The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 3

The Undertaker (November 27, 1991 - December 3, 1991)

The Undertaker: Upset Hulk Hogan at the 1991 Survivor Series

The 1991 Survivor Series was the first edition of the Thanksgiving pay per view to play host to a WWE Championship match-up.

It pitted three time WWE Champion Hulk Hogan against the undefeated Undertaker. Dubbed the "Gravest Challenge", 'Taker was portrayed as a huge threat to Hogan's title.

However, despite the promotion, it still came as a colossal shock when The Undertaker pinned Hogan to win his first WWE Championship, just 12 months after his WWE debut.

The title match was designed to set the stage for a Hulk Hogan versus Ric Flair bout, tentatively scheduled for WrestleMania VIII, four months later. A longtime NWA stalwart, Flair had joined WWE while still recognised as NWA World Champion in July 1991.

Flair had declared himself the "real World's Champion" and paraded the NWA strap on WWE television until the NWA threatened legal action and Flair agreed to return the title belt.

The goal was to set up a title match for Hogan's WWE Championship and in order to set the stage for that mega bout, Flair interfered in the Survivor Series title match-up and cost Hogan the belt, after introducing a steel chair to the match, which 'Taker duly Tombstoned the Hulkster on.

The Undertaker shockingly was World Champion. However, Hogan would soon be granted the opportunity to even the score with the Deadman.