Eight days ago, Brock Lesnar pinned The Undertaker to finally put an end to the most overrated streak in WWE (or
sports) history. Countless WWE fans are now overjoyed to not have to
bear witness to Undertaker prattle on about how great The Streak is and
bury younger talent like Triple H and Shawn Michaels every spring. In
this article I’ll look back at the streak and put an end to the notion
that it was anything more than an overrated footnote in wrestling
history. Here are some highlights:
-In 1991 Undertaker kicked off
the streak by making short work of hall of fame murderer Jimmy
“Superfly” Snuka. Soon after, Snuka would move on to ECW and presumably,
copious amounts of drug use.
-Next up was Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Undertaker kicked out of the DDT twice, effectively killing at as a finisher. Undertaker buried Jake so bad that he left the company immediately and got drunk.
-Undertaker’s Wrestlemania 9 match with Giant Gonzalez is probably the strongest on this list. Gonzalez was the most technically sound wrestler up to (and probably overall) this point, and carried Undertaker to a passable match. Many people argue that The Streak shouldn’t even be a thing, since Gonzalez made Undertake pass out, thus ending the match. The referee decided to reverse the decision, however and awarded Taker the DQ. WWE fans will never forgive him for subjecting them to 20 more years of poor entertainment.
-The next big match came when Taker wrestled one of the all time greats and future hall of famer Sycho Sid for the WWE championship. After the match was over, Undertaker spread rumors that Sid soiled himself in the ring. Those rumors still exist to this day.
-Wrestlemania 14 marked the first time Undertaker faced off in a match with his more talented younger brother Kane. It would take three tombstone piledrivers and a lot of luck to pull off the upset victory.
-Wrestlemania 17 is where Undertaker tried to derail the career of up and comer Triple H for the first time. Luckily, Triple H came back from being buried so badly and was able to continue his underdog story of a career.
-Wrestlemania 21 was the first in a series of burials that continued until this year. Randy Orton was the victim, as he had the charisma tombstoned right out of him. He would sadly never get it back.
-Dave Batista came into Wrestlemania 23 the face of the WWE and it’s World Champion, he left after his match with Undertaker a buried, broken man. It came as no surprise that he left the company shortly after because his career was never the same. Notice a trend?
-Wrestlemania 25 and 26 had arguably the best matches in history, as Taker faced off against hall of famer Shawn Michaels in both events. Unfortunately, Undertaker was unwilling to do the right thing and put Shawn over, something that the legendary HBK would never dream of doing to someone.
-Mania’s 27 and 28 featured a familiar foe in Triple H. Unfortunately, as hard as Hunter worked to climb back to the top of the company, it wasn’t enough as Undertaker buried him again. Twice. Triple H was never the same and stopped wrestling full-time after Wrestlemania 28.
-Wrestlemania 29 against CM Punk was probably the only match Undertaker should have won. Punk was an overrated performer and was never really over with the audience. The only baffling part about this match is why Punk was even on the card in the first place.
These are only some of the matches, but as you can see, The Streak was anything but “legendary.” It was nothing more than an overrated attempt at sports immortality that failed miserably. Now we can only hope that the man once known as The Phenom goes away for good. WWE has too much young talent, and he won’t stop until he buries them all.
