Would the Streak have ever happened if......

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

...Taker had ever had a match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania?

As everyone knows, the Undertaker has won every time he's been physically fit enough to step through the ropes at WM. From destroying The Superfly and Jake The Snake in his initial appearances, the slew of fat nothing's he faced after, his higher profile fueds with Diesel, Sid, Kane and then his epic matches with stars like HHH, Flair, Orton, Batista, Edge, and Shawn Michaels (with the throw away piece of crap matches with Bossman and Mark Henry in between).

While half of that list is comprised of waste of space no talent hacks like Gonzalez and Bundy, the other half is filled with a who's who of both old school and modern day wrestling, and Taker has defiantly beaten every single one of them.

But i'm sure everyone has noticed, that both The Rock and Stone Cold are missing from that list. The two biggest names of their era, these two larger than life personalities headlined 3 separate WM's themselves.

Looking outside of WM, Taker didn't exactly have a great win/loss record against either of these two guys as it was.

Add into that equation, the fact that Austin never lost at WM between his submission match with Bret Hart at WM13, and his final WM wrestling appearance against The Rock in '03, and i had to ask myself......

If Taker had faced Austin at Mania, would Austin have automatically won? I mean consider the fact that the Streak was never even talked about until Taker himself raised 10 fingers in the air after obliterating Flair, and then again when Taker faced Show and A-Train, would Vince have instinctively given the 'W' to his biggest draw since Hogan, if they'd squared off at say, WM16? Or do you think there would have been an outside chance that The Deadman would snuff The Rattlesnake just like all those other superstars that stepped up to the plate?

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Well Austin and Rock were facing each other at 3 of those events, so obviously Taker couldn't face either one.

When he faced Gonzalez and Bundy I doubt they were making it so he would end up undefeated. It just happened at first that he was and they went with it. And the streak was mentioned before his match with Flair. As a matter of fact they first said he was undefeated going into his match with Bundy. And said "9-0" after he beat Triple H.

You'd have to rearrange the story lines though, and if it was for the title and who was heel or face.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

It all depends on when Austin would have been booked to face The Undertaker. Undertaker would have surely defeated him had he faced Austin at WrestleMania 12 or 13 as he was the much bigger name at that point. But from Mania 14 to Mania 17 I just cannot see Austin losing to Undertaker. Austin, like all other big draws, lost very little in his peak.

Had the match happened at WrestleMania 18, I think Undertaker would have defeated Austin. At that time Undertaker was generating enormous amounts of heat in his Big Evil character and he had also defeated The Rock at an earlier PPV if I remember correctly. Austin's career was winding down and Undertaker could have used a victory over Austin to propel his heel character. In fact that exact thing happened at Backlash 2002 but it would have been even better had it happened at WrestleMania. But with so many WCW superstars coming in, Vince probably wanted to book as many matches between WWF and WCW superstars as he possibly could. In the end we did get quite a few matches we had never seen before but the majority of them turned out to be pretty shit like Austin vs Hall. Undertaker vs Flair was also decent but Austin vs Undertaker would have been much better in my opinion.

What prevented them from having a match with each other was that they had a huge feud in between WrestleMania 14 and 15 and wrestled each other so many times that the match lost its freshness. Then Austin got hurt and Undertaker also took time off and both guys returned as babyfaces. Even if Austin hadn't got hurt and Undertaker had not left I think both guys would have been babyfaces as Austin's character was working pretty well and Undertaker had been heel for a long time and was in line for a face turn.

 

[Dimice121976]

Actually the streak doesn't happen if Kevin Nash doesn't go to WCW.

Late 95-early 96 Nash as Diesel at the time was really the first "tweener".

After Survivor Series '95 Diesel was pissed about losing the belt to Hart, and wanted revenge on Brett.

At the last IYH of 1995 it ends with 'Taker being announced as getting the title match with Brett at the Rumble and Diesel barges in and go nuts.

At the Royal Rumble '96, right after Diesel was eliminated by HBK, 'Taker is coming out for his match with Brett, and he and Diesel get into a brawl in the isle. This would lead to Diesel getting Hart DQ'd in the match costing 'Taker the title.

Diesel gets the rematch with Brett in a cage at the Feb IYH and 'Taker costs Diesel the title in that match setting up the WM 12 showdown.

On a Sunday afternoon in March at MSG it was 'Taker/Hart vs Diesel/HBK, in this match Diesel officially turns heel and blast all 3 other men with a chair.

Now everyone knew HBK would be going over Brett at WM and Diesel vs HBK was going to be HBK's first big feud as champion. Diesel fresh off his turning full fledged heel was going to need a big WM to set him up as a monster challenge to HBK. 'Taker was going to fill that role perfectly. However around early March '96 news breaks that Nash is headed to WCW. With Nash giving his notice to Vince there was no way Vince was going to let him go over 'Taker. So of course at WM 'Taker beats Diesel. Diesel goes on to a rushed Main Event of the next IYH vs HBK and jobs his way out the door. However if Nash never goes to WCW, he beats 'Taker at WM and the spring/summer of '96 would of went down a lot differently.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I think Vince knew what he was doing and in this case, despite the fact that it would have been an epic match against either The Rock or Austin, Vince knew he could get more out of both in seperate matches rather than having The Undertaker face either man during "The Streak". Good point that it wasn't really mentioned too much, if ever, during the inital run, as I doubt Vince ever started out at WrestleMania VII saying to himself "Hmmm...I want The Undertaker to be the only undefeated man in WrestleMania history." That being said, by the time "the streak" started coming around and catching heat, Austin was widing down his career, and The Rock was forming in his mind that he wanted to start making movies. Still, I doubt Vince would have sacrificed The Undertaker's winning streak in an effort to please the fans, when he knew he could still get the same effect promoting "the streak", putting The Undertaker against wrestlers the fans knew he was more than likely going to beat, and then having his other stars wrestle when whomever won or lost didn't have as much of an impact historically as if The Undertaker would have finally lost.

 

[The Ace of Knaves]

While half of that list is comprised of waste of space no talent hacks like Gonzalez and Bundy, the other half is filled with a who's who of both old school and modern day wrestling, and Taker has defiantly beaten every single one of them.

I'm sorry:

1. Gonzales
2. Bundy
3. Boss Man
4. A-Train
5. Henry

That's 5, right? 5 out of 17 victims.....is considered as half? Half of 17 would be 8.5, right? Or at least 8.....if I count it right, 5 is different from 8.

One third of the list is compromised of garbage, not half.

But i'm sure everyone has noticed, that both The Rock and Stone Cold are missing from that list. The two biggest names of their era, these two larger than life personalities headlined 3 separate WM's themselves.

He also missed other stars he actually had history with like Hogan, Bret, Owen, Angle, Yokozuna, and, above all others, Mankind, in order to do Vince a favor and push 5 talentless giants mentioned above in 5 different Wrestlemanias so that they can reach main event level (which always ended up in oblivion).

If Taker had faced Austin at Mania, would Austin have automatically won? I mean consider the fact that the Streak was never even talked about until Taker himself raised 10 fingers in the air after obliterating Flair, and then again when Taker faced Show and A-Train, would Vince have instinctively given the 'W' to his biggest draw since Hogan, if they'd squared off at say, WM16? Or do you think there would have been an outside chance that The Deadman would snuff The Rattlesnake just like all those other superstars that stepped up to the plate?

I think it all depends where and when. If it happened at WM 16, no doubt Austin would have won. But if it happened at WM 18 or 19, I bet Taker would have won.

Interestingly, last year in an interview, Austin seemed to have taken an interest to have one last match to take on The Streak after Wrestlemania 27. Ironically, not only he would be having a ring rust for 10 years if this match happens, it would also not live up to its fullest potential unlike if it happened, say, 10 years ago.

Good thread.

 

[The Ace of Knaves]

Undertaker vs Flair was also decent but Austin vs Undertaker would have been much better in my opinion.

Decent, hm? Ah, this is why Taker vs Flair at WM 18, both their match and feud, is perhaps one of the most forgotten gem ever.

Big Evil had a brief feud with The Rock at No Way Out 2002 and was about to destroy him, but "Nature Boy" Ric Flair made the save and attacked Undertaker. Taker got upset about the "respect" he got from the 16 time World Champion and wanted to face him at WrestleMania X-8 in Toronto, Ontario Canada in the Skydome which is now renamed The Rogers Centre. B

ut the problem was, Flair wouldn't accept the challenge made by the evil-Undertaker. So, the only way Undertaker had to change Flair's mind is to first brutally attack and beat the living hell out of Flair's best friend Arn Anderson, leaving him with a bloody mess, but even though Flair was pissed off he still did not except Big Evil's challenge. Then The Undertaker would do the unthinkable next, Undertaker would go to Flair's son, David Flair who was training at the WWE, and Taker had no mercy but to attack and assault Flair's son David leaving him as well in a bloody mess, and Taker said he would have no problem if he had to go through Flair's entire family. So Ric Flair finally did the right thing for his family and friends, but he chose the wrong thing for himself because Flair finally accepted Taker's challenge at WrestleMania X-8. But for the match to go on, the WWE Board of Directors including C.E.O. Linda McMahon asked Flair if he would still want to continue in the match against Undertaker, and Flair responded "Yes, without a shout of a doubt" But then from Vince McMahon, he decided to put the match as a No DQ Match just to provoke Flair even more but that didn't matter at all to Flair.

And the match at Wrestlemania X-8 delivered as well. Flair attacked the moment Taker got into the ring and they rumbled to the commentator table. Taker fought back and pummeled Flair till he bled before delivering The Superplex that was heard around the world! This match was a wild brawl. These two men had matches back in 1993 but back then The Undertaker had a different style. This match was so awesome from start to finish! You can combine The Undertaker's Wrestlemania matches with Giant Gonzales, Big Boss Man, and Mark Henry times ten but they won't even be half as good as this match.

I also found Jerry Lawler’s announcing quite amusing during this match. Jerry is so biased and I love it. He began to chuckle when the Undertaker put a chokehold on Flair and throughout the event Ross and Lawler debated various things. It reminded me of the chemistry between the late Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan or Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon. Uniquely, the crowd cheered for The Undertaker despite him being a heel and his opponent is perhaps the best pro-wrestler of all time. The classic ended after a Tombstone Piledriver and the interference of another Horsemen, Arn Anderson. The 16 Time World Champion is one the biggest names on the list, no doubt about it. The whole match and feud was magic, but I find it unbelievable people rarely include this match and feud when they speak of Taker's best matches and feuds. I don't know what makes it so underrated, but it's ridiculous some fans didn't even know Flair is one of The Undertaker's Wrestlemania victims.

OMG, this feud is such an overlooked classic it's not even funny!

Would I watch Taker vs Austin at WM 18? Sure.

But would I sacrifice Taker vs Flair for it? No, Taker vs Flair was an underrated classic, it was perfect and so damn good.

 

[Wolf Pac]

It didn't really matter which Mania they would've faced off at, Taker would've defeated Austin regardless of whether Austin was the hottest prospect at the time or not. Taker defeated Austin in their very first PPV match together, so if they could have Taker win some of their matches together & Austin win some of their matches together since their very first PPV match together then it didn't really matter if Austin would've lost to Taker at a Mania. It would only matter if Austin had a WM streak of his own then maybe Austin probably would've defeat Taker if they faced off at Mania.

 

[The Crock]

It really just depends. I don't think 'Taker vs Austin would have ever fit on a WrestleMania card. There was never a point and time where they would have been able to wrestle. Even if they had faced off, I can't tell you who would have won. If 'Taker's streak was already being recognized by the WWE then I can only assume that he would have gone over Austin, but I don't know. From a business standpoint, you'd want Austin to win, push merchandise sales and all that, but conceivably if you wanted to make him lose he easily could and still look good.

I really think that 'Taker never faced Austin or Rock because the feud never fit, plus I don't think the WWE wanted their two biggest megastars to be associated with the streak in any way. They wanted Rock and Austin to be at the forefront, not 'Taker.

 

[Nadeem Ahmad]

If Undertaker were to fight Steve Austin at a Wrestlemania, maybe Stone Cold would have lost through a disqualification to seem less weak. With the way he was hesitating to step in the ring with Hulk Hogan for Wrestlemania Eighteen and examples of not wanting to feud with Jeff Jarrett in nineteen ninety-nine, I just did not think he wanted to lose an opportunity such as going over one of the most dangerous big men of the WWF or the WWE by laying down for the pin. Sure he lost to Undertaker but in controversial fashions most of the time when those losses did occur.