Wrestlemania Rewind: Undertaker v CM Punk (WrestleMania 29)

The granddaddy of them all, Wrestlemania is roughly a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best Wrestlemania matches with this latest series.Over the last thirty years, WWE fans have witnessed some great Wrestlemania matches. One of those classics came recently at Wrestlemania 29 when CM Punk attempted to end The Undertaker and his legendary streak.

#1 The build-up

Initially, a fatal four way was set up on Raw between Randy Orton, CM Punk, Sheamus and Big Show to determine who would challenge the streak. Punk ultimately won by pinning Orton but the fire for this match came from a real life tragedy.

The following night, Paul Bearer (former manager of Taker) died from respiratory problems. The next week on Raw, as Undertaker was attempting to pay tribute to his former friend, Punk interrupted in the most disrespectful manner to extend his “heartfelt condolences, for your (Taker’s) loss… at Wrestlemania”.

Punk would then take the feud to a whole other level when he stole Paul Bearers urn from The Undertaker and continued to treat it with massive disrespect while mocking Bearers death.

However the most controversial moment from the build-up came during a segment when Paul Heyman came out dressed as Paul Bearer and accompanied by druids. Punk, who was disguised as a druid, lured Taker in before attacking him. Punk repeatedly hit Undertaker with the urn before pouring its contents all over Taker even stopping at one point to lick the ashes himself.

Punk propelled himself into super heel territory, successfully creating an extremely personal/emotional feud which was awfully controversial and blurred the lines of morally right or wrong.

#2 The match

Both men made huge entrances that would serve the perfect opening for this epic encounter, Undertaker in his typical dark fashion and Punk with Living Colour performing his theme music live.

Punk continued to show disrespect, slapping Undertaker in the face multiple times to play to his emotions and sucker him in but Taker soon retaliated.

One of the biggest moments came when Punk delivered an elbow drop onto Taker who was lying on the announce table. However the announce table didn’t break and as result both men took a lot more damage than normal, specifically Punk who appeared to injure his leg due to it slamming very hard into the side of the table.

Another epic moment came when Taker did his traditional sit up while still locked in the Anaconda Vice which created an epic image of a shocked Punk staring into the furious face of death. Taker went for a chokeslam but Punk slipped out and delivered a Go to Sleep. Taker bounced off ropes but came straight back to hit a Tombstone Piledriver. But somehow, Punk still managed to kick out.

The ref was then accidently knocked down. Punk delivered a signature running knee but Taker countered into a set up for the Last Ride. In a desperate attempt, Heyman quickly handed the urn to Punk who used it strike Taker. Punk went for the cover just as the ref came too but Taker still kicked out.

A visibly shocked/frustrated Punk stalked Taker before continuing with the disrespect, imitating Taker’s own signature throat slicing taunt to further enrage the Phenom. A series of dramatic counters later and Taker finally managed to drop Punk on his head for a second Tombstone Piledriver. And with that, the match was over while the streak was extended to 21-0.

This awesome bout without a doubt stole the show and was absolutely amazing. Emotions were high throughout and this was easily one of the greatest streak matches in Wrestlemania history.

#3 The aftermath

The following night on Raw, a frustrated Punk came out with Paul Heyman to address the WWE Universe. He spoke passionately about his 434 day title reign and his attempts to break the streak before stopping in silence. He them embraced Heyman in a hug and walked away.

Punk was gone for a few months before returning at Payback to defeat Chris Jericho. A year later, following the 2014 Royal Rumble, a frustrated Punk would walk away for real this time and another year later is now preparing/training for his UFC debut.

Meanwhile, The Undertaker attempted to once again pay tribute to Paul Bearer on Raw but this time was interrupted by The Shield. Team Hell No made the save and eventually led to a 6 man tag match with The Shield won. Taker then went on to wrestle Dean Ambrose on Smackdown. This time he walked out victorious but was attacked by The Shield afterwards and triple power bombed through the announce table.

Undertaker returned in time for the lead up to Wrestlemania 30 where he would battle Brock Lesnar. Taker wouldn’t ultimately lose to Lesnar at mania, making Brock Lesnar the man to finally end the over two decade old legendary streak.

Undertaker hasn’t been seen since but is now recently rumoured to possibly be fighting a young Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 31.