20 Greatest WWE SmackDown Matches Ever

19. The Undertaker Vs Tajiri (December 27, 2001)

Kurt Angle Brock Lesnar
WWE.com

There were times during his 'American Badd A*s' reign of terror that The Undertaker dominated with Incredible Hulk-like destruction, but the night Tajiri made him literally look like the Marvel merch-shifter found him in one of his more generous moods.

Hardcore Champion The Undertaker was a bit of an outlier anyway. His dethroning of Rob Van Dam in December 2001 was as magnificent as his loss to (and Royal Rumble elimination courtesy of) Maven a couple of months later, ending an atrocious 12 months in remarkable form. This lost classic caught the sweet spot in between both.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett