10 Things I Hate About The Undertaker
8. He's The King Of The Transitional Champions
Right from the word go, The Undertaker was sold to the WWF audience harder and heavier than any other company performer had been before or has been since. For two years, he barely lost a match and rarely left his feet, let alone legitimately bumped.
He’s a mythic, potent force masquerading as a pro wrestler. He’s never been sold to us as needing or wanting the top title in the company, either to validate his career in real life or to validate the character’s choices in the storylines. So why has he lifted it so many times?
He’s held either the World Heavyweight or the WWF/E Championships on a total of seven occasions. His first WWF Championship came as a result of Ric Flair’s cheating ways, and he lost it back to Hulk Hogan less than a week later. His longest two reigns were for 133 and 140 days. Neither one is a long reign, clocking in at around four and a half months or so. Three of the other four were for just over a month, and the fourth was for two months.
What does that tell you? That Vince McMahon’s most protected character, the spine of the WWF/E for quarter of a century, the biggest legend in the company, The Undertaker himself… is the biggest transitional champion the company’s ever seen.
Sure, he’s has other 'accomplishments' like the Streak, and of course his backstage reputation and integrity, which are supposedly far more important to the man behind the Dead Man gimmick than any worked objective.
Still, it doesn’t exactly mesh well with that whole Demon Of Death Valley/Last Outlaw aura to know that he’s treated as such an expendable utility player, does it?