Tiffany’s look at The Streak of The Undertaker continues with back to back showdowns with “The Game” Triple H!

2011 and 2012 were years of transition for the Undertaker and his streak. After defeating the valiant Shawn Michaels not once, but twice, and ending the Heartbreak Kid’s legendary career, it looked like no one would be the one to end the Streak, then Triple H stepped up. It had been ten years since the brash King of Kings had challenged the Undertaker’s Streak, but watching his best friend lose his career gave the Game even more motivation to end the Streak and avenge Michaels.

In 2012, Taker’s determination to rectify a less than satisfactory end to the 2011 encounter would result in one of the most brutal Hell in a Cell matches in WWE history.

These years would also see Taker stepping away from being a full-time performer in WWE and coming back for special occasions, making the Streak even more important in the eyes of the fans.

WrestleMania 27 – A Friend’s Revenge
The Undertaker vs. Triple H

The start of this feud was amazing. Taker had been taking time off and returned to RAW to a hero’s welcome, but before he could start his promo, he was interrupted by Triple H, who was also returning after taking some time off. The two long-time rivals faced each and, without saying ONE WORD, both looked to the WrestleMania sign. The match was on.

Triple H’s motivation for challenging Taker for a second time became clear pretty quickly: Not only did he want to end the Streak, he wanted to avenge the loss that cost his best friend his career.

Triple H entered first, but the entrance was a little bit of a fake out since the lights went out, which usually signals the Undertaker. Trips came out in his Skull King gimmick, complete with soldiers to guard him. The whole effect was really cool, TBH.

Jim Ross and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler are doing commentary and I’d forgotten that King had lost his first, and only, WrestleMania match to Michael Cole in the previous segment because of the Anonymous RAW General Manager and was upset and disappointed. As Triple H is coming out, Ross was trying to cheer Lawler up by pointing out that they were going to be doing commentary together again in a match both of them were excited about. It has nothing to do with Triple H vs Undertaker, but it was a nice moment between two old friends.

Back to business, the Deadman Cometh. Not to EVER be outdone on an entrance by a mere mortal, Taker’s entrance wasn’t flashy or full of gladiators, he walked out from under the stage like he was walking out of hell, the effect was every bit as awe-inspiring as Triple H’s.

It had been ten years since the Undertaker and Triple H had faced each other at WrestleMania and almost nine years since they’d had a significant feud with each other. However, both men fought like no time had passed.

This match was No Holds Barred, which was a smart decision because this match was every bit as physical as the one in 2001 and quickly went out of the ring. One good thing about the brawl outside of the ring was that it destroyed the Cole Mine, Michael Cole’s ringside bunker.

There was a table spot where Trips was back body dropped and landing a little wonky, looking like he’d hurt his wrist. Undertaker rolls back into the ring on instinct, the crowd is chanting something that sounds like ‘Yankees suck’ (never know, this was in Atlanta) and one annoying guy keeps shouting ‘Leg drop DDT’, which I think is physically impossible.

Taker goes for his Deadman Dive and it LOOKED like he came up a little short and Trips BARELY caught him and the landing was bowling shoe ugly. Taker got to his feet first, but it was a scary moment. Things got uglier when Taker tried to go for his own table spot that ended with him being hit with a Double A Spinebuster THROUGH the table.

It looked like it was all over when Taker hit a chokeslam out of nowhere on Triple H, but Trips BARELY kicked out. It was at this point that the dueling chants began with the fans being pretty evenly divided between Taker and Triple H.

It took an amazingly long time for the weapons to come out, but a steel chair was brought in by Triple H, who quickly regretted it when Taker NAILED him with the chair, but Trips got his own back by hitting a Pedigree on Taker, but Taker would not stay down.

Triple H got Taker into the corner but Taker countered it into a Last Ride, but Triple H kicked out of the pin attempt. Now really pissed off, Taker let everyone know he was shutting it down, putting Triple H in a tombstone, but the Game kicked out. Now even angrier than before, Undertaker seemed to have decided to tombstone the Game onto the chair, but Trips got loose and hit a DDT on the chair instead.

At this point, both men are visibly exhausted and the moves stop being as crisp as anyone would expect, as shown by a very sloppy Pedigree on Taker.

After ANOTHER kickout, the Game’s mood got UGLY and he wore the steel chair out on Taker’s poor back until it looked like the Deadman was unconscious, but the Deadman tried to get up, which just made the Game angrier, especially after a chair shot right between the eyes still failed to keep Taker down.

It honestly looked like it was all over, but as many men have found out, putting Taker against the wall and mocking him are the two worst decisions you could ever make and Triple H learned that the hard way after hitting Taker with the Tombstone  and mocking Taker’s signature pin. When Triple H took his eye off the ball to grab his sledgehammer, Taker caught him with Hell’s Gate, perfectly legal in a No Holds Barred Match. Triple H tried to get away, but he had to tap out. 19-0.

However, this was a hollow victory for Undertaker as the horrific beating he’d suffered at the hands of Triple H left him legitimately unable to leave the ring and he had to be stretchered out.

Rating: 8/10 It was a great match, nearly comparable to the first Taker vs HBK match.

Highlight: Jim Ross cheering up Lawler. Triple H scrambling away after Taker kicked out of the Tombstone.

WrestleMania 28 – The End of an Era
The Undertaker vs. Triple H – Hell In A Cell

As the WWE came upon the Road to WrestleMania in 2012, Undertaker was out for redemption. He may have won his second bout with Triple H and maintained the Streak, but he’d been unable to leave the ringside area under his own power. Taker demanded another shot at Triple H, who initially refused, but the idea of being the one to end the Streak got the better of him and he agreed to another match…in Hell in a Cell with Shawn Michaels as Special Guest Referee.

Jim Ross came out to call the match, this would be JR’s last WrestleMania for a few years as he would leave WWE later in the year.

HBK, as special guest ref, comes out next. Mr. WrestleMania was as energetic as he always is, teasing the cameraman as he approached the ring. We get the signature HBK pose in the ring, but the question of whether or not Michaels can be an impartial referee was definitely being discussed.

Triple H comes out of an apparatus that looks like something out of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (seriously, it looked like Castle Greyskull). I’ve always wondered what goes through the mind of the performers when they’re getting ready for Hell in a Cell in general, never mind doing it at WrestleMania.

The Deadman Cometh. Undertaker came out of the back in the warlock meets Shredder gear he would sport many times over the next few years. I’m not sure how he could find his way to the ring with the hood over his face but I guess a man that’s been doing this for almost 30 years just knows his way around.  Taker got in the ring and removed the hood to reveal that he’d shaved his head. This would be the shorn hairstyle he would sport until around 2015 when he started growing it out again.

Taker and Triple H stared each other down as the fourth, and nastiest, component of this match made its entrance.

To be quite honest, this match is one of those that is too good to try and summarize. When you have three of the greatests to ever lace up the boots in one of the most barbaric structures in wrestling history with an amazing story on top of it, your best bet is to just sit and watch.

Taker came out swinging. The odds were DEFINITELY not on the Deadman’s side give Triple H’s Hell in a Cell record and a questionable referee, who had a past of screwing Taker in big matches, Taker knew he’d have to end it quickly and not let up.

Triple H would finally start getting into this one-sided ass-kicking, but Taker would maintain his dominance by using everything at his disposal to beat the hell out of the Game. It would take a spinebuster on the steel steps for Trips to get a chance to breath, but Taker would try and end it with Hell’s Gate, but Triple H managed to counter.

Now the Game was in control and he was in a bad mood after getting the schnikes kicked out of him for the last five minutes or so. He wore out a steel chair on Taker’s back, gut, and anything else he could hit with it. However, Taker refused to stay down.

About halfway through this war, HBK looked like he was really struggling as he tried to be impartial in the worst match to try and be impartial in. He and Hunter even argued about it during the match since Hunter seemed to think HBK should be helping him end this thing.

Taker, maybe deciding to get a REALLY impartial ref, tried to take Michaels out with Hell’s Gate, which meant the gloves were off. When Triple H tried to use his sledgehammer on Taker’s head, Taker hit him with a low blow and locked in Hell’s Gate, which couldn’t be counted because HBK was out.  Charles Robinson sprinted down to the ring to fill in, though his sprint this time wasn’t nearly as funny as the one in 2009.

Frustrated, Taker took out Robinson for the hell of it, even though Robinson apologized that he couldn’t give Taker the three count. As Taker turned around, he got hit with Sweet Chin Music by an irate HBK, who had given up any pretense of being impartial, which seemed to cause him a lot of distress.

Now things got REALLY ugly as Triple H gave up on just ending the Streak and focused on ending Taker’s career one way or another, which ended up being a bad move as Taker sat up and beat the holy hell out of Triple H. By this point, it was a battle of the haymakers but Triple H would hit the Pedigree, but Taker would still kick out.

Taker finally got his own revenge, nailing Triple H with the steel chair just like Triple H had done to him, but Triple H refused to stay down. HBK looked like he was about to cry as he tried to get both men to knock it off and just end the match.

Triple H gamely, no pun intended, tried to get to his feet with his trusty sledgehammer, but Taker blocked it before nailing Triple H with the sledehammer and throwing it out of the ring. Triple H, realizing that he was no closer to beating Taker than he had been that morning said the f**k with it and and hit the DX chop before getting hit with a Tombstone and it was over. 20-0.

After the match, HBK tried to help Triple H out of the ring and got some help from Taker, who helped two of his longest, and fiercest rivals, up the ramp and the three of them looked around at the crowd. It was the end of one of the greatest eras in the history of the business and it ended with three of the greatests of all time.

Rating: 10/10

Highlight: Watch the match!