undertaker is his technical prowess. His matches with Kurt Angle exemplify this point. Now I’m not trying to say that he’s on Angle’s level of technical skill, not that anyone really is, but he was able to at least hang with Kurt, which is saying something.

Batista has very limited technical skill. He primarily focuses on power moves directed at his opponent’s core to set up a series of Spine Busters followed by his Batista Bomb. So while Batista’s technical skills are extremely limited, his strategy does not lend himself down this road. However, as I mentioned above, when he comes up against a technical wrester even on the level of a Mr. Kennedy or a Booker T, Batista has his difficulties.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

EXPEREINCE
It’s difficult to side against a decade and a half of destruction. In that time, Undertaker has faced the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Mick Foley, and Triple H, and all of them in or just past their prime. Undertaker is actually the only wrestler to defeat Hulk Hogan for a world title on two separate occasions. Taker has faced the cream of the crop of technical, power, high flying, and striking styles over the past sixteen years and more often than not came out on top.

Batista, while having considerable less time served than Undertaker, spent a good portion of that time with Evolution. Now I know there’s no substitute for actual experience, but a lot can be said learning from Triple H & Ric Flair on an intimate basis. Batista also has his experience from the past 2+ years of being in the World Heavyweight title picture. While all of this is considerable, it’s hard to side against the Dead Man in this category.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

RESINLENCY
Both men are known for being able to absorb just as much as they can dish out. The Undertaker’s sit-ups after taking punishment are legendary. However, let’s take a look at the past two years. Batista has handled the likes of JBL, Triple H and Mark Henry. Granted, Mark Henry did end up placing The Animal on the shelf for several months, but it was a post match injury with existing shoulder concerns already in place.

Undertaker handled Mark Henry with relative ease, but he was absolutely floored by The Great Khali. Taker was able to eventually defeat Khali, but the utter domination of Taker during their first few meetings leaves more than a little concern. I attribute Taker’s experience and pre-match planning to finally being able to take down the Giant Khali, but at WrestleMania, you’ll only get one shot.
ADVANTAGE – Batista

SPEED
While neither man is off the charts in the speed and agility department, Undertaker has always been known for his tremendous prowess in this area for someone his size.
Taker’s “Old School” tightrope walking of the top rope is a great example of what your typical 7 footer usually can’t do.
This gives Undertaker a considerable advantage should he fail in the power game.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

FINISHER
Both men possess an undisputed game-ending maneuver. While only King Booker has kicked out of a Batista Bomb, No one to my memory has even twitched after a Tombstone. Both men are capable of performing the move on each other; however both moves need considerable set-up. This isn’t Sweet Chin Music or an RKO coming out of nowhere. There will be a definitive match advantage when either of these moves would be attempted. So I think the “Big” finishers will be more of a match ender than a match changer.

The Undertaker also has several other finishing moves; Choke-Slam, Last Ride, even several submission holds on occasion. We’ve seen Batista take a Choke-Slam and more or less shrug it off. I actually expect the same for a Last Ride, and would be surprised to see Batista tap out to anything that Taker could bring. I do however see these moves being able to impact the match more than in the endgame.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

INTENSITY
Both men exemplify intensity in similar as well as different ways. While The Undertaker seldom explodes in physical bursts of intensity, it’s his cold hard eyes that say all that needed. Undertaker is one of the most focused wrestlers you’ll have the privilege of watching. He doesn’t get rattled, he knows what he has to do and he has no remorse for any of his actions. Batista’s intensity is a little more visible. His entrance gets both himself and the crowd set to a state of controlled frenzy ready to be unleashed. Batista also embodies the cold hard stare that the Dead Man employs, but typically keeps that reserved for non-match confrontation.
ADVANTAGE – Batista

PSYCHOLOGY
Batista learned from “The Game” Triple H as well as the dirtiest player in the game, Ric Flair. Upon being chosen by Undertaker, Batista took a Choke-Slam and seemed to mentally shrug it off promising that “Payback is a bitch.” Batista followed up on his words by derailing his match against Cena & Michaels at No Way Out. This action shows clearly that Batista cares for only one thing, walking out of WrestleMania 23 with his World Title intact. Batista has handled The Undertaker’s usual array of mind games better than most. But is it getting to the champ? It probably is a little. With all that WrestleMania history in place how can it not? But Batista doesn’t appear to be showing it, which is a victory in itself. While I don’t think I need to go into Undertaker’s legacy of psychology, it seems that most of it is bouncing off The Animal.
ADVANTAGE – Batista

INTANGIBLES

The Streak: 14-0 holds so much weight for Undertaker. When it’s all said and done, The WrestleMania Undefeated Streak will be the defining statement of The Undertaker legacy. The Streak is perhaps more important to Taker than even the World title is. If anything will give him more steam this Sunday, it’ll be this.

The World Heavyweight Title: As much as Batista had difficulties regaining the belt, it has been impossible to take it off of him. The World Title means as much to him as it did to his mentors in Evolution. And the one constant with Flair and Helmsley is that they would do anything to hold onto it. We’ve already seen Batista break the rules to regain the title. And fan favorite or not, don’t put anything past Batista when it comes to holding onto his World Title.
ADVANTAGE – Undertaker

KEYS TO VICTORY:

UNDERTAKER
Batista has shown to have difficulty when his power game is negated. Taker needs to put his ego aside, and not play the power game him. Furthermore, he needs to employ his advantages in the speed and technical departments, isolate a limb, and wear down the Animal. Only then will he be able to start setting up for a Tombstone. While The Undertaker could probably survive a Batista Bomb, he shouldn’t look forward to it.
Taker should also look to take this match outside the ring as much as possible, not giving Batista a lot of room to operate. Bring the rules to the edge when it comes to disqualification. The referee will be less likely to DQ a WrestleMania main event, and Undertaker will have some veteran pull in this department as well.

BATISTA
Batista needs to realize that Taker will be throwing sixteen years of experience at him, and has to be prepared to weather the storm. Batista needs to have Taker well scouted and look for signature situations to take advantage of. When Taker gets on a roll, he likes going for “Old School” When a 7 footer is tight-rope-walking, there really isn’t a better chance to turn the tables. Taker may utilize his rest time to regroup. Don’t be impatient and try to force yourself onto the Dead Man. Use this time to regroup yourself.
Also, Batista needs to be prepared to possibly not be the fan favorite in this match-up. Don’t let the crowd get to you. Stay focused, and don’t lose your head.

IN THE END…

In the end, I feel that the winner will come down to who can keep a level head the best when things get out of hand… and things most certainly will get out of hand this Sunday. For that, I need lean on the side of experience and versatility, and The Undertaker gets high marks in both categories in my book.