One MIND-BLOWING Secret For Every WWE SummerSlam

18. 2008 | This Would Have RULED

The Undertaker
WWE

As mentioned, the Undertaker was selectively great. 

Pair him against the correct opponent, and he was capable of pure pro wrestling magic. He was such an attraction, and by the 2000s quite broken, that Vince often gave him a few months off by pairing him with someone like the Great Khali or Kane about 200 times. The Undertaker had some range on him - as in, he was once awarded ***** by Dave Meltzer, but also makes up about a third of WrestleCrap’s archives. Generationally great and generationally awful, sometimes in the same calendar year, the original plan for his SummerSlam 2008 involvement would surely have landed in the former category. At SummerSlam, per the July 1, 1998 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Undertaker was meant to go one on one with Umaga. 

This would have ruled. Umaga was no Mick Foley, but he wasn’t too far off, which is a real compliment. Umaga at his most motivated was a physical freak of nature with an awe-inspiring ability to take one gigantic bump at the end of his matches to make a babyface look incredible. His ostensible death scene at the end of his Royal Rumble ‘07 match with John Cena was genuinely iconic. Umaga was too good to be anachronistic; as a cartoonish monster who was dynamic with unreal intensity, he was almost the perfect composite opponent for the Undertaker. 

The match of course didn’t happen. WWE was too deep into its fixation with rematches - but the Hell In A Cell match with Edge was hardly a bad replacement.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!