How The Undertaker Judged His Opponents

Kamala was a serviceable beast for Undertaker to slay over the summer of 1992, with him eventually managing it at that year's Survivor Series. He'd dodge a feud with Nailz after that but move into one with Giant Gonzalez for most of 1993. The mammoth Mr Hughes was a diversion during that, before he took a run at WWE Champion Yokozuna. After a brief break, he'd beat his doppelgänger before going back to Yoko and moving on to King Kong Bundy, Kama and Mabel. For reasons largely out of his hands familiarity began to breed contempt.

Yet, he endured.

A feud with Mankind in 1996 was different gravy. 'The Deranged One' was a monster of the mind, dragging in Paul Bearer with a shocking-for-the-time heel turn and a series of matches more punishing than any in history. It triggered a retooling of the character in general, affording it a relatively smooth transition into the Attitude Era before Vince Russo sent it careering off course a year later.

If he was to grow in to the "cornerstone" role Jim Ross had given him on commentary, he was going to have to ensure that mid-1990s funk wouldn't happen again. Few predicted his reinvention as a contemporary super-heavyweight super-worker, but 'The Deadman' had identified the importance of his entire act following his 2004 return to the dark side. And it didn't matter if the aisle was eight yards or 80...

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