The Last Ride: #ThankYouTaker

In this edition of The Wrestling Estate roundtable, we reflect on the Undertaker’s career following The Last Ride documentary series.

Has Undertaker damaged his legacy by waiting this long to step away?

John Corrigan: Absolutely. He has even admitted that he should have retired with Shawn Michaels after WrestleMania XXVI.

Juan Bautista: No. While he did take some hits for taking Saudi Arabia gigs and made controversial decisions such as signing a new contract that broke off prior commitments, Undertaker is still the most respected guy in the industry.

Matthew Smith: Yes, but he will always be The Undertaker. He should have left after the Lesnar loss, though, because it was the end of his story. The longest undefeated streak at WrestleMania ended and Taker should have left with it because fans hated the loss. Now I hate it even more because he kept coming back, and honestly, are we putting any Taker match after Lesnar in his top 10?

Steven Jackson: I don’t feel it has. The Undertaker has been a legend for several years, and if this is his time to bow out, then it is the right time for him to do it. He may have waited too long, but he certainly hasn’t damaged his legacy.

Chad Gelfand: He has hurt his legacy. Undertaker used to talk about not wanting to be the guy who hung around too long. Well, the truth of the matter is he is that guy. Since losing his Streak at WrestleMania XXX, we’ve seen Taker be a shell of himself as a performer with brief glimpses of the old Undertaker. Anything beyond a cinematic match for Taker would be diminishing returns for him.

David Gibb: Undertaker has actually performed a valuable public service by being frank about what wrestling in your mid-50s looks and feels like. I don’t think it hurt him too bad that he had some clunky matches on his way down because he had some clunky matches on his way up.

Jack Goodwillie: In previous roundtables, I have sounded off on the idea that Undertaker COULD be in danger of not tarnishing, but diminishing his legacy by hanging around too long. But here’s my analogy: You’re playing blackjack. You’re up about 15-20 units off an incredible run and your friends are urging you to get up and spend that money elsewhere so you don’t hand it right back to the casino. But because you’re so dialed into the game you just can’t even think about that. If you drop back down to 15 units, so be it, but everything else is just gravy. Sure enough, you drop back down to 15, but even though you said you’d get out, you can’t. You HAVE to recover back to 20 to avoid losing respect for yourself. Sure as shit, you drop five more units and your differential has been halved. Now you’re in too deep and you just need something positive to go out on. Next hand comes, let’s say the dealer has a seven. You get dealt deuces. You split your deuces. You get dealt a third deuce, split that, get dealt a FOURTH deuce, split that and compile a 17, 19, 20 on a double down, then get dealt a FIFTH deuce and end picking up two more doubles, just because you’re crazy. The dealer flips the second card over, it’s a five. 12. Next card comes. Ace. 13. Fourth card, a three. 16. You’re sitting pretty and sure enough, the dealer pulls out the Jack of Hearts, my personal favorite card, busts, and in one fell swoop you’re actually back up 17 units and can get up from the table knowing you went with a bang and on your own terms. If that sounds familiar, it’s really a metaphor for the Undertaker’s final five years or so. The journey was not without adversity, but that’s sort of the beauty of it at the same time.

Thank you Mark “Undertaker” Calaway for 30 years of memories. #ThankYouTaker pic.twitter.com/xl5gQ1zqVG
— Adheera🔪 (@Ennavalaval13) June 22, 2020

Should The Streak have ended?

Corrigan: Even though I got to experience it in person, and I wouldn’t trade that feeling for the world, Undertaker deserved to have The Streak stand the test of time.

Bautista: No. If there was a record that should’ve stayed intact, it was this one. Brock Lesnar could’ve gotten over another way. In a constantly changing landscape, no one at least under this ownership will sniff 21-0.

Smith: It should have, but just like any good story or movie, you want the ending to have meaning. All we got was making Brock even more untouchable than he already was and a broken Taker coming back trying to have just one more good last match. It was painful to watch.

Jackson: It’s one of those mythical things from your childhood which you never want to see end, and when it does, you feel torn about it. We all wanted to see The Streak broken, but at the same time, we didn’t. It’s a strange dichotomy as a wrestling fan. I believe it should have ended. With Undertaker winding down and his list of opponents getting slimmer, it was time to end The Streak with Brock Lesnar. And, look at what it has done to Lesnar’s career? Not that he needed it, but the results cannot be overlooked.

Gelfand: The Streak only should have ended if it was Undertaker’s last match. The Streak has become so tied into Undertaker’s legacy that if he was going to lose and stick around for a few more years, it seems almost pointless. WWE dug itself into such a hole with its booking of Brock Lesnar when he returned in 2012, that Vince McMahon had to use his “break glass in case of emergency” card and have Lesnar end The Streak to gain his credibility back.

Gibb: The Streak should’ve ended at WrestleMania to the right opponent on the night the Undertaker retired. Definitely.

Goodwillie: Yes. But I would not have handled it the way WWE creative did. Giving Lesnar that rub was a mistake, because while he is an A+ talent physically, we have seen WWE book itself into a corner on so many occasions, hamstrung by Lesnar’s limited dates. Yes, it is very true that fans won’t miss you if you don’t go away from time to time, but Lesnar’s lack of visibility through the years while HOLDING the title is preposterous, and the reward has not been worth the gambit. Instead, I’d have given that rub to an up-and-comer. Definitely not Bray Wyatt, but Sheamus did have his day at one point in time and I always thought he could have made for a logical choice. Same thing goes for prime Wade Barrett or even Roman Reigns. Another wild card would be John Cena. While his age is sort of an outlier, he has been more visible than Lesnar up until just the last couple years and he would have ultimately done right by The Streak and transferred that rub to one or multiple wrestlers at a later time.

Over 30 years of memories. Thank You @undertaker #TheLastRide it always had to be, another childhood hero heads off into the sunset! #ThankYouTaker pic.twitter.com/sWJoirL752
— Derek Johnston (@AlwaysRangers) June 21, 2020

What’s your favorite version of The Undertaker?

Corrigan: “Phantom of the Opera” Undertaker was a chilling look. I also preferred Paul Bearer handling the talking and then throwing it to the Deadman for “rest in peace.”

Bautista: The Phenom. While his immediate return after WrestleMania 20 was a bit hit and miss, his matches with Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, Batista and others were great.

Smith: The undead Taker coming back at Mania XX.

Jackson: For some reason, I’ve always been a sucker for the American Badass, especially in 2002 and 2003. The promos Undertaker cut during this period and the quality of the matches he had really showed just how talented a performer he really is.

Gelfand: Undertaker post-WrestleMania XX to about WrestleMania 29 was the best version. He took elements of the American Badass character and combined them with the Deadman character. Taker was also in the best shape of his career during this time, and his mobility for a big man was next level.

Gibb: Evil wizard cult leader.

Goodwillie: I’ll preface by saying they’re all fantastic. It’s kind of like picking your favorite flavor of ice cream. Selfishly, I’m going to go with 2004-2012 Deadman 2.0 because I got to see this run pretty much in its entirety, and it was during this time we really got to see The Undertaker unleashed in the ring. We got the two WrestleMania matches with Shawn Michaels, arguably the best match of Batista’s career, an incredible feud with “Ultimate Opportunist” Edge and a whole lot of carnage along the way. The sacrifice of Muhammad Hassan and post-match beat down on JBL at SummerSlam ’04 come to mind. And he DID try to make John Heidenreich a household name, so you have to appreciate the effort.

What’s Undertaker’s greatest match?

Corrigan: Either one of the WrestleMania matches with Shawn Michaels. The first gets all the praise, but the second one has a better ending.

Bautista: vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage on SmackDown. The spring of 2007 was filled with battles between these two and this was the last battle before Undertaker went away for a bit.

Smith: vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXV.

Jackson: vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXV. Very rarely does wrestling mirror that of high-level performance drama, but this managed to do it. It is a thing of beauty. Timeless in execution and ever enthralling. A rollercoaster of emotions and a wrestling match which you could easily say was not only the greatest match in the careers of both men, but the greatest match of all time.

Gelfand: It’s hard to beat his WrestleMania 25 match with Shawn Michaels. That match gets all the hype, and deservingly so. It’s hard to find a more perfect match from an in-ring and storytelling standpoint.

Gibb: vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXV. After that, maybe the ladder match with Jeff Hardy.

Goodwillie: My mind jumps all over the place with that question, but at the end of the day, you have to go with the first of the Shawn Michaels WrestleMania matches. What a masterpiece. That’s not to say the second match wasn’t fantastic either, or the Mankind Hell in a Cell match wasn’t gripping, or THAT he didn’t get great matches out of Edge or Batista. It’s just that the first match with Michaels (yes, I know they worked together prior to this) ranks among the greatest of all time, and that speaks volumes.

What’s Undertaker’s greatest moment/angle?

Corrigan: The Streak ending. His invincible aura at WrestleMania was so firmly rooted in the minds of wrestling fans that even in 2014, decades after kayfabe had been dismantled, Undertaker created the most shocking moment. He made us care about a loss like we were kids again.

Bautista: The moment he threw Mankind off the top of the cell. It emphasized his character – he was willing to kill a guy to win.

Smith: The angle leading up to Mania after being buried alive and slowly returning to face his brother.

Jackson: The return of the Deadman in 2004 at WrestleMania XX. The buildup was so well thought out, and although the match at Mania wasn’t much to write home about, those weeks leading up to the match were so brilliant and classic Undertaker. A moment in time we can enjoy again and again.

Gelfand: “Buckle up, Teddy.” In all seriousness, my favorite Undertaker moment is the dejected look on his face when Shawn Michaels kicked out of his Tombstone at WrestleMania 25. Perfect storytelling.

Gibb: Undertaker’s career is one of the reasons we as wrestling fans focus on packaged “moments” so much. From his split with Jake Roberts to kidnapping Stephanie or his return as the American Badass, Undertaker has thrived like no other during wrestling’s biggest, and arguably most contrived, moments. Burying AJ Styles in the ground and riding off into eternity may take the cake, though.

Goodwillie: It’s either his debut or his end. The story of how his debut came about is stuff of legend, with him taking the phone call from Vince where the chairman asks, “Is this The Undertaker?” after thinking he was going to hatch from the egg that would end up containing the Gobbledy Gooker. On top of that, you only get one first impression and boy did he make a good one. Then when you look at his last match with AJ Styles, the cinematic “Boneyard” match at WrestleMania 36, when you think about the turmoil he had been through in recent years, as well as how cringy and downright terrible the build for the match was, the fact that he delivered the way he did is what makes him The Undertaker. It’s what makes him a legend. And if this is the end, I’d say he went out on top, with the very best match of the night in hand.