THE STREAK

The Undertaker's Streak. An amazing phenomenon that will never be duplicated again. To go twenty years undefeated at the biggest show of the year is an amazing task. However, the streak has been in jeopardy more than once. Many times through the course of Taker's career, he was penciled in to lose at WrestleMania. Things change though. Everything doesn't always go according to plan. Let's talk about some of those times.

#1-Stone Cold Steve Austin

 Fresh off his title win in 1998, Austin was the man. After HBK's first retirement, Austin carried the WWF Brand to super stardom and provided legitimate competition to WCW during the Monday Night Wars. Thanks to Austin 3:16, the WWF was finally distancing itself with the Hogan'ish vibe that had been in the company from the Golden era for over 20 years. During the Summer of 98, Austin started a feud with Undertaker and Kane. At Summerslam 1998 ,Austin faced The Undertaker. The build up was pretty good. At the time, it was dubbed as the "Highway to Hell". The buyrates were off the charts and the match was very good. The match did so well that WWF penciled in a rematch. The rematch was originally going to take place at WrestleMania 2000 (16) for the Title. A match in which Stone Cold was going to go over. Due to injuries from both men however, the match never happened and streak stayed intact. Bullet dodged.

#2-Hulk Hogan

 Undertaker won his first World Title from Hogan. He dropped it back to Hogan six days later. Like Austin, Hogan was the face of his era. Hulkamania ran wild all across the world. Hogan was a household name and was becoming bigger than WWF itself. Hogan main evented all but two Mania's and was the center focus of the company regardless of what was going on (like John Cena is today). Needless to say, had Taker ever faced Hogan at Mania back then he would have lost without question. Luckily for Taker, that never happened. Another bullet dodged for the streak.

#3-Kurt Angle

 Rumor has it that Kurt Angle was originally set to end the streak in 2006. Taker himself suggested this and was apparently "OK" with putting Angle over. To add to the story, Angle and Taker put on one of the best wrestling matches of all time that many wrestling fans have dubbed as "The Mania match that came one month early". At No Way Out, the final PPV before WrestleMania, Angle defended the WHC against Taker and defeated him......CLEAN. WWE had big plans for Kurt Angle and planned to focus and center Smackdown around him. They say that Angle was against the idea and felt that the streak should never end. Angle has also stated in interviews several times that Taker was one of the guys that helped him when he first came to WWF and has an enormous amount of respect for him. We'll never know what would have happened if their match took place at WrestleMania 22, but its safe to assume a loss for Taker wouldn't have been hard to imagine. If you ask my opinion, I'd wager the death of Eddie Guerrero changed things and the charity case push of Rey Mysterio (Sorry Rey fans, just being honest) ultimately undermined whatever Taker or Angle would do that year.

#4-The Rock

A 3rd generation Superstar. A man that's made his mark in the wrestling business and in Hollywood. Just his name alone legitimizes anything he's involved in. And now today he's WWE Champion. Back in the day, The Rock had a few how should we say..."run-ins" with Taker, but they never truly had a big time feud that lead to a big match. I've always felt that if Taker faced The Rock its a strong chance Taker would have lost. This is the Rock we are talking about. A man that has defeated, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and John Cena at WrestleMania. Speaking of which, WrestleMania XXX is next year. If for whatever reason, Taker doesn't face Brock Lesnar or John Cena, I can definitely see The Rock challenging Taker because like HHH, Rock really wouldn't have much else to conquer. I feel like because of who Rock is, he has a strong chance of winning, but that's just me.

#5-Diesel

 Diesel was the fastest Triple Crown in WWF/E history. He won the Tag Team, IC, and World Title all in one year. He held the Title for nearly a year and carried the WWF Brand in 1995. Due to the backstage politicking of the Clique he had political power on his matches and feuds. Originally, Diesel was going to beat Taker at Mania 12, but since he was jumping ship to WCW, that changed. He still fought HBK for one last Title match on his way out. If Nash didn't jump ship to WCW, Taker would have lost. No doubt about it.

These guys are just some examples. I feel like there are a lot of cool match ups at Mania we have been deprived of. I would have love to see Guerrero vs. Taker or Benoit vs. Taker or Goldberg vs. Taker. I also want to bring up how many fans place the streak a tad too high. Yeah, its a great accomplishment, but don't think the Streak was always part of the plan. It wasn't. It wasn't until Mania X-8 was the streak officially acknowledged. After Taker defeated Ric Flair, he held up his ten fingers to signify his 10 years of being undefeated. Look at some of Taker's earlier matches. At Mania 9, he won by DQ. At Mania 12, he was dominated for 75% of the match. At Mania 13, he won via a shitload of run-ins. etc etc. From Mania XIX and onwards did the streak become more talked about. Mania 21 with Orton was really the first Mania match were the Streak itself was a huge factor of the build up. By the time Mania 23 came around the Streak itself was established and was its own showcase in WrestleMania entirely. To wrap this up, I'll admit the streak has played an important role in Taker's career, but I'd never go as far and say if he loses at Mania he's "done". No, Taker has several title reigns, memorable feuds, persona's, and several other things that have left its mark on the industry. For me, the Streak is just one of the many accolades that will be added to his HOF career.