You calling me a ****** is like the pot calling the igloo black. I don't expect you to get that.
I didn't call you a ******, but you couldn't even get that right as to what I did say so......off to a great start there.
If you think Undertaker is better than John Cena by any objective criteria, then you know nothing.
Oh yeah, same shit different day. Once again, if you think anything besides what Tastylces says is the status quo, you know nothing. What sound logic you posses.
If you prefer him, power to you. I'm not really a fan of anyone left in this tournament
Ooooohhh I get it, you just can't get past your own personal bias, gotcha.
but I can tell you that Taker is by far the worst pro wrestler left, and were it not for CM Punk's presence in the last round, he'd have been the worst there by a country mile too.
And thank you for your confirmatory display of personal bias lent by not one shred of fact based evidence.
In the Hogan era, he feuded with Hogan for about 3 weeks as a stop gap for Flair's arrival. Then he started feuding with guys like Jake Roberts, the definitive midcarder.
That's one way to put it, but of course we both know that's not the whole story or even an accurate depiction of his time in that era. Should we then forget that upon his debut he effortlessly took out both Koko B. Ware and Dusty Rhodes, two guys who were both well known stars at the time, especially Rhodes? Should we also forget that he was regularly squashing people and putting them in body bags? Should we also forget and overlook that he beat another major star in his first WM appearance, Jimmy Snuka? Or should we overlook that after his debut and over the course of the next year taking him back to Survivor Series where regardless of how, he beat Hulk Hogan for his first WWE title, that he was feuding with Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Sid Justice, and obviously Hulk Hogan???? None of that counts right? Those were all legends and top tier talent that he was just steamrolling through, but that serves no relevance here right?
You are correct, following the win against Hogan he went on to feud with Jake Roberts, and while you try to play it down calling him a mid-carder which brings with it connotations of what we view a mid carder as today, Jake Roberts was a major star back then who challenged for multiple titles and if not for his personal demons he very well may have been a champion at some time but that had nothing to do with what a big star he was. Roberts is also lauded by many of you as being one of the best promo men of all time, the creator of the DDT, a great wrestler by any measure, etc.... But then when you come to bring him up in a situation like this you try to diminish him to in turn diminish the value of someone who feuded with him. Make up your mind.
Taker also went on to feud with a lot of BIG MEN, and that was the norm at the time, to make a guy look good by putting him over big monster heels as they did with Undertaker and Kamala, Giant Gonzalez, and Yokozuna, all of which were depicted as major threats to The Undertaker.
And, speaking of Yokozuna, since you're so hot on overlooking significant parts of people's careers, lets not forget that at that time Undertaker was involved in one of the biggest storylines of that time when Yokozuna with the aid of a bunch of other heels, put Undertaker in the Casket at Royal Rumble 94, leading to the whole "Rebirth" of The Undertaker, the fake Undertaker storyline, the "Search for the Undertaker" which was headed up by Leslie Neilson who was basically portraying his Naked Gun character Frank Drebin (This is significant because they had even brought in a major Hollywood actor for the angle which also points to how big a deal it was), then the eventual return of The Undertaker at SummerSlam 94. Undertaker was so irrelevant according to you, yet he was so over, so popular, and so relevant at the time this is what was going on with him, the most high profile angle of the time and Undertaker was easily one of the most popular guys when it was all transpiring. It should also be noted that Wrestling Observer acknowledged him as having the best gimmick from 1990-1994, 5 years in a row. So, you keep going on trying to play down the earlier part of his career and I'll keep knocking your dick in the dirt when you try.
Let's keep going shall we, because after his return his popularity grew even more and he went on to avenge his loss to Yokozuna in another Casket Match, and this led us into the Next Generation era of The Undertaker.
In the new generation era, when they were giving anyone a shot at the main event, he was feuding with Mabel.
But Undertaker wasn't in need of a shot at the Main Event, he was already a main event player and they used him to try and keep Mabel over as a legit main event threat which didn't work because Mabel just sucked, but he was a big time player at the time having won the KOTR which meant a lot more then than it does now, and he even challenged Diesel for the WWF Title at the time as well. Don't forget either that his feud with Undertaker was very high profile at the time as well, as they ran the storyline of him and Yokozuna crushing the Undertakers face which led to the whole thing with him wearing the mask for a time and gaining his revenge against him in....you guessed it, a casket match. His feud with Kama was also a big deal and featured very prominently as Kama stole his Urn and melted it down to make a necklace out of it. Kama at the time was also a major heel and a deadly force as apart of The Million Dollar Corportation.
After those feuds, still in the Next Generation era, Taker went on to feud with Bret Hart who unmasked him, and Diesel, so I regret to inform you that you're whole argument is ended right there. You act as though he was irrelevant but the whole time him and the feuds he was involved in were featured very prominently and he was a top guy, facing the top heels of the time and faces. Should we forget about another big moment when he broke through the ring during Hart-Diesel and pulled him under the ring? That was huge. Then we all know what happened next, Undertaker beat him at WM, the guy who held the title for a full year, he beat clean at WM.
This takes us into his next feud which came against Mankind. This predates the infamous HIAC match that would come down the road, but is very important because it was THIS FEUD that got Mankind over to begin with. Not only did it get Mankind over, but it also brought about new match types we had never seen such as the Boiler Room Brawl and Buried Alive match, and Armageddon Rules match which came against The Executioner who was also a big part of that feud. Next came his feud with Vader which didn't last too long, as Vader went on to team with Mankind and Undertaker went on to face Sycho Sid at WM13 and win his second WWF title.
Next came one of the biggest storyline and feuds of The Undertakers career, which brought about the debut of Kane at HIAC where Undertaker was facing Shawn Michaels, again a top tier opponent and a 5 star rated match. The storyline continued with Undertaker facing Shawn Michaels in a Casket Match, which saw Kane trap him in the casket and set it on fire which was absolutely insane. The fire was put out and the casket opened, only to find that Undertaker had disappeared. Undertaker then faced Kane at WM14 to defeat Kane and then beat him again in an Inferno match shortly thereafter. Bottom line, Undertaker was a busy man all through the Next Generation Era, had a lot of big matches, big feuds, great matches and feuds, was involved in a lot of innovative matches, was at the top in one way or another, and by no means was irrelevant at any time. He was always a focal point within the WWF in one way or another as well, and his feuds were highlighted unlike many others.
In the Attitude era, which I'm defining as the PPV after WrestleMania XIV to WrestleMania X-Seven, he only headlined 2 PPVs that Austin didn't. One was a 6 man tag, the other a fatal-4-way. That is not what the biggest stars do, that is occupying the Chris Jericho slot of believable main eventer, but that's about it.
Ahhhh, The Attitude Era. This is called slight of hand people, that is what Tastycles is attempting here, but don't be fooled. He tries to make it appear as though Undertaker was of no significance, that he wasn't a main eventer, or that he was just a role player, but history will show you otherwise. I am not rewriting it, redefining it, I will only be telling it as it was and you will see that Tastycles is full of shit. I'll start by noting that this was Stone Cold Steve Austins era above all, so the fact that Undertaker didn't headline the PPV's like Austin is by and large irrelevant. In the Next Generation Era Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were the main headliners at the time because of the direction the company took, trying to present a different kind of champion and separate itself from the Hogan Era which was dominated by big men mostly. Still, Undertaker WAS the NGE's main big man and as I showed you, was very prominently featured and was a cornerstone of the WWF's product.
After WM14, The Undertakers feud with Mankind was reignited and we all know where this one went. Undertaker made Mankind famous by throwing him off the HIAC and through it, proving Mick Foley with the highlight of his career next to winning his first title. Tastycles would have you believe that was all Mankind, and indeed he was the one who took the bumps, but you can't ignore the fact that it was his feud with Undertaker that lead to all of it and it's one of the biggest moments in WWF history, one of many involving The Undertaker.
Undertaker then went on to become Tag Team Champions with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but dropping them to Kane and Mankind shortly thereafter. Austin became WWF champion, and Undertaker then faced him for the title putting Austin over and much like Hogan handing the title over to Warrior at WM6, Taker handed over the belt to Austin as a sign of respect which was a major endorsement for Austin.
This takes us into the Brothers of Destruction/Ministry of Darkness/ and Corporate Ministry, and it should be duly noted that it was a focal point of everything going on at the Main Event level, and was heavily tied to the Austin-McMahon Feud. When Kane and Undertaker became the BOD, Undertakers feud with SCSA continued and saw the brothers beat Stone Cold simultaneously at Breakdown IYH, which then let to a title match between Kane and Undertaker at Judgement Day IYH with Austin as the Special Guest Referee. After heavy interference from Paul Bearer aiding Undertaker to beat up Kane with a steel chair, Austin attacked Undertaker and counted them both out. This led to Undertaker going full heel following this match and starting The Ministry of Darkness. With this revelation, Undertaker continued his feud with Austin, costing him the title against The Rock, and then a Buried Alive match was scheduled between the two. Prior to this match is when Undertaker famously tried to embalm Austin alive, commit Kane to a mental asylum and had Austin tied to his Undertaker symbol, which was supposed to be a depiction of a crucifixion. Undertaker did not win the buried alive match as Kane interfered and cost him the match.
The Ministry was a very high profile storyline going at the time as they did all kind of highly controversial things on television and were portrayed as a satanic cult led by Undertaker.
Undertaker was not seen for a couple weeks after but returned after The Acolytes who were serving him already unbeknownst to anyone else, abducted the guy who would become Mideon as apart of The Ministry. It was then that Undertaker came back revealing that he was behind it and debuting a new look as the leader of The Ministry of Darkness and bringing Mideon in. The Ministry was a very high profile storyline going at the time as they did all kind of highly controversial things on television and were portrayed as a satanic cult led by Undertaker. This was followed by Mabel being abducted and converted into Viscera, and The Brood also joining The Ministry. Once the Ministry was assembled, Undertaker made it clear that he wanted to take over the WWF and get rid of McMahon.
(I'm tired of typing so it's copy and paste time so I can save some time)
Vince McMahon turned face during this time, claiming that Mark Calaway (Undertaker) was taking his gimmick too far, and that Calaway actually believed that he in fact was the Undertaker and that he was the second coming of the Lord of Darkness. This statement could be received as breaking the fourth wall of kayfabe, due to the use of Calaway's real name and the reference to gimmicks. McMahon, shook up, put Undertaker in the second-ever Inferno match, a rematch of the first as Undertaker faced off against his "brother" Kane (who had joined Vince's Corporation to avoid being committed to the aforementioned asylum). Undertaker defeated Kane again, and reduced the WWF owner to tears at the sight of a burning teddy bear. The bear was said to have once belonged to Stephanie McMahon (as a child).
For weeks, Undertaker revealed that his Ministry actually took orders from a "greater power", and kept talking about a higher power who apparently owned the key to McMahon's heart and soul. After leaving a burning symbol resembling a crucifix in McMahon's yard, the Corporate leader ordered his enforcer, the Big Bossman, to face Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XV. Undertaker claimed victory without much difficulty. After the match, the Brood lowered themselves from the ceiling onto the top of the cell and then lowered a noose to the Undertaker. He sent McMahon another, symbolic message by hanging Big Bossman from the cell.
This was all a BIG BIG deal at the time through the Attitude Era. Undertaker by no means was curtain jerking or insignificant, this was in fact a major storyline that gained a lot of attention both good and bad because it was so controversial and they had went so far. More madness followed after that with Stephanie McMahon becoming a target of The Undertaker as well as Ken Shamrock and his sister. This led to the one and only voluntary deflection from the Ministry as The Brood refused orders to sacrifice Shamrocks sister, turning on Taker and leaving The Ministry.
Next came The Corporate Ministry. On April 29, the pilot episode of "Smackdown" , The Undertaker merged his Ministry of Darkness with Shane's Corporation to form the Corporate Ministry. The two groups united in order to fight their common foes Steve Austin, The Rock and Vince McMahon.
On the following episode of Raw, a new faction formed to oppose the Corporate Ministry. Former Corporation members Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Big Show and Test joined together to form The Union. The Union members felt that they were being screwed over by the Corporation ever since Shane had taken control of it from his father. Wanting revenge on his son, Vince soon united with the Union as they fought with the Corporate Ministry.
As the Corporate Ministry's first act, Shane ordered a WWF Championship match at Over the Edge, putting The Undertaker against Steve Austin with Shane McMahon as The Undertaker's referee and Vince McMahon as Austin's referee. That night, Shane gave The Undertaker a quick 3-count for his third WWF Championship reign. That same night, The Rock defeated Triple H via disqualification and The Union defeated The Acolytes, Viscera and Big Bossman in an elimination match. A week later, The Acolytes defeated X-Pac and Kane to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Meanwhile, The Undertaker's claim since the Ministry of Darkness that he served a higher power was expanded upon, as a mysterious cloaked figure even more powerful than Undertaker was shown giving orders from behind the scenes. Eventually, The Undertaker decided to serve Austin up to this greater power, who revealed his identity to Austin while dressed in a black robe and a hood that hid his face from the live audience. On June 7, the identity of the higher power was revealed as Vince McMahon. The entire scheme had been a plot to destroy Steve Austin. After the unveiling, Linda and Stephanie McMahon announced Austin as the new CEO of the WWF. They gave Austin control over 50% of the company, leaving Vince and Shane with 25% each.
With Austin now feuding with the McMahons, The Undertaker faced a new challenger, The Rock. After Rock beat The Undertaker and Triple H in a handicap match, The Undertaker faced The Rock at King of the Ring for the title. Undertaker won the match and retained the title thanks to a sealing run-in by Triple H. That same night, Vince and Shane defeated Austin in a ladder match to win his 50% share of the company and regain full control of the WWF.
The following week, The Acolytes lost their Tag Team Championship to the Hardy Boyz and The Undertaker lost his WWF Championship to Steve Austin. All three men got rematches at Fully Loaded. That night, Austin retained the WWF title in a First Blood Match by hitting The Undertaker with a television camera after an assist from X-Pac. According to the stipulations of the match, Austin's victory meant that Vince McMahon could no longer appear on WWF TV. If Austin had lost, he would have been unable to wrestle for the WWF title ever again. Meanwhile, The Acolytes defeated the Hardy Boyz and their manager Michael Hayes to regain the Tag Team Championship and Triple H defeated The Rock in a leather strap match to become the number one contender for the WWF Title. Two weeks later, the Acolytes would lose the Tag Team Championship to X-Pac and Kane.
This isn't everything in it's totality, but it's more than enough to show that The Undertaker most definitely was a main eventer and a major focal point of everything going on at the time. This also just goes to show you how full of shit people are and how they try to manipulate information to make it look a certain way when the case is clearly quite different.
In the Ruthless aggression era he was wrestling the likes of A-Train, Mark Henry and Muhammed Hassan.
As well as feuding with Triple H, Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar, Big Show, being a major part of The Invasion storyline, feuding with DDP, holding the Undisputed title, beating Cena at Vengeance(although this was before he won his first WWE title, it still happened). Keep trying to play your bullshit game boy, I've got you at every pass.
In the early PG era, was his only sustained period of challenge. On the B show. In the second half, you could count the number of matches he's had on one hand.
Desperation stinks, you should find a new cologne. This is arguably Undertakers best run, from 2004-present, and so you're stretching to play it down. I don't even need to go into detail about this, Undertaker has been a big player the whole time, holding a number of titles, and was on SmackDown to give them more star power and you know it so don't try to act like he was relegated to some lower province because he just wasn't relevant anymore. This is also the era where The Streak has become more prominent than ever and as some have mentioned bigger than wrestling itself. Oh, and for the second half where you can count how many matches he's had on one hand, every one of those has been a 5 star classic and a major part of WrestleMania, try again. In the first four years he put in a lot of work to help elevate the other guys and keep the main event strong while they were rotating main eventers, and all of them faced Undertaker except Cena.
And then ultimately faded to the background. As a champion, he's been diabolical. When the world and his wife were getting title reigns in the attitude era, Taker managed 1 for 36 days.
The Undertaker doesn't always feud with "the guy" anyway. Diesel was champion for a year and Taker was nowhere near him in that time.
Yeah, he just beat him at WrestleMania after the fact while Diesel was still a top guy, but prior to that had faced Bret Hart who was the top guy, and Shawn Michaels after that while he had been the top guy. Diesel was feuding with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels who were by and large the flag bearers of the NGE while champion.
I'll give you the fact that he does't ALWAYS feud with "The Guy", but he has on a very consistent basis and when he's not he's generally helping build someone else, doing his duty for the company, or is still involved in some kind of high profile feud. Either way, his role and his significance to the company can not be diminished.
Are you fucking ******ed? There is literally nobody in the world with any knowledge that denies that Cena is the biggest draw in wrestling right now.
Look, Cena may be a big deal right now and enjoyed some success over the last few years, but YOU would have to be ******ed to think that in that amount of time he's drawn more than Undertaker over the course of 20+ years with as much as he's been at the top, near the top, or involved in main event and high profile feuds. You also have to take into account that he's had legions of fans over the course of that time as well and is a figure bigger than John Cena whether Cena is "The Guy" or not. Triple H is also a bigger figure than Cena, so was Shawn Michaels, so is Vince McMahon, it's not a knock on Cena or downplaying his role as the face of the company, but the reality is that even though he is the face of the company, there are people there who are more tenured, who people have been fans of for far longer, who already have had long illustrious careers and stand as legends in their own right making them bigger figures than Cena in the grand scheme of things. Undertaker is THAT guy, and whether you are tired of hearing about it and no matter how much you attempt to play it down, he also has The Streak which is bigger than Cena by a long shot, an accomplishment not Cena or anyone else will ever accomplish.
The Undertaker is still around, but everyone points to Cena.
Yes, this is true. Cena's the full time guy and Undertaker has went part time in latter half of his career. Still, Undertaker is so big that he CAN come out once a year, have the fans falling over themselves for his presence, and then put on WrestleMania classics and help sell the gate in a big way as he defends The Streak. It's kind of unfair to try and use at this point though anyways as Taker is at the end of his career, where Cena is probably only half way through his active in ring career.
The WrestleMania live audience has basically quadrupled since John Cena started main eventing, the buyrate has gradually increased.
And your going to sit there and act as though there aren't a ton of other factors which have added to that? What about the fact that at the same time with John Cena at the helm tv ratings have consistently dropped as have other PPV buy rates not including WrestleMania? That's a weak leg to try and stand on man, WrestleMania is the biggest event of the year, they advertise and build it up well, and they've used a lot of other tactics to try and attract more people like calling in The Rock and making celebrity interactions and appearances more of a mainstay and attraction, the whole fan axxess thing leading up to it, they've also been using bigger outdoor arenas to raise that number by being able to pack more people in, etc...to try and claim John Cena is solely responsible for the live gates of WrestleMania is ridiculous or to even suggest that he is the main accredited factor is just as ludicrous when the evidence throughout the rest of the year shows otherwise.
When Undertaker comes back after a lengthy period, there is no change in the ratings. When Cena came back around Survivor Series 2008, the ratings leapt up 0.5 points in a week!
Great, so one time when John Cena came back he was in an interesting enough feud that people tuned in. For the majority of the rest of the time ratings have dropped in both tv and ppv buys. Your point? I would also like to see you prove your statements as true regarding Undertaker and the ratings whenever he returns. Until you can do that, it's just something you're throwing out there to try and make a point, an invalid one at that based on the lack of proof.
Cena has won the WWE title 10 times, the World Heavyweight Championship twice. 12 is more than 7 and he did it in half the time. Oh shit though, I didn't factor in the Hardcore title. How on earth will Cena compete with that? His 2 US titles might just do that.
Yeah, 12 is more than 7, and at the same time he's also lost the title more, in half the time, so your point is moot. He's benefited from the era he's been apart of. It's been stated and is an observable fact, Undertaker doesn't need titles for everyone to know he's the man, they have however turned to him on a number of occasions in the latter half of his career when they needed someone to hold the title, and he did.
And the Undertaker hasn't seen his best days already? What are you on about? But his the kicker.
I never said Takers best days weren't behind him, obviously they are, but the same can be said for Cena who hasn't had the kind of run you're trying to tout since 2007, the ratings have been dropping with him as the center of attention as have the PPV buy rates year to year, and I think it's safe to say that without a transcendant star like The Rock or Brock Lesnar, or another wrestler who can really go in the ring like CM Punk, Cena's appeal is slipping. Who else is there? Lord Tensai? Yeah we're all clamoring for that feud. John Lauranitis? Yeah that's big seller too, which is why Raw his a low for ratings recently(check the WZ news page if you doubt me).
Cena's longest reign was 380 days, Taker's was 140 days.
Cena's average reign is 97 days, Taker's is 64 days.
This is relevant why? I already noted he hasn't had a meaningful run since 07 so what's your point? Titles don't entirely make careers either, if that were so Ric Flair would unquestionably be the GOAT but we can all argue otherwise. Taker has a respectable amount of title reigns and him not having more isn't some kind of negative reflection on him. How many times must it be noted that he simply doesn't need a title to be seen as a big deal?
He's not being pushed as the babyface of the company either, he's the biggest legend in the company. His place isn't to carry the title as frequently as possible, his place is to be The Undertaker, the biggest attraction in the WWE, and deliver every year at WrestleMania like only he can, defending The Streak. In the past his job has been to carry SmackDown as well, and get other people over through his matches and feuds with them.
He's had more reigns, that last longer, and he's the one that hot potatoes it?
Yeah, that's right. He's had it more, and lost it more back and forth with people. That's what that is. He's had a couple long runs but he's still not had one for a long time. Takers titles have been here and there as needed when it was best for business, they don't just throw the title on him for no reason. John Cena's had the title and his long runs because he's John Cena, so that they could try to build him as the face of the company which they have. The circumstances for the two have been dramatically different. Taker hasn't needed built up since his debut, he was over immediately, they never had to try and weld a title to him to make him look like a big deal or like he was important, he's never received the kind of backlash from the fans Cena has either. He's still the only person I've ever seen in over 20 years that people have rejected so vehemently and got tired of so quickly as champion. There's a reason he's been kept away from it, CM Punk surpassed him as the merchandise seller, and because people have grown tired of seeing him as champion over and over.
If you go back to 06-07 especially when he did have his long title runs, it can't be forgotten how Randy Orton became a big face when he WAS a heel because people wanted to see him have the belt instead of Cena and they were so tired of it. Anyone recall No Mercy 07 when Cena was injured and the belt was awarded to Orton? Yeah, people were relieved that it was finally off of Cena, then what commenced that night gave people a glimmer of hope of a WWE without Cena for at least the next 8 months or so, which was then spoiled at Royal Rumble when he made his surprise comeback. He then went on a bit of a losing streak after that too because they KNEW people were so tired of seeing him win ALL THE TIME. Even today still, he is booed as much or more than he is cheered.
What? Lets once and for all show that the Streak is the most overrated accomplishment in the history of the business:
Why don't I reintroduce another perspective here since you can't seem to get it right and insist on trying to downplay everything.
Jimmy Snuka - Shite has been
Who was also a legend in his own right and a beloved fan favorite. That was a big person at the time for him to go over. Snuka was past his "prime" per say but was far from being a "shit has been" and frankly, I'm kind of disappointed that you would speak so disrespectfully about the guy just to try and win an argument and down play one of the greatest achievements of all time. It makes you look petty, brash, unreasonable, and shows that you also have little to no class. Very nice.
Another legend in his own right, a guy who was majorly over and challenged for multiple titles, one of the best promo men ever, and a legit threat to Undertaker at the time because he also had great psychology and really knew how to play the mind games with his opponents. Not to mention the inventor of the DDT.
Giant González - Monster of the month, won by DQ after being knocked out
This is the only one you might have a point about, Giant Gonzalez was admittedly and undeniably HORRIBLE, but if you look back at the match Gonzalez tried to use Chloroform to take out The Undertaker as he was just that unstoppable, even after Gonzalez had put it on Taker quite a bit and it looked like he was going to lose. The wrestling itself wasn't great but it was a good story since Gonzalez after all WAS so huge and beating anyone that size is quite a daunting task, and the way they played it all out made it all seem more intense and kind of unpredictable.
King Kong Bundy - Fat, crap and past his prime
And a guy that people remembered for being a big threat to Hulk Hogan which is why this was a great match-up at the time. He didn't look past his prime, he just hadn't been around a lot. And for the love of God, do you really have to stoop to using "he's fat" as some kind of discredit to the guy? WTF is wrong with you dude?
Diesel - On his way out the company
Yet he went on to have another feud after that and had been the WWF Champion for a full year previously to that, and dominated The Undertaker like no one else ever had or have since, only to have the dead man come back in true Undertaker fashion, like a freakin ghost out of the shell and beat him clean in the middle of the ring.
Sycho Sid - On his way out the company
And the current WWF Champion which Undertaker won from him, a very dominant heel for his entire run, and a guy who even got over as a face for a long time even though he was absolutely bat-shit insane. For some reason it just worked, and having Shawn Michaels to play off probably helped, as well as his imposing figure.
Kane - First Impressive victory
Conceded, okay.
Big Boss Man - Has-been midcarder
Who was also hung afterwards in a moment that was rather disturbing and made Undertaker look more ruthless and merciless than ever. It was actually a good match and at the time Big Boss Man wasn't looked at as a has-been midcarder, he was the head of security for The Corporation and a familiar face that people knew was a legit tough guy. This was a big moment in an even bigger storyline involving The Ministry of Darkness and The Corporation which reached out into the other storylines as a result and shared the main event with Stone Cold vs The Rock.
Triple H - Second impressive victory
Conceded, okay.
It's fuckin' Ric Flair for God Sake, C'mon!!! Not only was this also a good match but it was Ric Flair putting over The Undertaker, and it was also a prominent feud at the time. It wasn't the last time in his advanced age that Flair wrestled either, so are you suggesting that because he was older it was irrelevant for Taker or anyone else after that to bear Flair because I recall him going on a nice IC title run towards the end of his career in WWE, being a multi time tag champ with Batista and a key member of Evolution after that, and the list goes on. So if you're so desperate as to try and diminish Ric Flair of all people, you've got more problems than I had ever fathomed.
Big Show & A-Train - Complete farce, set up by Nathan Douglas' exit
It was Nathan Jones numb-nuts, at least get the name right. This was far from a farce, it was a heated feud between The Big Show and Undertaker, A-Train happened to get involved by attacking Undertaker after a match between Taker and Show, and Jones had become the protege of Undertaker and partner for the match. Jones however, was attacked before the match making this a handicap match. Later on during the match, Jones came down to the ring distracting Big Show while Taker finished A-Train for the victory.
Kane - Kane had totally lost his way by now, feuding with Matt Hardy etc. before long
Yet he had been the one to cause Undertaker to be Buried Alive against Vince McMahon at Survivor Series which was a pivotal moment in Undertakers career, as he would return for this match as The Dead Man once again, defeating Kane after having haunted him for the last few months and warning him of his inevitable return for vengeance.
Your estimations and claims about where Kane was at were pretty far off as well. Prior to the Buried Alive match he had been the IC champion, a Tag Champion, and challenged for the WHC against in a feud with Triple H that is now famous for the Katie Vick angle. Then followed up the Buried Alive match helping McMahon by competing in a Triple Threat match for the WHC against Triple H and Goldberg. It was after that when he entered into the feud with Matt Hardy and it was also a high profile feud at the time as Lita had become the focal point of said feud, become pregnant, supposedly by Kane, they had the whole wedding thing, etc.... So it wasn't like he was lost in obscurity exactly, he was a still a big point of attention. This was all after WM anyways so it really doesn't matter one way or another.
Randy Orton - Still in the midcard after catastrophic title reign
And this was the beginning of a long feud between the two that elevated Orton and saw him BEAT the Undertaker at SummerSlam, and go on to beat him in a casket match as well. So, you could say this is where his re-launch started, so you can thank Undertaker for that one and putting him over too. Following all that he won the Survivor Series match by pinning Shawn Michaels of all people, the feud with Undertake commenced after that, which Taker won, but took a hiatus after winning, and then Orton went straight to title contention feuding with Mysterio and Angle, after that he went of to feud with Hogan, then after that DX with Edge as Rated-RKO, which was then followed by beating Shawn Michaels straight up, and then adding more people to his legend killer list such as RVD, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Sgt Slaughter. This was followed by a feud with Cena which took us into No Mercy where he became champion, lost the title to Triple H, and then beat Triple H later that night to reclaim the title.
Mark Henry - Fat Midcarder
So for some reason you've made it very apparent you have some kind of hatred for "fat" people, what does being fat have to do with anything? It's just very off putting of you and once again makes you look stupid since you feel the need to judge people like that. Either way, Mark Henry had been on a hell of a run leading up to this and HE was challenged by Undertaker for that match as a result. Call him what you will but prior to that he was fighting for the WHC at Royal Rumble. I wouldn't say he was a mid-carder by long shot, especially considering he then went on to be ECW champion for a good run.
