10 Awesome Things You Don't Remember About WWE's Ruthless Aggression Era
3. Down Among The Dead MenWWE.comThe Undertaker is unlike any of WWF/Es other headlining stars, in that he doesnt represent any set era. He came in during the last couple of years of The Golden Era, worked steadily at the top in the New Generation Era, was front and centre in the Attitude Era and a mainstay of the Ruthless Aggression Era. Even the PG Era, which was more or less when he went part-time, saw a sudden burst of quality in the Dead Mans matches, with his WrestleMania encounters in particular going from pedestrian slugfests to stealing the show almost every year. Part of that upswing began with his feud with Kurt Angle in early 2006. He and Angle had feuded before, but playing different characters: Angle had been in his Olympic douchecanoe phase, while Undertaker had been a giant, no-nonsense biker badass. Fast forward a few years, and the situation was significantly different. By then, the Undertaker was two years into the Dead Man persona that would see out the remainder of his career, a hybrid of the American Badass ferocious, fast-paced style and the Lord Of Darkness unstoppable monstrosity. Meanwhile, although plagued with significant physical issues, Angle (one of the most intense, committed individuals in the history of the sport) was deep into his bravura run as the wrestling machine. Their match for Angles World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out in February 2006 was more or less the beginning of the Undertakers long run of pulling phenomenal matches out of nowhere, no longer chained down by a gimmick that wouldnt let him work or injuries that slowed him down. Angle was the perfect opponent for that mindset, a man who could have a five-star match with a crash test dummy. The match was blistering: a rematch on Smackdown only a week later, nearly as good as that. The two characters and the wrestlers behind them had meshed perfectly, and it seemed clear to anyone paying attention that this feud could run and run. Sadly, it wasnt to be as Angles ongoing physical issues and increasing dependency on painkillers began to make him a liability, and he was gone from the company by the end of the summer.