Streak VS Legends/Former Stars

[DarksideEric]

This is not a "who should break the Streak" thread, but simply an open discussion about what WWE Legend or former WWE star that may, or may not, have previously faced the Undertaker you would like to see (in a "dream match" setting) take on the Streak now that it's "The Achievement" to do.

I'll give a few examples:

Chris Benoit, to my knowledge, has never faced the Undertaker on Pay-Per-View, let alone Mania.

Bret Hart, also has never faced the Undertaker at Mania.

Kurt Angle, yet another who never faced Undertaker at Mania.

Who is it you would love to see in a Wrestlemania match against the Undertaker, from past legends/performers (WWE, so exclude Sting guys), now that the Streak is a big thing and why?

As much as I love Hart, and as good as Angle matches are, I've seen them both take on Undertaker at some point and in some way. My votes would go to the following men:

Chris Benoit
Randy Savage (while Undertaker was part of the Roberts feud, I do not remember them ever actually having a match)

You can include who you think might win if you like, but please discuss more as to why you picked who you picked.

 

[daddyJ_t]

well ill go into the past and say either hogan or warrior. as far as i know there was never truly a rubber match between taker and hogan. taker beats hogan for the title at ss then drops it back to him at tuesday in texas. end of story, no further storyline past that. as for the warrior? decent fued outside of what the warrior was used to and it played into the what the taker needed at the time. great build up with jake roberts turning heel and ended with nothing except a few body bag matches at house shows whitch probably went back and forth trading victories. it so couldve ended at mania in the first buried alive match or even casket match.

 

[kumarjtk]

wwe mostly used taker with storyline fueds. At the time of manias he fued with scary or giant characters. So he wrestled with main eventers in rare occations only. Look at his wretlemania streak.
Wrestlemania 7: Undertaker defeated Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
Wrestlemania 8: Undertaker defeated Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Wrestlemania 9: Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzalez (won by Disqualification)
Wrestlemania 11: Undertaker defeated King Kong Bundy
Wrestlemania 12: Undertaker defeated Diesel
Wrestlemania 13: Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid (WWF Championship No Disqualification Match)
Wrestlemania 14: Undertaker defeated Kane
Wrestlemania 15: Undertaker defeated Big Boss Man (Hell in a Cell)
Wrestlemania 17: Undertaker defeated Triple H
Wrestlemania 18: Undertaker defeated Ric Flair (No Disqualification)
Wrestlemania 19: Undertaker defeated Big Show and A-Train (Handicap Match)
Wrestlemania 20: Undertaker defeated Kane
Wrestlemania 21: Undertaker defeated Randy Orton
Wrestlemania 22: Undertaker defeated Mark Henry (Casket Match)
Wrestlemania 23: Undertaker defeated Batista (World Heavyweight Championship Match)
Wrestlemania 24: Undertaker defeated Edge (World Heavyweight Championship Match)
Wrestlemania 25: Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels
Wrestlemania 26: Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels (No Count Out, No Disqualification, Streak vs Career Match)
Wrestlemania 27: Undertaker defeated Triple H (No Holds Barred)
Wrestlemania 28: Undertaker defeated Triple H (Hell in a Cell w/Shawn Michaels as Guest Referee)
Wrestlemania 29: Undertaker defeated CM Punk w/Paul Heyman

Upto wm23 he wrestled only two main event caliber match one with ric flair and other with sid for wwf belt. So he dosent have time to fight with hogan savage bret austin rock angle. Dont forget takers two titles wins comes against hogan.

After wm23 taker match consider as a main event match. Wwe give equal importanceto his match like wwe title match.

Now we see a match like taker vs cena or Taker vs lesnar or Taker vs rock or taker vs batista or taker vs bryan (moty)

 

[lil bitch Kid]

Thank Gawd no one said Eddie Guerrero, Booker T or Scott Steiner. I would seriously lose my lunch. Look I know fan boys and marks everywhere will shit kittens that I dared say that these three don't deserve it, but face facts, all three are revisionist history's favorite wrestlers. All three are in a way overrated, two being hugely, and the other would look like Hornswoggle in there.

In reality, the one guy I'd want to come back to life in the fountain of youth to face Taker is Savage. I don't recall Savage ever even facing Taker. When Savage came back to wrestling, Taker turned face. There may be a Coliseum Video somewhere that has a match, but I haven't seen it.

As for "have faced each other, but not at Mania", there's the fall backs and likely situations of Cena and Brock.

 

[DarksideEric]

Thank Gawd no one said Eddie Guerrero, Booker T or Scott Steiner. I would seriously lose my lunch. Look I know fan boys and marks everywhere will shit kittens that I dared say that these three don't deserve it, but face facts, all three are revisionist history's favorite wrestlers. All three are in a way overrated, two being hugely, and the other would look like Hornswoggle in there.

In reality, the one guy I'd want to come back to life in the fountain of youth to face Taker is Savage. I don't recall Savage ever even facing Taker. When Savage came back to wrestling, Taker turned face. There may be a Coliseum Video somewhere that has a match, but I haven't seen it.

As for "have faced each other, but not at Mania", there's the fall backs and likely situations of Cena and Brock.

But both Brock and Cena are current, or at least part-time, stars. So they really shouldn't be in this discussion honestly. And I agree, though I love Eddie, I'm not sure I'd ever believe in Eddie vs. Undertaker when the Streak became as big as it has.

 

[NxtBigThing]

well ill go into the past and say either hogan or warrior. as far as i know there was never truly a rubber match between taker and hogan. taker beats hogan for the title at ss then drops it back to him at tuesday in texas. end of story, no further storyline past that.

Actually after Hogan beat HHH for the belt he lost it at the next pay per view, Judgement Day, against the Undertaker. So technically Undertaker is 2-1 against Hogan at ppvs. As for the post there are many possibilities but the one no one mentioned was Andre the Giant. Sure a different era and Andre was gone shortly after Undertaker debuted in the WWF but imagine a prime Andre vs Undertaker. If anyone in the past looked like a threat who better than the massive Andre the Giant.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm going to dig deep here and pull out a name that I'm sure will greatly upset most of you. I'm not suggesting a match of the year, I'm just saying who I'd like to see face Undie if during his peak there had been any possibility of a Wrestlemania match between the two.

In a "what if" fantasy, I'd like to see The Undertaker in his first major push take on The Black Scorpion. His match against Jimmy Snuka was neat, but it didn't have any dramatic substance.

I realize that many men wore the Black Scorpion's tights and that Flair's being The Black Scorpion in the end was a last minute decision that almost never happened. I imagine that if the WWF had their hands on this gimmick, they'd play it up like the spirit of The Black Scorpion takes over random men and forces them to do his bidding.

It might have played itself out in a way that would come across as too cheesy, but cheesy is what I tune in for some of the time. I think as an eight year old back then, it would have been the most epic fued of all time. No Ole Anderson voice though, maybe hire up (rest his soul) Don LaFontaine to do the voice. Create imagery suggesting that The Black Scorpion has influenced mankind since the dawn of civilization if they really wanted to go balls out with it.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle would have been an epic encounter.. To be honest, we did see an amazing match between the 2 at No Way Out 2006.. What a match that was, easily WM main event match.. I think it should have.. When Taker returned at Royal Rumble and confronted Angle, They should have honestly saved the match for WrestleMania 22.. Instead we got Taker vs. Henry in a Casket match and a WHC Triple Threat match between Orton, Rey and Angle.. Which was a 10 min waste!

Just got back and tell me this match isn't WM main event material, although we can't have that ending close the show even though it wasn't that bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOfT5SOlnc0

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think Taker vs. Angle would have been a big money match and a great clash. In all honesty, if Angle ever came back to WWE, it'd still be a match that people would want to see take place. Considering Angle's accomplishments, challenging the streak could be looked at as the only real accomplishment left for him in wrestling. If amateur wrestling put out a book of "Who's Who", Kurt Angle would be on the cover as he's done everything imaginable, including winning an Olympic gold medal, he won the WWE Championship multiple times, the WCW Championship, the US, IC, European and Tag Titles, 5 time & inaugural TNA World Heavyweight Champion who's held the title longer than anyone. Generally speaking, even realistically, ending the streak is really the only major, top level accomplishment in American wrestling that'd be left for Angle.

 

[MCMG]

I have always found it irritating that The Streak has missed some big names. I realise that it his matches at WM never used to be as significant but even then, he was always a big star. Hogan, Hart, Austin and The Rock. Huge names in wrestling history as well as guys like Benoit, Angle, Jericho and Lesnar (although this year could be the year)

There are several Undertaker matches at Wrestlemania that were pretty unspectacular and we were deprived of some great matches.

I would loved to have seen anything other than that handicap match at WM19. Benoit is the obvious name that would have been a great opponent for Taker. Two guys who would have put on an awesome match worthy of what is now such an iconic part of Mania.

Another match is vs Angle. We know how great Angle is and these two would have put on a classic. They have had great matches in the past and I'm sure they would do it again. Title or no title.

I will say that I would have loved to seen him face Lesnar or Cena but there is still a chance of that happening so I'll leave it.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Thank Gawd no one said Eddie Guerrero, Booker T or Scott Steiner. I would seriously lose my lunch. Look I know fan boys and marks everywhere will shit kittens that I dared say that these three don't deserve it, but face facts, all three are revisionist history's favorite wrestlers. All three are in a way overrated, two being hugely, and the other would look like Hornswoggle in there.

In reality, the one guy I'd want to come back to life in the fountain of youth to face Taker is Savage. I don't recall Savage ever even facing Taker. When Savage came back to wrestling, Taker turned face. There may be a Coliseum Video somewhere that has a match, but I haven't seen it.

As for "have faced each other, but not at Mania", there's the fall backs and likely situations of Cena and Brock.

I am so going to disagree with you on the 'revisionist history' of how great Eddie Guerrero was. He was one of my favorites back when he was alive, and his stuff holds up extremely well today. In fact, anytime I watch any of his work today, I'm just reminded of how there isn't really anyone left today that's on his level. They really should be using tapes of Eddie at their performance center to teach new guys how to work.

But in regards to the streak? While I think Eddie/Taker would be a fantastic match, he wasn't a guy that could believably beat the Taker in that environment. He was just too small. In fact, the two did have a short house show run in 2005, and Eddie did the job for Taker every single time. If they did a WM program together, I'd book it so Eddie did get a win before WM... by cheating of course... just to up the suspense factor. But at WM, have Taker overcome Guerrero's cheating to beat him clean in the center of the ring.

Savage and Taker would have been amazing. They did have a few singles matches at the start of the Jake Roberts feud, including one that was at a TV taping, so there may be a Coliseum Video floating around with that match. Savage went over in that one, and in 2 house show matches they traded wins with each other. Had it happened back then though (with Savage and Taker facing off at WM instead of Taker/Roberts), we probably wouldn't have a streak to talk about today. They would have had to keep Taker heel for that match, and no way I see Savage coming out on the losing end of a WM match with a heel Undertaker.

I'll agree with others and say the one I'd like to have seen is Taker/Angle. That would have been epic, and a match where Taker could have believably lost without losing anything, and putting Angle up to the highest level he could imaginably get to.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Kurt Angle - Wrestlemania 22.

Like Jack-Hammer said, challenging the streak is one thing that Angle hasn't accomplished, that and a Royal Rumble win, which he could have also done in 2006, allowing him to have chosen to go to Smackdown and face the World Heavyweight Champion at Wrestlemania, which could've been Taker. Both men put on a classic at No Way Out 2006, it was deserving of a bigger stage, and I was hugely disappointed that instead of getting that match for both the title and the streak at Mania, we got the Triple Threat between Orton, Angle & Mysterio for the title (which was okay but not great) and that awful Casket match between Taker & Henry for the streak.

Bret Hart - Wrestlemania 13.

I'm not saying we get rid of Austin/Bret's Submission Match, no way, I'm suggesting Bret pull a Wrestlemania 10 and defend the WWF Title two times in one night, first against Austin in the Submission Match and later in the main event against Taker. Sid vs Taker is the worst Wrestlemania main event I've ever seen (yeah, I liked Bam Bam vs LT better), not to mention it was a poorly built WWF Title match. Taker vs Bret would've made a better main event for the title (and an even better rematch at Summerslam), and it might've saved the build up from being that bad if Bret had retained the title against Sid and walked into Mania as champion.

Ken Shamrock - Wrestlemania 15

I remember mentioning in another thread that I thought they should've moved Shamrock & Taker's feud from Backlash down to Wrestlemania 1 month earlier. Shamrock and Taker had a pretty good match with each other at Backlash and I could never buy into Bossman as being the "face" in his match with Taker, but with Shamrock I could as he was actually turning babyface during his feud with Taker. It might've made the build up for the Cell match at Wrestlemania a bit better and more personal too, with Taker going after The Corporation and stalking & kidnapping Shamrock's sister.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem with some of these is that they made Taker face against cartoon opposition so early in his career - he missed out on some great matches as a result that he could have been more of a main event star earlier.

Personally I'd have kept him heel into WM8 and put him against The British Bulldog, Davey was stuck in the dark match with Berserker and Jake was on the outs - really that win didn't do a whole lot for Taker. Davey was a bigger opponent and he wasn't quite being positioned for the IC match at Summerslam yet, a loss to Taker wouldn't have prevented that. Savage would have been my second pick for WM8 had Flair/Hogan taken place.

Losing Rick Rude was a big blow as he would have been a great Taker opponent had he stayed in the early 90's or as expected he come back/remained active once Hogan went to WCW. An active Rude vs Taker at WM 8,9,10 or 11 for example would have been an epic match.

Putting him with Gonzales was also awful - had they kept him heel then again, Savage rather than him being the commentator or if you are gonna have him face there were better options like Lex Luger or Razor Ramon.

Later on that they didn't put him with Jericho was a mistake - now while Y2J wasn't on the size stakes a valid opponent it certainly would have led into interesting TV. Those dark vignettes of Jericho almost seemed to indicate they were testing the waters for it, but his goofy face persona got over finally and nixed it. Jericho of 2008/2009 could have done this easliy he'd have lost but looked to have been the closest yet...

The biggest problem other than the face turn was that those early years he was against limited opponents in the ring for much of the time. It was only when Mabel nearly killed him they decided to change his focus and put him with the main guys who could work. Forget his size, experience or gimmick. Taker's REAL talent, the thing that made him money and still viable today is that he was a bloody quick learner. In that first 2 years of working with the better talent he exploded as a worker. He wasn't that good before, it showed when he fought talent of the level of Snuka. But once he was fighting Bret, Nash, Austin, Foley, Shawn and Rock regularly he was able to learn from them more in a short space of time than he had in a 10 year career to that point. That he was then able to teach others like Kane, Show and the like came from that little period where they changed him up.

There are no "glaring" omissions - everyone would say Sting but it was never an option. Did they waste Goldberg's one Mania? Probably but Bill was never gonna lie down so it was never an option. Benoit or Eddy were never going to sell the match to the level required.

The biggest problem with the Streak is that by the time they realised it even was a streak, they were too far into it to ever really jeopardize it or make it anything other than a juggernaut of wins for Taker. Eventually it just gets dumb. I almost don't want him to wrestle this year unless Brock is gonna destroy him in minutes... cos that's what "should" happen if there is any realism. But it can't cos of the rod the streak has created.

 

[shalliin]

well ill go into the past and say either hogan or warrior. as far as i know there was never truly a rubber match between taker and hogan. taker beats hogan for the title at ss then drops it back to him at tuesday in texas. end of story, no further storyline past that. as for the warrior? decent fued outside of what the warrior was used to and it played into the what the taker needed at the time. great build up with jake roberts turning heel and ended with nothing except a few body bag matches at house shows whitch probably went back and forth trading victories. it so couldve ended at mania in the first buried alive match or even casket match.

Except that Take/hogan already happened at an event in early 2000's and was aweful, mostly due to Hogan trying to act like it was 1985 instead of what, 2002? 2003? and no selling everything and not willing to go for the bumps. That match most famous in my mind for having Taker's worst ever chokeslam where Hogan didn't jump more then an inch and just flopped back. It would have made for worst Mania match in at least Taker's streak. Maybe a Taker/Hogan match at WM 10 instead of the stupid bret/yoko/hogan screw up. Hogan was at least passable at the time and Taker was still on the up and coming so it could have added a lot to Taker to go over Hogan and would have given a lot more credibility to fans and the guys in the back for Hogan to put over someone else at Mania at the time instead of his usual backstage politicking.

 

[shalliin]

The problem with some of these is that they made Taker face against cartoon opposition so early in his career - he missed out on some great matches as a result that he could have been more of a main event star earlier.

Personally I'd have kept him heel into WM8 and put him against The British Bulldog, Davey was stuck in the dark match with Berserker and Jake was on the outs - really that win didn't do a whole lot for Taker. Davey was a bigger opponent and he wasn't quite being positioned for the IC match at Summerslam yet, a loss to Taker wouldn't have prevented that. Savage would have been my second pick for WM8 had Flair/Hogan taken place.

Losing Rick Rude was a big blow as he would have been a great Taker opponent had he stayed in the early 90's or as expected he come back/remained active once Hogan went to WCW. An active Rude vs Taker at WM 8,9,10 or 11 for example would have been an epic match.

Putting him with Gonzales was also awful - had they kept him heel then again, Savage rather than him being the commentator or if you are gonna have him face there were better options like Lex Luger or Razor Ramon.

Later on that they didn't put him with Jericho was a mistake - now while Y2J wasn't on the size stakes a valid opponent it certainly would have led into interesting TV. Those dark vignettes of Jericho almost seemed to indicate they were testing the waters for it, but his goofy face persona got over finally and nixed it. Jericho of 2008/2009 could have done this easliy he'd have lost but looked to have been the closest yet...

The biggest problem other than the face turn was that those early years he was against limited opponents in the ring for much of the time. It was only when Mabel nearly killed him they decided to change his focus and put him with the main guys who could work. Forget his size, experience or gimmick. Taker's REAL talent, the thing that made him money and still viable today is that he was a bloody quick learner. In that first 2 years of working with the better talent he exploded as a worker. He wasn't that good before, it showed when he fought talent of the level of Snuka. But once he was fighting Bret, Nash, Austin, Foley, Shawn and Rock regularly he was able to learn from them more in a short space of time than he had in a 10 year career to that point. That he was then able to teach others like Kane, Show and the like came from that little period where they changed him up.


The biggest problem with the Streak is that by the time they realised it even was a streak, they were too far into it to ever really jeopardize it or make it anything other than a juggernaut of wins for Taker. Eventually it just gets dumb. I almost don't want him to wrestle this year unless Brock is gonna destroy him in minutes... cos that's what "should" happen if there is any realism. But it can't cos of the rod the streak has created.

I won't comment on most o this because there are some good points. I just want to point out that in one line you are leveling Nash as being an equal talent to Bret, Shawn, Foley. Nash, especially in when he was Shawn's bodyguard, was not a good worker. And he's never at his best been equal to Taker at his worst. And by the time Foley and Austin and Rock came around, Taker was already one of best in wwe. He helped them get better far more then the other way around. Foley would not be what he is today (in many ways) if it wasn't for the feuds with Taker. Foley took the biggest bumps, but Taker was the one who made the stories and the feuds compeling.

Rick Rude-one of most rose colored glasses kind of guys I've ever seen. People now talk about how great he was and what a great worker and heel he was, but I remember watching him and seeing the crowd basically ignore him. He was slightly above average at best with his in ring and mic skills. Which is why he always had a manager around, and then became a bodyguard/valet instead of an outright manager, because he lacked adaptability on the mic to work with the crowd instead of repeating exactly the same crap at all times. Rude and Perfect are the guys who get a lot of love now by smarks who look back and tint their memories of the past to suit the moment, but neither guy was as good as memory has tricked us into mis-remembering.

Bring them exactly as they were at the height of their careers into todays market and they would be in the middle of the card at best. Perfect was skilled in the ring and had an arrogance in his mic work, but it was usually bland and uninteresting. What made both of them the names they became was their association with Bobby Heenan, who did the bulk of their talking and drew more heat as a manager at ring side then either of them ever pulled on themselves during any of their matches. Without working with Heenan, no one would remember or care about them today except for family. You just have to look at their careers after they were broken away from Heenan to see the truth.