The Undertaker

[Mr Lawrence]

As it's Wrestlemania i thought it would be appropiate to do a thread about The Dead Man.

One of my all time favourites. Anyway what is your favourite Undertaker..........

 

1 - Match - Hell In Cell V Mankind

2 - Look or Image - Mine would be the 1999 personicfication of evil, MOD UNDERTAKER

3 - Theme Music - Would also be 1999 - see link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1nCCBGwd3I...feature=related

4 - Best WM Match - V Shawn WM 25

5 - Feud - Kane, the WM 14 build up was immense

6 - Moment - Hell in Cell - leading Mankind through that match

over to you.

[The Cum Doctor]

1. Match - Shawn Michaes at Wrestlemania XXVI

2. Look or image - the first early 90s look

3. Theme music - The music that he had around the time of Summerslam 1998 was awesome.

4. Best WM Match - See #1

5. Fued - the first Mankind fued.

6. Moment - Tossing Mankind off of the cage and then just standing there looking down at the carnage.

[ThePhenom]

Match: Vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 25

Look: 1990- 1994 Original

Theme: 1995- 1998

Best WM Match: Vs Shawn Michaels - Wrestlemania 25

Feud: Vs Paul Bearer 1996- 1998

Moment: Returning at Judgment Day 2000 as the American Badass

[Sexy Dad]

I think I might have a different opinion to a lot of fans as I started watching WWE in 1999 and didn't see much of Taker during this period so that first extensive viewing of the Deadman was as the American Badass. I'm going to base the answers on his career as I viewed it and not refer back to old dvds which I didn't see the first time round as the experience doesn't compare to watching something unfold which hasn't been spoilt.

 

1. Match - Shawn Michaes at Wrestlemania 25 with the Summerslam 2008 HITC with Edge a close second.

2. Look or image - The American Badass circa May 2000, before the ginger became obvious and later the haircut.

3. Theme music - Rollin'. Obviously its extremely unfitting when compared to the Deadman pre 2000 and post 2003 but I loved it at the time.

4. Best WM Match - WM25-Shawn Michaels. WM17 vs HHH in second

5. Fued - Randy Orton in 2005

6. Moment - The incredible dive at WM25

[CleetusVanDamme]

1. Match - HIAC Bad Blood

2. Look or image - 2004-now

3. Theme music - The Ministry one with the gibberish at the start

4. Best WM Match - WM 26 vs HBK or WM23 vs Batista

5. Fued - Batista 07

6. Moment - Return at WM20.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

1-Match: Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker - Hell in the Cell - Badd Blood 1997

2-Look or Image: Big Evil - Undertaker 2002

3-Music:

4-Best WM Match: Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania 25

5. Fued: Kane 1997-1998

6. Moment: Hell in the Cell vs Mankind where he just stands there looking through the hole in the cage as Mankind is lying prone on the canvis below:

 

I've always liked the Undertaker, throughout all his incarnations if I'm honest. And if someone brings his name up the first image that pops into my head is the grey gloved original. But as far as enjoyment, I really liked him in 2002. He was having good matches throughout the year with everyone from Ric Flair to Jeff Hardy to RVD to The Rock, and he was never better on the mic than during that era. Its a shame he's so limited to that character, because he's brilliant on the stick.

[TheBigBoot]

Taker is a guy who I always liked but over the years has grown into one of my favourites.

 

1. Match - Tough one. As far as opponents go I probably liked his matches with Yokozuna (yes, I thought they had good chemistry), Diesel, Mankind, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam (their Raw match might have been the highlight of RVD's in-ring career), Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Batista and Edge best. Since it is "favourite" rather than "best" I'll go for the match against Kurt Angle on the 4th September, 2003 episode of SmackDown! that a few people on here were calling his best the week it happened (and provided an interesting reference point to the Iron Man match the next week).

2. Look or image - SummerSlam '94 repackage job where the grey bits became purple. Really I think he's always looked the business in just about every role he's had since he became The Undertaker. Funnily enough wasn't a fan of the initial American Badass (or American Fatass as people liked to call him) look that thesimonbegz liked best but I thought the Biker thing picked up once he lost some weight and started having good matches again.

3. Theme music - Summer 1998 to early 1999 (i.e. the pre-Ministry theme).

4. Best WM Match - Vs. Edge, WrestleMania XXIV. Again almost certainly not the "best" but this is probably the one I enjoyed watching back the most.

5. Fued - Vs. Mankind 1996-98, for two years they were either feuding or they kept that it the background and they had great chemistry together. If it was purely on in-ring stuff then I'd say him and Michaels were impossible to beat. If it was just in terms of angles/promos then I thought him against Kane was mostly fun (I even enjoyed their feud last year). But in terms of the overall stuff that makes up a feud (matches plus angles, promos, characters, etc.) I thought Mankind was the feud that reignited his career, helped Foley get over in WWF after two years away from the mainstream, and was the first step in establishing Taker's rep as a worker.

6. Moment - Babyface turn on Jake Roberts on the Funeral Parlor.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Favourite ever wrestler.

 

1 - Match - Hell in a Cell vs. Shawn Michaels at Bad Blood 97.

 

2 - Look or Image - I'd go for the 1997-1998 'teardrop on the face' period - his look before it evolved into the full-on MOD look of '99.

 

3 - Theme Music - I'm going for circa 97 for this too. Not just for the music but for the atmosphere around it. When they cut to the arena shots of all those lighters coming on as the death march played - it's unbeatable. Absolutely unbeatable.

 

I also liked the Limp Bizkit one. I still know the words to that song because of Undertaker...

 

4 - Best WM Match - The first one that comes to mind is actually the HHH match at X-Seven, but I also really like the Batista match from WM23 (my favourite of any Batista match).

 

That's not to discount the WM25 Michaels match, the Kane match from XIV, and ... erm ... Taker vs. Diesel from WM12, which, yeah, wasn't great, but was better than it had any right to be.

 

Oh, the Flair match from X-8 and the Edge match from WM24 as well. The latter was overshadowed by Michaels-Flair but was bloody good.

 

But I'd go for the HHH or Batista matches if I had to pick from those.

 

5 - Feud - Not a feud with one particular person as such, but I loved Taker's 'Big Evil/Decade of Destruction' heel turn in 2001-2002 where he went around demanding respect and beating up people for not respecting him. Stand-out matches with RVD and Jeff Hardy during that run, more great music, a good look, and that episode of SmackDown where he Tombstoned Rock on a car roof.

 

6 - Moment - there's the aforementioned lighters in the '97 period, and the motorbike racing down the ramp at WM X-Seven as 'Rollin' plays, which are both worth considering.

 

But the top moment for me, by a long long way, has got to be his top rope dive in the Inferno Match with Kane. The match tends to get shat on by some, but I enjoyed it way more than the WM match. And that dive, with Taker flying over the top and landing on Kane and Vader as the flames erupt ... it's just magic. Spectacular. When he does things like that, it's hard to remember that's a 6'10" well-built guy flying over the ropes like that. They call him the Phenom for a reason... I'm a total Taker fanboy, I know, but fuck it, I don't care, he's awesome.

 

The moment I talk about starts at about 2:05 on this video.

[The Natural]

Undertaker's one of my all time favourites:

 

1. Match: vs. Shawn Michaels (Hell in a Cell), Badd Blood 1997

2. Look or Image: Survivor Series 1990 - Royal Rumble 1994

3. Theme Music: Survivor Series 1990 - Royal Rumble 1994

4. Best WM Match: vs Shawn Michaels, WrestleMania 25 (though I love the Batista match at WrestleMania 23)

5. Feud: vs. Batista in 2007

6. Moment: The Undertaker looking at the damage he inflicted on Mankind at King of the Ring 1998.

[Mr Lawrence]

when i started the thread, there was about 3 or 4 different answers i could have gave for each one. That shows what a talent he is. Totally agree with IHH when he mentions his interviews, 2002 was a golden era - Shit i just forgot. I thought his best moment was when he drove his bike with hogan hogtied to te back, that was hilarious.

[Arch Stanton]

At the time, I was absolutely mad for his American Badass gimmick. I was going to post the clip of him debuting that gimmick at the end of Judgment Day 2000, but this clip from Raw the following night is even better. I thought Taker was cool as fuck back then and all his theme tunes from the biker era were great. I love Kid Rock's American Badass, but Rollin' and Dead Man Walking were equally mint for the character he was playing. I remember playing as him all the time on WWF No Mercy, jobbing everyone out to Last Rides.

[Super Cena]

At the time, I was absolutely mad for his American Badass gimmick. I was going to post the clip of him debuting that gimmick at the end of Judgment Day 2000, but this clip from Raw the following night is even better. I thought Taker was cool as fuck back then and all his theme tunes from the biker era were great. I love Kid Rock's American Badass, but Rollin' and Dead Man Walking were equally mint for the character he was playing. I remember playing as him all the time on WWF No Mercy, jobbing everyone out to Last Rides.

 

This.

 

The guy's a legend, easily amongst the top 10 most iconic wrestlers ever.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

There really is no better gaming experience than beating the fuck out of someone with the Undertaker on SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth. There was a mode where you could walk the streets beating the shit out of the roster who happened to be knocking about and you won by knockout. I remember spending my days off at college trawling through the streets finding the likes of Lance Storm, Scotty To Hotty and Raven on street corners and giving them dreaded Undertaker combos. It went, punches, running clothesline, chokeslam, tombstone, Last Ride and finish them off with his Dragon Sleeper which he did at the time. It was awesome.

[Vito]

I really wish that he'd never switched back to zombie mode, I enjoyed him when he was a prick biker who beat people up for "disrespecting" him. At least his MMA flirting offense actually made sense, now he's a zombie wizard who acts like a part time UFC fighter.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I remember there was a suggestion back in 2003 that Undertaker was planning on doing the Great Muta gimmick, where when the occassion demands it he'd turn into the Dead Man every 6 months or so, but still do the Biker for most of the year. How do you lot think that would work?