The Undertaker: A Twenty Year Legacy
We are quickly approaching WWE’s annual pay-per-view Survivor Series. However this year’s Survivor Series has some meaning. This it will make twenty years since The Undertaker made his debut and what a career it has been. The Undertaker never lost his first match until a year after his debut and that was to Hulk Hogan. He defeated Hogan at Survivor Series 1991 and lost the title back just three days later. In 1991, the Wrestlemania streak began with Jimmy Snuka. That victory marked the end of Snuka’s prime run and the beginning of Undertaker’s. The Undertaker is 18-0 at Wrestlemania and I am sure he’ll try to make it to 20-0. My top 5 favorite Wrestlemania matches of The Undertaker are:
Wrestlemania 14 vs. Kane
Wrestlemania 17 vs. Triple H
Wrestlemania 18 vs. Ric Flair
Wrestlemania 21 vs. Randy Orton
Wrestlemania 25 vs. Shawn Michaels
His matches against Batista and Edge have also been considered classics. The Undertaker has also won the Royal Rumble, 6 time Tag Team Champion, 7 time World Champion, and also held the Hardcore title on one occasion. Some of his best feuds have been with Yokozuna, Mankind, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Diamond Dallas Page, and many others.
My favorite Undertaker match of all time would be the one that most people remember. King of the Ring 1998 when he faced Mankind in Hell in a Cell. It was one of the craziest matches ever. That match changed wrestling as we know it.
The Undertaker has had one person in his career that’s been a very important, and that’s Paul Bearer. His first manager was Brother Love but then WWE realized Paul Bearer would be a better fit for The Undertaker. Bearer has been with him, against him and has returned out of know where just like he did a week ago.
I have not watched a WWE pay-per-view in months but I will tune in to Survivor Series to see what they do with The Undertaker. He has been a very important part to the success WWE has had in the last twenty years. He stayed when people left, he returned when people said he was done, and he has captured the attention of millions of wrestling fans all over the world. He definitely deserves the respect of the fans, his peers and anyone else involved with pro wrestling.
The Undertaker is a legend and when his time is done in the ring, he will be remembered by anyone who ever had the privilege of watching him.
