In 2011, after a UFC event, The Undertaker made a special visit when he would find himself in a face to face, brief confrontation with one of the most dominant athletes the sports world will have ever seen, Brock Lesnar. People started to assume that this would lead to a match between the two entities one day at WrestleMania. These two have feuded in the past, back when Brock was still in the relative infancy stage in WWE. Yet he found himself victorious over The Undertaker, or the American Badass. As the years would go by, however, he would evolve into The Deadman where year after year, one foe would step forward and challenge the Undertaker, putting his streak on the line. Wrestling legends such as Triple H, Edge, and Shawn Michaels all valiantly stepped forward and gave the Deadman everything they had. Men such as Randy Orton, Mark Henry, CM Punk and Batista used their last resorts. Jimmy Snuka, King Kong Bundy and Ric Flair fought to till they couldn’t lift another finger. But alas, they all fell at the mercy to the Undertaker, and another tombstone would be born. That is, until one fateful day in the graveyard on April 6th, 2014.
We all believed in the Undertaker’s supernatural powers year after year. We knew that the adversary would do everything in his power to bring the Deadman to his knees and manage to get a pinfall or submission victory. But The Undertaker proved to us that death could not be beaten. No matter how hard the opposition would try, no matter how close Taker was at the edge of defeat and no matter how many times someone claims that the Undertaker will be defeated, we all knew it would be just another day in the office for The Phenom. This would be proven to me personally at WrestleMania 28 when Shawn Michaels, the guest referee in a Hell In A Cell match against Triple H, performed Sweet Chin Music right into a Pedigree putting the former D-Generation X finisher combination at the Undertaker’s expense. Shawn quickly dropped to his knees and he counted 1, then 2, and I knew that no matter how hard the Undertaker tried, there would be no way that he could withstand such a flurry of attack. Shawn’s hand raises to the air one more time, and just before it makes contact with the mat, the Undertaker wakes up with a burst of energy, and raises his shoulder. At that moment, I knew that the Undertaker could not possibly be beat. It would be unthinkable for anyone else to assume otherwise.
Yes, the Undertaker was indeed invincible. But now that phrase has become something of the past. Approaching WrestleMania XXX, Brock Lesnar definitely proved to have an edge in nearly every facet of the game. He could out wrestle the Undertaker and make him play at his game. But The Phenom is immortal. He could take anything the beast incarnate could dish out. The bell rang, and Brock slowly found himself gaining the upper hand with a series of wrestling holds and limb targeting attacks. However, I knew that there would be a point in time where Undertaker would regain the edge and attain the energy he needed to finish another future tomb dweller would go. The big boot, the leg drop, the running DDT. This is the Undertaker that needed to defeat Brock Lesnar. Brock wouldn’t go down easily however. His persistence started to overwhelm the Undertaker as he kicked out of signature Chokeslams and sustaining the Hell’s Gate submission hold. Therefore, there could be only one move that have sent 21 other challengers to their grave. The Tombstone Piledriver. Yet, Brock found himself with more energy, and he would not be beaten like that. Taker would need to do it again. Then, Taker found himself at Brock’s mercy with a furious F-5, as well as another one. But Brock could not defeat death. The Undertaker would kick out, all though each near-fall started to become closer. It was time to put at end to it. The Undertaker is in prime position to win. But Brock reverses, and in an amazing feat of strength, hoists Taker on his shoulders, and puts him in the F-5 position. Taker’s seemingly lifeless body hangs at Brock’s shoulders, and in a circular motion, his semi-broken body plummets back to the Earth with a loud thud. But this was nothing. The Undertaker lose at WrestleMania? That could only be something that could be dreamt of. Mere illusions of grandeur. The Undertaker isn’t about to succumb to the same man that has beaten him before in the past. Brock slowly goes to the cover, and lifts both of Taker’s leg, that’s unusual. 3 F-5’s surely damaged the Taker badly, but he would recover because death does not fall prey to the will of the adversary. Brock goes for the cover. 1, 2,…..The Undertaker had never been synonymous with the number three unless he’s the one doing the covering. But tonight was role reversal. His body looks motionless and out of energy. But the Deadman would rise and triumph once again. Then, the referee brought his hand up, brought it back down, and at that moment, death was conquered.
This had to be a mistake. That was not three. Taker clearly got his shoulders up. We were still in that dream. But then, we had to bring ourselves to reality. Death was vanquished. The Phenom became The Defeated. Perfection became imperfect. The Deadman…became mortal. As Paul Heyman gave us a face which could only describe sheer shock, he embraces his client and celebrates as he proved every one in the arena, and inevitably around the world, wrong. They thought he was foolish. Now we think differently. As the bell rang and Justin Roberts announced that the winner of the match of the Undertaker/Lesnar bout was indeed not the deadman, we all had to take a couple of moments to sink in what had to be the most absolute shocking and polarizing event that has ever occured in perhaps all of WWE history. The graphic towards the top of the arena confirmed what seemed impossible. We saw a 1 on the loss column. The looks of fans across the arena, over 75K of them could not utter the words to describe what they had just bore witness to. WrestleMania instantly became as silent and lifeless as a wasteland. Some jaws were dropped. Some eyes were full of tears. Others had the shoulders behind their head. Hands were placed over the mouth. You can find a chunk smiling, but only as a disguise to shield their dissapointment. And some faces were stone cold (no pun intended). I had a face of confusion. As if this whole thing was some part of an elaborate rouse. The Deadman couldn’t be conquered could he?
Well, I headed over to check to be sure. And when I saw Brock Lesnar’s updated wrestling profile, it indeed said “Brock Lesnar def. (Pin) Undertaker” at WrestleMania XXX. No longer can we sing the praises of the Undertaker who was perfect. No longer can the Undertaker earn the right to say that every man that has faced him at WrestleMania left in defeat. Death became mortal on one Sunday night in April. Now we must ask the question that we are all scared to ask. Is this the end of the Dead man? What else does he have left to put his body on the line for? How will this change the course of WrestleMania history? We will never see another one like him again. As the vast majority of fans continue to try to make some sense out of what we thought would not happen, the only thing we can say for sure is that death has been vanquished.
