When did The Streak become relevent?

[bxbigshow]

This is a simple question, when did WWE start acknowledging the streak as a goal to be vanquished?

I don't have the ability to review past Wrestlemainias to try and figure this out but I'm guessing that after the double digit mark the streak became the main story of Undertaker's Wrestlemainia matches outside of actual storytelling.

I could be wrong....go ahead..everyone correct me

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I know he acknowledged his streak as early as his battle with Hunter at WM X-7 (like the poster above me said) but I wouldn't exactly say his streak was relevant until Randy Orton challenged him in 2005 at WM21. This match was the first one that was built on "someone doing the impossible and ending the streak", which quickly became the common theme of every Undertaker WM match after that.

 

[bradland012]

The first time I started to notice WWE acknowledging the streak was once Taker went 10-0 after beating Flair in Wrestlemania X8. Once Taker pinned Flair, Lawler was getting it over on commentary and Taker signaled it on the apron when he was leaving.

After that the streak was mentioned before Mania, started becoming the main goal when Orton started feuding with Taker at Wrestlemania 21.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

The first time I remember it being mentioned was during his entrance at X-7. JR says something like, "Undertaker is a stellar 8-0 at WrestleMania."

Then at X-8, he sat on the ring apron and counted to 10 (to signify 10-0) after he beat Flair. Not sure what was said on commentary because I was at the SkyDome (I've watched it since, but not in a while and don't remember what was said).

But like others have said, I think it became the phenom (no pun intended) that it has become started with WrestleMania 21 against Orton. That match was entirely built up as the Legend Killer trying to kill the ultimate legend and end the undefeated streak. The promo beforehand showed all Taker's victories and ended with the O in Orton standing in for 13-0. Since then, it's been part of the build for every other Taker Mania match.

 

[Weems2k]

Am I the only one that thinks Taker WM streak is overrated, and way overblown? It's wrestling we're talking about here, not anything legit. And it's only for 1 event a year. I wonder what the talk would be if someone like Hogan ever had the WM streak? I'm sure he'd have all the wrestlezone idiots bashing him left, and right for playing politics on the biggest event of the year..blah blah blah.

 

[theBusiness]

As a wrestling fan, the earliest I can REMEMBER them mentioning it was for his match vs. Ric Flair. And like someone said, the first time it felt like "The Streak" match was vs. Randy Orton. But I actually watched the WrestleMania 13 main event a while back and J.R. actually made note of it, which really surprised me. I haven't watched any of his matches before then, so I do not know if they mentioned it at an earlier Mania. But I'm sure the mention of it in 1997 will surprise some people.

 

[#heel420]

Am I the only one that thinks Taker WM streak is overrated, and way overblown? It's wrestling we're talking about here, not anything legit. And it's only for 1 event a year. I wonder what the talk would be if someone like Hogan ever had the WM streak? I'm sure he'd have all the wrestlezone idiots bashing him left, and right for playing politics on the biggest event of the year..blah blah blah.

It's not like Taker made the decision to be undefeated at Wrestlemania. It's a coincidence that he never lost at that event and after so many wins they went with the story of The Streak and made it legendary. Sure it's predetermined but just the fact that someone could go unbeaten at WM for so long is still impressive. And where do you get that he's playing politics to keep it alive? He was the one to propose Kurt Angle and Randy Orton ending the streak, but they didn't want to, out of respect for the deadman.

As for the OP, The first time I remember it being mentioned that he's undefeated was at WM17. The first time Undertaker acknowledged it was WM18 after he beat Flair and counted to 10 to signal the streak.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

Pretty sure when he reached the perfect 10-0 after beating Ric Flair at WrestleMania X8 was the first time it was mentioned, or at least celebrated as an accomplishment. But I do believe him vs Randy Orton at WrestleMania 21 was the first time it was the focus of one of The Undertaker's matches.

 

[GameOver]

already been said but the first time it was acknowledged was WrestleMania 17 against Triple H with the whole "I'll make you famous" bit the following mania against Ric Flair Taker acknowledged it with a 10 finger salute. so really there's you answer 9-0 WrestleMania 17 was the unofficial start and it was the main focus of his Mania matches from WrestleMania 21 onwards so thats 14-0.

he missed WrestleMania 10 and 2000 due to injury so he coulda been 23-0 by now.

 

[GameOver]

Am I the only one that thinks Taker WM streak is overrated, and way overblown? It's wrestling we're talking about here, not anything legit. And it's only for 1 event a year. I wonder what the talk would be if someone like Hogan ever had the WM streak? I'm sure he'd have all the wrestlezone idiots bashing him left, and right for playing politics on the biggest event of the year..blah blah blah.

Hogan did have the first WrestleMania streak, He also had the longest reign as WWF champion since Bob Backlund which still stands today at nearly 3years.

Edge also had a WrestleMania streak of 5-0 when he faced The Undertaker.

and yeah i think you are probably in the minority of people thinking it's overrated it's not about the winning it's the fact that every year it's the best match on the card (well atleast since WrestleMania 17 anyway) prior to that they weren't great

 

[hacksawrowdyhogan]

Hogan did have the first WrestleMania streak, He also had the longest reign as WWF champion since Bob Backlund which still stands today at nearly 3years.

Edge also had a WrestleMania streak of 5-0 when he faced The Undertaker.

and yeah i think you are probably in the minority of people thinking it's overrated it's not about the winning it's the fact that every year it's the best match on the card (well atleast since WrestleMania 17 anyway) prior to that they weren't great

Not much of a streak before he had his "tie" at wmiv. 3-0-1 is a big deal if you were someone that bought into the Chicago Blackhawks earlier in the year that had the over time losses as well. After Wrestlemania VI his streak was over and his record was only 4-1-1. Hogan's over all record is quite impressive, 8-3-1.

 

[tom9422]

Like people have said, it only really became the focus with Orton at WM21. There were probably mentions of not being beaten before that by the commentators, but the long streak until then was most likely coincidental.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Like people have said, it only really became the focus with Orton at WM21. There were probably mentions of not being beaten before that by the commentators, but the long streak until then was most likely coincidental.

this is pretty accurate. in fact, i've been watching the Streak dvd collection this weekend and this is very accurate.

during Taker's Mania 14 match vs. Kane, JR mentioned that Taker had great success at Mania, winning his debut match vs. Snuka, beating Jake the Snake Roberts, even winning the WHC vs. Sid. but it was just in passing that it was mentioned on commentary.

then at Mania 17 vs. Triple H, there was mention that Taker was undefeated and that Triple H was the only heel to ever win the WHC in the main event of Mania, which was Mania 2000 in a fatal fourway match. so that was a part of the build up -- which was more impressive of an accolade? but it was just barely mentioned.

after Mania 18, when Taker beat Flair, as he stood on the ring apron to exit the ring, he counted to 10 on his fingers and help them up to show that he was now a perfect 10-0. King acknowledged this on commentary as well.

both Manias 19 and 20 had the Streak acknowledged much more on commentary, but the Streak was not the storyline going into either match. it was just there in the background.

finally, at Mania 21, Orton, as the Legend Killer, challenged the legend of not only the Undertaker, but the legend of the Mania Streak. this was the first time the Streak was the storyline of Taker's Mania matches. it's been the primary storyline ever since. even looking at Manias 23, 24 and 26 specifically, they were billed as Title vs. Streak, Title vs. Streak and Streak vs. Career matches, respectively.

that's the super long answer. great topic. anything to do with the Streak is always interesting to me.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I think at WrestleMania XIV, Jim Ross acknowledged The Undertaker's streak when he said he had "magnificent success", saying he had defeated Jimmy Snuka, Jake Roberts and Sycho Sid at the previous years event for the WWF Championship. Again, at WrestleMania X-Seven, Jim Ross mentioned The Undertaker was 8-0. At WrestleMania X8, when The Undertaker did the hand gesture, that was when the WWE began to talk about and recognise the streak, but wasn't really anything of relevancy to do with The Undertaker's success.

For me, it became a prominent storyline to The Undertaker's character when Randy Orton faced The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. He was the Legend Killer and wanted to end the streak. The promo's began showing The Undertaker's fallen victims and said that he would go 13-0. This was the first year for me that the streak became relevant. Since then, it has been about beating the streak.

WrestleMania 22 with Mark Henry. WrestleMania 23 and XXIV may have been for the World Heavyweight Championship, but both Batista and Edge had to beat the streak to remain champion. WrestleMania XXV against Shawn Michaels was of course about the streak. WrestleMania XXVI more than ever in Streak vs Career. WrestleMania XXVII and XXVIII were also perfect examples of Triple H wanting to end the streak, and WrestleMania 29 was even better than Triple H's storylines in my opinion, as CM Punk was certain he would become the one in 20-1, especially coming off of a 434 day reign as WWE Champion. He had nothing else to prove, but ending the streak would have been huge for him.

 

[MWRedskins]

have to go with Orton here. I think the streak was known a bit about, but really wasn't the big deal that it was until Orton challenged him claiming that he would do the impossible, kill the legend of the streak. that's when I think it became acknowledged more and more as then people would challenge him an claim they would end the streak.

 

[gooseholla]

Versus Flair. I for one had no doubt that they wouldn't let Flair loose... How wrong I was. After that, I knew that it was something special and going to never be broken.

 

[123kid]

As others have said, I remember Taker acknowledged it after defeating Flair, I don't remember the first time commentary or WWE acknowledged it though, I just watched his WM20 match vs Kane again and it was acknowledged there and probably before too.

But I don't know if it's true that the Streak was what his WM matches were since his match against Randy Orton. As I recall, his WM match against Orton was about Legend vs Legend Killer, and Orton having killed every legend in WWE and the only he didn't was Undertaker, the biggest legend of them all.

WM22 was just ending the crap feud against Henry and Taker getting his revenge against Henry because he cost him his World title.

WM23 was about Taker FINALLY winning the Rumble and FINALLY becoming champion again.

WM24 was about the amazing feud against Edge and Taker also winning the championship again.

WM25 was about the best of all time vs the other best of all time, and those two putting on the best match of all time.

WM26 was about one of the best of all time, HBK, wanting his rematch against the other best of all time, Taker, in the best match of all time and HBK retirement match.

WM27 was about Legend vs "Legend" (HHH, I put it in quotes because HHH isn't as great as he is billed).

WM28 was about an End of an Era.

WM29 was about ending the Streak, two of the best performers ever wrestling against each other at the biggest stage of them all and the storyline on Paul Bearer (RIP).

Before Taker retires he MUST wrestle against Rock, Lesnar and Cena at WM (and win) and if possible against Jericho, Angle and Sting. And Hogan just to have his crap name on the Wrestlemania victim list.

 

[gasM]

The first time I recall it being mentioned was against Diesel, which I believe may have been Wrestlemania 12. Vince McMahon said on commentary during the entrances something like "Here comes the Undertaker, a man who has never lost at Wrestlemania."

Like so many people have already said, the streak storyline against Randy Orton was probably the first time it became the focal point of the story, or "relevant" as you put it. Cool thread!

 

[GameOver]

Not much of a streak before he had his "tie" at wmiv. 3-0-1 is a big deal if you were someone that bought into the Chicago Blackhawks earlier in the year that had the over time losses as well. After Wrestlemania VI his streak was over and his record was only 4-1-1. Hogan's over all record is quite impressive, 8-3-1.

That wasn't the point, the point was the person i responded to said noone else had one.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I think this has already been discussed in previous threads, plus it's been pretty much disected here.

HHH used Taker's Undefeated Status at WM as part of the motivation for their WM 17 tilt ("You havent beaten me"), then the storyline went in another direction.

Taker's being undefeated at Mania is referenced during the build up to Taker-Flair but the storyline and pre match build had nothing to do with "The Streak". At this point however, with consecutive wins over HHH & Flair, the announcers started making a bigger deal about The Streak, this is likely where WWE initially noticed it from a booking standpoint and started giving it cred.

Randy Orton at WM 21 was the first time The Streak itself was center stage in the storyline leading into the math. Since that time, even though his bouts with Batista & Edge were centered more around the World Title and HHH-Taker II had more today with HBK being forced into retirement, The Streak has played either the primay role in storyline and pre match hype or at least been a major secondary component, such as Edge mentioning repeatedly that he was undefeated vs Taker in one on one matches so he knew he could end The Streak.

By now it has grown to such proportions that it stands as it's built in storyline. It will probably never end.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Before Taker retires he MUST wrestle against Rock, Lesnar and Cena at WM (and win) and if possible against Jericho, Angle and Sting. And Hogan just to have his crap name on the Wrestlemania victim list.

LOL - Not sure Taker has that many WM matches in him, but I sure know Hogan doesnt it, unless they make it a Wheel Chair & Walking Cane Match. Hogan is almost crippled at this point. Probably never see Sting in WWE, he's getting too old, over 50 for now, his window for still putting on good matches is extremely small (though Flair was still doing good matches even at the end of his WWE run when he was 58, they werent great matches however and he is probably the exception, not the rule regarding performance ability and age).

Taker might have two or three bouts left and with that it would be cool to see him vs Rock and/or Cena.

 

[HBsam31]

I know he acknowledged his streak as early as his battle with Hunter at WM X-7 (like the poster above me said) but I wouldn't exactly say his streak was relevant until Randy Orton challenged him in 2005 at WM21. This match was the first one that was built on "someone doing the impossible and ending the streak", which quickly became the common theme of every Undertaker WM match after that.

This is pretty spot on. The funny thing is I thought Taker was going to lose to Orton to. It could be the streak was brought out in the open to make us think all the more that Orton would win. In hindsight Orton didn't need that win, but at the time I really really thought Orton should have defeated the legend with his legend killer gimmick.