Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy (7/1/02)
Within the early 2000s, The Undertaker dropped the undead gimmick to be a giant, imply biker man, and it wasn’t his finest work. It obtained worse when he turned heel, as he simply felt like a worse copy of Steve Austin who would cease promoting two seconds after taking any type of harm. He was nonetheless a couple of years away from actually hitting his stride because the maestro of the massive time match, and it didn’t assist that he gained the Undisputed Championship in a horrible match in opposition to an over-the-hill Hulk Hogan. That stated, when he confronted Jeff Hardy in his one and solely ladder match, issues actually clicked.
As a part of an aborted try to separate up the Hardy Boyz, Undertaker terrorized Staff Xtreme for the sake of being a bully. He put his title on the road in opposition to Jeff Hardy, who was all the time on the cusp of being a singles star. The 2 performed off of one another extraordinarily properly with sufficient hope in there to nearly make you assume Jeff was going to drag it off. It even gave us an all-timer Jim Ross name of, “Climb that ladder, child! Make your self well-known!” whereas the digital camera work actually did an awesome job of hiding Undertaker’s presence earlier than his fateful comeback. Hardy appeared robust in defeat, to the purpose that Undertaker gave him props, steering himself in the direction of a much-needed face flip.
John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (4/23/07)
There have been loads of causes to hate the unending stretch of John Cena on prime. The frustration of seeing all of the eggs in a single basket, the burying of expertise, the way in which somebody might level out that he was within the incorrect and he’d deflect it by saying “good speech,” the way in which commentators would obnoxiously cheer him above all else, and so forth. That stated, when push got here to shove, the man might go. Look no additional than his matches with Shawn Michaels, a man who the followers actually needed to win the title off of Cena, despite the fact that Michaels was adamant about not wanting the real-life pressures that got here with it.
After Cena retained the WWE Championship in opposition to Michaels at WrestleMania 23, a four-way was arrange for Backlash that includes Cena, Michaels, Randy Orton, and Edge. The go-home episode of Uncooked was meant to have a Cena vs. Michaels non-title rematch, in addition to Orton vs. Edge, however they ran right into a snag. Orton was punished for some unprofessional conduct behind the scenes, and was despatched house, that means Cena and Michaels have been instructed to stretch their match out to almost an hour. And the madmen did it, having an absolute killer exhibition that will be Cena’s finest match but. Not dangerous for a last-minute change in plans.
The entire rivalry between John Cena and CM Punk is stuffed with superior matches, nevertheless it all represents the wishes of the fanbase vs. the stubbornness of Vince McMahon. Whereas, sure, Cena was by no means going to budge as the person on prime, it nonetheless meant loads when it comes to the type of wrestler CM Punk represented. After years of WWE’s love for cumbersome former soccer gamers over smaller indie wrestling darlings, guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and later AJ Types have been in a position to endure the wrath of an organization that completely didn’t need them to succeed. That Punk was in a position to get a couple of high-profile wins over Cena, and actually have a prolonged world title run, was a miracle, even when he was nonetheless by no means actually the corporate’s headliner.
When The Rock returned, it was solely a matter of time earlier than he entered the title image and gained the belt off Punk. Cena gained that yr’s Royal Rumble, that means that WrestleMania principal occasion was written in stone. Nonetheless, they dangled the potential of a substitute for the viewers by having one final Cena vs. Punk match for the #1 contender spot. Realizing it was going to be their final go, the 2 left all of it within the ring, making a grand finale to their feud. They even made waves by throwing in a piledriver, which apparently obtained them in sizzling water backstage.
