Which Undertaker Was Best?

[Smark callaway]

So I was watching one of the Undertaker dvds and thought "hmm, which era of the Undertaker's career was the best?" Personally I think there was four eras starting with the "Zombie" era from 1990 -1997, the "Dark"era from 97-99, the "Badass" era from 99-03, and the "Deadman" era from 04-present. There's a lot of factors going into this including title reigns, match quality, Wrestlemania impact, fan connection, as well as the presentation of the character. My personal favorite was the Badass phase, although I think the Undertaker was at his peak around 98-99 at the time of his feud with Kane and the Ministry of Darkness. Thoughts?

[davieboytellem]

Ministry of Darkness Undertaker for the theme alone! lol

[Robstar]

I like the Undertaker who surfs his couch for most of the year, originated the 5 moves of doom and bangs skinny blondes. Oh yeah.

[Darkside Ron Garvin]

The Phenom is greater than "Deadman" who is greater than Big Evil who is greater than the Ministry. I never liked the Ministry of Darkness, nor was I a fan of the corporate ministry. Most "religious" angles in wrestling tend to fall flat with me (McMahons vs. HBK and God, Sandman gets crucified, Hogan tells us to say our prayers...) with the one exception being when Jake Roberts utilizes it. For some reason, the man has true brilliance at incorporating aspects of religion without making it full about religion (with the exception of KOTR 96). The "Phenom" was always something that captivated me because the little he spoke made me want to hear SO much more from him. His presence has always out weighed his mic skills to me.

[Champion]

In my opinion I would have to say the Ministry of Darkness persona.

[BadAndy]

You know, I'm glad you asked this because I was thinking about this yesterday. I really am not an old school WWF person, I always watched WCW. When I came over to WWF, The Undertaker was not something I was terribly impressed with. When they brought him back as The American Badass I finally started to like him. I'm still not that big of a fan but I do love when they start screaming "Vintage!" with his moves.

[akbar]

The Phenom is greater than "Deadman" who is greater than Big Evil who is greater than the Ministry. I never liked the Ministry of Darkness, nor was I a fan of the corporate ministry. Most "religious" angles in wrestling tend to fall flat with me (McMahons vs. HBK and God, Sandman gets crucified, Hogan tells us to say our prayers...) with the one exception being when Jake Roberts utilizes it. For some reason, the man has true brilliance at incorporating aspects of religion without making it full about religion (with the exception of KOTR 96). The "Phenom" was always something that captivated me because the little he spoke made me want to hear SO much more from him. His presence has always out weighed his mic skills to me.

Hold on, I though Taker only ever had 2 gimmicks... The Scary one with the long coat, rolled eyes etc and The Outlaw motorcycle cub member...

[Darkside Ron Garvin]

Hold on, I though Taker only ever had 2 gimmicks... The Scary one with the long coat, rolled eyes etc and The Outlaw motorcycle cub member...

Kinda. The "Deadman" gimmick was the original in which he came out with DiBiase/Bearer as his mouth piece. His "mystery" surrounding his character is what sold him. Then he had his "Ministry of Darkness" gimmick in which he was the leader of his own stable which lead into the "Corporate Ministry" which was still part of his "Ministry" gimmick. In this stage he showed mic and leadership skills. Then came the "American Badass" gimmick in which he "ruled the yard" and was pretty much the biker guy that he seems to be in real life. The current gimmick is a blend of all gimmicks (The Phenom). He still comes out to the big time entrances, but displays the brute force in his matches that he showed in his biker gimmick, but also shows the similiar styles of promo delivery from the Ministry days (hence the HHH/UT promos before WM28). Personally, I like the fact that the current Phenom since leaving the American Badass gimmick hasn't relied upon the mic skills, but directed itself back to the original Deadman gimmick in that he doesn't need to speak in order to intimidate his opponent.

[akbar]

Wow I never thought of it in that much detail... Good to know.

[Tommy Thunder]

I really didnt' take to the American Bad Ass/Big Evil Taker at all. I really don't see why people mark out so much for that gimmick. It was good, but not amazing IMO.

For me, the Deadman has been Taker's better gimmick.
His original zombie-like gimmick was pretty cool at the time, since it was something different.
I also liked the Ministry Taker.