Defrost Reviews - Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

Wrestlemania XXVI (University of Phoenix Stadium)
Streak vs Career/No DQ No Countout Match

The basic thrust of this piece is going to be to compare and contrast the Pre Taker breaks Shawn's back matches to the Post Taker breaks Shawn's back matches. So to start off the top it is the opinion of DRS2EBRaSAGG that the first Hell in a Cell match is the greatest match the WWF, WWWF, WWE, Capital Sports whatever you want to call it has ever produced. And since we're on the subject of their Casket Match is the best one of those, which admittedly is faint praise. It is for those reasons that the idea of Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XXV was not as appealing to DRS2EBRaSAGG as it was to a lot of other people. Already had seen it, and it was of such quality anything less would just be a downer. So let's see how it stacked up.

Wrestlemania XXVI is to Wrestlemania XXV as Royal Rumble 1998 is to IYH: Badd Blood. That is to see Wrestlemania XXVI is a poor man's version of Wrestlemania XXV just as the Casket Match is to Hell in the Cell. Not just that but where Wrestlemania XXV is great it is not as good as Hell in a Cell and Wrestlemania XXVI is not as good as the Casket Match. By the way from here on out Wrestlemania XXVI will be referred to as Streak vs Career to avoid confusion between the two Wrestlemania matches. Going back to the thesis of this paragraph what does it mean that the Casket Match and the Streak vs Career matches are lesser versions of Hell in a Cell and Wrestlemania XXV? As already declared the first Hell in a Cell match is DRS2EBRaSAGG's choice for greatest WWF match of all time. So when they came back with it 12 years later there it was stunning how great it was. Most everything in that match works past a couple of nitpicks like the amount of time it takes between the mess of Taker's dive with the failed catch and the ref starting the count and Shawn botching a DDT counter of the Tombstone. The problem came the next year when they decided that everything that was great about the match was the last quarter or so of it when they started kicking out of finishers. Now before any critique of the Career vs Streak match can begin there needs to be a discussion of the apocalyptically bad commentary that damn nears ruins the match on its own. Dear God was the Teacher a garbage announcer. Literally every vapid cliché that he spewed forth was cringe inducing. Said spewing manages to be so horrible yet so much of a nothing that none of them spring to mind to even quote yet the douche chills remain even thinking about them. Then you have Cole and Lawler. While the Teacher makes them look like John Madden and Pat Summerall in comparison they're god awful during this match too. There was a point where the match had to be watched on mute or not watched at all.

Well that rant went a little too long so new paragraph. As mentioned the problem with the work in the Streak vs Career match is that they go straight to the part of the match where they start kicking out of each other's finishers. The previous year's match built toward it. Now time may be an issue. By going on last they didn't have the luxury of going long as they did in the middle of the card the year before since they were up against the end of their TV time. Perhaps some slack is to be given on that point. Although there are things like the Tombstone on the floor which are just too much, or things such as Shawn going for the Ankle Lock or a long Figure Four which was aping Shawn using his wacky leg lock thing or the Crossface in the first match however they way they were used in the first Mania match made sense for the psychology, Shawn trying to figure out a way to keep Taker down early on, and in the Streak vs Career match they were just used sorta randomly. This isn't to say it is a bad match. It is good. Good not great. There are things to like in the Streak vs Career match. Love the reversal of the Gogoplata into a Jacknife Pin by Michaels. Shawn's Moonsault through the table, where he landed on Taker's leg which would fit the psychology but there is no way that's what he was actually aiming for, followed by the Superkick led to an amazing nearfall. The finish is brilliant. Taker pitying Shawn then Shawn doing the throat slash and slapping Taker and then pissed Taker nailing a jumping Tombstone Piledriver. Great way for Shawn to go out. Just wish the first 18 minutes were as good as the last 5.

Now where the Streak vs Career match was lesser for going straight to the well remembered finisher fest of the prior match the Casket Match is a copy of Hell in a Cell in that Shawn, as the heel in those matches, gets the heat and keeps it in the exact same way. You get Shawn ducking punches and throwing jabs. You get Shawn attacking with a steel chair and the steps. You get the Piledriver on the steel steps. Shawn arrogantly goes through his signature spots including the Sweet Chin Music only for that to be the exact moment Taker makes his comeback. Hell Shawn wins both matches because of a Kane run in. The only differences are that one match has spots using the cage and the other has spots using the casket including the back body drop that broke Shawn's back. Instead of climbing the inside of the Cell and coming down with an elbow drop on Taker he comes off the top rope and onto Taker who was inside the casket. The only differences really are that the lack of a cage allowed for HHH to interfere, and a couple of cool spots. One where Taker has Shawn up for the Chokeslam but Shawn is too close to the turnbuckle and is then able to come off the top onto Taker with the Moonsault, and the other where Taker Tombstone Shawn off the apron and into the casket. Even if it is just the same match it works much better because everything makes sense whereas in the Streak vs Career they followed up an Oscar Winner with pure pop corn by going straight to the climax.

Before we move on this paragraph will discuss their first match which was more of an angle than anything. The match gets thrown out for referee abuse. Hell the first move of the match is Taker punching out the ref and then throwing him at Shawn Michaels. The whole thing was to set up a bigger match, their first match was in a 4,000 seat building and Hell in a Cell in an 18,000 seater, which worked since their next PPV did a great gate. You have Rude, HHH, and Chyna all interfering to set up the cage to keep them out and then it ends with the big dive on the entire roster. It is a fun watch more or less. There are dead spots, but watching Shawn bounce around like a super ball is always entertaining.

On that subject that is the psychology of their first three matches. Shawn bumps like a maniac while Taker kicks his ass. Boiled down to their core that is what those matches are. Other than when Shawn cheats or has outside help it is a one sided ass kicking where there is no illusion that he can possibly win. Until he does. This is very different from their lost two matches where he is Taker's equal and has as good a shot as any to win. Until he doesn't. The beating Shawn takes in the first three matches are what makes it. Especially the epic beating in Hell in a Cell climaxing with Undertaker braining a bloodied Shawn Michaels with a steel chair. Remember their first feud revolved around Shawn repeatedly smashing Undertaker in the head with a chair. Before his back injury Shawn's ability to bump was extraordinary. He hit the ceiling of the Cell on a back body drop for Christsake. By the time of the their Wrestlemania matches Shawn was old and broken. Still the best worker in WWE, but old and broken nonetheless. So he's not going to be able to take a 30 minute ass kicking nor would that make sense. Shawn was a legendary babyface at that point not the prick heel of a decade prior. So having him be on par with Taker made perfect sense just like the one sided ass kicking he took in their first feud made sense then. Judging by the ratings the prick heel getting beaten on average worked better which may be due to the angles leading to the matches and matches are not held in a vacuum. However, while the stronger of the best two matches, Hell in a Cell, also had a stronger angle that the second best match, Wrestlemania XXV, the second best angle overall led to the Streak vs Career match that was on rewatching a disappointment. So who knows.

Well that wraps up part one of our double Mania main event. Check back next time on the morning, Eastern Standard Time, of Wrestlemania for the second half of the Mania special. Next Time: Triple H vs Undertaker.