Ranking All Of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Matches
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
2. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania XXVI
Through all the years, wars, title matches, and tribulations, the fact of the matter is that Taker’s two best Mania matches were against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania’s 25 and 26. This match, the latter of the two and the main event of WM26, was another instant classic between these two, and although it’s not quite as good as what they produced a year earlier, this one is still arguably a top 10 match in WWE history, as well as a top five in the history of WrestleMania.
The Michaels/Taker saga goes back long before 2009, the year of WM25. This feud goes back to the 1997 SummerSlam when Michaels, as special guest referee in Taker’s championship defense against Bret Hart, inadvertently drilled Taker with a chair intended for his sworn enemy, Hart. This cost The Deadman his championship and he set his sights on revenge on Michaels. This led to the first ever Hell In A Cell match two months later between the two men that HBK won after Kane’s debut and interference. It was one of the most violent matches the company had seen up to that point. The two continued their rivalry into 1998 when Michaels defeated Taker at the Royal Rumble to retain the WWF Championship he’d taken from Hart via The Montreal Screwjob the previous November.
Fast forward ten years later and the 2007 Royal Rumble. On that night, Taker would get his one and only Rumble win but it took a battle with Michaels in the final minutes to accomplish the feat. Most didn’t know it then, but this was the ground work for what would be two of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history.
So in the second of their two legendary matches, the two once again pulled out all the stops. Michaels hit Taker with everything he had including Sweet Chin Music. It took a jumping Tombstone from The Deadman to end not only the match but Michaels’ career, as a retirement stipulation was on the line.
Again, not as good as their first match, but this one got the main event, the spot it rightfully deserved.