Friday, June 01, 2012

Invincible Taker

Undertaker's match with Edge is the transition from "Undertaker is undefeated at WrestleMania" to "Undertaker cannot be defeated at WrestleMania." The end of the match is what crystallized the Undertaker's deific status at the Grandest Stage of them All: immediately recovering from two consecutive Spears in order to apply Hell's Gate and win the match.

Undertaker's toughness has only increased since then. WrestleMania 25: survives a brutal over-the-top rope dive botch which could have easily broken his neck, manages to keep up with Mr. WrestleMania for a solid half-hour of wrestling, and withstands Sweet Chin Music twice. WrestleMania 26: competes against an even more formidable HBK, the latter obsessed with ending the streak; withstands a moonsault through the table and is also given Sweet Chin Music three times but still won't stay down.

Then, of course, there is WrestleMania 27: competes against a terrifyingly focused incarnation of Triple H, who for all intents and purposes was the embodiment of war in this match; Undertaker withstands a spinebuster, another spinebuster through a table, getting speared/tackled through a glass structure (the Cole Mine), nine chair shots to the spine, a chair shot to the skull, a DDT onto the chair, three Pedigrees, and a Tombstone Piledriver, plus the following night on Raw Triple H said that he was hitting Undertaker "harder than I've ever hit anyone in my entire life," which means we are supposed to understand that even the punches in this match were the most powerful punches HHH has ever thrown. The fact that Undertaker withstood all of this is flabbergasting, even in kayfabe.

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