Undertaker PPV Matches

 Someone recently asked for a quick resume of The Undertaker's PPV matches in the WWF since I'd seen about 90% of them. In the vague interest anyone wants a quick rundown of the quality, here they are:

Decent to Great vs Bad

 

Survivor Series 1990 - Debut. There to be the new monster. Moves around well, takes out Koko and Dusty, eliminated by one of their standard daft count outs. Match has lengthy Bret/DiBiase sprint so is obviously good overall. 1-0

 

Mania 7 - Snuka. Squash. It's there just to put over the new guy over the murderer, and as such it works. Botched finish aside, its inoffensive and while the memorable calls are Heenans, not a disaster. 2-0

 

Survivor Series 91 - Hogan - Typical early 90s Hogan match, nowhere near the level of his 80s work. Enough whistles and bells to be just about passingly entertaining. 3-0

 

Tuesday in Texas - Hogan - Worse match, daft finish. 3-1.

 

WrestleMania 8 - Jake the Snake - Splits fans going by 20+ years on the internet. I like this one. Jake Roberts is overly confident because he has the one death move in the entire WWF in his arsenal, the DDT. So even when Taker gets the upper hand, Jake is Jake because he'll get that one moment. And he does. DDT. Taker sits up. Jake looks worried. DDT again. Taker down. Confident Jake returns and he goes to harass Paul Bearer on the floor, only for the horror villain to rise up behind him and follow him to the floor. The new real death move of the WWF - Tombstone Piledriver - follows. This tells a basic story very well, and gives a new guy a comprehensive win over a protected opponent. 4-1

 

Summerslam 92 - Kamala - Dire. They didn't mesh. 4-2

 

Survivor Series 92 - Kamala - see above. 4-3

 

WrestleMania 9 - Giant Gonzalez - I think we all know how dreadful this match is. Gonzalez cannot do anything in the ring, and Taker is at a complete loss on how to get anything interesting out of the guy. 4-4

 

Summerslam 93 - Giant Gonzalez - As above, so below. 4-5

 

Survivor Series 93 - Fun survivor match with the Steiners, Lex Luger, Yokozuna and others. Sets up the Yokozuna/Taker feud. Survivor matches have to be counted on their whole really - this one is enjoyable, so 5-5.

 

Rumble 94 - Yokozuna - Nostalgia fest casket match, famous for its finish when the entire heel roster take out Undertaker. Yokozuna and Taker had surprisingly good chemistry (which is borne out in Yoko being one of the few giants that did big business with Taker on house shows) and Taker enjoys working from beneath with an opponent who actually knows what they're doing in the ring. Not the best Taker match but if you watch after his 92-93 opponents... 6-5

 

Summerslam 94 - Fake Undertaker - Bit of a rubbish match, tbh. 6-6

 

Survivor Series 94 - Yokozuna - Another casket match, with added Chuck Norris (who is very easily hoodwinked by IRS, which says a lot about his qualities as a ringside enforcer!). Not as good as the Rumble match but still a watchable big guy brawl which ends with Taker getting his revenge. 7-6

 

Rumble 95 - IRS - I might be one of the few IRS fans going, and yet this match does nothing for me. Styles clash. 7-7

 

WrestleMania 11 - King Kong Bundy - Look, Hulk Hogan in 1986 didn't get much enjoyable out of Bundy, so asking Taker to do much is a bit like asking for miracles. It sucks, but Taker did (iirc) debut his walk on the ropes in this match. 7-8

 

KOTR 95 - Mabel - Yeah, this is a bad run of opponents. Mabel absolutely sucks here, and nearly murders Taker with some badly timed spots. Taker tries his best but between the 500 pound immobile opponent and him jobbing to a light kick in the back, there's not much to enjoy here. 7-9

 

Summerslam 95 - Kama - Casket match. OK, on the one hand, Kama is not the best Final Villain for a year long storyline. On the other hand, he and Taker are good mates, and Charles Wright busts his ass here. As a charismatic but limited wrestler, this might be ironically his best match, when he plays an emotionless MMA guy. There's no doubt who is winning, but like a lot of Summerslam 1995, a weak on paper match turns out surprisingly decent on paper. 8-9

 

Survivor Series 95 - Survivor match. It's a squash. Who much do you want to see Triple H, Jerry Lawler and Glen Jacobs absolutely murdered by one guy? If so, this is the match for you. Actually my favourite moment is Savio Vega no selling the Piledriver. Or Mabel flopping out of the ring at the end. Taker only spends about 2 mins of 10 in the ring so its hard to call, but is the weakest Survivor match on that card, so I guess 8-10.

 

IYH5 - Mabel - Casket Match - Godawful but thankfully short. Even 1995 Bret Hart, one of WWE's rare actual miracle workers, would have struggled with King Mabel. And probably did on some forgotten TV show at some point! 8-11

 

Rumble 96 - Bret Hart - Massively disappointing. The two don't mesh here at all, and it goes long. You feel like they had a far better match in them. They did. 8-12

 

Mania 12 - Diesel - Sometimes people just mesh in the ring, and this is what Undertaker and Kevin Nash do here. Replaying the story of Taker/Jake, Diesel is overconfident to the end, but his character allows for some better spots - like after he hits the Jacknife he sits waiting for Taker to sit up so he can kick him in the face! Highly enjoyable 18 minute match and Taker's best PPV outing in years by that point. 9-12

 

Beware of Dog - Goldust - Casket match. Another match which seems to divide folk, though I quite like the styles clash of power vs underhanded tactics. I always mix this and International Incident up though, and one of them was quite good and the other underwhelming, so I am going to count the July one here too and go 10-13.

 

King of the Ring 96 - Mankind - Good match, which ends surprisingly as Mankind submits Taker. 11-13

 

Summerslam 96 - Mankind - Boiler Room Brawl - Groundbreaking in WWF at the time, maybe a bit overlong by 2021 standards? For the time this was brutal stuff, and leads to a (surprise) finish. 12-13

 

Buried Alive - Mankind - Not as good as the first two, but Foley and Taker could put on a good match in their sleep by this point. 13-13

 

Survivor Series 96 - Mankind - Weakest of the original quartet. Taker as a bat. Even Foley says it was disappointing. 13-14

 

Its Time - Terry Gordy - Sadly, a flop. Gordy was a shell of a wrestler by this point. 13-15

 

Rumble 97 - Vader - Good big man match with a surprise (at the time) winner - Vader and Taker had great chemistry together. 14-15

 

Final Four - vs Bret, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vader - Great match in which Taker plays his full part. One of those forgotten gems from the era. 15-15

 

Mania 13 - Sid. Sid tries. Taker tries. Its just not very good. 15-16

 

Revenge of the Taker - Mankind - Barnstormer with Foley that even a bit of fire can't ruin. 16-16

 

A Cold Day in Hell - Stone Cold - Their best match together, an Attitude era brawl with Austin on his A game to show everyone what hes got. 17-16

 

KOTR 97 – Faarooq – Ron Simmons past his singles match heyday here, and he and Taker don’t work well together. Daft finish too. 17-17

 

Canadian Stampede – Vader – Great match between two great opponents. Lots of twists and turns in momentum. 18-17

 

Summerslam 97 – Bret Hart – Much better match than Rumble 96.  Hart plays on his Diesel playbook here to great effect. 19-17

 

Ground Zero – Shawn Michaels – A fun and wild brawl. 20-17

 

One Night Only – Bret Hart – Plays on Summerslam with a more angry Taker than usual out for revenge and more vicious than normal. They go full pelt for half an hour which ends when Taker gets DQ’d for kicking too much ass. Yes, this existed back then too. Great forgotten match. 21-17

 

Badd Blood 97 – Shawn Michaels – The Hell in a Cell match. Is one of the all time classic WWF matches any good? Yes. Yes it is. They reinvent the entire main event structure around them for 30 mins, and if its oft repeated now, its not the original that’s to blame. 22-17

DX – Jeff Jarrett – A nothing match that nobody knows why it exists. 22-18

Rumble 98 – Shawn Michaels, Casket – Another great match between these two, only hurt by Shawn’s injury midway through. 23-18

 

Mania XIV – Kane – Very good match between two monsters. Their best, probably. Taker gets killed but just survives enough to get the three count. 24-18

Unforgiven – Kane – Not as good as Mania, but you know, I’m going to forgive the two big guys for trying to have an actual interesting wrestling match SURROUNDED BY FUCKING FIRE! What a stupid stipulation and yet they go all out around it. 25-18

King of the Ring 98 – Mankind – Yes, that Hell in a Cell match. Without Taker, the match is over after the first bump. Maybe for Foley that would been a good thing? 26-18

Fully Loaded 98 – Tag title match, with Austin vs Kane and Mankind. Fun brawling main event. 27-18

Summerslam 98 – Austin – Taker puts over Stone Cold clean in the middle of the ring to cement the new generation. Hes injured and hobbling a bit but it’s a decent enough match. 28-18

Breakdown – Triple threat – I really enjoy the insanity of this one, despite the daft rules about Taker and Kane being unable to pin each other – eh, Vince, you want the title off Austin no matter what? 29-18

Judgment Day 98 – Kane – Their weakest big match of 98, with most of the focus on Austins antics. As a result it depends how much you love 98 Stone Cold than Taker or Kane. 29-19

Survivor Series 98 – Kane – A quick sprint with not much memorable happening. 29-20

Survivor Series 98 – Rock – A quick sprint with not much memorable happening. 29-21

Capital Carnage – 4 way with Austin, Kane and Mankind. Fun but irrelevant brawl. 30-21

Rock Bottom – Austin – Buried Alive match. A clearly injured Taker struggles to do much of note in this one. He missed being in the Rumble match due to this one. 30-22

Mania 15 – Bossman – Hell in a Cell. OK, we all know its not great, but… it’s not the worst streak match, or the worst Hell in a Cell, or even the worst match on WrestleMania 15! Its merely mediocre, which was a huge crime after the Foley/HBK Hell in a Cell matches, and Bossman was the wrong opponent after 3 months of Taker feuding with Vince himself. Within the match itself, Bossman tries to play on the claustrophobia of the structure, so it’s a different kind of a match. And it has one of my all time favourite streak moments as Bossman floors Taker, then yells at him “SIT UP!” Taker does his sit up, and Bossman kicks him in the face. “STAY DOWN!” yells Bossman. I always laugh. As bits verge on the dull, this goes in the bad column but it’s the one I feel bad about – there’s a lot to appreciate in character work here. 30-23

Backlash 99 – Ken Shamrock – Fun styles clash which wound up ahead of its time and a glimpse into 2007 onwards style Undertaker. 31-23

Over the Edge 99 – This obviously sucks. But…I’m not counting it. Undertaker with his big red eyes, as the “most satanic man in the Federation” struggles to hold back tears throughout the match. This was the night Owen Hart died, and I’m giving the match a pass on the “friend dies horrifically in front of you putting you off your game” rule. Obviously I have no interest in ever seeing this one again.

King of the Ring 99 – Rock – Not great, but it gets a pass for having 3 of my favourite stupid moments in an Attitude era title match. Firstly, The Rock no selling the ether soaked rag! Secondly, Taker thumping the referee as soon as he rings the bell, which is almost meta-Russo. Third, the pre-match promo by Taker. “What happens when you rip the balls off a bull?” Two favourites put on an underwhelming match but this was the first LIVE title match I saw, and nostalgia gives this a huge pass, you see. 32-23

Fully Loaded 99 – Austin – Fun brawling First Blood match with lots of smoke and mirrors to cover Takers injury. 33-23

Summerslam 99 – Tag titles, with Big Show vs X-Pac and Kane. Really good match with a great story of Taker wanting the match over and done with but his attempts to train Big Show into a monster just lead into him getting cocky against little X-Pac. This is David v Goliath with Goliaths angry mentor intervening, and finally the mentor just kills David with a Tombstone Piledriver. Fun match, and these four could have had some fun matches to come if not for Taker needing surgery. 34-23

King of the Ring 00 – six man tag. Daft fun Attitude era brawl. 35-23

Fully Loaded 00 – Kurt Angle. Squash. Bit odd looking back at, but in context, Kurt Angle had spent 6 months being a bit of a karma Houdini who rarely got his comeuppance. Fans (in general, not smarks) wanted to see him get an old fashioned gubbing and here it is. 35-24

Summerslam 00 – Kane – Rubbish. And they were friends a few months later once more. 35-25

 

Unforgiven 00 – vs Rock,Benoit and Kane. Really enjoyable mental four way for the world title. 36-25

Survivor Series 00 – Fun match between him and Kurt Angle. 37-25

Armageddon 2000 – 6 way Hell in a Cell match. Yes, this was epic at the time. 38-25

No Way Out 2001 – Triple threat, tag titles tables match, Dudleys, Edge and Christian. Surprisingly fun brawl between the six, with Rikishi and Haku interference. 39-25

Mania X7 – Triple H – Fun brawl – the sledgehammer shot legit had me thinking the “streak” (yet to be named) was over at the time. 40-25

Backlash 2001 – with Kane v HHH and Austin. It wanted to be epic but was built too quickly and is overlong. 40-26

Judgment Day 2001 – Austin – They didn’t mesh at all and the finish is very odd. 40-27

Invasion – Inaugural Brawl – This is great. Taker plays a smallish role in it, but it is great. 41-27

Summerslam 2001 – with Kane, v DDP and Kanyon – DDP gets murdered. 41-28

Unforgiven 2001 – vs Kronik. Infamously awful.  41-29

No Mercy 2001 – Booker T – Styles clash between two who had better days in the past and future. 41-30

Survivor Series 2001 – Winner Takes All Survivor Match. A great survivor match. 42-30

Vengeance 2001 – Rob Van Dam – Surprisingly great hardcore match, as the Van Terminator takes on a wrestling terminator and they brutalise each other all over the ringside before Taker wins big. Taker was getting a lot of criticism for his 2001 at this point and he felt like he had his work boots on here, playing heel for first time in 2 and ½ years. 43-30

No Way Out 2002 – Much better than KOTR99 with The Rock. 44-30

Mania X8 – Ric Flair – Really good match with Taker slowly dragging back Ric Flairs confidence by the spot. Some genuinely great moments in this match, the best of which is the Spinebuster. I went nuts in 2002. I went nuts last week rewatching it. 45-30

Backlash 2002 – Austin – Dreadful. Austin on the worst run of his life against an opponent he never hit it off with. 45-31

Judgment Day 2002 – Hogan – Dreadful and Hogan in a huff. 45-32

KOTR 2002 – Triple H. Bad match against an out of shape HHH. No idea how such a good run of form had such bad PPV matches – soon after this he had bangers against Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on free TV! 45-33

Vengeance 2002 – vs Rock and Kurt Angle. Genuinely a contender for one of the best triple threat matches in WWE history. 46-33

Summerslam 2002 – Test – A fun sprint between two big guys which was underrated at the time as the smarks wanted Test to beat Taker clean. Yes, you read thar right. 47-33

Unforgiven 2002 – Brock – Good brawl overshadowed by future matches. 48-33

No Mercy 2002 – Brock, Hell in a Cell – Classic of the genre as Taker puts over Brock huge. 49-33

No Way Out 2003 – Big Show – Surprisingly decent big man brawl. 50-33

Mania XIX – vs Albert and Big Show – Quite fond of this daft handicap match, with Albert and Big Show trying to cheat on abdominal stretches to end the Streak. I mean, that sounds hilarious just writing it down. Not even the worst match on Mania XIX, although it is hard to beat world title racism! 51-33

Vengeance 2003 – Cena – Part of Cena’s coming out party and he gives it all against a superior opponent. Very Japan 1990s in its booking. 52-33

Summerslam 2003 – A-Train – Albert was serviceable in the ring with the right opposition but this is a mega disappointment. 52-34

I haven’t seen No Way Out 2003.

Survivor Series 2003 – Vince McMahon, Buried Alive. Stupid. 52-35

Mania XX – Kane – Fast squash. A moment more than a match but the moment was great. 53-35

Not seen Judgment Day 2004, Summerslam 2004 or No Mercy 2004

Great American Bash 2004 – vs Dudley Boys. Awful. 53-36

Survivor Series 2004 – vs Heidenriech. Awful. 53-37

Armageddon 2004 – vs JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T. Enjoyable four way title match, the best bits involve a 5 min segment of Eddie Guerrero vs Undertaker where Eddie damn near has Taker beaten clean before interference. It makes you want to see them in a big singles match. We never got one. 54-37

Rumble 2005 – Heidenriech – I don’t like caskets. I don’t like caskets either. Heavy breathing. Daft casket match, but surprisingly watchably daft. 55-37

No Way out 2005 – Luther Reigns – Rubbish. 55-38

Mania 21 – Randy Orton – Good match. 56-38

Bash 2005 – Hassan – A murder, done in by the whole terror angle on 7/7. 56-39

Summerslam 2005 – Orton – Good match though the Mania one was better. 57-39

No Mercy 2005 – vs Both Ortons, Casket. Fun but not so good in hindsight due to Hep sufferer Orton Jr bleeding all over Taker. 57-40

Armageddon 2005 – Orton – Good match but the Mania match was the best and they got steadily worse. 58-40

No Way Out 2006 – Kurt Angle – Legit five star amazing match. 59-40

Mania 22 – Mark Henry – You feel this should have been far better than it was, but this was right at the start of Henry slowing putting it together. 59-41

Judgment Day 2006 – Khali – Dreadful but quelle surprise? 59-42

Bash 2006 – Big Show, Punjabi prison. Daft gimmick, wrong opponent, surprisingly OK match but nothing special. 60-42

No Mercy 2006, Survivor Series, Armageddon 2006 – Mr Kennedy – Depends on your view of Mr Kennedy. Folk loved these matches at the time but I’m not a fan of Ken. 60-45

No Way out 2007 – with Batista, vs HBK/Cena. Great match. 61-45

Mania 23 – Batista – Amazing match that lit a fire under Dave for 3 years. 62-45

Backlash 2007 – Batista – Bad finish aside, even better than Mania. 63-45

Unforgiven 2007 -Mark Henry – They’ll mesh one day, surely? Not here. 63-46

Cyber Sunday 2007 – Batista – Taker does the clean job for Dave in their weakest match together. I say weakest, of course by normal standards this is still great. 64-46

Survivor Series 2007 – Batista – War in a hell in a cell. These two kill each other before the finish everyone remembers – but that set up a great WrestleMania so forgiven. 65-46

Armageddon 2007 – vs Edge and Batista. Enjoyable mad main event with an (at the time) surprise swerve. 66-46

No Way Out 2008 – Elimination Chamber match. Really good Chamber anchored by the Batista/Taker rivalry. I still pop for the finish. 67-46

Mania 24 – Edge. Incredible match. One of my favourites in the entire streak. 68-46

Backlash 2008 – Edge – Not as good as Mania but has enough moments. 69-46

One Night Stand – Edge – TLC match – Genuinely really good. 70-46

Summerslam 2008 – Hell in a Cell, Edge. Great match. 71-46

No Mercy 2008- Big Show – Short match. 71-47

Cyber Sunday – Big Show – brawling last man standing match. 72-47

Survivor Series 2008 – Big Show – Casket match with funny finish. 73-47

No Way Out 2009 – Elimination Chamber match – Really good Chamber match despite Kozlov. Jeff Hardy/Taker underrated chemistry have some good moments again.  74-47

Mania 25 – Shawn Michaels – 5 star greatness 75-47

Breaking Point – Mediocre match vs CM Punk 75-48

Hell in a Cell 2009 – Mediocre match vs CM Punk 75-49

Bragging Rights – vs Punk, Batista, Rey – Fun sprint match best known for the aftermatch. 76-49

Survivor Series 2009 – vs Jericho, Big Show – Fun sprint triple threat match. 77-49

TLC 2009 – Batista – Fun sprint chairs match between two good opponents. Takers last world title reign might be his best as he was the King of 10 minute sprints with a variety of opponents. Except CM Punk. 78-49

Rumble 2010 – Rey – Another, yes, really good sprint match between the little guy and the monster. They even have you think Rey might pull it off. 79-49

Elimination Chamber 2010 – Elimination Chamber – Really good Chamber match with some odd booking which does allow some nice Jericho/Taker/John Morrison interplay. 80-49

Mania 26 – Shawn Michaels -Yes. Five stars. 81-49

Night of Champions 2010 – Kane. Does his best to put Kane over. There’s a clear sign of decline in his work in Takers 2010 hiatus though. 82-49

Hell in a Cell 2010 – Daft match with Kane. 82-50

Bragging rights 2010 – Daft buried alive match with Kane. 82-51

Mania 27 – HHH. Great match. 83-51

Mania 28 – HHH. Great match with hyperbole. 84-51

Mania 29 – CM Punk. Their best match together. Takers look of anger in the submission move is the best moment. 85-51

Mania 30 – Brock – Its not good but it is historic. 85-52

Mania 31 – Bray – Reasonably OK but forgettable. 86-52

Summerslam 2015 – Brock – Surprisingly fun match. 87-52

Hell in a Cell 2015 – Brock gets taught the secret of the low blow. It is what it is. 88-52

Survivor Series 2015 – with Kane vs Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt. Massive disappointment. 88-53

Mania 32 – Shane McMahon. Dear god make it stop. 88-54

Mania 33 – Roman Reigns – Genuinely painful to watch 88-55

Mania 34 – Cena – Fun squash. 89-55

Greatest Rumble – Rusev – Far better than it had any right to be. Rusev pretty much carries an older opponent to a good match. 90-55

Crown Jewel – vs DX. Godawful. 90-56

Supershowdown – Goldberg – godawful 90-57

Extreme Rules 2019 – with Reigns vs Drew McIntyre and Shane. Surprisingly fun brawling tag match, Takers best in years and you can see how desperate both Roman Reigns and Drew Mac are for Taker to have a good one here. 91-57

Mania 36  - Boneyard Match, AJ Styles, a lot of fun. 92-57

Missing a few matches which might bumo up the bad match result. Well, yes, Taker is going to win this. With a career that long and with that many bad opponents or people he didn’t mesh with, it seemed inevitable. Yet of course it’s a double edged sword, no one else is going to have 92 enjoyable PPV matches either. If Vince had twigged Takers strengths and weaknesses sooner, and instead of Mabel and Bundy we got PPV matches with, say, Bam Bam Bigelow and Razor Ramon instead, the ratio would be better, as would him retiring sooner than he did. But, it is what it is.

Don’t know Hogans PPV history beyond WWE but pretty certain his bad wont be offset with a century of decent outings?