Ranking All Of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Matches

credit: wwe.com

24. A-Train & Big Show – WrestleMania XIX

Much like The Giant Gonzalez debacle, Taker’s WrestleMania XIX match was also highly unsuccessful due to the lack of talent involved. But this time it wasn’t “The Deadman’s” opponents that lacked talent. The Big Show and A-Train are fine professional wrestlers, but it was actually the person that was supposed tag with Taker that night in Seattle that wasn’t up to snuff. And so not up to snuff that his potential partner, Nathan Jones, didn’t even make it to the ring until the closing seconds of the bout.

Yes, this was a really strange one. Quick history on Nathan Jones and his tenure with the WWE. Jones, an Australian, had a very interesting life before coming to the states and joining the company. A multiple felon by his own admission, Jones had spent the ages of 18 until 25 behind bars for a series of armed robberies. Throw in the fact that he was an admitted steroid user and mental patient and you’d figure that Vince and his buddies would stay far away from Jones. But his size and look were apparently too much for the WWE to pass up and they took a flier on him. Because hey, what’s the worst that could happen?

Well surprisingly the worst thing that happened was that Jones was horrific in the ring. The company tried to work an angle of him being Taker’s protege and the two were then booked for this match at Mania. However, on the road to the “Show of Shows” the company realized that Jones couldn’t wrestle his way out of a paper bag and arranged an angle to keep him out of the ring that night as his opponents attacked him backstage. This left Taker on his own against two guys with a combined weight of over 700 pounds. The match was a dud. And not even the sloppy run-in that prompted Taker’s victory by Jones could save it. What a surprise.