10 Times The Undertaker's Ego Ran Wild In WWE
You're gonna pay.
Prior to the Attitude Era, the Undertaker was one of the absolute premier talents in all of wrestling.
Captivating enough to carry even the most cartoonish of Monsters Of The Week, 'Taker revealed himself to be a brilliant wrestler and character as the company marched through the similarly underrated New Generation Era. His matches with Mankind, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels elevated 'Taker into a legendary realm. Gimmicks and good hands were no longer mutually exclusive. He truly earned his 'Phenom' nickname.
After the Attitude Era, the Undertaker was one of the absolute premier talents in all of wrestling.
Long since established as more myth than man, the very best of 'Taker's seminal Streak work gradually eroded that singular mystique. Those matches, with Shawn Michaels, Triple H, CM Punk, and Edge, were inconceivably dramatic. The outcome was never in doubt - until 'Taker cast doubt over the outcome, through allowing Edge to counter every last weapon in his arsenal and mourning the failure of his Tombstone Piledriver with the expression of a fallen, bewildered mortal one year later. 'Taker, like the best workers, sold a classic match with just his face.
During the Attitude Era...
10. Shovel Mode: Fully Loaded
Throughout the Attitude Era, The Undertaker devolved from legendary elder statesman to ego-driven, counterproductive gravedigger. He lived the gimmick in the worst way imaginable - a mentality that manifested in birdbrained fashion at Fully Loaded 2000.
The premise of the card - Triple Main Event - deftly highlighted the future without ushering it in outright. Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit took Triple H and The Rock, respectively, to the limit in lengthy, stature-enhancing defeats. Both men emerged as somebodies in the aftermath. A would-be trilogy did not materialise: Undertaker treated Kurt Angle as a goofy nobody in a dire seven minute affair.
Angle was great value as he made his entrance, spooked by his own pyro. 'Taker then stripped Angle of that value by beating the p*ss out of the Olympian in an early brawl sequence, before dragging Angle's corpse back into the ring and driving an elbow into his heart. He made the cover - but he wasn't done. "No no no no no," he said, lifting Angle's shoulders from the mat - the implication being that a deeply basic manoeuvre would have been enough. The criticism 'treated like a jobber' is thrown around indiscriminately, but a posturing 'Taker legitimately buried Angle as if he was an enhancement talent here.
Happily, Angle was too talented to remain buried. Only The Undertaker's reputation plummeted.