The Undertaker's Streak

This Sunday, the Undertaker will face Triple H in a Hell in a Cell to try to continue his Wrestlemania streak to 20-0. The Undertaker’s matches at Wrestlemania have varied from awesome to decent to fucking terrible. The Undertaker over the years has developed into a fine wine. Let’s take a look at his matches

1-0              Wrestlemania VII                              Opponent: Superfly Jimmy Snuka

The Undertaker made his Wrestlemania debut by defeating Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka in a short 4 minute match.

2-0              Wrestlemania VIII                            Opponent: Jake “The Snake” Roberts

Undertaker, who had recently turned face, took on his former ally in a decent match. Despite Jake hitting him with 2 DDTs, the Undertaker hit Jake with a Tombstone Pilderiver outside the ring to get the victory.

3-0              Wrestlemania IX                               Opponent: Giant Gonzalez

Er...yeah. Not much to say about this one. Gonzalez, in a bizarre hairy body suit, gets disqualified by knocking out the Undertaker with chloroform. Bit of a weird ending but hey, that’s the Undertaker on 3-0

4-0              Wrestlemania XI                               Opponent: King Kong Bundy

The story going into this match was that King Kong Bundy stolen the Undertaker’s urn, believed to be the source of his power, during a match with Irwin R Schyster. During the match, the urn was briefly returned to Paul Bearer before being stolen again by Kama about a minute later. Despite a strong effort by Bundy, the Undertaker was victorious

5-0              Wrestlemania XII                              Opponent: Diesel

This feud started when Diesel started interfering in the Undertaker’s matches from the Royal Rumble onwards. The Undertaker won the match with a Tombstone Piledriver.

6-0              Wrestlemania XIII                            Opponent: Sycho Sid

Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid in a clusterfuck of a match, which had Bret Hart get involved 3 times, to become WWF champion for only the second time

7-0              Wrestlemania XIV                            Opponent: Kane

This is probably one of the best Wrestlemania feuds that the Undertaker has ever been in. Paul Bearer, in May 1997, revealed that Undertaker’s brother, Kane, was coming for revenge. Kane finally made his debut in the first ever Hell in a Cell match when Undertaker was facing Shawn Michaels. Despite a very brief alliance, Kane put Undertaker in a casket then set it on fire at the Royal Rumble. The Undertaker returned a few weeks later to vow revenge. He was victorious after hitting Kane with three Tombstone Piledrivers.

8-0              Wrestlemania XV                              Opponent: Big Boss Man

This match stemmed from the feud between Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness and Mr McMahon’s Corporation. The match is generally deemed to be the worst Hell in a Cell of all time. After Undertaker wins with a Tombstone, he then proceeds to hang Boss Man.

9-0              Wrestlemania XVII                           Opponent: Triple H

This is the first Wrestlemania with the Undertaker’s biker persona. The story was really simple. Triple H comes out and says that he has beaten everyone. Undertaker comes out and states that Triple H has never beaten him. During the match, the referee gets knocked out and they have a long part where they go all over the arena. The match ends with Triple H receiving the Last Ride. This match is really good and is surprisingly underrated.

10-0          Wrestlemania XVIII                         Opponent: Ric Flair

The story of this match was that Flair, who was co-owner at the time, was unhappy with Undertaker’s  actions. Undertaker starts to target Flair’s family and friends, forcing Flair into a match. Despite a tremendous cameo by Arn Anderson, Flair could not do enough to defeat Undertaker when he lost to a Tombstone.

11-0          Wrestlemania XXIX                         Opponents: A-Train and The Big Show

This is Undertaker’s first tag team match at Wrestlemania and it will most probably be the last match. Undertaker was supposed to team up with Nathan Jones but it ended up being a handicap match. Jones does come in later on in the match to help out , and this gives Undertaker the chance to get the win by hitting A-Train with a Tombstone.

12-0          Wrestlemania XX                              Opponent: Kane (again)

Kane buried Undertaker alive at the 2003 Survivor Series. Despite Kane’s insistence that Undertaker was dead, there were signs that he was alive with some paranormal activities. Kane, therefore, requested the match at Wrestlemania. The Undertaker returned under his original gimmick and, despite receiving a Chokeslam from Kane, got the victory with a Tombstone.

13-0          Wrestlemania XXI                            Opponent: Randy Orton

While the streak had been mentioned by wrestlers and commentators alike, this is the first time that a match was formed with the streak as the basis for the storyline. Randy Orton was going through his “Legend Killer” gimmick and wanted to end the streak. The match was really good but Orton lost after he attempted to do a Tombstone Piledriver, which Undertaker reversed into his own.

14-0          Wrestlemania XXII                           Opponent: Mark Henry

This feud stated when Mark Henry interfered in a World Heavyweight Championship between Undertaker and Kurt Angle. As an act of revenge, Undertaker challenged Henry to a casket match.  During the match, Undertaker hits Henry with the Last Ride, followed by a Tombstone outside the ring. Henry was then pushed into the casket to give Undertaker the victory.

15-0          Wrestlemania XXIII                         Opponent: Batista

The Undertaker won the Royal Rumble that year and chose to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Batista. Batista put Undertaker through an announce table with a Spinebuster followed by 2 Batista Bombs. However, it was not enough as Undertaker became Champion when he hit Batista with a Tombstone. Undertaker made history when he became the first person to win both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania.

16-0          Wrestlemania XXIV                         Opponent: Edge

The Undertaker became No. 1 contender to Edge’s World Heavyweight Championship after winning an Elimination Chamber match. Edge’s lackeys, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, tried to interfere and Edge hit Undertaker with a Spear. However, when Edge attempted to hit another Spear, Undertaker caught him with the Hell’s Gate to get the win and become World Heavyweight Champion.

17-0          Wrestlemania XXV                           Opponent: Shawn Michaels

This match had a unique story going into it as you had Shawn Michaels, John Bradshaw Layfield and Vladimir Kozlov all wanting to challenge the Undertaker. Michaels defeated them both and became Undertaker’s opponent. The match was absolutely brilliant with Michaels and Undertaker throwing everything they had at each other. Michaels attempted a Moonsault. However, Undertake caught him in mid air and reversed into a Tombstone piledriver to get the win.

18-0          Wrestlemania XXVI                         Opponent: Shawn Michaels (again!)

The story stemmed from last year’s match. It won the Slammy for best match and when Shawn Michaels accepted it, he challenged Undertaker for a rematch. He said no, so Shawn tried to win the Royal Rumble (Undertaker was World Heavyweight Champion at the time) but was eliminated by Batista. Michaels then forced the issue by Sweet Chin Music-ing Undertaker at Elimination Chamber, making him lose the World Heavyweight Championship to Chris Jericho. Undertaker finally accepted Michael’s challenge, as long as if Michaels lost, he would retire. The match was the highlight of the PPV and Undertaker won after hitting Michaels with a Tombstone.

19-0          Wrestlemania XXVII                        Opponent: Triple H (again!)

This story was also really simple. The Undertaker makes his return and Triple H makes his return at the same time and challenges him to a match, saying that he has done everything and the only left to do is to end the streak. This match was really enjoyable, including the shocking moment when Triple H hits Undertaker with a Tombstone. Despite destroying the Undertaker, Triple H gets caught in the Hell’s Gate and is eventually forced to submit. At the end, Undertaker had to taken out on a stretcher.