10 Wrestlers Who Became Amazing After Heavy Criticism
9. The Undertaker
The Undertaker invited heavy criticism in the Attitude Era.
After emerging as a super-worker in the mid-'90s, he regressed badly as business erupted, working a boring interpretation of the fashionable brawling style, flexing his protected status by giving his opponents very little - and, by lifting Kurt Angle's shoulders from the mats at Fully Loaded 2000, less than nothing.
'Taker recovered from a period in which he was slaughtered - after a decade, this in another era felt well beyond the end - to become the best big match worker in the world another decade removed from that.
The man was phenomenal throughout the mid-to-late 2000s. He dropped weight and introduced facets of his beloved MMA into his act, refining his old agile powerhouse style to credibly work master technicians like Kurt Angle. Moreover, in constantly learning and adapting, he perfected pro wrestling psychology by showing vulnerability at the peak of his career, using his melodramatic masterpieces with Shawn Michaels and Triple H to add layers of real pathos to his grand WrestleMania Streak classics.
Even after various disasters - WrestleMania XXX, virtually his entire career, post-2015 - 'Taker was and somehow still is capable of the old brilliance.