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The Undertaker is one of the, if not the greatest of all time. The Phenom, The Deadman, The Undertaker has been 'digging holes and taking souls for over 28 years now.
The Undertaker will be best remembered for his Deadman persona, but for over 3 years, also performed as the American Badass. As the motorbike riding American Badass, Taker was still doing a great job in entertaining the fans. The popular opinion has always been that the American Badass was The Undertaker at his worst in his career, but I think that is far from the truth.
While The Undertaker has wrestled the majority of his best matches as The Deadman, he has also had his fair share of solid encounters during his Badass days.
Here are the top 10 best matches that The Undertaker had as the American Badass.
#10 The Undertaker vs. John Cena - Vengeance 2003
The Undertaker had a bit of a task on his hands here.
Today, and for the past several years, I have no problem in saying that John Cena is one of the greatest performers of all time.
However, this hasn't always been the case as it did take John quite a few years to get into the groove of things. John Cena's first year in WWE was pretty shaky. His debut match with Kurt Angle was solid, but that would be pretty much the only entertaining match he had for an entire year.
Cena's next good match wouldn't come until Vengeance 2003, with The Undertaker. The promo's between the two was pretty much the only thing keeping fans interested at the time.
No one had much hope that the match itself would be very good as Taker and Cena had a match on Smackdown a few months earlier that had been pretty dull. Everyone was pleasantly surprised.
It was by far a match of the year candidate, but considering John's experience level here, Taker did a very good job in helping to carry the Dr. of Thuganomics to a decent offering.
The Undertaker controlled the start of the match, but Cena took advantage by drinking water and spraying it in the Undertaker's face, as seen above. Cena reversed several big moves, got in some good offence and caused Taker to bleed from the mouth.
Taker would regain control, and shortly after kicking out of the then 'FU' (Attitude Adjustment), Taker hit the Last Ride for the win.
#9 The Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Judgement Day 2001
The outcome of this match was pretty obvious at the time, but it was still pretty fun.
This had been Steve Austin's first feud since he turned heel at WrestleMania X-7, so the likelihood of he retaining the WWE Championship over Taker was always evident during the two-month-long feud.
This No Holds Barred match would be the last of their feud, and was a fine way to end it. The two brawled all over, broke tables, a lot of use from a steel chair, several Chokeslams, Stunners and a Last Ride. Austin pinned Taker following interference from triple H and his sledgehammer.
#8 The Undertaker vs. Rob Van Dam - Vengeance 2001
What was good about this match was that it was the first highly entertaining one-on-one match that The Undertaker had in some time.
While he did have a few fair matches with Booker T during their short feud, Taker had seemingly gotten considerable lazy during the Alliance angle, and didn't seem to be putting any effort into his matches, he even famously squashed Diamond Dallas Page in all of their matches in their near three-month feud. The Undertaker certainly wasn't the worst wrestler of 2001, but he might have been one of the lazier.
This WWE Hardcore Championship match with Rob Van Dam finally turned things around. It was a fun weapon filled brawl, that went all over the place. RVD looked like a star here, the then ring greedy Big Evil finally allowed a WWE 'newbie' to put up a fight. The Undertaker chokeslammed RVD off the stage through a set of tables for the win.
#7 The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair - WrestleMania X8
Fans were very interested in how this match was going to turn out.
As mentioned earlier, The Undertaker didn't have a very good year in 2001, with only very few good performances. By the time this match happened, Taker was only starting to get back into the swing of things thanks to some rewarding matches with Rob Van Dam and The Rock.
While Ric Flair had only wrestled one match since returning to WWE the previous November, a Street Fight with Vince McMahon. Flair himself has said he didn't think the match with Vince was very good and thus, had concerns about how his performance would be in this match with The Undertaker. It turned out, it was pretty good.
A No Disqualification match, this a pretty exciting match that I still think today is one of the most overlooked matches in WrestleMania history.
The match started with a brawl outside the ring with Flair's back getting smashed into the ring post (dangerous considering Flair's back history), Flair locking in the Figure Four only to be revered into a Chokeslam, lair's longtime friend and partner Arn Anderson then interfered and his Taker with a Double A Spinebuster, almost aiding Flair in ending the streak. Taker pinned Flair with a Tombstone for the three.
#6 The Undertaker vs. Triple H - WrestleMania X-7
The Undertaker and Triple H have now fought one-on-one at three WrestleMania's, with this one being the first, and the one that garners the least praise.
All three matches were thrilling, with the Hell in A Cell at WrestleMania 28 being the best, but I still find this one to not just be underrated, but better than the Street Fight between them at WrestleMania 27.
This is also a pretty historic match, as it is the first WrestleMania match of The Undertaker's legendary WrestleMania streak to actually be a highly entertaining match.
Up until this, the majority of his streak matches were, in The Undertaker's own words, 'some stinkers'. This was the one to turn everything around.
The match started with the two fighting outside of the ring with Triple H quickly being put through the Spanish announcer's table.
The two brawled outside the ring, through the crowd, and into the technical area, the two fought to the top of the scaffolding, Triple H used a steel chair to attack Undertaker's legs, but Undertaker retaliated with a Chokeslam off the scaffolding, followed by a diving elbow drop.
A failed Tombstone and Pedigree later, Taker pinned Triple H after the Last Ride for the win.
#5 Armageddon Hell in A Cell - Armageddon 2000
This was a pretty interesting match. The Hell in A Cell match was three years old by this point and WWE wanted to try something new and unique with it.
Reigning WWE Champion Kurt Angle defends his title against The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Rikishi, and of course, The Undertaker.
The first half of the match didn't have the most entertaining cell moments in history, but it wasn't boring either. A lot of back and forth exchanges and several near fall attempts. Vince McMahon provides some entertainment outside the cell as he enters with a pick-up truck, attempting to deconstruct the cage.
In the most memorable moment, The Undertaker Chokeslams Rikishi off the cell, onto the truck. A lot more action in the Cell provided by the rest until Kurt Angle takes the win.
#4 The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle - Smackdown, September 4th 2003
Taking place on the September fourth episode of Smackdown in 2003, The Undertaker challenged Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship.
This was the best match Smackdown had by this point in 2003 and one of the best matches of the entire year. The Undertaker himself later went onto calling it one of his all-time favourite matches and called Kurt one of the greatest wrestlers he had ever been in the ring with.
The match saw several finishing moves, reversals, fast-paced action, both men pull out everything they have to try and beat each other. The last five minutes or so are epic, with Angle desperately trying to make The Undertaker tap out to the Ankle Lock, and The Undertaker trying his best to survive, and take Angle down. The final moment saw Taker setting up Kurt for another Last Ride before Brock Lesnar ruins the ending by attacking both men.
This was easily the best match The Undertaker had in 2003 and the last best match of his American Badass persona.
#3 The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Rock - Vengeance 2002
Now this was a war!
After a mostly dismal 2001, The Undertaker was on top of his game in 2002, and this was one of his shining moments. The Rock was also at the peak of his career, while Kurt Angle was just always this damn good.
The audience was red hot for this, and rightly so. Some crazy cool moments including The Rock hitting The Undertaker with a Chokeslam, Rock uses Angle`s Anklelock until Angle reverses it until Angle hits a Rock Bottom.
Everyone is hitting their own finishers left and right with each man kicking out at every pinfall attempt. Rock pins Angle after a Rock Bottom for the three count and Taker's WWE Championship.
#2 The Undertaker vs. Jeff Hardy - RAW July 1st, 2002
The Undertaker in a ladder match. the mere idea of it sounded strange but boy did it blow everyone's expectations.
Going into this one, no one believed Jeff Hardy stood a chance, especially with the match only being made on short notice and having no build up.
Amazingly, there were so many moments during the match where you actually believed Jeff really did stand a chance.
There were so many death-defying spots and Jeff really shined as what may happen if he were to go solo.
The Undertaker played his part very well and helped make Jeff look like a future megastar. Taker would Chokeslam Jeff off the ladder before taking the WWE Championship down.
We then got a truly awesome moment where Jeff took to the mic to proclaim that he was still standing. Taker hit the ring prepared to further beat him down, before raising his arm in respect.
#1 The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar - No Mercy 2002
The Undertaker losing his legendary WrestleMania streak to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 in 2014 might be what everyone will always remember from the matches and feud of these two, but this Hell in A Cell bloodbath will always be their finest encounter.
Where before Taker took Shawn Michaels, Mankind and Rikishi outside of the Cell for moments that made those matches truly epic, Taker and Brock stayed inside for all near 30 minutes of this often underrated stunner.
The match was just pure violence. Both men were covered in blood long before the match ended, in fact, there was so much blood that even Paul Heyman, who was outside the Cell, bled like a stuffed pig. We have a lot of use from a steel chair, several power moves, and some near fall from the Chokeslam and Last Ride.
Much like Wrestlemania 30, Brock reverses an attempted Tombstone into an F-5 for the win. Brock and Taker would go at it again n another Hell in A Cell match 13 years later in 2015, but as great as that was, it still doesn't hold a candle to this gem.
Which is your favourite match of the Undertaker as the American Badass? Sound off in the comments section below!
