Road to WrestleMania – The Undertaker

WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year. No matter how big the other PPVs are around the year, nothing compares to the atmosphere and buzz surrounding WrestleMania. The Super Bowl of the Entertainment industry involves some of the biggest names and the biggest matches in the calendar year. Some of the biggest legends return for one night, as they take part in the “showcase of the immortals” to cement their legacy in the wrestling business. No matter how many legends come back for the night, there is one man who is synonymous with WrestleMania, and more importantly, he is the special attraction of WrestleMania, with one of the most glorious distinctions at WrestleMania.

This man is none other than the legendary ‘Dead man’, a man who is known as The Phenom in the WWE. No matter what names are present at WrestleMania, we can be rest assured that this one man’s presence will overshadow everyone else. In a recent poll on wwe.com, he was voted by the fans as the real ‘Mr. WrestleMania’. He is more commonly known to the fans as The Undertaker, and his distinction at WrestleMania has taken a life of its own, as he is 20 – 0 at WrestleMania, undefeated in all of his bouts for the past 20 years! The ‘Streak’ is a special attraction at WrestleMania, and some say it has a legacy of its own, and is much bigger than WrestleMania itself!

Last year saw the ‘End of an era’ match between The Undertaker and Triple H, with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. By the end of the night, Taker had done something he had been doing for the past 5 years, which is putting on the best match of the night! The three warriors walked back, embracing each other while giving all of the fans one more WrestleMania moment, one more time for us to cherish their contributions at the grandest stage of them all. Post WrestleMania, there were rumours that The Undertaker had undergone multiple shoulder surgeries, and that he would be out of action indefinitely. As time drew closer to WrestleMania, people started to doubt if The Undertaker would perform at this year’s WrestleMania or not.

In the later part of February ’13, Taker made his return at a Live Show which went viral, and the fans began wondering about the role The Undertaker would play at WrestleMania 29. During the old school episode of RAW, Taker came out, and gave an ominous sign that he would be going to WrestleMania 29. That night, Punk, Big Show, Sheamus and Randy Orton participated in a Fatal 4 way to determine who’d face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and CM Punk won the match, thus earning the right to face The Undertaker, and to get a chance to end the legendary streak at WrestleMania, and make it 20 – 1.

This started the Taker – Punk feud on the way to WrestleMania, and an unfortunate occurrence saw William Moody, aka Paul Bearer, passing away on the 5^th of March. This led to Punk using Bearer’s references every week, as he made the feud more personal. The signature urn of The Undertaker, which was believed to contain the powers of The Undertaker and Paul Bearer’s memories, was stolen by Punk, as he and Paul Heyman started taunting the Dead man, thus playing mind games on the master of mind games, to gain the psychological advantage over The Undertaker.

The last episode of RAW before WrestleMania saw Punk and Heyman beating the Dead man down with the urn, and after the vicious attack, Punk opened the lid of the urn and poured the ashes over the fallen Undertaker, as Punk stood tall to end the show. This has provided a twist in the tale, as no one in the history of the WWE got into the head of The Undertaker as Punk has been able to do. Going into WrestleMania 29, The Undertaker will not be in his proper state of mind, and going into WrestleMania, it has been played up that even a disqualification will result in the streak being broken! So, has Punk found an ingenious way to break the streak? Can CM Punk finally beat all the other men who battled the Undertaker at WrestleMania, and become the ‘one’ to finally end the streak of the legendary Undertaker? Or will The Undertaker find a way to shut CM Punk up, and add him to his long and impressive list of victims at WrestleMania? We will soon find out at WrestleMania 29.