8 Ups & 6 Downs From The Undertaker's WWE Career

Downs...

6. Monster Hunter

It took The Undertaker a long, long time to get good between the ropes. He was always a decent athlete for his size, but his early years were full of slow, cumbersome matches, and while his WrestleMania streak would eventually become legendary, it, too, is full of absolute dross.

Things were particularly bad in the mid-'90s, when Vince McMahon effectively used 'The Deadman' to kill off any failing monster character whose career was cratering. It started with Kamala in '92, and continued throughout the years, with the Underfaker (SummerSlam '94), Mabel (In Your House 5: Season's Beatings), and King Kong Bundy (WrestleMania XI) among the worst offenders. None of these feuds were any good, and any rub the up-and-coming 'Phenom' received from going over was negligible.

This 'Monster Of The Week' run doesn't quite represent 'Taker at his absolute worst, but it was a turgid, torturous period nonetheless. Later years would see him engage in horrific stories with plodders like Vladimir Kozlov, The Great Khali, and Heidenreich, but none were as brutal as this guy...