Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: Taker Has Earned My Respect
By Dr. CMV1
Apr 9, 2011 - 9:04:51 PM

The Undertaker is a legend in the business of professional wrestling. I often find it hard to believe that he’s been around as long as he has. I’m in my late twenties and I’ve been watching the Deadman since I was six years old. Excitedly, I recall his most recent match – just this past Sunday at Wrestlemania XXVII in Atlanta – with Triple H in a performance that I will honestly never forget. I was there live and their match exceeded my fairly lofty expectations. It got me to thinking about how it had been, now, five straight years that Taker arguably stole the show at Wrestlemania. Not only had the continuation of the Streak helped catapult him to truly iconic status, but his performances were of such high quality that he quietly now finds himself in the argument for being one of the greatest wrestlers ever. Most wrestlers already referred to him as one of the greats in history before that streak within the Streak. I wonder what they think of him now? After five straight four-star or better performances and one that’s quickly entered “best match of all-time” discussions, Taker is on another level that very few in WWE lure join him on.

I wrote a column series a while back called the Misters Wrestlemania, detailing the best of the best into three tiers of Mania performers. Taker was in there, but he had so many bad matches early in his Mania career that it seemed to outweigh a lot of the good. I’m not sure I didn’t miss the boat on that one, to be honest. When you look back all the way to 1991 and Mania VII in LA, when Taker defeated Jimmy Snuka…The Deadman was winning squash matches, but doing so in very impressive fashion. To see the moves that a man of his size was doing, I thought was unreal. And the presence!? Bobby Heenan made reference to it in an interview. As he became more popular and pushed to the top, he got saddled with a dose of crap and bad luck. He missed out on Wrestlemania X a year after being put up against one of the biggest wastes of space in wrestling history in Giant Gonzalez. When he returned to the Show of Shows for Mania XI, he was put with King Kong Bundy – a very small Bundy compared to before.

He had a damn good match with Diesel in 1996 that showed that he was capable of stepping it up at Mania. He managed an OK match the next year while winning the title for the first time, but he got put against Sycho Sid. He was not much. I loved his match with Kane at Mania XIV, but even that wasn’t THAT good. Big Bossman was on deck for 1999; God bless him, he just wasn’t a worker. Taker had to miss Mania 2000 with an injury. And that seemed to be the turning point. Taker loosened up quite a bit when he came back as the Biker Taker. He allowed himself to be human and it reflected in his ring work. He sold better, so his matches had some new elements. He and Triple H produced a very nice piece of work at WM X-Seven in Houston, one that many call a top 25 caliber match in Mania history. I wouldn’t go that far, but it was a definite improvement and his best Mania match to that date. I think that really showed off the potential of what he was truly capable of at Mania…that he had it in him to be a show stealer.

I thought his work at Mania X-8 with Ric Flair was just as impressive, despite not being quite as good a match as the Trips-Taker bout. Flair was tough to carry thanks to a lack of confidence, but Taker helped him through a damn near show stealing match. Rock and Hogan topped them, but they still did great. Taker didn’t have much to work with in the ill-fated push of Nathan Jones. Taker did well with Show and A-Train, but it was just an awkward handicap match. Then he had a theatrical re-entry into the Deadman character that many thought he should end his career with. The second match with Kane was not nearly as good as the first. They didn’t get much time to work with. I wonder if he’ll ever mention how he felt about that in a book if he ever writes one. He got back on track to where he was at Mania X-7 and X-8 with what he was able to do with Randy Orton in 2005. That was the first match where someone really went after the Streak…where the Streak was really built into a strong recurring storyline. Orton needed a good performance and Taker helped him tremendously both that night and the rest of that year. It built Orton into a consistent World title contender.

In classic Taker fashion, a little bad luck prevented his 2006 MOTY contender with Kurt Angle at No Way Out (I rated it ****1/2) to make it to Mania. Instead, an injury to Batista led Angle to win the title and defend against Rey Mysterio and Orton at Mania (they wanted Orton in the title match). Taker was put on the hook to wrestle Mark Henry – and amazingly dragged a watchable match out of that oaf. Perhaps it was fitting that it would be an injury to Batista that robbed Taker of a Mania classic w/ Angle. The next year, Taker would begin his ascent back to the championship scene at Mania. Streak vs. Title. First, though, he began a feud that would lead to a future classic series with Shawn Michaels during that year’s Royal Rumble, last eliminating HBK after a thrilling 8-minute sequence. Taker won the Rumble and chose Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion, as his next Streak victim. Batista was a big star during this last era and he was a truly legit threat to the Streak. Taker ended up winning the title, but also the utmost respect of millions of people who saw him steal the show at Mania 23. He and Batista had a great match that shattered expectations. It was arguably the most impressive performance of Taker’s career, to that point. That’s where the streak within the Streak began. With Batista. At Mania 23.

The following year, Taker was set for a feud with Edge at Wrestlemania XXIV in Orlando. Before he got that, he had a little continuation of his budding story with Shawn Michaels in the Royal Rumble again. They started as the first two entrants and took turns trying to eliminate each other for the next thirty-minutes. Taker was poised to take back the World title that Edge took from him in the birth of his Ultimate Opportunist character. It was Edge’s first WM main-event and he was noticeably pumped up to get that chance. To many people’s surprise, they went on last that year amidst heavy competition from some other huge matches. Many will say that HBK stole the show in Ric Flair’s final match, but others like myself will add a qualifier that Taker vs. Edge was still the BEST match. Taker went onto a series of matches with Edge that solidified Edge for years to come and prompted a run of 4 straight title matches for the Rated R Superstar. And then 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania rolled around…

April 5, 2009 will always be remembered by wrestling fans as the night in Houston where Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had one of the greatest matches of all-time. The story that they told was just unbelievable and arguably redefined what it takes to have the best match ever. The storytelling in that 30-minute masterpiece is so elaborate and authentic. It’s no surprise that matches here recently rely on more imaginative stories than were necessary to be told before it. Most of the wrestling critics hailed it FIVE STARS. I have come around to that rating, as the match ages like a fine wine. Every time I have watched it, it has gotten better than the time before. It’s like I’m watching things that I initially assumed were flaws and slight botches as things that are seemingly done with precise purpose. The match that they had the next year, where Michaels was forced to put his Career on the line, was a great match in its own right. It wasn’t quite as good, but it was still an amazing piece of work. Those two matches may go down as the best series of matches in Wrestlemania history when all is said and done.

That brings us full circle back to the present and coming off the Taker vs. Triple H match from a few days ago. I personally went into it with a guarantee that it would be the show stealing match, but I did not think it would be THAT good. The story involved was fantastic, with Triple H doing an awesome job in his role and perhaps solidifying his own legacy as one of the all-time greats. Right from the start with Trips coming out to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and continuing with the hard hitting and intense first 10-mintues of the match, Taker and Trips went to another gear that most of the guys on the current roster don’t have yet. Triple H took over and really carried the last 10-minutes, but Taker sold it all beautifully. The moment where Trips, despite being goozled, shook his head “No” and gave Taker the Tombstone was an unreal moment for me. There seems to be some talk of a potential rematch at next year’s Mania and if that is the case then I think it’s great, for to not have a follow up to that would be a shame.

20-0 would be the record of the Streak should Taker win again next year and there’s a lot of speculation that it could be his final match. That could be just speculation, but his body is reportedly as broken down as it’s ever been and continuing any further may result in an even more dire post-wrestling surgical list. If it does turn out to be the final time that we see him, then I want to have said long in advance that he will retire as one of the best to have ever stepped foot in the ring, in large part thanks to the run of matches that he’s had in the last 5 years. People talk about HBK being Mr. Wrestlemania and I’m certainly one of them, but the Streak is ultimately going to be just as fondly reflected upon.

Long LIVE the DEADman…