7. HBK And Undertaker Preview Their WrestleMania Classics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShQzp_QBh0 Before Undertaker and Shawn Michaels gave us two incredible installments of "The Streak within The Streak" The Deadman's unprecedented 7 consecutive Match of the Year candidates at WrestleMania The Phenom and The Heartbreak Kid dazzled us with two of the best Royal Rumble performances of all-time. Taker entered the 2007 Royal Rumble match at #30 and it came down to him and Michaels. What followed was the best climax in Rumble lore, a 5-minute preview of the WrestleMania series between the two icons full of similar twists and turns that ultimately earned them many critical titles for "greatest match ever" two years later. It had been nine years since they had engaged each other in a wrestling ring ironically at the 1998 Rumble, at which Michaels dinged his back on the edge of a casket, providing the "straw that broke the camel's back" moment that led to HBK's four year retirement from a back injury. Fascinating, it was, to see them grappling again. The following year, in another very memorable Rumble match for the reasons described at #8 on this countdown, HBK and Taker started off as the #1 and #2 entrants. For 30-minutes, they carried the match, providing an excellent first half to the Rumble so that Cena's shocking return 20-minutes later could put the 2008 edition into the elite class of Royal Rumbles. Once again, Taker and HBK previewed their iconic Mania matches, providing a formula for how to build anticipation for an outstanding clash of titans through the Rumble match. It is a formula that should be considered for further use in the future.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.