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15. The Undertaker
Score: 152
# of Lists: 11
First Place Votes: 1, paulg

Writeup: Steiner

The Undertaker, more than anything else, is the greatest gimmick in wrestling history. It would have been very easy for The Dead Man to be a one note act with a five-year shelf life, starting as a monster for Hogan to knock down then falling to the midcard. A controversial title victory against Hogan before losing it back days later was itself further than even Vince Jr. would ever go with such a cartoonish character before. So it was unfathomable that The Undertaker would go on to be a constant presence in the main event scene for 20 years, and become interwoven with WWE lore in a way few are just the fact that the gimmick endured for so long (biker phase notwithstanding) is a testament to both Mark Callaway and the WWFs commitment to a character that wouldnt have worked nearly as well in any other setting, or with any other performer.

When the Undertaker debuted in 1990, cartoon characters were par for the course in the WWF. He fit right in this era, alongside the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage but, despite showing some flairs of athleticism, early in his career he rarely had a match worth speaking of, as he was often across the ring from luminaries such as Mabel, King Kong Bundy and of course, Giant Gonzales. While he would occasionally be a title challenger in this period, even his first encounter with Bret Hart didnt produce anything too memorable.

Enter 1996, along with two happenings which would alter the trajectory of the Undertakers career. The first, and most obvious, was the signing of Mick Foley, who would debut as the Mankind character. As usual, the newest Dark and Mysterious character in the WWF would go after The Undertaker but, unlike in previous cases, Mankind brought magic from the Undertaker in the ring (or, indeed, the Boiler Room). Undertaker and Mankind would feud through 96, producing all of Undertakers best matches to date. It was later in the year though that the second change occurred one you would have expected to spell doom for the Undertaker. The WWF began to shift in presentation, offering an edgier product with more realistic characters. While there were some remnants of previous eras in the mid and lower cards, the cartoon tones were largely gone from the main events by now and with characters like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart at the top of the card, the Dead Man could have easily started to feel out of place.

For whatever reason though, the opposite happened. The Undertaker flourished in this new environment, and while surrounded on the show by Steve Austins rise to the top as a pissed off wild badass and Shawn Michaels and Bret Harts extremely real rivalry, fans were also willing to buy into the lore that developed around the Undertaker in this period, as Paul Bearer would reveal his backstory and hype the debut of the Kane character for months. This would all play into one of WWFs finest hours at Badd Blood in 1997, Undertaker would far exceed even his best previous work as he met Shawn Michaels in the first ever Hell in a Cell match. The match is a masterpiece not just from a workrate perspective and psychology perspective, it also ends with the debut of Kane which, thanks to the months of buildup, got a monstrous reaction and must go down as one of the best debuts of all time.

Kane would go on to be an integral part of the Undertakers career, and the two would share many of the WWFs most iconic moments both as opponents and as partners. Its while sharing the screen with Kane that The Undertaker is at his wackiest and most supernatural vanishing from burning coffins, firing lightning with a point of his finger, so on and so forth. But for whatever reason, despite the changing wrestling business in the late 90s, audiences lapped up all of this. Youll struggle to find a fan of the late 90s WWF who cant tell you intricate details of Undertaker and Kanes backstory. Theres nothing else approaching this fantastical at the time, and it really is testament to everybody involved that it was received as well as it was.

Its incredible then, that a character to whom the story, gimmick and all the other trappings around It was so important, was able to disappear in 99 and return as The American Bad Ass, Biker Taker. Its tough to say the Deadman character had outlasted its welcome considering hed be back to it in under 4 years, for another 16 years from that point but the Biker character did add new dimensions to the playbook of the Undertaker. A more important thing happened during this era though the first mention of The Streak.

Now, to fact check that a little bit JR had mentioned Undertaker being undefeated at Wrestlemania at least as early as WM12 vs. Diesel, but it really started to be something they would promote the match around with Ric Flair, as Taker hit 10-0 at Wrestlemania 18. The next decade after this is, to me, the most important of Undertakers career, and the reason hes deserving of this spot. The man could and should have only wrestled once per year and would have had as much impact on WWEs business as anybody they had as a centerpiece star of that period. For the 10 years of The Streak from Mania 20-30, it was The Undertakers match that made the show special. It was this same time period that Wrestlemania became the supershow we know it as today while it had been WWFs biggest show, it hadnt been the year defining spectacle wed come to know today. I would argue now that WWEs business shifted to be far more focused on Wrestlemania than it had in the 90s and none of that happens without The Undertaker match as a cornerstone of each one. The proof lies in what has come since Has any Mania really felt like a Wrestlemania since Lesnar ended the streak at Mania 30?

And besides the impact on the business lets just look at some of those matches. Most will probably circle his last 5 wins HBK, HBK, Triple H, Triple H, and CM Punk. Id like to at least stretch that back a further two years to include Edge and Batista. Id argue all 7 of these would be in the upper echelons of Wrestlemania matches ever with the top few of these being the favourites for greatest ever. In fact, Im fairly sure the Michaels match at 25 is the consensus greatest WWF/E match of all time and if not its splitting hairs with the winner.

The Undertaker isnt for me never has been. Im not into magic zombies, urns, lightning, caskets and all the rest. I like wrestling where one guy is a wrestler and the other guy is also a wrestler and theyre going to wrestle each other. But in Vince McMahons absurdist world of sports entertainment, The Undertaker is a part of the fabric. When you look at everything Ive put to you here and, please, consider that Hulk Hogan was made before he ever came to the WWF I think my closing argument to you is this: The Undertaker is Vince McMahons greatest creation.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x51u6mw; The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (October 5, 1997)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x50cdbp; The Undertaker vs. Mankind (June 28, 1998)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy9fsz; The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle (February 19, 2006)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgASnGbbKn8; The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (April 5, 2009)

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Maniac64