This is the worst match, I've ever been in...

[tiger_rick]

So we take someone who has had a cracking career and point out the worst match they've even been in. The absolute height of shitarsery from someone who should be or would be far, far better than this.

 

The Undertaker

 

This should be a good one. He's had several matches, most notably WrestleMania main events, that were over and above the 5* snowflake scale. But he's also had plenty of utter DUD's. A lot due to the character he was portraying in his early WWF days but often due to the utter shite he has been expected to work with.

 

Here's my pick:

 

WWF WrestleMania 15 - Undertaker vs. Big Bossman

 

There was just nothing about this match that wasn't the drizzling shits. Starting with the fact that the Bossman was nowhere near Undertaker's level at this point (he didn't even make the video cover!). The Ministry vs. Corporation feud was hokey stuff but in terms of matches, only Triple H (or Vince) were opponents worth of opposing 'Taker.

 

This match was majorly low key and attaching the really successful Hell In A Cell gimmick to it hurt the gimmick rather than adding anything to the match. It was a dire effort between a really broken down Undertaker and a past-it Bossman. I've no idea to this day what the hanging at the end was supposed to achieve. It was an ugly visual that made no sense because Bossman would have died. Of course it all became irrelevant - or more irrelevant than it was already - when the Corporate Ministry was formed.

 

WrestleMania 15 really was a shit show. Easily up there with my least favourite WrestleManias.

 

Previous: #2 - Steve Austin #1 - Randy Savage

[bAzTNM#1]

I thought Undertaker's match with Ken Shamrock at a PPV in 1999 was absolutely awful. Shame really. It went on forever too.

[Scott Malbranque]

Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales - WM9

Heidenreich vs Taker - Casket Match from a Royal Rumble sometime the guts of ten year ago.

Taker vs Taker

[darkship]

The Bossman match was kind of Russo at his worst - gimmick match thrown in for no reason in a midcard match where one of the participants had no chance of winning, combined with illogical spots and a daft close.

 

In terms of snowflakes, the Gonzalez WM9 match wasn't exactly an Arctic drift.

 

It probably doesn't belong up there with these two matches, but I hated the Buried Alive match with Vince. Just an endless boring beatdown followed by a swerve finish.

[Chest Rockwell]

I'm sorry I have to say this, but I thought his match with Lesnar this year was pitiful. Two big men hugging and falling on each other for an extended period.

 

 

It doesn't matter though, because of the outcome and the reaction that match could never qualify for this list.

 

A different Brock match though....

 

Undertaker vs Big Show & Brock handicap match on Smackdown, Oct 2003

 

Fucking rubbish.*

 

 

 

* I will caveat this with the fact that I haven't watched it since it first aired and the main reason it made me so angry at the time is because despite Heyman's numerous interventions 'Taker still won.

[Scott Malbranque]

It doesn't matter though, because of the outcome and the reaction that match could never qualify for this list.

 

Aye, I completely understand, but what preceded the finish and reaction was absolute muck.

It'll go down as his most famous match now - up there with his HBK & Foley HIAC's, and what not - but it really was a dreadful watch for 99% of it's allocated time.

[The Reverend]

That match with Kamala at Summerslam '92 - awesome entrance on the back of the hearse but otherwise a truly shit match. As was the casket match from Survivor Series the same year between them. It's a shame by this time Kamala was basically a backward gimp and the WWF was geared towards kids. In Texas and Memphis Kamala was a bloodletting savage - now they could've had a nice match brutal match with lots of colour.

[Van Dammer]

I hated Taker as a kid for the simple reason that he had shocking matches due to that methodically slow deadman style that he had. Matches with the likes of King Kong Bundy, Kama, IRS, Yokozuna, himself(!) and many others. Watching those matches as a kid was like having this unbearable headache that just wouldnt stop. They all followed exactly the same formula which was worse. Fortunately he perked up a year or two later, mainly thanks to Mankind.

[Vamp]

I haven't seen it in forever but the Undertaker vs Dudley Boyz main event handicap match at Great American Bash 2004 was a pretty dull affair (from what I remember). There's somewhat of a qualifier to this nod, I don't remember the match being actively bad (although it mright have been) but I do remember it being a completely uninspired affair. To be fair to the competitors it's the booking that's pitiful here. A handicap match is not a match type well suited to a main event, they were three guys who weren't particularly inspired at the time (unsurprisingly) and the whole reason for the match existing, which was Undertaker trying to save Paul Bearer from being buried alive was rather negated when Undertaker decided he'd kill him anyway because... I'm not really sure why he did it to tell the truth. I've no idea what any of that was about really. Oddly despite the whole thing sounding mental, I seem to remember it all being a plodding affair. There's room in my wrestling viewing for madness but it's gotta be exciting on the surface level if it's got nothing underneath.

[wandshogun09]

Maybe not his absolute worst match (the Giant Gonzales matches in '93 probably hold that honour) but the Triple H match from King Of The Ring in 2002 has to be up there for me. Awful, boring as fuck stuff from two of the best. Just came at a time when they were both out of form. When you look at the fantastic matches they had years later, it really highlights the rough patch they were going through at the time.

 

The Austin match at Backlash the same year wasn't any better. Aside from the Flair match at WrestleMania, Taker had a really shit first half of 2002 from what I remember. Although he picked up over the summer with the Jeff Hardy match on Raw and some good stuff with Cena and Lesnar.

[Reznor]

In Texas and Memphis Kamala was a bloodletting savage - now they could've had a nice match brutal match with lots of colour.

That would've just been out of place, and out of character. It's the Undertaker, not Terry Funk. At that time, we weren't even supposed to be sure he had blood running through his veins.

 

I quite liked the Kamala series for what it was. They were all about the spectacle. Don't go looking at it as a wrasslin' afficionado and it's entertaining enough. One match I did hate was Bundy at WM11. That was a waste of time. Little more than a placeholder to setup a Kama match a whole 5 months down the line, prolonged a dire feud v a dire stable, and the 5-10 minutes of 'action' had nothing memorable about it, apart from Bundy being too much of a pussy to take a finisher.

 

I also hated his match at the Albert hall, because Duggan. He ensured that everything looked shit, and even though it was only a matter of weeks away from Taker winning the world title, he still wouldn't put him over, and actually came out of it looking stronger. As has been discussed on here before, the protection he got was just insane.

[BullyRayStoleMyKitKat]

I hated Taker as a kid for the simple reason that he had shocking matches due to that methodically slow deadman style that he had. Matches with the likes of King Kong Bundy, Kama, IRS, Yokozuna, himself(!) and many others. Watching those matches as a kid was like having this unbearable headache that just wouldnt stop. They all followed exactly the same formula which was worse. Fortunately he perked up a year or two later, mainly thanks to Mankind.

 

 

See, watching them at the time, his presence was enough for me to love him as much as I always have

 

It's only later on, as he moved to a quicker pace, that I was thinking "What the hell? Imagine if we had THAT Undertaker against Hogan, and instead of the rest of his slow big man period?"

 

I don't feel cheated, because his body of work and dedication to the cause usurps everything in my opinion. But I can't help but wonder what might have been.

[The Cum Doctor]

The Austin Backlash match would be an easy one for me to just reel out again. Certainly, the fact that it wasn't even The Undertaker's worst PPV match of 2002 says a lot.

 

That bad boy occurred at King of the Ring, when he faced Triple H in a complete monstrosity if a match. Although that said, it was more down to the shenanigans, which is one of the worst examples of overbooking I've seen. I thought it was fairly poor before that, probably on the same dull as shit levels of the Austin match, but then the other stuff wound up dragging it into a new level.

[King Pitcos]

Maybe not his absolute worst match (the Giant Gonzales matches in '93 probably hold that honour) but the Triple H match from King Of The Ring in 2002 has to be up there for me. Awful, boring as fuck stuff from two of the best. Just came at a time when they were both out of form. When you look at the fantastic matches they had years later, it really highlights the rough patch they were going through at the time.

I know Triple H gets a bad rap performance-wise for most of that year (the only 2002 matches of his I can remember liking are SummerSlam vs Michaels, and the first Elimination Chamber was alright), but right after that King of the Ring match, Undertaker had cracking bouts with Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and The Rock. It was like after WrestleMania X8, he just went crap for a few months with Austin, Hogan and Triple H, then that KotR match lit a fire under him.

[tiger_rick]

Although he picked up over the summer with the Jeff Hardy match on Raw

I've never liked that match. Lots seem to and it was one of JR's great commentaries but I thought Jeff Hardy was rubbish in it. His selling and climbing of ladders was so inconsistent it just killed it. There should have been a ton of emotion as he was striving to climb the ladder and take the World Title but the fact he kept going from skipping around to suddenly struggling to climb got on my nerves. Never re-watched it though.

 

 

One match I did hate was Bundy at WM11. That was a waste of time. Little more than a placeholder to setup a Kama match a whole 5 months down the line, prolonged a dire feud v a dire stable, and the 5-10 minutes of 'action' had nothing memorable about it, apart from Bundy being too much of a pussy to take a finisher.

Good call. That was absolutely shit. Bundy was pretty much a massive mannequin at that point.