Reassessing The Undertaker: Mark vs Mark Part 5
- Reassessing The Undertaker: Mark vs Mark Part 5 - July 11, 2024
- Reassessing The Undertaker: Mark vs Mark Part 4 - June 27, 2024
- Reassessing The Undertaker: Mark vs Mark Part 3 - June 25, 2024
Welcome to the fifth and final installment of Mark vs Mark, the series where I reassess my opinion of The Undertaker. The previous parts can be found here, here, here, and here. Understandably, this was the hardest part to write as I had to actually make a decision. Of course, it also let me go on what might be my biggest rant of the series.
Match 12 – Batista vs The Undertaker, WrestleMania 23, 1st April 2007, Detroit, Michigan
This match was probably the antithesis of Angle vs The Undertaker at No Way Out 2006. That was about trying new things, evolving strategies, The Undertaker fighting through adversity and selling Angle’s dominance in the second half. It was a match that told a story that the wrestlers wanted to tell, which is not the same as the story that the fans wanted to see.
Batista vs The Undertaker was a great example of give the fans what they want. At almost half the length of Angle vs Undertaker, it kept the pace as fast as they could considering the size and age of the wrestlers involved. This was about playing the hits. It was a 50:50 battle of punches and big bombs. It was designed as a spectacle, focusing on Batista’s strengths, and giving the WrestleMania crowd what they wanted. It delivered on that front. The finishing stretch in particular was a non-stop WWE bomb fest, with a huge pop for The Undertaker kicking out of the Batista Bomb. I have no problem with The Undertaker having 15-minute bomb fests at this point of his career.
In terms of The Undertaker’s performance, there wasn’t any one aspect that felt special or unique. The selling was measured, and the storytelling and structure was basic: It was about doing what the crowd wanted to see and playing to Batista’s strengths. One of the best skills for a veteran is knowing how much you need to do to get the reaction that you want. When the crowd is invested as much as this Detroit crowd was, a match like this was all you needed.
Match 13 – Edge vs The Undertaker, WrestleMania 24, 2008, Orlando, Florida
As I mentioned in my first Mark vs Mark article, I attended this match live and remembered none of it. Not even the legendary Charles Robinson sprint down to the ring. That’s not necessarily a slight on the match: I struggle to remember a lot about wrestling shows that I’ve seen live, especially WrestleMania’s.
Watching this match, my main takeaway was about Edge. His counters into his signature moves showed incredible timing. The strategy made sense and working over The Undertaker’s ribs and back made the match feel different. Despite those positives, he just felt so forced and hollow to me. His work looked light, and his manic grin felt like a façade. The main issue was that he came across like someone trying to be a star instead of actually being a star. It’s been a long time since I sat down to watch a wrestling match and one of the performers just felt like they were pretending to be a wrestler. Although, if his goal was to look like a petulant toddler on purpose when he hit his 2nd spear then I have to give him some credit.
The match suffered a lot because of my issues with Edge. It didn’t help that his main come back was because The Undertaker was clumsy and fell out of the ring on a corner charge. It was probably planned to hammer home the “ultimate opportunist” aspect of his character, but it made him feel weak. The best parts of the match were down to The Undertaker. As I have said for most of the matches in this project, he is great at selling. Selling the back/ribs made sense, let him have big moments like being unable to hit the Last Ride, and even gave him an out if he needed to take some time if he needs to regain his breath. It added sympathy and got the crowd behind him. The crowd were so behind him that wo get a surprisingly long yay-boo strike exchange. Like the Batista match, this gave the fans what they wanted: the big Undertaker spots they’ve seen on TV, a reason to cheer The Dead Man, a sense of all being right with the world when The Undertaker escaped Edge’s Tombstone attempt. That last spot, where his opponent tries to use the Tombstone and loses (or nearly loses) has been in all 3 of the WrestleMania matches in this project. In the end, this match was more proof that The Undertaker is good and generous when he is asked to be, but this isn’t a match that I’m ever going to think about unless it’s to criticize Edge or praise Charles Robinson’s sprinting.
Conclusion
This was hard to write. Even though this was about watching more matches to have a more rounded opinion, this is still about making an opinion based on only 13 wrestling matches.
My first takeaway was that The Undertaker is a much better seller than I realized. There is a willingness to show weakness when it’s needed and an understanding of how and when to sell. I’ve always associated The Undertaker with not selling, but one of the reasons that stands out is because it stands out against the rest of his selling. You can see his selling improve over the years, and I was surprised at how good his leg selling was.
My second takeaway is the experience and the understanding of how to be a pro wrestler. There were really niche things like knowing how to protect your opponent on a ring post Figure Four, or how he worked to the stipulation of the Austin First Blood match. There were signs of experience, like positioning, timing when to do come backs and the development of knowing how to show fire through urgency instead of facial expressions. Then you had things like him taking over at SummerSlam 1998 when Austin had a concussion, carrying the match and pushing himself physically to overcome Austin’s limitations.
My third takeaway is that he can be generous. Matches like the RVD match and the Orton match showed that he could help his opponent shine and could be willing to play to their strengths. Although that is offset in my mind by both the fact that he was winning those matches, and the memory of the Chris Kanyon incident.
My last takeaway was that The Undertaker can be a great wrestler. He just doesn’t always live up to that potential. He has his limitations. Working to the level of his opponent is one of them: The Vader & JBL matches are great examples of that. Another one is that since November 1990, over 99% of his matches took place in the WWE. Working in one place can lead you to focusing on tropes and developing blind spots: The JBL match was a perfect example of that, with how they played to WWF production elements instead of how to best get the drama out of the stipulation.
The Undertaker’s biggest strength is not his in-ring skills or his experience level. It’s how long he has been working in one place. A thirty-year career in one place means that you are a fixture for multiple generations of fans. You as a performer are a constant. You also have a direct link to the nostalgia when they first discovered the WWE. It gives The Undertaker an advantage that few workers ever get: He’s comfortable. He’s an instant burst of nostalgia for the good old days. This is even more apparent when he reverted back to the old hat, coat and music. Think about it: Hulk Hogan & Shawn Michaels 1st WWF runs were ten to eleven years long. Randy Savage’s WWF run was ten years. Bret Hart’s run was thirteen years. It’s only the likes of John Cena & Randy Orton who have been constants for nearly as long as the Undertaker. As long as you don’t come across as stale or weak, longevity can be a big advantage in terms of the buy in from the audience.
So the big question at the start of this project was: Will watching more Undertaker matches change my mind on him as a worker? The answer is yes. I have more respect for his skills, and I can see strengths that I did not recognize. However, it also helped me home in on some of his weaknesses. I also think that this project did not change my mind on The Undertaker’s performance in that first Hell in a Cell match. If anything, it made his choices in that match even worse to me. Although, I will admit that I have not watched that match back and I may change my mind if I do watch it again.
Ultimately, this project made me appreciate him more. It also didn’t make me want to seek out more of his matches now that I am done with this project.
