Author: Big Cal

The Undertaker Vs Big Daddy V – WWE Smackdown 25/01/2008

The majority of the list of matches I came up with for Undertaker Month were matches that I had wanted to see for a while but never found the time to actually review them, or matches I wanted to re-watch again just for the hell of it. But as I get closer to finishing Undertaker Month, the matches on my list are mostly requests, as I got a little stuck with what I should watch. Just thought you should know that, as I probably could have gone the rest of my life without watching another Big Daddy V match 😛 (same goes for the Mark Henry match, as I sure as hell didn’t WANT to watch that again lol).

Whose idea was it for Big Daddy V to not wear a t-shirt? Seriously, who? And why?

Interesting to see Big Daddy V and The Undertaker, given their very long history together. Starting with King Mabel back in 1995 when they originally feuded, then in 1999 when The Undertaker turned him into Viscera and made him apart of The Ministry, and now feuding with him again in 2008 in his new persona of Big Daddy V. I gotta admit, I kinda liked Big Daddy V, even if his monstrous man tits are on display :P.

The Undertaker comes out of his corner throwing those big rights in the face of BDV, but the power of BDV comes into play pretty quickly, and even the all powerful Dead Man is taken down.

Gotta love The Undertaker screaming out as he tries desperately to pick up the big man by the arm to set up for Old School. Lifting up BDV is no easy task lol. The match is very much back and forth here, with BDV using his weight and power to knock down The Undertaker, and The Undertaker using those big strikes and his veteran skills to keep the big man at bay.

Very surprised by the pace this match has set so far. It hasn’t slowed down at all yet! I guess being back and forth action is what’s helping it keep a faster pace, as no doubt BDV with a control segment would be incredibly slow.

A Chokeslam from Undertaker looks to end the match, but Big Daddy V kicks out! A massive Black Hole like slam buts BDV in control, as Undertaker tries to fight back. He attempts a triangle choke, but BDV is too big for it, so he is forced to evolve his moveset and he locks in the Hells Gate for the first time, causing BDV to not only tap out, but bleed from the mouth! This move it put over like death with BDV bleeding from the mouth, and even Mark Henry coming out to help his sort of tag partner at the time, yelling at The Undertaker claiming he has gone too far. Awesome way to debut a new submission hold for The Undertaker tbh.

Well, I am pleasantly surprised with this match. It’s kept relatively short, and the pace doesn’t slow down much at all, and the finish is really good. Couldn’t really ask for more with a Big Daddy V match.

Rating: **

The Undertaker Vs The Big Show – No Mercy 05/10/2008

Already talked about this series of matches when I reviewed a House Show match between them last week, so I’ll just say that I am super hyped to watch this one again :D. Oh hey, look at the date too! Took place 11 years after the greatest match of all time, which also happened to involve The Undertaker!

So, this is the first time these two men have faced each other in quite some time, and I guess they will take their time and just warm up first, right? As fucking if! Neither man wastes any time with that warm up crap; its big lefts and rights all the way.

Makes a HUGE change from the last match I watched for Undertaker Month, as Big Show can actually fucking move and even RUN at pretty good speeds! 😛

Show always steps it up when in the ring with The Undertaker (as does everyone else, but a lot of the time it’s more noticeable when Show is in the ring with him), and everything he does looks awesome. The body shots, the slams, and one hell of a running shoulder block that turns the Dead Man inside out. You wanna see how two “Big Man” wrestlers have matches together, then you want to watch this match, and the majority of their others from this series. The pace is faster than it has any right being, and the action, while not filled with flippy shit, is awesome.

I’ve mentioned about Undertaker and his opponent wanting to cave each other’s face in quite a lot this last month, but this is probably the only Undertaker feud that’s really ever been based on trying to knock the other guy out with a punch to the face lol. Show did it to Undertaker, and Undertaker wanted revenge big time, so he uses ever opportunity he can to throw a big right hand into the face of Big Show during this match. Unfortunately for The Undertaker, The Big Show’s right hand is bigger and better, and when it hits, it’s over. A couple of those massive shots, and holy fuck, Big Show beats The Undertaker by knockout! In 20 years, I don’t think that’s ever happened.

Amazing to think that this match lasts for 10 minutes, because it feels like 2 or 3 at most due to the fast pace they keep up. An awesome contest on its own, and a great build to their Last Man Standing match a Cyber Sunday. Nothing quite like 2 giants punching each other in the face!

Rating: ***3/4

The Undertaker Vs Mark Henry – Unforgiven 16/09/2007

Well, this match unfortunately had to happen. Undertaker was injured a few months earlier during his title reign, and after going to another draw with Batista, was attacked by Mark Henry and put on the shelf. And with Khali as the champion going into this PPV, WWE needed to keep Undertaker occupied with someone on his return while Batista regained the World Championship so they could continue their title feud at the next event.

In terms of build-up and video packages for this feud and Undertaker’s return, it was pretty awesome. All the things they did with the druids showing up when Mark Henry was in the ring and whatnot was great, and the videos going to Death Valley to resurrect the Dead Man were fantastic. Don’t recall the match being anything close to fantastic though…

Still amazing to think that this match was the MAIN EVENT to the show. Then again, Khali/Batista/Mysterio and Orton/Cena didn’t exactly scream “classic” on paper either, so The Undertaker’s big return was definitely the way to go

Undertaker’s return entrance is pretty spectacular with the flames, the awesome lighting, the lightning, and a ton of smoke/fog. But the bell is about to ring, and I somehow doubt the word “spectacular” is going to come up in this review again…

The Dead Man is back, and pissed at Henry for taking him out, so he goes straight after the face with those massive right hands, hoping that one of them will cave in the skull of the self proclaimed World’s Strongest Man. Henry reverses Old School, and they battle on the ropes for what seems like a lifetime before Henry actually hits a fucking superplex. Mark Henry. Superplex. Good GOD!

Henry begins to dominate now, with Undertaker getting some big shots in every so often, only to be put down again mainly due to his intentions of killing Henry rather than beating him.

Gotta love JBL going VINATGE~! SummerSlam 1994 commentary by claiming that the crowd is DEAD because they are just in awe at Henry dominating The Undertaker. Somehow I just can’t believe that.

Henry does a decent job working over the ribs of The Undertaker to set up for the World’s Strongest Slam, but he’s just so fucking slow that it’s hard to get into. Undertaker even gets bored of Henry’s blatant resting by sitting up and picking up the pace as he makes a comeback. Massive Chokeslam to Henry (who legit bounces on impact lol), but it only gets The Undertaker a two count!

As Henry regains control again, he makes a dumb move of climbing the ropes with Undertaker in the corner, and gets a fucking HUGE and rather epic looking Last Ride for his troubles! 3 count and it’s over.

Well, it’s not a great match by any means. It’s just too fucking SLOW. Henry was slower here than I ever remember him being, and he was constantly taking rests in between his offence. And given his size, it limited The Undertaker’s offence too, and with all the factors mixed together, we got a rather slow, rather dull match. Wouldn’t call it fucking horrible or terrible or anything, but it sure as hell isn’t something I would choose to watch again.

Rating: *

The Undertaker Vs JBL – SummerSlam 15/08/2004

Since returning as the Dead Man earlier in the year at WrestleMania XX, The Undertaker had been unstoppable. Which worked out perfectly as he was set to face JBL for the WWE Championship, and boy did I want JBL to lose that belt lol. Looking back at JBL’s reign, I kinda like it, but at the time, like almost everyone else, I just wanted it to STOP.

Undertaker goes right after JBL and looks to be in control, but once he goes for Old School, those awesome clubbing blow of JBL come into play and he manages to counter the move by trying to cave in Undertaker’s face. From here JBL shows some great aggression, and even goes to the top rope for a shoulder block! Good to see JBL stepping up his game while being in the ring with The Undertaker, because it’s going to take a hell of a lot to stop the Dead Man.

Unfortunately for JBL, it’s his aggression that causes his downfall, when Undertaker reverses JBL running into the corner at him. Undertaker then shows us that perhaps JBL and his new found aggression IS a threat to him by taking Bradshaw down and locking in a triangle choke!

Orlando Jordon (urgh), JBL’s Chief of Staff, gets involved and allows JBL to smash a steel chair over the leg of The Undertaker! Some great offence from JBL following this move, doing things like tripping him up on the steel steps so he falls on the bad knee. Despite this match being really good so far, the fans decide it’s more fun to do a Mexican Wave (in Canada) instead. Fuck you.

Undertaker brings some of his MMA skills to the match as he gives JBL a taste of his own medicine going after the leg. The fans continue to randomly shout and scream and seemingly ignore the match… until they chant for the “Spanish Table”, I guess hoping someone will go through it… or maybe they are just a big fan of the table. Hard to tell tbh.

The action continues to be awesome, with some great brawling between the two, and even a superplex by Undertaker to JBL! Great to see JBL going back to work on the leg too, after he uses the injury to escape a Last Ride and Chokeslam attempt!

After JBL kicks out of a Chokeslam, Undertaker looks to go for something bigger, until OJ gets involved, distracting The Undertaker long enough to get levelled with a Clothesline from Hell! Instead of ending the match though, it just angers the Phenom, resulting in some punch exchanges, a ref bump, and then a double big boot that takes down both men! With the ref down though, OJ gets involved again, and following a shot to the head from the WWE Championship, drags the referee over and begins to count, only for The Undertaker to kick out at 2! Loved that spot lol. Even through cheating and doing the count for JBL, OJ was unable to help his boss actually get the win!

The WWE Championship belt is brought back into the ring again, and this time Undertaker uses it to deck the champ in the face, but the referee just woke up and DQ’s the Dead Man! Damn JBL, getting to hold onto the belt for another month (or another 6 months before he ACTUALLY loses it…).

The Undertaker isn’t pleased with the decision, and decides to make JBL pay. He slams him onto JBL’s own limo, busting him open, then proceeds to walk to the back, before deciding he isn’t done yet :D. Chokeslam through the roof of the limo! Undertaker may not have won, but that was a great way to end the whole thing.

Awesome contest here. Lots of stiff shots, some great leg work, nice selling, good use of OJ on the outside, and while I don’t like the ending, it served its purpose to help build to the Last Ride match between the two.

Rating: ***3/4

The Undertaker Vs Goldust – In Your House 8: Beware of the Dog 28/05/1996

Never realised when making the list of 30 matches to watch for Undertaker Month that I was pretty “casket match heavy” lol. 4 matches on my list ended up being casket matches, but hey, I’d only ever seen one of them before, so 3 brand new casket matches aren’t a bad thing :).

I’ve always been a fan of The Undertaker in 1996 due to him finally getting to face GOOD opponents on a regular basis, but when I thought about it, I’d hardly seen any of his stuff from 1996 lol. The start of the year? Yeah, saw most of it. Mankind? Saw around half of what they did together. Goldust? Nothing. Best get started then huh?

The Undertaker surprises Goldust by appearing behind him in the ring instead of coming down the isle with his usual entrance. Goldust, in his short time in WWF, had become known for playing mindgames with his opponents, but The Undertaker is the master of the mind games and shows it from the get go.

As well as a power and mind games advantage in this match, The Undertaker has a sort of “added bonus” advantage too; Goldust is afraid of caskets. Within the first 2 minutes Goldust comes face to face with the casket, causing him to lose focus and allow The Undertaker to demolish him.

Wow, very weird spot about 5 minutes into the match where Goldust actually hits a Tombstone on The Undertaker, to very little reaction from both the crowd and the announcers. The actual excecution of the spot came across as awkward too. Not good tbh.

At least the Tombstone transitions Goldust into his control segment of the match, and I guess hitting your opponent’s finisher is a good transition lol.

Sound stratergy from Goldust, using a sleeper hold to knock out The Undertaker long enough to stick him in the casket, but not enough to shut the lid. Great spot when Undertaker prevents the lid from closing and throws it open, sending Goldust over the top of it to the floor! This actually ends up as nothing more than a hope spot though, with Goldust regaining control following a big clothesline on the outside.

Again Goldust tries to take a page out of The Undertaker’s book, attempting Old School, but The Undertaker counters and drives Goldust down to the mat with a Tombstone! He opens the casket lid, only to be put in the Mandible Claw by Mankind! Mankind then locks Undertaker in the casket and gives Goldust the win! The casket then starts filling with smoke, and when Paul Bearer finally opens it, The Undertaker is gone!

Fun match, but not that great. I’d take the house show casket match against Mankind over this tbh. Not much to it, a couple of awkward spots and nothing memorable outside of the finish with Mankind.

Rating: **1/2

The Undertaker Vs The Big Show – House Show 10/10/2008

The last of my rare house show match reviews for Undertaker Month (still got plenty more to do at later points for my Mark Calaway Project though 🙂 ), and it’s the most up to date house show footage I have access to atm. Oh, and I just found out it falls count anywhere too! Awesome!

The feud these two had in 2008/early 2009 was great. Nothing heavy when it came to the storyline, but the matches were awesome. Two big bastards trying to cave each other’s faces in. Some truly epic brawls, starting at No Mercy, then a LMS match at Cyber Sunday, some awesome moments in the 2009 Royal Rumble match, and a great TV cage match on Smackdown. Oh, and a casket match at… Survivor Series was it? Best to forget THAT one lol. Will be interesting to see what they do in a falls count anywhere match, and at a house show too.

LOL at the women on the outside ready to walk to the back with Undertaker’s coat before he could take off his hat and give her that too. No idea why I found that so funny. But I did. Lol.

Big Show heels it up in the most basic way by leaving the ring and refusing to come back in, which gets plenty of heat. Crowd are great, booing the fuck out of Show and chanting for The Undertaker, and one little kid screaming “chicken” at Big Show and demanding that The Undertaker “go get him” before getting bored and shouting “get on with it”. WWE being PG and more Kid Friendly may not be the best thing for the product, but those little buggers can be hilarious at live shows. Shame they were just annoying at the ones I went to…

Man, 15 minutes have gone by already, and that’s just been both men making their entrances, then Big Show stalling like fuck. And the crowd are STILL very much into the whole thing.

Things finally get underway when Undertaker gives the Rest in Piece signal, and Show goes to deck the Dead Man with a right hand, only to miss and take a few shows to the face himself. Unfortunately The Undertaker has control for about 4 punches before The Big Show’s power comes into play, and ‘Taker is bumping around and being thrown to the outside where he continues to take a beating thanks to those massive body shots from Show.

Being rammed head first into the ring post puts a stop to Show’s offence for the moment, and gives Undertaker the chance to hit his signature Led Drop on the apron and some big rights and lefts of his own in the ring. He then targets the arm of Show, but being such a powerful guy, Undertaker is forced to use the ropes to help weaken the arm to set him up for Old School. Old School is reversed into a suplex, and Big Show is back in control.

Usual great selling from The Undertaker as he continues to take those big body shots, while getting a couple of hope spots in only to be cut off. Nothing much to write home about for a while with Big Show in control; he’s just wearing down the Dead Man with side slams and a nerve hold. Nothing particularly exciting, but it’s not boring either.

The falls count anywhere (aka Hardcore Match lol) stipulation finally comes into play when Show tries to use the ring steps against The Undertaker, only to ram himself shoulder first into them. Undertaker then uses the steps and a steel chair to even the odds before going back into the ring for a back and forth face caving session :D. These two men exchanges punches is always my favourite part of their matches.

Old School from The Undertaker fails once again, but this time Undertaker counters Big Show’s counter into a DDT! And Big Show taking a DDT is always awesome considering the way he sells it and the sheer massiveness of him lol.

Speaking of massive… Chokeslam to Big Show! Only gets a 2 count though. Since the big man is too big to Tombstone, out comes a steel chair, only to be punched back into the face of the Dead man! Guess it wasn’t the knockout punch though, and Undertaker kicks out at two lol. Show continues to punish Undertaker, giving him a taste of his own Chokeslam, but again only gets a 2 count. The chair comes into play again, and despite avoiding it once, Undertaker gets hit with it the second time Show swings! A really great finishing stretch for a house show match!

The Chokeslam didn’t work, and neither did 2 chair shots, so it’s all down to the knockout punch, which lands! Show looks confident and goes for a pin, but Undertaker was laying in wait to lock in the Hells Gate! Show taps!

Well I wasn’t disappointed with this one :). They had a great series on PPV/TV around this time, and their house show matches looked to have been great as well. Plenty of punching in the face, good use of weapons and a great finishing stretch.

Rating: ***1/4

The Undertaker Vs Jimmy Snuka – MSG 21/01/1991

From everything I have seen of WWF 1991 (which isn’t that much tbh lol), this is about as close to “build up” as I’ve seen for The Undertaker Vs Snuka at WrestleMania. Not that the match needed much I guess, since it was pretty low profile and lasted what, under 5 minutes? Looking back on it, the match is definitely significant, being the first match of his now undefeated WrestleMania streak, but at the time it wasn’t much at all.

Brother Love certainly seems pissed with Snuka, saying he should have been buried and shit, then runs away to the outside only to be chased around the ring until the Dead Man stands in Snuka’s way, and even Jimmy Snuka has to stop dead in his tracks.

The early going is all Undertaker, who uses basic offense such as an uppercut and scoop slam, but being his size it all looks devastating anyway.

A flying headbutt (done in a similar way to a flying shoulder block) takes The Undertaker down, but does nothing more than piss off the Phenom, who goes to the outside to regroup, then returns to the ring to continue destroying the Superfly.

Snuka takes a beating for a while, then starts to make a comeback, hitting a few more heatbutts and knocking the Dead Man down once again with a flying heatbutt, but is unable to keep him down for a 3 count. A cross body from the top rope looks like it could do the job… until The Undertaker catches him and turns it into a Tombstone for the win! Pretty much what they wanted to do at WrestleMania (only from the corner here) but didn’t.

Fun match, decent enough too, and a little better than their WrestleMania bout too. Similar in a lot of ways, just executed better.

Rating: *1/2

The Undertaker Vs Mankind – House Show 24/08/1996

This rare match takes place in Toronto, after SummerSlam, where Paul Bearer turned on The Undertaker and helped Mankind get the win in the boiler room brawl match. What a crazy match stipulation that was, and hell, most of their matches were some weird gimmick, from Boiler Room Brawl to Hell in a Cell and even Buried Alive. But given their feud, and the kind of gimmicks the two of them had, there was always one match I thought they should have had but never did; a casket match. Well, guess what? This baby is a casket match! 😀

The Undertaker wastes no time in trying to cave Mankind’s face in while also trying to get his hands on Paul Bearer. After taking a bump onto the casket, Mankind goes to the outside to regroup, which seems to help as he is able to get the upper hand on the Dead Man once he drags him to the outside too.

The guys recording this match (and entire show) are fucking idiots, constantly complaining that they are hungry, and how this match is “shitty” despite only starting about 2 minutes ago.

Anyway, the match, which is what’s important, not the morons recording this thing lol. Mankind tries to put Undertaker in the casket early, but The Undertaker is still too strong at this point, and easily reverses Mankind into the casket instead! The lid doesn’t close yet though, so the match can continue.

It’s your typical Undertaker/Mankind match, with plenty of great brawling in between attempts to shove each other into the casket. They even go fighting into the crowd, and given the position of the people recording, we actually get to SEE it (making a house show recording more watchable than an ECW TV taping!!!). Chairs are used, and the fans literally swarm around both men and follow them everywhere they go.

Things finally end up back at ring side, where Undertaker decides to put half of Mankind into the casket and repeatedly close it. Maybe he forgot the rules? Or maybe he just wanted to make the bastard HURT :D.

LOL, Undertaker uses the ring steps at one point, and once he is done with them, a bunch of people come to the ringside area, grab the steps from the ring and place them back to where they should be! What if he wanted to use them again dammit?!?!

Just as it seems Undertaker is in firm control, the pain loving Mankind reverses a Tombstone attempt into a Mandible Claw, and rolls Undertaker into the casket one more time! He and Paul try to close the lid, but Undertaker is still breathing (or not, he IS the Dead Man after all 😛 ) and manages to escape.

Mankind puts a stop to Undertaker again, but decides to go to the top rope, only to be caught with a Chokeslam! One Tombstone later, and Mankind is placed in the casket and the lid shuts!

Really good match! The second (of 4 I believe) casket matches I have watched so far for Undertaker Month, and yet another good one! Not close to the level of the Ortons match, but for a House Show match, it’s really good. Better than a lot of TV/PPV ones lol, as tbh only a small handful are worth seeing. I guess the fact they don’t use the casket much and have a typical Undertaker/Mankind match is kinda what makes it good. The less time spent around trying to stuff the other in a small box the better lol.

Rating: ***1/4