Why the Undertaker's streak should never end

Taker’s streak is second to none

Edwin Moses winning 122 straight races. Martina Navratilova winning 74 consecutive tennis matches. The Australian cricket team winning 16 successive Tests.

Those are some of the greatest streaks in the history of sport, but when it comes to sports-entertainment, there’s one streak that comes up on top: 21-0.

Goldberg might have something to say about that, considering he went 173-0 at one point in his career. The numbers might favour Goldberg, but the legacy and the aura of The Undertaker‘s streak is unmistakably superior.

The thing that stands out the most about The Phenom’s streak is that the event is WrestleMania. WrestleMania is the equivalent of a World Cup in football. Has any country gone 20 years without defeat at a World Cup, winning every match?

The streak began way back at WrestleMania VII, when The Undertaker defeated Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka with ease, in less than five minutes. The match was hardly special, but the significance of the match surely was.

A year later, The Undertaker was involved in a match of much higher quality. He defeated Jake “The Snake” Roberts after one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history.

Then came Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, Diesel, and Sycho Sid at the next four WrestleManias but The Undertaker was undeterred as he continued to win match after match at pro-wrestling’s biggest event.

In 1998, he came up against his greatest challenge until then. His own (kayfabe) brother was up against him after months and months of promos and showdowns between the two giants.

In one of the best matches ever, Kane absolutely bludgeoned The Undertaker during most of the match, and it looked like the streak would end at a tame 6-1. But The Undertaker fought back to deliver three tombstone piledrivers to win the match and make it 7-0.

A decade after that, The Undertaker was standing tall at 16-0, including a couple of Championship winning matches at WrestleMania.

Then came Shawn Michaels. The Heart Break Kid had done everything there was to do in the world of wrestling. Everything, apart from defeat The Undertaker at WreslteMania.

Michaels took it upon himself to change that and challenged The Deadman to a match at WrestleMania XXV. In the greatest match of the decade and one of the greatest WWE matches ever, Shawn Michaels proved to be the biggest threat to the streak since Kane in 1998. But as always, The Undertaker overcame the challenge. 17-0.

Shawn Michaels then challenged ‘Taker for a re-match at WrestleMania XVI, putting his own career on the line. In another magnificent match, The Undertaker came out on top. 18-0.

At WrestleMania XVII, The Undertaker accepted the challenge of Triple H. The Game destroyed The Deadman so badly that The Deadman couldn’t even stand on his feet after the match, but (there’s always a but), The Undertaker was successful again.

The two faced off again at WM XVIII, and the result was no different. However, The Undertaker completely dominated this time around in a Hell in a Cell.

Then came CM Punk, and then went CM Punk. 21-0.

Every time The Undertaker is in a match at WrestleMania, the match is invariably a handicapped one. It’s never Wrestler X vs Undertaker. It’s always Wrestler X vs The Undertaker and The Streak.

The Undertaker’s match at WrestleMania is easily the most anticipated the match in the WWE through the year, every year. Imagine a WrestleMania without a threat to the streak. You can’t imagine tequila without the lemon and salt, can you?

If the streak does end sometime, as Triple H would say, it would be “bad for business”.