10 Greatest Long Term WWE Storylines Ever
3. The Streak
By concentrating so heavily on the number of Undertaker WrestleMania victories, WWE had carefully reoriented the Streak into a glorious kayfabe achievement.
In reality, those early years were inauspicious. His first two victories, at VII and VIII, over Jimmy Snuka and Jake Roberts, were inoffensive - but his matches opposite Giant Gonzalez and King Kong Bundy at IX and XI were dire. This poor form continued into the Attitude Era, in which his XV bout opposite the Big Boss Man remains the worst iteration of Hell In A Cell. Even after the very good matches against Triple H (X-Seven) and Ric Flair (X8), the Streak remained largely comprised of dross as a result of the XIX debacle opposite The Big Show and A-Train.
But, by the time WWE promoted it as the achievement it patently wasn't, when Undertaker defended it against Randy Orton at 21, fans had been conditioned to believe in it. Undertaker then elevated it beyond even WWE hyperbole by assembling a string of Match Of The Year-calibre performances every year between 2007 and 2013.
The Streak was a victory of marketing, ingenuity and once-in-a-lifetime talent.