Favourite Undertaker match?

Vince135792003

Same format as before.


Its a hard one to pick again for me. I loved his matches with Mankind and I could easily go for the King of the Ring, HIAC match. But for obvious reasons that is more of a Mick Foley highlight than Takers.


I think my favorite match would be him against Lesnar at Judgment day in 2002. I can't imagine too many will go for that 1 but I loved it. It was the first hell in a cell match that was able to stand on its own without any crazy bumps. There was an intensity about it that made it really compelling.

Just one moment in the match that typifies it, is Heyman trapping Takers arm in a belt, his face covered in blood, with Lesnar ready to swing a chair screaming "Now your gonna die!". It was a really dramatic story well told.

It was probably the peak at which Lesnar was most over. He was so over that they turned him babyface way too soon and split him up from Heyman a month later.


So whats yours?

Ruu_Old

Undertaker V Yokozuna in the casket match, classic.

triple h

I am not (and was never) a fan of the undertaker. The only thing i like about the undertaker (and allways liked) is when his music starts. i like the music and the fog and the way he walks to the ring. I did not like the time he was a biker.

Anyway, i go along with Ruu. that was indeed a classic and the only undertaker match i ever liked. although i enjoyed the match with randy ortan / cowboy ortan too.

Stalfos

The infreno match with Kane at MW(?) was cool i thought. Entrance was great, and the way the flames went up when he jumped out the ring was great. Also the HIAC was with shawn micheals would be another one. Can't really decide what my favourite would be though.

chopperbyrne

The match he had against Austin at a Summer Slam I think. He did a leg rop from the top rope to Austin on the Spanish announce table.

Charlie

Stalfos wrote:

The infreno match with Kane at MW(?) was cool i thought. Entrance was great, and the way the flames went up when he jumped out the ring was great. Also the HIAC was with shawn micheals would be another one. Can't really decide what my favourite would be though.

I'm pretty certain it was Unforgiven '98, bought it on tape just for that match.

Kinda agree with tripe h though. I was never really a big taker fan, no match really stands out in my mind that I could call a favourite (unlike Angle, Austin, Rock, Bret, HBK, Mankind etc.) but, if I had to pick one it would probably be his match with Kane at Wrestlemania 14 (my favourite mania of all time:rolleyes: ) purely for its buildup. They really built that match up in a brillant way, not like anything I have seen recently. It was 5 months in the making and they didn't lay fight up until that match.

I would be more able to pick out a favouite Taker moment which was at Judgement Day 2000 when he returned after his 9 month hiatus as the American Badass. I just really didn't see it coming and the entrance really made it, a great Iron Man match aswel.

Mr.Nice Guy

I liked his match at Summerslam 97 against Bret Hart when HBK was the ref and I liked his match with Kurt Angle this year at No Way Out.

Another favourite of mine is his match against Flair at WM18.

My favourite Taker match though is the HITC with Foley at King of the Ring in '98. I don't agree that it's more of a Foley highlight than a Taker highlight. For me, seeing Taker looking down at Foley after he threw him off the Cell is an iconic image and one that typifies the Undertaker character - ruthless and unforgiving, bordering on psychotic. :cool:

J.R.HARTLEY

Vince135792003 wrote:

Its a hard one to pick again for me. I loved his matches with Mankind and I could easily go for the King of the Ring, HIAC match. But for obvious reasons that is more of a Mick Foley highlight than Takers.

i don't know dropping down from the cage onto a broken foot would be a taker highlight of the match for me

Vince135792003

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

i don't know dropping down from the cage onto a broken foot would be a taker highlight of the match for me

Thats a fair point. Again I guess my point is that when people talk about that match retrospectively, Undertakers name sometimes fails to get even mentioned. I think thats unfair but I can see why.

Jerichoholic

Taker has had some real stinkers really. The inferno match was just horrible as were all the Kane matches, his "submission style" match with Shamrock is possiblythe most boring match ever and there's always the Punjabi Prison to consider. He must be carried to greatness and it has happened only twice IMO.

Vs Bret Hart - One Night Only.

Bret pulled what he could from him, and made the usually lazy Taker work hard.

Vs. Kurt Angle - (Whatever that Smackdown ppv was called)

As before with Kurt getting the most out of him, although the match only really takes off in the last 10 minutes.

J.R.HARTLEY

Jerichoholic wrote:

Bret pulled what he could from him, and made the usually lazy Taker work hard.

ha thats class a man some of the worlds greatest wrestlers (hogan, foley, austin,bret) have called a great wrestler a hard worker and a tough SOB, and johnny keyboard warrior here slates him for being lazy. talked about a BS comment

Fozzy

I'll have to go with a match that hasn't been mentioned, 'Taker vs HHH at WMX7. The card was excellent throughout, but theirs was probably the most solid wrestling match that night. It had almost everything in it, they could've easily had an average match and not be remembered with all the other good matches on that ppv, but they really delivered

nacho libre

I wonder could anyone tell me the title of the piece of music used in the build up to the match between Lesnar and The Undertaker at Judgment day in 2002? A video is shown charting the live of Lesnar and The Undertaker over the last 10 years and it is set to eerie music. It documents how one has grown to be man and the other has become a legend. It was a great introductory piece to a match that was very gripping.

One of my favourite matches of the Undertaker's has to be his last match with Angle because i think in this match he proved he could still compete at a high level. It was also really compelling for the last 10 minutes with them matching each other move for move. I also like one of his first maches with Hogan where he is choking Hogan in the corner, then as the camera zooms in he shows the whites of his eyes, that's one of my favourite taker moments:D

Jerichoholic

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

ha thats class a man some of the worlds greatest wrestlers (hogan, foley, austin,bret) have called a great wrestler a hard worker and a tough SOB, and johnny keyboard warrior here slates him for being lazy. talked about a BS comment

I think the BS comment is you calling Hogan one of the "Worlds greatest wrestlers". I've never like the Taker to be honest, he bores the bejesus out of me, and he's had one good match in two years. Most of the time he's involved in fueds that would need vast amounts of heroin for me to find interesting, Khali, Mark Henry etc.

Ph3n0m

Jerichoholic wrote:

I think the BS comment is you calling Hogan one of the "Worlds greatest wrestlers". I've never like the Taker to be honest, he bores the bejesus out of me, and he's had one good match in two years. Most of the time he's involved in fueds that would need vast amounts of heroin for me to find interesting, Khali, Mark Henry etc.

actually Hogan was a fairly good wrestler back in the 80s, doing stuff you will never see him now - especially since time, and injuries have caught up with him.

I remind all of his superplex to the Big Boss Man of the top of a steal cage. So yes Hogan as a wrestler right now sucks....back in his heyday, he was good (not great) but good.

But to pass off 'Taker as lazy based on matches he has had over the past two years, is really an insult to the man's career in WWE overall. I dont see how he can be called lazy back then, when his character called for him to be methodical, unstoppable and down right devestating and I think he did that pretty damn well.

My favourite matches are

Taker vs Mankind - Boiler Room Brawl
Taker vs Mankind - HIAC
Taker vs Mankind - some PPV match, where Taker used the stairs and belted Mankind from the ring into the announce table.

Taker vs Lesnar - just loads of stiffness and blood

Taker vs HBk - HIAC


Taker vs HBK - Ground Zero - just for that dive over the top rope

Taker vs Kane - first match, yes it was dodgy at times, but the build up was cool

And his finest moment - his debut




Taker vs HBK - No Way Out - just for that dive over the top rope

xzodia

one of my favorite moments had to be watching him tombstone hogan onto a steel chair.

also takers first Surviour series when he pretty much decimated the other team

J.R.HARTLEY

Ph3n0m wrote:

actually Hogan was a fairly good wrestler back in the 80s, doing stuff you will never see him now - especially since time, and injuries have caught up with him.

I remind all of his superplex to the Big Boss Man of the top of a steal cage. So yes Hogan as a wrestler right now sucks....back in his heyday, he was good (not great) but good.

But to pass off 'Taker as lazy based on matches he has had over the past two years, is really an insult to the man's career in WWE overall. I dont see how he can be called lazy back then, when his character called for him to be methodical, unstoppable and down right devestating and I think he did that pretty damn well.

Well put, it seems some of our posters think wrestling was invented in 1996.

triple h

Me been one of them JR.
I started to become interested in wrestling in the early 90's. there are a few years every now and again i go off it for a while. But before 1990 i hated wresstling, I think (lokking back at old footage) it was because of the 80's style, you know, the 80's cloths and the 80's hair-styles that you see in the ring and in the crowds. A stupid reason to hate wrestling i guess but thats me. Even the early 90's footage looks tacky now.

So i never saw the best from hogan. But to get back to the point of this thread- the undertaker- yes he was good for wwe- yes he had some good matches- yes he has greatness wrote all over him from day one. But he was boring at times and should have had loads of great matches.

Jerichoholic

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

Well put, it seems some of our posters think wrestling was invented in 1996.

Well I'm afraid I'm not one of them, I was at the VERY FIRST WWF show in Ireland back in 1990 in the point, headlined by Davey Boy Smith vs Ted DiBiase.
To be fair Takers biggest moments or matches come from shortcuts or OTT bumps from cages or tables or chairs or whatever. I'm more of a fan of wrestling and not at all the WWE style of today, so making assumptions on posters because they find the undertaker as boring as his 20 minute entrances is a little silly.

I agree though, there are a lot of posters that believe wrestling started only recently, but I assure you I'm not one of them.

Vince135792003

Jerichoholic wrote:

Well I'm afraid I'm not one of them, I was at the VERY FIRST WWF show in Ireland back in 1990 in the point, headlined by Davey Boy Smith vs Ted DiBiase.

You should do a run down on the show for us, from what you can remember. It would be cool to hear about it.

Jerichoholic

Well ok, it was a long time ago though results are hazy, they were either countouts or dq's and probably exactly the same as the UK Rampage 90' tape that was released.

The first wrestler I saw was Warlorld and good god he was huge, biggest man I had ever seen. Although before the matches started Dave Hebner, twin of Earl came out and we thought it was Earl, so we shouted "Earl" and he came over and was really nice. We were sitting about halfway down on the floorseats at the aisle.

Wrestlers that I got to slap hands with were Shawn Michaels and Andre the Giant! Shawn just ran past with arms outstretched so it was quick, but Andre walked/stumbled over and I got to shake his hand . When Haku was leaving after his match we were shouting abuse at him and he told us to "F off" which was really funny.

Problem was everyone on the front row were standing for the whole show so therefore everyone else had to stand to see anything which sucked and ruined the experience really. Best thing I remember was Roddy Piper vs Earthquake - Piper had an Ireland hat on and led the crowd into singing "Ole, Ole" which was cheesey but cool. He hit quake with a bucket as I recall and won by countout.

Pretty good night even though the card sucked, and it was basically the WWF B team that got sent to Ireland.

J.R.HARTLEY

triple h wrote:

But before 1990 i hated wresstling, I think (lokking back at old footage) it was because of the 80's style, you know, the 80's cloths and the 80's hair-styles

what exactly did you expect , it was the 80's:D

Jericoholic wrote:

I agree though, there are a lot of posters that believe wrestling started only recently, but I assure you I'm not one of them.

so then you know how good he was in ring in the mid 90's , granted he's been a shadow lately and the matches abysmal but its from the damage he's taken over the years, when looking back on takers career i always try to ignore anything after buried alive against Vince since he's come back he's had few good matches

Vince135792003

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

what exactly did you expect , it was the 80's:D


so then you know how good he was in ring in the mid 90's

Mid '90s given the deadman style he worked and the wrestlers he faced (Yokozuna, Kama, Mr. Hughes and Giant Gonzales) was not the period he reached his peak in my opinion.

I think 2002ish actually was. He had programs with Lesnar, Angle, Jeff Hardy and even the Big Show that were very good.

Someone said earlier that Hogan was good but not great as a wrestler in the '80s. I disagree. Given the roster at that time in the WWE, he was an average worker in comparison to the rest, even at his peak. Plus, I've seen all the major ppv's he main evented in the 1980's and aside from Randy Savage and the miracle that was his match with the Warrior in 1991, there for the majority pretty hard to sit through. Of course he made up for it in other areas (charisma, physique, mic work).

Good but not great as a wrestler, I think describes Taker. But certainly there have been few better big men than him and he's had one hell of a good run.

chopperbyrne

I know this is a Taker thread but Hogans best match and one of my favourite matches ever was against Sgt. Slaughter at Wrestlemania VII.

Both were on top of their game that night.

Jerichoholic

Hogan vs Hansen was good enough for me, it's from the AJPW/WWF Supershow in 91'. Hogan HAD to work hard that night as Stan doesn't make life easy for slackers!