The Streak started at Wrestlemania XII – that was in March 1991. 19 years passed since then, accompanied by 18 wins of a single man against 16 different opponents. The only two men The Undertaker faced twice at Wrestlemania were his storyline-brother Kane (XIV and XX) and Shawn Michaels (XXV and XXVI). Another interesting fact is that no one has participated in as many Wrestlemanias as The Undertaker has.
It seems The Undertaker is unbeatable. But the question if he will ever lose or retire undefeated is still there. Because, honestly, who could defeat the Deadman at Wrestlemania? And, more importantly, who could defeat The Undertaker at Wrestlemania and survive?
That’s the problem with the Streak: Whoever defeats Undertaker at Wrestlemania will most likely receive the biggest push of his lifetime. The Streak his legendary, something that survived in the business for nearly two decades – and It’s still going. Wrestling changes constantly and currently we have arrived in a time were title regains are outstanding when they last more than half a year. Nothing lasts as long as it did in the past; that includes feuds, pushes and winning streaks. The only thing you could count on when watching the last few Wrestlemanias were two things: that The Undertaker would and win and that Shawn Michaels would put up one hell of a show. Now Michaels has retired. The only men people believed could beat the Deadman at his own game lost. Twice.
So whomever you send in there to defeat the Undertaker has to carry a heavy burden on his shoulders. He will have to live up to having beaten the man who never lost at Wrestlemania before. Because Undertaker defeated Randy Orton, Batista, Triple H, Shawn Michaels … the one who wins against him effectively has to be better than all of them to actually win and that borders on impossible.
Vince could try to use the Streak to give an über-push to a young wrestler he wants to make into a main eventer fast. But this could go very wrong very fast. Letting a no-name win against The Undertaker would be plain suicide. The fans love the Streak and they would not take seeing Undertaker lose to some wannabe kid kindly. Bottom line: Whichever rookie defeats the Deadman will be hated for all of his life – for sure. And I don’t mean the good heel heat but the fuck-off-loser-throwing-things-in-ring kind of heat. There may be a chance for this to work, but it’s about 2% and that’s not worth gambling for.
Even if the WWE would book some established guy to win against The Undertaker it most likely still wouldn’t work. Because really, he is The Undertaker. He is a veteran, the veteran – the only guy remaining from the good ‘ol days. Yes, there’s still Triple H but he is not the same as ‘Taker. Because the Undertaker has been there forever. Wrestling without the Undertaker will be even worse than Wrestling without Shawn Michales – because only when Shawn retired did it fall into place that the Deadman is now the last man standing, so to speak. Losing him will be hard for the business.
After I said all this there are four guys I think could survive to win against the Undertaker career-wise. Two of them would for sure and two are shaky candidates. The four men we are talking about are Kane, Triple H, John Cena and Chris Jericho.
Before anyone starts to object, let me explain first.
Kane has fought the Undertaker many times before. The two of them have a history together what isn’t the worst thing to build a Wrestlemania match upon. Kane is a veteran who would survive to win for sure without being booed forever. He however already lost twice against the Deadman at Wrestlemania – but hey, they say the third time is the charm.
Triple H too fought against the Undertaker at Wrestlemania before but that was looong ago (I admit, I had to look this one up. It was in 2001). Like Kane he is a veteran and even if some people would not like him winning against the Undertaker most would still accept it. But Triple H is in for a feud with Sheamus and a heel turn (I revert to that later on).
John Cena is without doubt the face of the company. I am however still unsure about the fact whether the fans would accept him winning over the Undertaker nor not. The kids may love him but many adults don’t and there are a lot of people who criticize his wrestling-ability. Ending the Streak could be Cena’s downfall and that would be bad for the company.
Chris Jericho some of you probably didn’t expect in this list. But he has been in the business for 20 years now – that’s more than twice as long as Cena and longer than both Kane and Triple H. He proved that he can deliver good matches against all kinds of opponents and while the kids probably wouldn’t be happy with him winning I don’t think the same applies to the older fans.
Now something about what a match has to have for the Deadman to lose.
First of all there is the question if a rematch of any sort would be a good idea. Why would someone win against the Undertaker when he already lost once (or twice in Kane’s case)? Everyone knows that there were previous Kane vs. Undertaker matches and not a small number of these. I’m not saying that a match between the Brothers of Destruction couldn’t be great when done right but my trust in the WWE isn’t good enough to believe that they won’t fuck it up. Triple H also had a match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania before but if I hadn’t read it up I honestly wouldn’t know about that one – was it that forgettable? John Cena and Chris Jericho both never faced the Undertaker at Wrestlemania and that, especially in Cena’s case, could be a huge plus. John Cena vs. The Undertaker would be a match many fans would want to see.
Another important fact is if the challenger is a heel or a face. Because we all know that the Deadman is the über-heel, the darkest of them all (as seen in his matches with HBK). So does any heel have the right to win against the Deadman? …yeah, I think there is indeed one, and only one, and that man is Triple H. We all know that his heel turn his long due – he only remained a face as long as he did because of Shawn and DX. He is the only bad guy who is actually bad enough to not lose to the most vicious of them all. Kane is a heel too, but for him it doesn’t matter much in a match with the Undertaker. Their feuds never needed a real face before and this one won’t either. I on the other hand can’t see the heel Jericho winning against Undertaker. He is too much of a coward and not dumb enough to actually fight the Deadman willingly. But the guy seems to be in for a turn anyway. Jericho has been one of the bad guys too long and you notice that the fans want to cheer for him. Plus he is funny no matter on what side he is. Cena is a face and will remain a face – he sells too much merchandise for the WWE to turn him.
The match quality is another valid point to argue about. Because what we saw in the last two years is what the next matches in the Streak have to live up to and I pity the guy who has to try to top the performance Shawn Michaels delivered. I’m honestly not sure if anyone can surpass what they did at Wrestlemania XXV and XXVI but I am sure that John Cena can’t. I don’t hate his in ring performance per se like so many others do but he can never be as good as Shawn Michaels was – hell, he won’t even come close. Cena may have the right vibe for a Streak match but he lacks in the skill area. Triple H is better than Cena no doubt about that but I doubt if he and the Undertaker can actually put up a really breathtaking performance together. Maybe but I wouldn’t vouch for it. Kane and the Deadman have been opponents many times in the past. They know each other and can put up a good match but you have to doubt if you’ll see anything new when they meet at Wrestlemania. That’s not necessarily a bad thing (as we have seen in the second Taker/HBK match) but it has to be considered. Chris Jericho on the other hand is known to be a great in-ring performer. His idol was Shawn Michaels after all and even if he didn’t draw level with him in the skill department he surpassed him promo-wise. Jericho won’t deliver a match as good as Shawn’s but he is as close as you can get in the WWE these days. I can see him and ‘Taker doing a fine match.
Now we have the problem that there isn’t one guy who is outstanding in every division. If I wanted the best match I would go with Jericho, Cena is the one who would bring the best atmosphere, Kane and Triple H both are veterans and wouldn’t have to be afraid of being hated for the (brief) rest of their careers. None of them however has the same feeling as Shawn Michaels and to be honest I don’t want to see any of them winning.
It’s not that I wouldn’t grant them a win against The Undertaker, but … Shawn Michaels put on one hell of a show at Wrestlemania XXV and (at least in my opinion) an even greater one at Wrestlemania XXVI. Mr. Wrestlemania gave everything he had and it still wasn’t enough, he still lost to the Deadman. If Shawn couldn’t win then no one can. It’s as simple as that.
If the Undertaker has to lose I’d go with Chris Jericho as his final opponent. I don’t want to see either Kane or Triple H in that match no matter if they’re his long time rival and the top heel of the company. Cena honestly would make the crowd go nuts about that match, but it would destroy him. He may be the current face of WWE, but The Undertaker is the (last remaining) face of the old WWF in all but name. It’s a lose-lose-situation for John Cena here.
So I think that the Streak should remain as it is: undefeated. After Shawn Michaels there is no one who truly deserves that win as he did. I’m not against another two matches to make it 20:0 but I really hope that I’ll never have to see The Undertaker lose at Wrestlemania – hell, Undertaker wiping the floor with John Cena and having a high quality match against a hilarious Y2J would be epic. I’d kill to watch either one of those two matches. I can see these as Wrestlemania main events in the future. So Jericho and Cena lose in the end – who cares? Shawn Michaels lost too, it ain’t no shame. In the end it’s all about a great match. Let ‘Taker win and retire with the Streak intact, no one will begrudge him for it.
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