Ranking All Of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Matches

credit: wwe.com

1. Shawn Michaels – WrestleMania XXV

And here it is. Of all 25 of Taker’s WrestleMania appearances, this match with Michaels still, and most likely always will, reign supreme. The only down side to this match was this it was not the main event of this show. In fact, it was not even the pre-main event. The pre-main event was a halfway decent triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between John Cena, Edge, and The Big Show. The main event was another painfully boring chapter in the Randy Orton/Triple H saga. But to be fair to everyone involved in those two matches, it would’ve been nearly impossible to match what Taker and Michaels did in their bout. It left the 72,000 fans in Houston mentally exhausted and ready to head home after such an epic clash. The next two matches didn’t have a prayer.

There were only a couple of small things that separates this match from the WM26 match a year later. For one, the match played out like a history lesson as Taker employed, in order, all four of his finishers from over the years. The ChokeSlam, Tombstone, Last Ride, and Hell’s Gate were all administered on HBK, none of them finishing in him off. Another thing that set this one apart was Taker’s suicide plancha over the top rope that Michael’s pulled the cameraman in front of. Taker landed directly on his head and to this day that moment goes down in WrestleMania lore.  For The Deadman to battle back after such a horrifically bad fall only added to the intrigue of such a legendary battle. It took a second Tombstone, one that only happened after Taker caught Michaels in the middle of a moonsault, one of HBK’s classic maneuvers.

This match set the bar for any WrestleMania match that succeeded it and to this day, nothing compares. The desperation that both men oozed throughout this amazing 31 minutes proved just how important The Streak is to the professional wrestling business and showed that even past their prime, just how incredible the talent of Taker and Michaels really was.

Next: Revisiting The Original Lesnar vs. Reigns Match

Will anything ever compare in terms of WrestleMania again? We’ll have to wait and see. But one thing is for sure: placing two generational type talents in one ring on the biggest stage in professional wrestling will result in utter greatness.