In 18 days, The Undertaker is scheduled to take on the challenge of Roman Reigns at what could possibly be his final WrestleMania. Reigns clued us in as to what exactly might be at stake when he steps into the ring with Taker this past Monday on RAW when he told WWE Hall Of Famer, Shawn Michaels, “with all due respect, Undertaker retired you, and I’m going to retire The Undertaker.”
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Taker’s infamous Streak of 21 straight ‘Mania victories was the most legendary record in WWE history until the day Brock Lesnar shocked the world and defeated Taker at WrestleMania 30. If this year were to be the Deadman’s final match, his WrestleMania record would finish at 23-2; the most impressive stretch in WWE history.
While Taker’s streak should be celebrated throughout the end of time, we should be honest with ourselves in admitting that not every single ‘Mania contest was a 5 star affair. In fact, the first half of Taker’s streak was loaded with some flat out duds. The WWE always seemed to want to bring in a rival giant to stare eye to eye with The Lord of Darkness.
While Taker would have some incredibly memorable contests with Kane, Triple H, Batista and Edge, it wasn’t until his 17th ‘Mania match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 25 that we started expecting The Phenom to put on the best match of the night.
So before Undertaker walks down that aisle for possibly his last WrestleMania, let’s take a good honest look at some of the bottom dwellers that have made up his epic WrestleMania career.
5. Jimmy Snuka
Undertaker was hot on the scene in his first WrestleMania and needed to squash someone who had a bigย name and nothing left to lose. Enter Jimmy Superflyย Snuka, who was on his final run with the WWEย before heading off to ECW.ย
It only took Taker 4:20 to start his ‘Mania streak with a Tombstone to the futureย WWEย Hall of Famer. Nothing else to see here, folks.ย
4. King Kong Bundy
Still building credibility to his WrestleManiaย career as well as his new babyface run, Taker just needed a big fat guy with a bit of a reputation to lay waste to at WrestleManiaย 11. WrestleManiaย 2 main eventer, King Kong Bundy fit this bill perfectly. The big manย fellaย was there to attempt some offense, and come up woefully short, which he did in only 6:36, or in modern terms, 6 Goldberg matches.ย
Hey, at least it wasn’t as bad as his WrestleManiaย 10 match up, which you will most certainly see later on this list.
3. Sid Vicious
Psycho Sid was never known for his 5 star performances and this one was a real stinker, quiteย literally. Rumors have it that Sid may have had a little accident in his tights as he was being lifted up for the Tombstone. Ah, I can’t blame him. It would scare the *@#! out of me too.ย
The match itself looked good on paper, but the plodding paceย made this 21 minute match at WrestleManiaย 13 insufferable.ย
2. Big Boss Man
Hell in a Cell with The Undertakerย … what could possibly go wrong? Let’s start with the fact that the traditionally heel Bossย Manย was the face in this feud while Taker was in the height of his Satanic lead of the Ministry of Darkness. The two plodding big men failed to deliver the brutality of previous HIACย and the match ended with Boss Man hanging from a noose to the top of the cage. Yep. Let’s just move on.ย
1. Giant Gonzalez
Did you realize The Undertaker’s streak was tainted with a DQ victory? Fittingly enough, it would come from the man in the nude bodysuit known as Giant Gonzalezย at WrestleManiaย 9 in a 7 minute snoozefest. The WWE had high hopes for the near 8 ft tall Gonzalez when he made the jump from WCWย (where he was known simply as El Gigante), but putting him in the worst wrestling costume this side of the Yeti was the quickest way to make him a laughable opponent for theย Undertaker.ย
Thankfully, this would be the last high profile match we’d have to see the two giants face off in as Gonzalezย was not long for the WWE.ย
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