In leading up to what is being billed as the biggest WrestleMania of all time, I thought it would be fun to go back and look at the 10 greatest performers in Mania history based on a point system. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gone from number 10 to today’s top spot. Along the way, I’m also pointing out a few wrestlers who just missed making the list and why they didn’t.
To come up with the list, I created a points system and with the help of Chris “Mookie” Harrington, the top 10 point getters are the top 10 performers. The point system is 1 point for each of the following:
Appeared in a match
Won a match
Appeared in a title match (any title)
Won a title match (any title)
Appeared in a singles World title match (including WWF, WWE, World and WWE World Heavyweight titles)
Won a singles World title match
Appeared in a main event
Won a main event
Appeared in the best match on the show, according to Dave Meltzer’s star ratings
Appeared in a Match of the Year
If you’ve missed any of the previous weeks:
#10 – The Rock (35 points); Honorable mention Steve Austin (33 pts)
#9 – Edge (36 points); Honorable mention Chris Jericho (32 pts)
#8 – Kane (37 points); Honorable mention The Big Show (28 pts)
#7 – Randy Savage (38 points): Honorable mention Ted DiBiase (22 pts)
#6 – Bret Hart (39 points): Honorable mention Yokozuna (26 pts)
#5 – Shawn Michaels (53 points); Honorable mention Daniel Bryan (25 pts)
#4 – Hulk Hogan (59 points); Honorable mention The Ultimate Warrior (18 pts)
#3 – John Cena (61 points); Honorable mention Randy Orton (31 pts)
#2 – Triple H (67 points); Honorable mention Batista (23 pts)
1) The Undertaker (70 points)
Was there ever any doubt? The holder of the most legendary streak in wrestling history, the man born Mark Calloway has made WrestleMania his personal showcase for going on 25 years now. As this Sunday and AT & T Stadium looms large, Undertaker is still in the most important match in biggest WrestleMania of all time. Hall of Famers of the past and the future have gone down to the “Dead Man” in his storied career and the only question now is how long it will last. As per the match stipulations this weekend, we could be viewing the legendary Undertaker for the last time on a Mania stage so now is as good a time as any to look back at his career at the “Showcase of the Immortals”.
Way back at WrestleMania VII in LA, Undertaker’s career at WrestleMania started as he took on Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. He dispatched of the aging legend in under five minutes to score his first Mania win in dominating fashion. He followed that up in Indianapolis the next year with a victory over another Hall of Famer in Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
At WrestleMania IX in Las Vegas, he went to 3-0 with a win over the tallest wrestler in WWE history, The Giant Gonzalez, by DQ. After losing a casket match to Yokozuna at the following year’s Royal Rumble, he went on a long sabbatical and missed WrestleMania X. He was back at WrestleMania XI in Hartford and with MLB umpire Larry Young as special guest ref, Taker beat King Kong Bundy to make it 4 straight.
In Anaheim at WrestleMania XII, Taker faced Diesel in one of his last WWF matches before moving on to WCW. He capped off a heated feud by pinning “Big Daddy Cool” to move to 5-0. In his first title match and first Main Event at a Mania, he beat Psycho Sid to retain his WWF title at WrestleMania 13 in Chicago.
Undertaker began a feud with storyline brother Kane later that year after a Hell in a Cell match against Shawn Michaels and it came to a head at WrestleMania XIV in Boston where he beat Kane, climbing to 7-0. He followed that up with a win in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XV in Philadelphia over The Big Bossman.
He missed WrestleMania 2000, which came during another hiatus, but was back at WrestleMania X-7 where he faced Triple H on a Mania stage for the first time. He beat the Game to move to 9-0 and it was around this time that people started to take notice of The Streak. He made it 10 straight at WrestleMania X8 in Toronto with a win over Ric Flair in a no-DQ match. This was also his first Match of the Night on a WrestleMania stage.
Undertaker was on the short end of a 2 on 1 handicap match at WrestleMania XIX in Seattle, facing A-Train and The Big Show. He defeated the two behemoths to move to 11-0. He faced his “brother” Kane for the second time at Mania and made it a dozen wins pinning Kane after a Tombstone.
By this point, the Streak was the focal point of any match involving the Undertaker at WrestleMania and “The Legend Killer” Randy Orton vowed to end it at WrestleMania 21 in LA. Orton was unsuccessful and was yet another victim of the Dead Man. He went to 14-0 with a win in a casket match over Mark Henry the next year in Chicago.
For the first time in 10 years, Undertaker wrestled for a World title at WrestleMania, this time against World Heavyweight Champion Batista at WrestleMania 23 in Detroit. He ran his streak to 15 with a win and became champion once again in the process. The title eventually made it’s way to Edge over the following year and in just his second WrestleMania main event, Undertaker beat Edge to reclaim that belt at WrestleMania XXIV in Orlando. This was Taker’s second Match of the Night.
At WrestleMania 25 in Houston, he had his first of two legendary matches with Shawn Michaels and won to climb to 17-0. The match was not only the Match of the Night but won Match of the Year in the Wrestling Observer year end awards. They of course rematched the following year in Glendale in a match where Michaels put his career on the line. Again Taker won and again it was the Match of the Night and of the Year. The match also main-evented the show, the third for Undertaker.
He moved on to face Michaels’ long-time partner Triple H the next year in Atlanta and he submitted “The Game” to score his second WrestleMania win over him and 19th overall. For the fourth straight year, Taker was in the Match of the Night. In a Hell in a Cell match with Michaels as special guest ref, Taker submitted Triple H at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami to move to an incredible 20-0. Once again, it was the Match of the Night.
He moved on to a new opponent at WrestleMania 29 in East Rutherford, NJ. He beat CM Punk in a singles match that was the Match of the Night for the sixth straight year to raise the streak to 21-0. Punk’s manager for the match, Paul Heyman, brought a new charge to the plate the next year in Brock Lesnar.
In the most shocking moment of WrestleMania history, Brock Lesnar pinned Undertaker after a third F-5 to end the streak. The fans in New Orleans and watching around the world (for the first time on the WWE Network) were stunned into silence as he was pinned for the first time after debuting 23 years earlier.
In a somewhat lackluster midcard match last year in Santa Clara, Undertaker was back to his winning ways, beating Bray Wyatt in a singles match to go to 22-1. He will most likely return to the main event on Sunday as he faces Shane McMahon. If McMahon wins, he gets control of Monday Night Raw and if Undertaker loses, he will be performing on a WrestleMania stage for the final time. Whether it’s the main event or not, it has the most interest of any of the matches scheduled for the card and should have fans on the edges of their seats once again. Undertaker was elected into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2004 and will be in the WWE Hall of Fame when they decide to put him in.
The Undertaker’s WrestleMania record:
22-1 overall
3-0 in title matches
3-0 in World title matches
3-0 in Main Events
7 Matches of the Night
2 Matches of the Year
Honorable Mention: Brock Lesnar (18 pts)
If Lesnar hadn’t taken nearly a decade off, he’d likely be challenging Taker for his spot at the top of this list. As it is, he’s carved out quite the memorable WrestleMania career. From nearly killing himself doing a Shooting Star Press against Kurt Angle to being booed out of the building in his farewell match against Goldberg to ending the streak, he’s had several WrestleMania moments of note. Here’s his WrestleMania history:
WrestleMania XIX – beat Kurt Angle in the Main Event to win the WWE Championship. This was also the Match of the Night
WrestleMania XX – lost to Goldberg in a singles match
WrestleMania 29 – lost to Triple H in a no holds barred match
WrestleMania XXX – beat The Undertaker in a singles match
WrestleMania 31 – in the Main Event, lost his WWE World Heavyweight title to Seth Rollins after Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase in a match originally scheduled against just Roman Reigns. This was also the Match of the Night
Lesnar, of course, is scheduled to face Dean Ambrose this Sunday in a match that could very well be the Match of the Night as they’ll pull out all the stops. He was elected into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame last year and will likely wind up in both the UFC and WWE Halls of Fame before all is said and done.
I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading this series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’m sure we’ll all be tuning in this Sunday to see what kind of new memories are made as WrestleMania keeps getting bigger and better!