| Date: 03/28 | 12:30 PM |
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From now until WrestleMania XXIV we will count down to "The Grandest Stage of Them All" with a series of editorials taking a look at the show in Orlando. This week long series culminates on Saturday, March 29th - the last day before 24th annual WrestleMania takes places. In our sixth entry we take a look at the match pitting Undertaker's winning streak against Edge's World Heavyweight Championship.
One man is called The Phenom. One man is called the Rated R Superstar. Both men are undefeated at WrestleMania. Two worlds will collide at WrestleMania on Sunday night - only one will remain unshattered. The Undertaker and Edge have a lot more at stake than their winning streak, and in Edge's case the streak is a technicality anyway since "not losing" isn't the same as winning. Nevertheless Edge surely doesn't want to lose at WrestleMania because he will also be losing the World Heavyweight Title, and long title reigns have not often been in the cards for Mr. Copeland. At over 100 days and counting he's already surpassed his last run with the belt (just over two months) and even more amazing is that it's longer than his two runs with the WWE Championship COMBINED. Some of that has to due with injury and some of that has to do with the guys he had to face (notably John Cena) but however you look at it Edge has been more successful of late on Smackdown than at any time in his whole career. In fact it would be fair to say as champion he's been the top heel for that brand, in every way equivalent to Randy Orton.
The Undertaker has had some short title reigns himself, most notably one that only last six days before he lost the belt back to Hulk Hogan. Nevertheless if the two men have anything in common it's that their popularity has grown over the years with or without championship gold around their waist, albiet in different ways. Edge is a guy you love to hate, whereas Undertaker is one of the few big men in wrestling you can't not love. A lot of guys Undertaker's size lumber around, doing power moves, expecting their opponent to bump a ton to make them look good. Undertaker on the other hand takes his wrestling acumen seriously and has only gotten better as the years have gone by, even training in mixed martial arts to add a different dimension to his repoitoire. I've seen so many classics with him over the years I can't even begin to count them all, but I can say it's a mistake when anybody assumes he had a great match with Shawn Michaels or Kurt Angle solely because of his opponent. It takes two to tango and Undertaker is among the best dance partners in WWE today. Unless he's trying to carry an overgrown oaf like Great Khali or Viscera to a passable match, nearly every Undertaker match on PPV stands out as a highlight of the card.
Last year 'Taker seemed poised for a long run with the belt after his WrestleMania win, but injury curtailed any possibility of that taking place. For some observers this may appear to be a "redo" and that Undertaker is simply getting what he deserved last year. He certainly is deserving after his years of service to the company, but that alone isn't a reason to get a belt let alone have a match. Thankfully WWE writers have worked hard to make Edge hateable, having him screw every opponent at every opportunity, even getting the GM Vickie Guerrero in his pocket so he can book any stipulations he wants for a match. Sooner or later though Edge's luck was bound to run out, because you just can't duck a guy who is 7 feet tall and 300+ pounds forever. Last year Undertaker and Batista had the match that for my money being there stole the show. This year he'd be hard-pressed to top the emotional feeling that's going to come from Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels wrestling each other, but Edge has been solid his entire career and like 'Taker has only gotten better over time. He's a strong champion, a soid tecnician, one HELL of a heel, and the dynamic between the two of them is explosive even if they were both midcarders and no belt was involved. Edge may be likely to lose, but he's not going down without a fight. Undertaker may be likely to win, but he's not going to phone it in when he's got a quality opponent to wrestle and the biggest stage of all to do it on. Expectations are high for this match and they should be - it's likely to be a classic for BOTH MEN no matter whose run comes to an end.