Review for THE UNDERTAKER: THE STREAK

What do Jimmy Snuka, Jake the Snake Roberts, Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, Diesel, Sycho Sid, Kane, Big Bossman, Triple H, Ric Flair, Big Show and A-Train, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels and CM Punk all have in common? They all fell to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania to make up one of the most impressive streaks in the history of wrestling. This all ended at Wrestlemania 30 to The Beast Brock Lesnar.

First up 21-1? Did we forget Bray Wyatt then or was this created before? If so why the delay for release? The other issue I have with this set is that it is just the matches. No commentaries, no thoughts before or after, nothing. This is simply just match, match, match. For the most part there is no context, no story, nothing. If you wanted to know why a particular match is happening... nope nothing... they just exist. My final nitpick issue is that because of the nature of the set, we know the outcome of every match, so even if you haven't witnessed some of them, you know the outcome, but then if you didn't know then you wouldn't understand what a 'winning streak' is.

Each match is included in full and only a few are unwatchable, but the majority are usually Match of the Year candidates winning three PWI Match of the Year for his matches at Wrestlemania 25, 26 and 28.

Jimmy Snuka match was pretty good for a Mania debut, but there's nothing memorable about the match at all. Jake the Snake Roberts gets a better match out of Taker and it does have a bit more back and forth from both. The match against Giant Gonzales is generally in most people's Top Ten worst matches of all time and for a reason. Gonzales simply could not wrestle and even someone as great as The Undertaker could not get a decent or even watchable match out of him.

King Kong Bundy was an odd choice, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. You could tell that Taker was still recovering from the injuries that took him out of Wrestlemania X, but still a great performers. This is the first time it was ever referenced that he had never lost at the event and the sight of Taker slamming someone the size of Bundy is still impressive. Hi match against Diesel is also pretty good with both big guys showing some amazing offence for people of their size. When you consider this was one of his last matches before jumping to WCW, you can see that he respected Taker enough to put him over and both make each other look strong.

At Wrestlemania 13 it was Undertaker's first main event for the world title and the whole 'presentation' is fabulous. His entrance and celebration is just iconic. It's just a shame the match in between was a bit of a mess. It's unwatchable, but compared to the amazing Stone Cold vs. Bret Hart I Quit match earlier in the event, this just could not live up to that match.

At Wrestlemania 14, Undertaker faced Kane in one of the best feuds of that year. The highlight reel before the match was fantastic at showing why the match was taking place (which makes a change), the match itself was fine. For their first encounter you wouldn't know what to expect and for two men of this size it was great and the entrance was one of Taker's best.

Sadly, I can't say the same about his match against Big Bossman at 15 in possibly one of the worst uses of the Hell in a Cell ever. What is a shame is that this match had a fantastic story going into it and they really should have included the highlight reel for why this match was taking place. It is not surprising that they didn't include the ending where The Brood came down to hang Bossman from the Cell, though that really is the only thing that anyone actually remembers the match for.

After missing Wrestlemania 16, he came back with an amazing match against Triple H at 17. This was one of his best performances at Mania and certainly one I am happy to relive. As is his great match against Ric Flair at 18. Both of these two matches come from Taker's American Badass days and it so weird seeing him without all the eerie make-up and costume, but maybe that is what makes the character so enduring.

At Wrestlemania 19 we have to suffer a badly presented Limp Bizkit song, followed by an almost pointless, by the numbers match against Big Show and A-Train. This is followed by his fantastic rematch against Kane at 20. This was a return to the Deadman gimmick, but the match just needed a bit more time as everything just felt rushed, but it was still entertaining.

When he faced Randy Orton at 21, I remember thinking that this would be the perfect time for the streak to end. The feud was right and this would have been the best time for Taker to give back to the business and put over a newcomer. That didn't happen, but this match was really enjoyable and had me guessing a few times about what the outcome could/would or should be. Same can't be said for the dud against Mark Henry at 22. This was an awful casket match that literally had no point and was not enjoyable from any point of view.

However, at 23 he went on to again main event against Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. This was a pretty good match and considering it included Batista that's saying something. I enjoyed the high impact nature of this match and it was a match that really showed that Undertaker could still go full throttle. This could also be said for his match against Edge at 24, again for the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. This match really had an edge (pun intended) due to Edge also being undefeated at Mania. Many saw this as maybe Taker passing on the torch of the streak to him. That being said, this is another fantastic match and one that I really enjoyed rewatching.

I can probably club the next four matches together with Taker going against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 and 26 and then going against Triple H at 27 and 28. Of the four it would be really difficult to say which ones I enjoyed more. I would say both matches are classics with 26 just winning because of the career vs. streak aspect. It seemed impossible that Shawn Michaels would retire and he would be one of the few people that fans would not mind ending the streak simply for being so good. Of the two Triple H matches I'd say the 28 one pips it just for the ending, though I still think that his match against him at 17 was better than these two.

Next we have his amazing match against CM Punk. A match so amazing that few people even know what the main event at Wrestlemania 29 was? Anyone? It could be argued the whole mocking of the recently deceased Paul Bearer was tasteless, but it was apparently done with the blessing of his family. The match itself was fantastic and you could expect nothing less from these two and they delivered.

Finally we have the end. His loss at Wrestlemania 30 to Brock Lesnar. Now, my only issue with this is that Lesnar at the time was a part timer who wrestled basically when he felt like. He wrestled something like four times the previous year, though no doubt made more money than half the roster combined. Lesnar did not need the boost that beating the streak would bring, in fact to some extent he didn't deserve it. If CM Punk the year earlier had won I would have had no issue with that, but you can see when the ref counts three that there is a collected gasp from the crowd. This was not the gasp of shock and surprise, but the gasp of horror. This is not what the fans wanted to see. We wanted Taker to retire with the streak intact... but now that can not be. The match itself? It's ok. Nothing special and in fact maybe that is the other issue. It is nothing special. I watched the match with Punk mesmerised by every twist and turn... the match? It just happened. This is not the mark of a great victory, but of a poorly thought out move that WWE have spent the last two years trying to put right, but sadly that can't be done.

This DVD set is so close to being fabulous that with just one or two tweaks it could have been just that. If there had been some thoughts on the matches by Taker, his opponents or anyone it would have made you realise just how special the streak was. Many of these matches have no video package to show context. Why was Taker facing off against Sycho Sid or Big Show and A-Train or Jake Roberts? What did these matches mean? I can understand if the problem was space and they wanted to include everything, but surely someone must have sat and watched the Giant Gonzales match and seen that it is almost unwatchable or that the match against Bossman wasn't worth remembering. Maybe they should have done a 'Best of the Streak' and at least then that would explain why his match against Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 31 wasn't included. If you are a fan of The Undertaker, you will enjoy the trip through twenty five years of his career and if only WWE had trusted the fans and listened to us we could still be talking about what the Streak is, rather than what it was.