Ranking All Of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Matches

credit: wwe.com

4. CM Punk – WrestleMania 29

At the 2009 SummerSlam, CM Punk, after defeating Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event, was attacked by The Undertaker. With this attack, Taker, who had been on a four month hiatus before this shocking return, immediately inserted himself into a world title picture that needed some star power. Sure, Punk was a rising superstar in the making having won three world championships in just a little over a year since coming to the main roster from ECW, but he lacked a signature feud that could solidify him as a top draw. This is where The Deadman came in to play. Their feud played out into the Fall before Taker ended things and walked away with the belt, but Punk proved he could hang with one of the company’s all time greats, a fact that would help him down the line.

Three and a half years later these two would link up again, and although the build up to their WM29 match was only about a month long, it was about as personal as any in Taker’s career. The night after Punk’s victory in a fatal 4-way to become Taker’s challenger for Mania, Paul Bearer, The Deadman’s long time manager passed away. And in true Punk fashion, a guy who was never afraid to test the boundaries of good taste, stole Taker’s urn that carried the ashes of Bearer (storyline obviously). And the distaste continued when Punk jumped Taker three weeks before Mania and dumped the remains on him. Yeah, this was going to be good.

But for as much heat as Punk tried to garner before this showdown, the 80,000 plus in Rutherford, New Jersey that night seemed split down the middle. Punk, who’d just before Mania lost the WWE title to The Rock after a 434 day reign specifically so the Mania main event could be a Rock/Cena rematch, had a heavy fan base. So as the two waged war over 22 minutes in what was very easily the best match of the night, Punk’s openness about the lunacy of the main event, made it very likely he’d succumb to Taker.

And succumb  he did but it was only after he pushed The Deadman to new levels and reminded everyone why he really did deserve a WrestleMania main event.