10 Great WWE Moments We Came Agonisingly Close To

9. Sting Vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania XXVII

Rousey Lynch
WWE.com

Obviously, this doesn’t feel much like a dream in 2018: Sting is retired, and the Undertaker is depressingly mortal nowadays. In this Saudi Arabia era, we might still get a match that was under serious consideration for the Georgia Dome. Everything is so bizarre this week that you’d react with a bemused shrug if it did.

But, in 2011, ‘Taker was still in phenomenal form as his aura and in-ring performance level intersected into something stadium-sized in its glory. Sting, meanwhile, remained a more than credible performer in the right context—and WrestleMania was the ultimate context for a match of this psychological magnitude.

Cast your mind back to the February 21, 2011 RAW. Instead of Triple H’s silent proposal, imagine the ultimate subversion of ‘Taker’s old parlour trick. The lights go down on him. When the darkness recedes, we see f*cking Sting in the rafters. The Icon points his baseball bat at the Phenom. The Phenom looks shaken before he slits his throat.

It’s on.

The match itself would have represented a downgrade in quality from ‘Taker’s epics with Shawn Michaels, but novelty, nostalgia, and a still-game ‘Taker could have carried it.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!