Category: Written Reviews

The Undertaker Vs Randy Orton – Armageddon 18/12/2005

This feud started on the road to WrestleMania, and gave us 3 tremendous PPV matches and one great TV match. Orton had used his own father to help him win matches. Orton had used the recently deceased Eddie Guerrero’s low rider to crash into The Undertaker and blow him up. Orton and his father had locked The Undertaker inside a casket and set it on fire. And The Undertaker kept coming back. Now, inside the devil’s playground, The Undertaker would get Randy Orton one on one truly for the first time in this long and awesome feud, as Bob Orton would be locked on the outside. So no Bob Orton, no low rider, and no casket to set on fire… how will Randy Orton survive THIS match?

Undertaker had been playing mind games with Orton during the build up to this match, and he had one final mind game to play before the match started; he made sure that it wasn’t a referee who shut the cell door and locking these two men inside… it was The Undertaker. He wanted Orton to know that he WANTED to be here, and there was no way out.

The Dead Man is dominant in the early going. Similar to Shawn Michaels in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, Orton tries to run away from The Undertaker, but ‘Taker doesn’t feel like taking his time like he did back in 1997, so he goes after Orton as quick as possible and proceeds to destroy him. Randy gets some offence in here and there, and reverses a few things, but only really out of desperation because Undertaker is just unstoppable right now.

You can tell just how personal this feud is when Undertaker pulls out a steel chair not too long into the match and brutally smashes it over Orton’s head… TWICE. The first time busts him open, and the second time just makes things worse. I’ve seen more Undertaker matches than I can remember, and it’s not often he is THIS destructive and dominant, and believe me, that’s really saying something.

Orton manages to get hold of a steel chain, but before he can use it The Undertaker takes it from him and begins to choke the life out of the Legend Killer, then long darts him into the cell. Fuck me this is brutal lol, and I must be a sick bastard because I am LOVING every second of it!

At one point, when Undertaker brings the steel steps into the mix, Orton manages to fight back for just a moment, and looks to make a comeback… until the Dead Man boots the steel steps back into the arm of Randy. Comeback… failed.

So what finally puts Orton in control of the match after taking such a beating? And RKO of course! Not a regular one though, instead it’s done with Undertaker’s neck being thrown down into the top rope instead of the mat, which may be worse, I don’t know. What I do know is that it creates enough of an opening for Randy to get his bearings back and make Undertaker pay for everything he has done up to this point.

Just as The Undertaker was a vicious monster while on the offence, Orton is the same. Steel steps, the steel chain, the cell, and a steel chair are all weapons that Orton utilises to payback the Dead Man and bust him open too.

But as vicious as Orton is being, it’s just not enough. After being blown up and set on fire, The Undertaker can not and WILL NOT be stopped it seems. One of my personal favourite HIAC spots comes when Undertaker stands Orton up against the cell wall, goes to the other side of the cell, takes a run up and jumps off the steel steps going knee first into Orton’s head! Spot looked awesome, and I can’t believe I never actually got to see it while watching the PPV live back in the day lol, as the damn satellite feed cut out for a few moments!

The greatness continues with Bob Orton managing to get involved, sticking his arm through the cell, but he ends up getting busted open and knocked down. Undertaker looks to maybe launch himself into Orton while he’s stood against the cell again, but Orton counters with a powerslam into the cell. Oh yeah!

Now the match begins to be a back and forth affair, as both men hit big moves to try and win, but are unable to. The Chokeslam doesn’t work for Undertaker, and a cross body through a table doesn’t work for Orton. Can anything put these men down? Well… the RKO and Tombstone haven’t really come into play yet, but neither man has been in a position to try for their big finishers yet.

The ref gets knocked out and busted open, just as Orton counters a Chokeslam into an RKO just like WM! The cell door is opened for another referee to come in, and who else decides to follow? Bob Orton, who also has The Undertaker’s Urn! After a massive Last Ride, Bob makes his presence felt by taking out the second referee, which results in him taking one hell of a beating from the Dead Man.

Going back to their WM and SS matches, at points in those matches Randy Orton tries to add the ultimate insult to injury by hitting a Tombstone on The Undertaker, but he was always unsuccessful. In the final battle between the two, the Legend Killer FINALLY hits it, believing that it will put an end to the Phenom! It doesn’t, and Undertaker just gets more pissed off, Tombstoning both Bob and Randy to win the match!

Fuck me, this was fantastic. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the casket match given the fact I had only seen it once when it aired live, but I had a good idea about this match having seen it not too long ago when I bought the Hell in a Cell DVD set. I really liked the match back then, but this time around I loved it. Might even make the top 5 HIAC matches list for me now. It was everything a HIAC match SHOULD be. It was brutal, vicious and violent, and it was the culmination of a near year long feud. Too many times now, the HIAC match isn’t even close to the last match in a feud, which is a shame because done right, the HIAC match can be the perfect way to end big feuds. It’s been proven in the past (hell, that’s pretty much why it was invented), and it was proven here. Epic stuff, and best match of their feud, something I wouldn’t have said before.

Rating: ****1/2

The Undertaker Vs Randy Orton & Bob Orton – No Mercy 09/10/2005

Loved this feud, and loved the matches, but I haven’t seen this since it aired. Hell, I wasn’t even watching SD on a regular basis around this time (just catching anything involving The Undertaker on youtube or something), but I saw an ad for the handicap casket match, and ordered the PPV then and there… just hours before it took place lol.

Read my reviews of their other matches to catch me up on what had happened, and I’m really glad I did because there were some ongoing stories in the matches that I might have missed out on had I not bothered to look back. Probably should have posted those reviews BEFORE Undertaker Month so everyone could read them and understand everything in full, but oh well, I’ll post them afterwards instead :P.

As The Undertaker makes his entrance, the Ortons stand in the ring awaiting his arrival, and unlike WM and SS, Randy no longer has a confident look on his face. If he loses this match, he doesn’t simply get pinned or is made to submit… he is locked inside a casket along with his dad.

The Dead Man is backed into a corner when the bell rings, but he ducks an attack from Randy and avoids both his opponents, allowing him to take control of the match, until the numbers game comes into play and Bob Orton low blows the Phenom from behind.

Despite being a two on one match, The Undertaker continues to fight back, and the first chance he gets he asks for the casket to be opened and tries to win the match. Normally The Undertaker likes to beat down his opponents, but in a handicap situation he realises he needs to get this thing over with quickly before he takes too much punishment. Even if one of the opponents is Bob Orton, who retired many years ago, it only takes one small move like a low blow to allow the young Randy Orton to gain control, and given how close Randy came to beating Undertaker at WM, and the fact he got a victory at SummerSlam thanks to his dad’s help, even the legendary Undertaker has to fight to survive.

The double superplex is one of the many really cool spots in the match, especially the fight all 3 men have on the ropes first as Undertaker attempts to fight them off. Another one is when Undertaker is thrown into the casket, and tries to hold the lid open while both Randy and Bob try to close it, so Undertaker decks Bob in the face with a right hand and elbows Orton in the face while he keeps hold of the casket lid with his other hand lol.

We see some great double team work from the Ortons, and Undertaker does a great job with his hope spots and comebacks, and is smart enough to take out Bob, placing him in the casket, so he can try and wear down Randy enough to stick him in there too.

Bob being in the casket helps out Undertaker in a different way to what you might expect; instead of helping him keep this match one on one, when Randy gains control and tries to put Undertaker in, he notices that his dad is still in there, and is distracted long enough for the Dead Man to hit a low blow! Nice revenge spot :).

With the match remaining one on one for a while, we get some of the same greatness between the two that we saw at WM and SS, as well as a SD match too. I really like the way they give us plenty of 2 on 1 action, and then transition nicely into 1 on 1 action, and keeping both segments of the match great.

Bob’s return to the match is really great too. Before he was stuffed inside, he was carrying around a fire extinguisher to try and nail The Undertaker with, but he dropped it in the casket before he could use it. Just as The Undertaker has Randy where he wants him, and asks for the lid to be opened… Bob jumps up and sprays Undertaker in the face, causing him to walk right into an RKO! From here, Undertaker gets put in the casket, but Randy ends up in there too as the lid closes! The lid opens again, and they fight in the casket as Bob tries to help his son. One chair shot later, and Undertaker goes down as the lid shuts! Ortons win!

And then everyone knows the aftermath, it’s the same as the 1998 RR casket match where Kane locks Undertaker inside and sets it on fire. It may have been done before, but it still looks great. Only problem is… it means The Undertaker is gone from TV for a month… and during that month I had tickets for WWE to hopefully see The Undertaker live for the first time. Bastards!

So, personal hate for the finish aside, this was a GREAT match. Hell, I might even place this at the top of the casket match list, ahead of even Undertaker/HBK! The action was awesome, the handicap stipulation was done to perfection, and the finish is cool. Right up there with the WM and SS matches between Undertaker and Orton tbh. Can’t wait to watch their HIAC match to finally finish up reviewing their entire series!

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Hulk Hogan – WWF Tuesday in Texas 03/12/1991

Just 6 days after the Survivor Series, WWF attempted to have a PPV on Tuesday (which means that the 1991 Survivor Series took place on a Wednesday, which I honestly never knew until now lol), but due to poor buyrates they decided against more PPV’s on a Tuesday until 2004. I wonder though, were the buyrates low because it was a Tuesday, or maybe BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE 6 DAYS AFTER ANOTHER PPV.

Ok, so obviously the big match for this event was the rematch from the Survivor Series, where The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to become the new WWF Champion! Unfortunately the match had some controversy surround it, as Ric Flair got involved, and aided The Undertaker in winning the belt thanks to a Tombstone on a steel chair that the real World’s champion placed in the ring.

Great to hear The Undertaker get a pretty decent pop despite still being a heel at this point, and having beat the world’s favourite wrestler ever (LOL) Hulk Hogan.

Love how the match starts, with Undertaker going right after Hogan and giving him the boots, along with Paul Bearer who does the same! But Hogan recovers instantly and starts to work over the WWF Champion, who takes everything Hogan can throw at him and continues to sit up and go after the former champ.

Even though it looks like Hogan has everything in control, The Undertaker isn’t getting worn down in the slightest, and it’s not long before he turns the match around in his favour, and slowly begins the destruction of Hulkamania!

It’s a truly awesome sight to see Hulk freaking Hogan crawling around on the mat as The Undertaker stands over him, slowly stalking him. As big as Hogan was, in just one year with the company The Undertaker was being made out to be just as big. Awesome.

Hogan gets a few hope spots in, but Undertaker quickly puts a stop to any offence from him. Loved the spot on the outside where Hogan gets reversed with an Irish Whip and goes face first into the ring post :D.

The crowd are super hot for this match too, and the pace seems a lot faster than their SS match, making it much more enjoyable to watch (and I still enjoyed their SS match btw). Undertaker’s offence looks much better here, and Hogan’s hope spots are timed really well and come across really well too.

Just as Hogan makes his big, final comeback, Ric Flair shows up again, but Hogan takes him out with a steel chair before he can do anything! In doing so though, Flair gets knocked into WWF President Jack Tunney, who was there to make sure nothing happened like in the SS match. So with JT down, Flair gets back up and tries to use a chair on Hogan, only for Hogan to send Undertaker face first into it! Undertaker is still going strong though, until Hogan ducks when Paul Bearer tries to hit him in the head with the Urn, and Undertaker gets decked! From there, some ash from the Urn is thrown in Undertaker’s face, and Hogan rolls up the champ for the 3 count! New champ! BOOOOOO!

Sucks that Undertaker only got a 6 day title run, but hey, he beat Hogan for it during a time when very, very few people ever beat Hogan, and when he lost back to Hogan it took a steel chair, an Urn to the head, and ashes in the eyes. He still came out looking pretty fucking strong lol, especially considering the fact he is hit in the head with the WWF Title and knocked over the ropes after the match is over, only for him to land on his feet and walk to the back!

Ok, so lame finish aside (lame because he loses lol), this was a really good match! Much better than I was expecting, and a lot better than their SS match too. Crowd was into it all the way through, Undertaker looked really good here, probably the best he had looked in WWF up to this point, and Hogan did really well too. Finish, while not what I wanted, was at least done in a way to keep The Undertaker looking as strong as can be in defeat, and let’s face it, it didn’t hurt his character or credibility in the slightest.

Rating: ***1/4

The Undertaker Vs Triple H – WWE Smackdown 25/10/2008

In just 2 days time, The Undertaker would go to Cyber Sunday to face The Big Show, while HHH, the WWE Champion, would be in a triple threat match to defend his title. Vickie Guerrero, the SD… GM at the time (?) no doubt wanted to make sure both men didn’t enter that PPV 100% as she had issues with both superstars.

They take it slow in the early going, and Undertaker keeps getting the better of The Game. HHH comes out swinging with some big right hands, but loses that battle against the better striker. Interesting to see Undertaker taking HHH down and going after the arm more than usual, and even going for a hammer lock into a half nelson pin attempt. No doubt it was due to the respect Undertaker has for Triple H and knowing that he truly is The Game, and even The Undertaker needs to take him out quickly, especially just 3 days before a big PPV match against the world’s largest athlete.

Undertaker makes a slight mistake, and ends up leg first on the top turnbuckle when HHH moves. HHH tries to go after the leg, but The Undertaker uses his power to fight out of it, and we get a great back and forth sequence between the two for a good 10 minutes or so (pretty much the rest of the match lol), where neither man gains full control, but does enough for a couple of near falls here and there. This whole back and forth stuff makes for a great TV main event, and also keeps both guys strong during the match. After all, HHH is the WWE Champion, and The Undertaker is The Undertaker, and both men are going into big PPV matches in 2 days time, and need to look strong if the people are to get behind them.

We then go into the finisher reversal stuff, until Undertaker finally gets a Last Ride in, and The Big Show shows up to attack the Dead Man and get HHH DQ’d.

The match is pretty good, and has a Big Match feel to it, but other than it being two of the WWE’s biggest starts going at it and coming across as being equals the entire time, there isn’t much to it storytelling wise. Fun to watch, and a good TV main event, and some good build to the PPV by making both guys looks strong, then Big Show and Vladimir looking evil when they show up to interfere (Vlad comes out and attacks HHH once Show is done) when both men are already worn out from the match. Serves its purpose, and did as well as it should have given the circumstances.

Rating: ***

The Undertaker Vs Bam Bam Bigelow – House Show 17/04/1995

These two had a number of matches at House Shows and on TV (non Raw matches if my memory serves me correctly), but they never had anything major between them, and sure as hell no PPV matches. Shame really, especially because it would have made perfect sense for them to have a PPV match in 1995 as The Undertaker was on a quest to destroy Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation, and Bigelow was in it. Until he lost to LT at WrestleMania, and was kicked out, turned face, and then released. Had he not turned face, I believe he probably would have had a PPV match or two with The Undertaker in the summer of 1995.

Oh well, sometimes things just don’t happen, so we have to make do with what we got. Let’s see how good the thing we got actually was :).

Bam Bam wants nothing to do with The Undertaker in the early going; resorting to leaving the ring and almost going to the back, causing him to be nearly counted out, which forces him into the ring. He charges at The Undertaker, but not even the near 400lb Bigelow can take down the Dead Man!

Bigelow, despite being a BIG man, bumps around like crazy to make The Undertaker look powerful as hell. Not Shawn Michaels bumping, but impressive bumping none the less lol. Eventually Bigelow gets the upper hand on the outside, using the environment there to his advantage.

Nothing too special about Bam Bam’s control segment, but it really didn’t need to be. Just holding The Undertaker in a sleeper hold was making the fans go crazy trying to get Undertaker back into the match, and any time he got a hope spot in they would love every second of it. It’s that whole “simple” concept again, that can work wonders when done right.

The Undertaker finally makes his big come back following a missed headbutt from the ropes by Bigelow, and that soon leads to an Undertaker victory. Fun match, nothing really memorable or great, but a solid contest between the two. Based on the few matches I have seen from these two, I doubt they would have gone into the “great” territory even with a PPV match, but Undertaker’s gimmick really limited him at this time, as did WWF’s style for the most part. But I would have still liked for it to happen, because it would have still been good.

Rating: **1/4

EDIT: Silly me, I could have sworn this took place in 2006, not 2007 lol, so my mentioning of Undertaker’s feud with Kennedy and Kane’s feud with MVP at the time are, well, wrong :P.

EDIT 2: Silly me again, got the dates mixed up, its actually in Feb of 07 and not November, which is a hell of a lot closer to both feuds I make mention to, plus Undertaker was still having matches against Kennedy, and tag matches against Kennedy and MVP, on TV quite a bit around this time! 🙂

The Undertaker Vs MVP – House Show 11/02/2007

This took place during the time that Undertaker was feuding with Mr Kennedy, and Kane was feuding with MVP, and both feuds would run into each other on numerous occasions through run ins and tag matches (a certain tag match between BOD and Kennedy/MVP from SD 06 is one of the funnest matches I have ever witnessed).

Always nice to see rare house show footage, and given the fact I have access to quite a few, I made sure I watched some Undertaker matches this month that I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet lol. Given my love for SD 06, and the fact I really enjoyed MVP in 06/07, I figured this would be a great choice.

Typical start to an Undertaker match around this time, with Undertaker coming out of his corner when the bell sounds, and the opponent trying his best to avoid being caught by the Dead Man. And we all know how well that works lol. But MVP does a pretty good job at hanging in there and avoiding Old School, but makes the mistake of trying to superplex The Undertaker, only to still come back and actually land the move! A superplex isn’t a big special move by any means, but it’s not often The Undertaker gets hit with one, so when he sits up in VINTAGE~! Dead Man style, he makes it his mission to take down MVP, using Old School successfully this time to help him along his way.

Some nice arm work from Undertaker here too. He does a lot of basic arm holds in the early part of his matches for the match part, as a way of gaining control, but it’s always really good when he follows up on it rather than JUST using it to gain control. Unfortunately MVP still finds a way to get out of this and begins work on the leg, as Undertaker does his best to counter and escape. Awesome selling from The Undertaker too, something I feel a lot of people don’t give him nearly enough credit for, just because he sits up every now and then lol. Truth is, the man is one of the better sellers in the WORLD these days.

MVP is great here too, constantly finding ways to break the momentum of The Undertaker whenever he gets a hope spot in, and makes sure to always go back to the leg. Would have loved a full on feud between these two after the Kennedy/Undertaker feud, but obviously Undertaker moved on to Batista and the World Title, so it was never meant to be. Could still happen at some point these days maybe, if MVP turned heel again and became interesting, and Undertaker was healthy enough to work a full program.

Eventually the veteran instincts of the Dead Man come into play against the rookie, and The Undertaker is back on the offence again, this time on the outside. To MVP’s credit though, once they get back in the ring he goes right back after the leg and puts himself back in control!

The Undertaker eventually makes his big comeback after escaping a figure four leg lock the same way he does against Flair, and despite MVP’s best efforts, Undertaker hits the Chokeslam and Tombstone for the win.

Really good match here. Got around 15-18 minutes, had great selling by The Undertaker, great leg work by MVP who was also really vicious in keeping The Undertaker down, and good comeback spots from ‘Taker too. Almost as good as the Undertaker/Kennedy matches.

Rating: ***1/2

The Undertaker Vs RVD – Vengeance 09/12/2001

The first major match in Undertaker’s heel turn at the end of 2001. Loved his heel run during this time; going around demanding respect, beating the hell out of people, and eventually winning the WWE Undisputed Title!

It all started with making JR join the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club, then he would attack random people and destroy whoever he had a match with, and then he set his sights on RVD. No true explanation as to why, but his heel turn was all based around wanting respect which he most definitely had, so I guess he didn’t need a real reason to go after RVD lol. Despite loving this time in his career, it didn’t really make that much sense :p.

The Hardcore title is on the line here, as RVD was the champion and it’s what allowed him to remain with WWF after the Alliance lost at Survivor Series. Always remember his entrance here, when he showed up with the new haircut, and coming out on his bike with the sunglasses; reminds me of the Terminator in T2 lol. And anything or anyone that can remind me of what I consider to be the greatest movie of all time is awesome :).

RVD is over like fuck, and as the RVD chants start, The Undertaker gets more and more pissed, which can only be bad for Mr PPV. ‘Taker shows RVD no respect by going for an early cover, while RVD shows Undertaker plenty of respect by throwing out some HUGE moves early on to try and keep the Dead Man down. No slow build here, both guys start off with big blows and big moves (well, RVD is the one throwing out the big moves, but that’s most of his arsenal anyway lol). Normally I would be against shit like this, BUT there are times where it’s done right, and where it makes sense, and this is one of those times. For starters, it’s a hardcore match, and everyone expects crazy shit anyway. Then we have Undertaker who wants to destroy RVD for disrespecting him, and we have RVD who needs to fight for his life and his title against the Phenom.

They spend little time in the ring, instead opting to go into the crowd where RVD uses his environment to pull out some crazy moves, while Undertaker takes everything RVD can throw at him and continues to come back, including throwing him over a guard rail that lands on Van Dam’s face, so Undertaker stands on it lol. Gotta love Undertaker in response to the RVD chants… “RVD’s getting’ his ass kicked!”

But, this is wrestling, and Undertaker is an old school guy, so him saying that is basically jinxing himself, allowing RVD to make a comeback and hit a huge crossbody from about 15 feet in the air. Now it’s time for RVD to really get into a rhythm and show why he is the hardcore champ and why he did so well in ECW. Undertaker sells all the shots really well, another thing I loved about his heel run. He was so animated with his selling, but not to the point it was cartoony.

Some awesome back and forth action from here on out as they battle at the top of the ramp. More crazy RVD moves, Undertaker disappearing behind the curtain and returning with a steel chair, RVD using it against him etc etc. Really run to watch, and lots more going on than I am writing down lol.

Finish is great, and really well executed. Undertaker could have easily fallen back by mistake, or RVD could have slipped and screwed something up, but both men do exactly what they planned, and the Dead Man sent RVD to hell with a chokeslam off the stage! New hardcore champ! RVD already added some credibility to a belt that let’s face it, meant fuck all this time the year before, and with Undertaker holding it? Credibility goes through the fucking roof!

Loved this match. A great back and forth brawl, and while the finish was a big spot, they didn’t go into spot territory like some of RVD’s other hardcore title matches ended up like. Sure, RVD hit some crazy moves, but against someone like The Undertaker they weren’t as big as they would be against the likes of Jeff Hardy etc. Basically, if this match had been against a smaller guy (both in size and status in the business), both men battling back as much as they did all the way through after the moves RVD did would probably go into the no selling territory, but against The Undertaker, it’s much more believable that he would be taken down and hurt from the moves at first, but could easily make a comeback not too long after. Or maybe my man love for the Dead Man has just made me blind. Whatever :P.

Rating: ***3/4

The Undertaker Vs Brock Lesnar – Unforgiven 22/09/2002

One of the things I loved about Smackdown 2002/2003 is how a lot of the matches and feuds were mainly based around competition and being the best. No crazy Attitude Era style bullshit, which could be entertaining but also could be stupid as fuck, and got boring after a while too. Brock Lesnar was the young rookie with tremendous power and amazing amateur wrestling skills. The Undertaker was the legendary phenom who had been on top for the last 12 years. Lesnar had beaten the likes of the Hardy Boys, RVD, Hogan and even The Rock to become the KOTR (RVD) and WWE Champion (Rock). Now he would face his biggest challenge to date against The Undertaker. Simples!

Of course, they added some more to that to make it a little more interesting, since it WAS the main event feud for Smackdown. Undertaker’s wife at the time, Sara, was pregnant. Lesnar and Heyman brought up how Undertaker had his family to look after, but Lesnar considered the WWE Title family, and he would have to look after that. Cue Heyman being all creepy around Sara, Undertaker getting pissed off, and Lesnar cheapshotting the Dead Man and we have a personal feud in the making by doing very little really. Goes to show you that you don’t need to go all Vince Russo to create interesting storylines…

The match begins with Undertaker getting the better of Lesnar, showing his 18 years of experience (12 in WWF/E). Lesnar gets frustrated and the Dead Man capitalises on the mistakes the rookie is making. Nice simple start to the match, but extremely well executed! Again, just goes to show you that you don’t NEED crazy shit, whether it be storylines or SPOTZ~! to create a good match. It’s all about the storytelling, and sometimes the simplest stories are the best.

Undertaker is in firm control for the first 5 minutes or so, using his experience to his advantage. He knows when to use his strength and when to use his speed, and when to use his wrestling ability, to throw Lesnar off his game and remain in control. Unfortunately the wildcard for the match is Paul Heyman, the agent of Brock Lesnar, on the outside. One small distraction from Heyman and even The Undertaker loses focus (after Heyman nearly loses some teeth via a Big Boot lol).

The powerful Brock Lesnar locks his arms around the waist of The Undertaker and begins to squeeze as hard as he can, along with powering up the Dead Man and slamming him to the mat just like his amateur wrestling days. Again though, experience shines through and The Undertaker escapes, and begins to give Lesnar a taste of his own medicine as he works over the body with vicious rights and lefts.

But, just like Undertaker’s experience keeps coming back to help him out, the distraction of Heyman is there again to give Lesnar an opening, and he opens up Undertaker’s head with the WWE Title! It doesn’t quite work the way Brock would have hoped; instead Undertaker gets pissed off and unleashes hell on the champ.

One ref bump and Matt Hardy interference attempt later, and Lesnar is back in charge and going right after the open wound in Undertaker’s head.

Things start to get really crazy now with yet another ref bump, and its times like this that remind me of the HBK/Undertaker feud from 1997. I’ve said it a few times in the past, but the build up to the HIAC matches in both feuds are pretty similar. With the HBK feud, Ground Zero is the first match they have, which ends up becoming a crazy brawl with no winner, leading into a HIAC match between the two. Here, we get something similar with the ref constantly getting talking out, weapons getting involved, and then both men refusing to stop punching each other in the face causing a no contest, leading to a HIAC match between the two :).

Both the Ground Zero match and this match have pretty cool endings too. Ground Zero sees The Undertaker diving over the ropes onto the entire roster, just to get his hands on HBK. Here we see Undertaker launch Lesnar through the Unforgiven ring set.

So yeah, awesome match here. Not entirely sure which I prefer now; Ground Zero or this. Like I said, both are similar in how they help build up to HIAC matches, but both are executed very differently. The fight at the end of this one is probably better than the HBK brawl as both men can really go back and forth, whereas HBK was more about running away lol. The storytelling here was pretty great too, definitely better than the GZ match. Yeah, think I prefer this one now lol. Not only does it do an awesome job of building to HIAC, but it’s a fantastic match on its own too. It’s been so long since I saw it that I don’t remember is being anywhere near this good!

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Ric Flair – House Show 10/09/1992

Something nice and rare; Dead Man Undertaker Vs WWF Champ Ric Flair!

Undertaker just stands in the corner as Flair lets him know who the champ is, and proceeds to “wooooooooooooo!” in the Dead Man’s face and then push him. Which results in Flair getting shoved down and thrown around.

Plenty of stalling from Flair, then some attempts at chops and punches while The Undertaker just stands there lol. Amazing how protected The Undertaker was, even just 2 years into his WWF career, and in the ring with the WWF Champion lol.

It takes a missed leaping lariat from the Dead Man, and an attack from Perfect, followed by Flair coming from behind to FINALLY give the champ the advantage. Great seeing Flair work his stuff even at a house show.

The match is all about Undertaker being unstoppable, and Flair being the dirtiest player in the game, heeling his way out of a beating lol. So much fun to watch. We even get a glimpse of the future as Undertaker is put in the Figure Four, then sits up and grabs Flair by the throat to escape (for those not understanding what I mean… watch Flair Vs Undertaker from WM 18 lol)!

In the end, all the Flair stalling and cheating isn’t enough to take down the Dead Man, so it takes Mr Perfect and a steel chair to end the match on a DQ. Undertaker Tombstones Flair for good measure, and while he picks up the win, he doesn’t win the title.

Just pure fun. No big spots, no crazy moves or reversals, just two old school guys working their gimmicks to make the match as entertaining as possible. Flair stalled, he begged, he cheated. Undertaker ummm… no sold and looked powerful. Both did exactly as you would have expected them to do back in 1992 (and as far as Flair goes… 2010 even lol). It isn’t a masterpiece, and it’s certainly not as good as their WM 18 match (funny to think they could do so much better in 10 years time!), but its damn fun and far from anything bad too.

Rating: **1/2