Category: Mark Calaway Project

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Hell in a Cell – Survivor Series 2007

There have been feuds in the past where a Hell in a Cell match didn’t fit the kind of feud (DX/McMahons & Big Show, Triple H/Jericho, Triple H/Nash… damn, all Triple H matches lol), but this Hell in a Cell match was perfect for the Batista/Undertaker feud IMO.

Pretty much ever since their Last Man Standing match, I wanted to see these 2 in a Hell in a Cell match. Batista himself said in his book that a Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker was a dream match for him, I just wonder if he knew it would ever happen when he wrote that lol.

The Cell for this match was one of the new, taller cells, so nobody would be expecting them to go on top like everyone seems to fucking want in this type of match. It also meant there was a very good chance they wouldn’t leave the cell, and that isn’t always a bad thing. It worked for a couple of matches, but some of them just seemed like they were doing it for the hell of it.

Once again, the little thing at the start of the match is just awesome. The Undertaker enters the cell last, and just slams the door shut. He doesn’t fear Batista, and he certainly doesn’t fear the cell, and he is making sure Batista knows it.

Its not long before The Undertaker gets control and brings in a steel chair. He has been in many Hell in a Cell matches in the past, so he has the experience, and he knows that weapons are legal and can make this type of match that much easier. He continues to show his experience in this match type, by using the cell as a weapon when he grates Batista’s face on one of the cell walls.

One of my all time favourite weapon spots is brought back by The Undertaker here, when he places the steel chair under Batista’s throat, and smashes Batista, and the chair, right onto the steel steps! Batista is bleeding from his mouth now, and we assume its coming from his throat. Its very rare that The Undertaker brings out that move, which makes it seem more devastating.

Batista is hurt, bleeding, and seemingly on the edge of defeat. However, he still has that awesome power and strength, and he pulls it out when he needs it the most right here, catching The Undertaker with a Spinebuster from an Old School attempt to gain control for the first time in this match!

Pure power and strength can only take Batista so far though, and its not long before the better conditioned and less worn down Dead Man is back in the drivers seat. He continues to use the environment to his advantage, and Batista is busted open, bleeding from the head AND internally now.

Its Old School that is the downfall of The Undertaker once again, as Batista stops it again and lands a superplex! Batista makes a mistake though, just like he did at Cyber Sunday, by going for a cover starting at the legs, allowing Undertaker to lock in a Triangle Choke!

The Animal lives up to his name when he gets back in control and just annihilates The Undertaker with the steel steps in the corner of the cell, hitting him again and again with them. If you watch closely, you can also see The Undertaker pull out a blade from his gloves, cut himself, and pass it to the referee right before he takes a couple of shots to the head from the steps .

It seems that no matter what Batista does to The Undertaker, the Phenom is just unbeatable in this type of match. He takes everything Batista throws at him, and keeps coming back. The same can be said for Batista though, who continues to take the punishment from The Undertaker and still manages to come back too! Its just a very brutal back and forth match, more brutal than any of their matches before!

Batista Bomb through a table! The Undertaker looks to be beat finally, but he somehow kicks out, and just like Cyber Sunday, everyone at this point pretty much believes that The Undertaker is going to win. When he finally hits a Tombstone, that belief is pretty much confirmed… until Batista kicks out! Holy fuck! I’ve seen this match before and I didn’t remember THAT happening! Another throw back to Cyber Sunday, only with the roles reversed. The Undertaker is completely pissed that Batista kicked out, so he goes for another Tombstone, this time on the steel steps! NOW The Undertaker is going to win, right?

ITS EDGE! EDGE IS BACK! He levels The Undertaker with a camera, then uses the steel steps and a chair for a modified conchairto, and Batista retains!

This is a tremendous match, and like every other match so far, its better than I remembered it. The action, the pace, the brutality and the end all work perfectly to make this one hell of a match, and probably a top 5 Hell in a Cell match for me now. A great end to a great feud!

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Special Referee Steve Austin – Cyber Sunday 2007

Since this was Cyber Sunday, some sort of voting system had to be thrown into this match. I’m just glad they didn’t go with another stipulation, since their last 2 matches weren’t ordinary matches. So they do the old “who will be referee” crap, and big surprise, Austin gets voted in .

Enough of that crap, its the MATCH I give a damn about. The video package before the match is more awesomeness from the WWE Video production group, who are probably among the best in the industry when it comes to making video packages tbh. It had been 5 months since their last match, so the video did a great job of reminding everyone of their past matches, and got me hyped to see them wrestle one more time.

Also, remember that at this point, The Undertaker has 1 victory over Batista (from WrestleMania), whereas Batista hasn’t beat the Dead Man yet! Their last 2 matches have both been draws, and Batista only won the title back AFTER The Undertaker got taken out with an injury. So this match is all about Batista proving to himself that he is the MAN, and he CAN beat The Undertaker to remain World Heavyweight Champion.

Man oh man, these 2 really know how to start their matches! WrestleMania replay with Batista charging towards the Dead Man with a spear, but this time The Undertaker dodges, and goes for the big boot (like Backlash) but Batista ducks! Then similar to their cage match, they lock up and fight for control! Little things, but they really make this match more enjoyable and better IMO.

Nothing fancy here, just a massive brawl, which is essentially all they have been doing for the entire series, and its been awesome all the way! Things slow down a bit though, with The Undertaker working over Batista’s back.

They keep going back and forth for a while, with both men controlling the match for a little while, before losing control and taking some punishment. Austin being the guest referee was most likely an attempt to get better buyrates, but thankfully he really doesn’t stand out in this match at all. He does nothing that a normal referee wouldn’t do, which is a good thing. They are taking nothing away from this huge match, which didn’t need a guest referee, and that makes me happy .

One of my favourite spots in the match is when ‘Taker goes for Old School, but Batista catches him on the way down and levels him with a Spinebuster! But before Batista can possibly get a 3 count, Undertaker locks in a Triangle Choke!

That sequence of moves essentially starts the final stretch of the match, where we see ‘Taker hit a Chokeslam, Batista hit a spear, and both men fighting to land their finishers!

One thing that keeps coming back in this match is The Undertaker constantly losing control of the match by charging into the corner for different moves, only for Batista to move out of the way every time. He does it again during the final stretch, but this time it works in his favour as it allows him to hit the Last Ride out of the corner! Its still not enough though, and the match continues!

A Spinebuster and Batista Bomb are STILL not enough to keep The Undertaker down, and at this point you gotta believe that EVERYONE feels for certain that The Undertaker is going to win. So what happens? Batista gets royally pissed off, hits another Batista Bomb, and pins The Undertaker cleanly in the middle of the ring!!!

This match is without a doubt my second favourite of their series. It has the big match feel of their WrestleMania match, and the slower, more methodical pace of their Last Man Standing & Cage matches, and the same awesomeness from all 3 of those matches. Batista getting the clean win was a HUGE win, almost as big as his Vengeance 2005 win over Triple H. It was a nice conclusion to the story of Batista wanting to prove that he CAN beat The Undertaker, but it was certainly not the conclusion to this feud!

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Steel Cage – Smackdown 11/05/2007

The Undertaker 1 – Batista 0 – 1 Draw. Can Batista finally get a win over the Dead Man here in a steel cage on TV?

Unlike their PPV matches, I have only ever seen this match once, when it aired, and I remember thinking it was good, but not that great, especially compared to their PPV matches. After seeing their Last Man Standing match again, and loving it more this time around, will I think more of this match now I finally get to see it again?

Something I love about a series of matches between two people, is how they change how they start a match. At WrestleMania, Batista kick started things off with a spear. At Backlash, The Undertaker started things off with a boot to the face. In this one, both men are slow to start things off, and lock up in the middle of the ring to try and gain the advantage that way. Just a nice progression of the overall feud story .

Just like their previous matches, this is an all out war between two monsters who want the World Heavyweight Title. They use the cage very well IMO, and they use the escaping part of the match even better. In the first 10 minutes of the match, both men hit big moves, and then try to escape, only to realise its just not enough. So they don’t even try to escape for another 10 minutes or so, which during that time they have both dished out and received an enormous amount of punishment.

For roughly 20 minutes, they go back and forth, just beating the living hell out of each other. We get a couple of Spinebusters and Chokeslams, but no major finishers. The Undertaker does get busted open though, making Batista look perhaps stronger in this match.

In the end though, we get yet another draw finish, with both men escaping the cage and dropping to the floor and the same time. The fans are awesome for this part, all seeming to genuinely care who really won, making the suspense segment after the match with the referees watching replays, that much better.

Its usually the same with me, I watch a match when it first happens, and I usually never get the full feel for it until a re-watch, and its the same here. I don’t remember it being THIS good at all. From what I remember of their other matches in 2007, I would say its the weakest of their series, but not by much. This is still a fantastic match, especially by TV standards.

Rating: ***3/4

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Last Man Standing – Backlash 2007

For 2 PPV’s in a row now, The Undertaker Vs Batista is the main reason I watched the PPV and bought the DVD. Adding the Last Man Standing stipulation just increased my anticipation for the re-match .

At WrestleMania, it was Batista that charged at the Dead Man to start things off, but here its The Undertaker going straight for the challenger with a massive big boot to the face! Before, it was Batista who was the champion and the aggressor, now the tables have been turned and The Undertaker is making sure he is more aggressive.

Batista still shows that determination from WrestleMania, as he takes everything The Undertaker is throwing at him, and still coming back. He is even able to get The Undertaker down for a few seconds to start the first count of the match! Nice to see the story from WrestleMania continuing here.

Smart wrestling from The Undertaker here, targeting the leg of Batista that is heavily taped up, thanks to Finlay over the last few weeks (I made mention to it in my review of the tag match between Batista & The Undertaker Vs Finlay & Mr Kennedy).

The champion is looking dominant now, kicking Batista in the face a few times, and going for his signature leg drop across the apron.

More story continuation as Batista goes to the top rope, trying to pull out all the stops once again to hopefully beat The Undertaker, but this time he is stopped and its The Undertaker digging deep for a massive superplex!

I am personally a big fan of the Last Man Standing stipulation (when its not used every bloody week like it seems to be these days), but I do understand that some people don’t like it, because the match is essentially “spot, count, spot, count” until someone finally wins. This one, however, seems to be a little different to the standard Last Man Standing formula, in that all the spots are well built up from previous spots, and not just some random move to keep someone down.

It is also great how both men are constantly pulling out moves we don’t normally see from them; anything that can be used to wear down and beat their opponent.

The Animal gets busted open, and wasting no time, The Undertaker begins to pummel the open wound. He then sees an opportunity to not only get some revenge for WrestleMania, but also potentially keep Batista down, as he lays Batista across one of the announcer’s table, and comes flying off the guard rail with a leg drop! Great spot!

Tremendous drama with the 10 count following the table spot, as it didn’t simply come out of nowhere, it gradually built up to it, so it seemed believable for Batista to NOT get up.

Batista DOES get up though, and The Undertaker is pissed. In the ring, he goes for Snake Eyes, but it appears Batista has it scouted, as he reverses the big boot into a spear! Batista gets a second wind, and destroys The Undertaker with a Spinebuster! The Undertaker has been on the offence for the majority of the match though, and still had enough left in the tank to easily get up from the Spinebuster, so Batista sends him crashing into the mat with 2 more! This one is much closer to a 10 count, but the resilient and inhuman champion gets up again!

The 3 Spinebusters seems to have taken enough out of The Undertaker to put him even with Batista when it comes to punishment, so when he hits a Chokeslam, he is down on the mat for a few seconds too. Another sign that Batista learnt something from their WrestleMania match (the first was the Snake Eyes counter) when he does a role reversal, powerbombing The Undertaker out of the corner!

Things are REALLY starting to heat up now, with a steel chair getting involved, as it seems conventional moves aren’t going to do it here… for Batista at least. The Undertaker still hasn’t used the Tombstone, and since it was the move that won ‘Taker the title at WrestleMania, it only seems right that it end this match too!

Unfortunately for The Undertaker, it seems that conventional moves aren’t going to work for him either, as Batista manages to get up at the count of 9.

The fight goes to the top of the stage, where we see a back and forth brawl between these two behemoths! It looks like The Undertaker is going to Tombstone Batista off the stage, but The Animal manages to get off the shoulders of the Dead Man, and hits a spear! Both men go flying off the stage and crashing through the equipment below, and the referee makes a 10 count!

I’m not usually a fan of Last Man Standing matches ending in a draw, but it seemed perfect for this one. It showed that neither man could keep the other down for a 10 count on their own, making both look strong IMO. Plus it gave a good reason for another re-match, instead of the boring “I still want to beat you for the title” crap we usually get.

As far as last man standing matches go, this is probably my new favourite/best. HHH/Orton from No Mercy later in the year was indeed a tremendous match, but after sitting down and watching this again, I can honestly say its just that bit better. Incredible match, one that has literally got better with every viewing (WrestleMania gets better, but the rating stays the same. This has gone up every time I have seen it).

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Kurt Angle – WWE Smackdown 04/09/2003

For 20 minutes, both men pull out everything they have to try and beat each other. They start off by trying to gain the early advantage, with ‘Taker trying to get a big punch in, and Angle trying to take down the bigger man. We get a stalemate between the two, as neither can do what they want.

Angle finally manages to control The Undertaker, just for a little while, with his wrestling. The Undertaker realises that he won’t be able to pummel Angle at this moment in time, so what does he do? He wrestles too! That is one thing that I have really loved about ‘Taker over the years; his ability to adapt to any style that his opponent can throw at him.

After some back and forth wrestling between the two, The Undertaker finds an opening, and BAM! Right hand to the face of Angle! Angle is HURT, putting over The Undertaker,and making this match seem more legit, all at the same time. The Undertaker is in control now, and he seems to like it. He lays Angle across the apron, gives him a couple of elbow shots, and then when the referee asks him to get back in the ring, he smirks, and drops a leg drop!

The first (and only, thankfully) commercial break shows up, and when we come back, The Undertaker is still in control of Angle.

The first half (pretty much everything before the commercial break) was all about gaining the advantage, but this second half was all about action. Intense action. Awesome action.

Angle comes back, tries to put down The Undertaker with everything he has, including an Angle Slam! The Undertaker wants that WWE Title back badly though, so he isn’t going to be put away just yet. He comes back with some big moves of his own, including a Chokeslam! But, like ‘Taker, Angle isn’t going to be beat so easily, especially with the title on the line.

The last 5 minutes or so are epic, with Angle desperately trying to make The Undertaker tap out to the Ankle Lock, and The Undertaker trying his best to survive, and put Angle away. Angle counters a Last Ride, a Big Boot, a Leg Drop… everything The Undertaker threw at him, into an Ankle Lock. The Undertaker is no slouch though, as he shows us that he too can counter moves and lock in submission holds, as he counters the Ankle Lock on a number of occasions, into an arm bar, and also into a Triangle Choke, which very nearly wins him the belt!!!

The Undertaker sets up Angle for another Last Ride, but Brock Lesnar shows up, levels ‘Taker with a chair, and attacks Angle too.

Seriously, if it wasn’t for the finish, this would be a ***** match. Yep, I’m upping my original rating from ****1/2 to ****3/4, and its VERY close to *****. Move over Owen/Bulldog, THIS is the greatest WWE TV Match of all time!

Rating: ****3/4