I cannot believe the kind of build-up that the WWE are coming up with for Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels for Wrestlemania 25. This is unbelievably, by far the best build-up and the best set of ‘promos’ that I have seen from the WWE superstars in a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG time. Even the Stone Cold/ Rock promos were not as interesting and exciting as these promos. Surely, the WWE Creative department is not creative enough to write these promos. I am sure that Taker and Shawn are themselves coming up with the material for their promos, because Taker used to do a lot of script-writing during the days of the ministry of darkness as well.

Normally, we are used to seeing Undertaker coming out and saying “'Wrestler Name', Rest In Peace” and the crowd chants the same words with him in support, for any of his Wrestlemania opponents. But this time, its like the other way round. Here are some of the confrontations which Undertaker and Shawn Michaels have had so far (in the past and then currently in this story-line):

1997 First Hell in a Cell: To start with, Undertaker always had unfinished business with Shawn Michaels. Their first Hell in a Cell was a classic, and it is one of the only 4 matches in professional-wrestling history which received a 5-star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s editor Dave Meltzer. First of all, the rivalry itself had got so intense (because Shawn hit Taker with a chair, costing him the title and allowing Bret Hart to pin him after Taker had killed Bret Hart), that Undertaker innovated and introduced the Hell in a Cell concept for the first time because a steel cage match was not enough to settle this rivalry (as a steel cage is open from the top, but Undertaker wanted no openings in the cell so that Shawn cannot escape). Though Undertaker had the match won after literally killing Shawn Michaels (and giving us a view of what he will do to Mankind in the next Hell in a Cell, when he slammed Shawn on the roof of the cell and later threw Shawn from the cell’s wall to the announce-desk), Kane interfered and beat Undertaker down with his own tombstone piledriver. Although you could make out that the tombstone from Kane was not as beautifully executed as the dead-man executes it himself (which means Kane recently learnt it from the dead-man himself, at back-stage), the story-telling was impeccable. Being the first Hell in a Cell, it showed what the possibilities in a HIAC match are. The beating which Undertaker gave to Shawn was so classic that to this day, Undertaker himself calls it his favourite match despite the final result. And such words coming from Undertaker himself mean something – given the fact that he is the only wrestler who has survived through all eras of the WWE and stood in the ring with every kind of superstar with every kind of size or skill. The story-telling in the match was so amazing that just when Taker choke-slammed Michaels and slashed his trade-mark “cut-throat” sign (signifying that the end is near for Shawn and the tombstone is coming), the lights went out, Kane’s music hit and he entered the ring. Since Taker had said that he will not fight his own flesh and blood, he did not raise hands over Kane, and Kane ensured that the end is near for the dead-man himself. So effectively, when the dead-man signaled the cut-throat sign, he was actually signifying it for himself and not for Shawn. I have not seen such impeccable story-telling in any other match. Kane’s introduction was the most innovative character-creation that the WWE ever came up with, after the creation of the Undertaker character himself.

So, in their first match itself, Taker and Shawn did such great story-telling and put forth such a splendid physical performance. It proved why they are the best in the business.

1998 Casket Match: Their second match was a casket match where the result was the same. Kane interfered and helped Shawn defeat Undertaker. Though, Shawn was injured so bad that Shawn ended up sitting at home for 4 to 5 years due to injury. During this time, he was made as the WWF Commissioner to still keep him on screen and involved in story-lines, though he was not competing in the ring. The Undertaker-Shawn Michaels rivalry was left unfinished as Kane started interfering in all of the matches, starting a new legendary rivalry with Undertaker. Undertaker had devastated all competition put in front of him until then and had established himself as the most dominant and feared superstar in pro-wrestling history. So they had to create Kane as a brother of the Undertaker himself to position somebody who had a chance of equaling him. The feud was very memorable and bitter, leading to Paul Bearer taking Kane’s side and being introduced as Kane’s father (so Kane was only a half-brother to Taker, having the same mother) and the story-telling/ innovation done in this feud was the best that the WWE have ever done. It led to countless matches including 2 matches at Wrestlemania, casket matches, invention of the inferno matches (in one of the most iconic and memorable moments, Taker did the suicide-dive launching his 6’10/ 300+ pound body flying over the top rope when the ring was surrounded by flames), and also helped Kane emerge as a dominant legend who went on to defeat Stone Cold to become champion, and who single-handedly kicked a** of DX, NWO (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash/ Diesel, Scott Hall/ Razor Ramon), Rock, etc.

2007 Royal Rumble: The Rumble was hosted in Shawn Michael’s home-town of San Antonio. So obviously, he had to be kept as one of the last survivors in the Rumble. Since Undertaker was scheduled to win it, both of them were the last 2 men standing in the ring. This was the first time in a decade that the 2 veterans were one-on-one. Undertaker removed the shoulders of his vest/ tank-top and challenged Michaels to come forward, as both men put together a splendid last-battle for the Rumble match, one which is regarded to be the best Rumble-match endings ever. The local San Antonio crowd cheered for their home-town boy Michaels in a rare occasion (because usually Undertaker always takes away the lion’s share of the cheers), however this time there was no Kane to help Michaels out and he ended up getting eliminated by Undertaker. After the match, Undertaker raised his hand towards Michaels to show his respect and acknowledge the good performance that he put through, whereas Michaels sat on the floor outside the ring, looking at the Undertaker and showing his respect to him through expression. Finally the show ended with the lights going out, the church-gong/ bell tolling music and the Undertaker kneeling down doing his signature motion in the ring to head on to a title-match at Wrestlemania, a stage where he has never lost. It is the greatest record in the history of the WWE, mentioned at www.wwe.com/inside/news/w... because no other superstar has even made 16 Wrestlemania appearances, let alone win all of them to make it a 16-0 undefeated streak.

Raw: Undertaker was supposed to choose his Wrestlemania opponent (any champion against whom he will fight for the title at Wrestlemania) but then Shawn came out and said to him that both of them were above titles and they thrived on competition, and on knowing who the better man is. So he wanted a singles’ match with Undertaker, to which Vince came and said no. Instead he made a tag-team match with John Cena and Shawn Michaels against the incomparably strong a**-kicking tag-team of Undertaker and Batista. But we did get some hints that though Vince said, “Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels is not happening, at least in the near future”, that it might happen sometime in the far future. In fact, while cutting that promo, Shawn had actually stated his real-life wish which was to do a good match with Undertaker at the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania.

2008 Royal Rumble: This time, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels started the Rumble because they were the ones who ended it last year. None of them were booked to win it, so it was only fitting that they should start it so that they get some time to perform in a singles’-like competition, before other superstars come pouring in. By the time the next superstar was supposed to come in, Undertaker had gained the upper hand. They kept on pouring and the Rumble match went underway. Both, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels lasted for more than 30 minutes in the ring, however this time Shawn Michaels was hungry for revenge from the last year’s Rumble. Michaels is known to capitalize on the moment, so while the Undertaker was busy eliminating some other opponent, he attacked Taker from behind with his sweet chin music and eliminated him. The dead-man was damn angry and the consequences of that had to be borne by Snitsky who had just been eliminated at ring-side, and Undertaker choke-slammed him on the announce-table, sending a message to Michaels.

2009 Royal Rumble: Michaels was not in the Rumble match this time as he was an employer of JBL, who was paying him for his services and had ordered him to help him in his title match against John “I’m the biggest jack-a** who can’t wrestle” Cena. However, Michaels wanted to get out of JBL’s corner and this resulted in a memorable back-stage moment where Undertaker came into JBL’s locker-room and gave advice to Michaels with the following words, “Sometimes its Hell trying to get to Heaven”. Some veteran fans in the crowd understood that these lines spoken at this Rumble are actually culminating the 12-year old rivalry whose sparks were renewed in the last 2 Rumbles, and it probably means some confrontation between the two, going forward.

Raw after No Way Out 2009: Michaels did not successfully help JBL win his title match against Cena which made JBL angry, so JBL challenged Michaels for a match at No Way Out with the stipulation that if JBL loses, he will release Michaels from his contract and pay him all the money he owes him but if Michaels wins, then he has to serve JBL for the rest of his life. It was obvious that Michaels will win this. Then JBL appeared on next week’s Raw, claiming that his destiny is actually to end the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. This saw Shawn Michaels appear, and make the statement that he himself is Mr Wrestlemania because he has been in memorable Wrestlemania matches (ladder match against Razor Ramon, 1-hour Iron man match against Bret Hart, Ric Flair’s retirement match) and so he should be the one who deserves to face the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. JBL refused, and so they set up a match next Raw to decide who should face Taker, where obviously Michaels won. Shawn also stated that when the Undertaker said to him that its hell trying to get to heaven, he was right – because now Michaels could see himself out of hell (JBL’s employment) and getting to heaven (the bright lights of Wrestlemania).

Smackdown: Vladimir Kozlov claimed on Smackdown that he is undefeated in singles’ competition, so he should be the one who faces Undertaker in a Streak vs streak match at Mania. He challenged the winner of the Shawn-JBL match at the next Raw.

Raw: Michaels became the first man to end Kozlov’s undefeated streak in singles’ competition (even though Undertaker had originally pinned Kozlov at the 6-man elimination chamber at No Way Out, which was the first time that Kozlov was ever pinned but it was not a singles’ match). So now, Shawn’s chances of ending a streak really looked good and this is what led to the beginning of the story-line build-up for Taker vs Michaels at Mania.

Smackdown: Undertaker made his classy entrance to the ring and cut a verbal promo with the crowd by his side. Usually, his verbal promos are very much in-character because he doesn’t do them very often, and he always winds them up with a “ Rest In Peace”. This time, however, when he cut the promo in the ring, Shawn Michaels played a video on the titantron showing his achievements at Wrestlemania and the memorable moments of his matches, e.g., the ladder match and the iron-man match. Some cheers for HBK could be heard. This was the beginning of an increasingly good set of promos which both these superstars were going to cut. Taker also said to Shawn, “You’ve chosen the wrong person to play mind games with”.

Raw: Shawn Michaels cut a promo, saying that he sent the Undertaker a message on Smackdown by showing him a video package of his achievements at Mania. He said that, “I respect the Undertaker but I am not afraid of the Undertaker. Good things must come to an end (Undertaker’s undefeated streak), and absolutely nothing lasts forever”. At this time, the lights went out, we heard the infamous gong, and a video started playing on the titantron which showed high-lights of the Undertaker’s 16-0 undefeated streak at Mania including his title matches against Sid, the animal Batista, the opportunist Edge, matches against giants like the 8 foot tall Giant Gonzales, the 7 foot tall Diesel, his own demonic brother Kane, the 500 pounders King Kong Bundy and Big SLow (handicap match including A-Train), the casket match against Mark Henry, the Hell in a Cell against Big Bossman, matches against legends like Ric Flair and HHH, etc. By the end of the video, the crowd was obviously on Taker’s side as they could see all the personas that he has evolved through (mortician to dead-man to lord of darkness to ministry of darkness to American bad-a** to big evil to the current Hybrid) and how each persona had dominated the WWE, whereas Michaels had always been only the heart-break-kid/ se*y boy. Taker appeared in the ring out of nowhere and cut a great verbal promo himself, where he talked like a regular human being to Shawn, showing expression and emotion, walking up and down the ring and raising his hand/ pointing his finger to prove his point like a normal human being, while still staying in the dead-man attire/ character and the lights were still blue. Taker said to Shawn, “You concern yourself with being the show-stopper. What you should concern yourself with is what I am going to do to you physically. I don’t need to steal the show but when I take center-stage, you will realize like all my earlier opponents did, that I am the most dangerous entity who ever set foot into the ring”. What was also interesting was that Taker said that he respected Michaels, and he used the word “peers” for his opponents (these things don’t go by his super-human character because he is treated like one level above humans, but he came down one level and talked like a human). Shawn said that, “I shouldn’t have to beat other people like JBL and Kozlov to qualify to face you at Wrestlemania. You might be undefeated at Wrestlemania but I am Mr. Wrestlemania”, to which Undertaker said, “You’ve had epic victories at Wrestlemania but you’ve also had bitter defeat”. Taker was going to his signature words when he started saying, “At Wrestlemania 25, You will Rest….”, the crowd already enchanted “In Peace” but before Taker could utter those words, Shawn stopped him and said, “I’ll Rest Very Comfortably, knowing that I did the impossible – I beat the Undertaker at the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania, and stopped his undefeated streak, something which no other man has ever been able to do. You have never beaten me and you never will”. That was hint enough that Michaels will lose the match. Almost everyone says that to the Undertaker before Wrestlemania and I wished Michaels had not made it so predictable by saying the same thing so many times. It should have been something different this time, but well with the rest of the promos, it definitely was. By the end of this promo, you could see that Shawn is getting the upper hand and this promo had already beaten all the Stone Cold/ Rock promos of the past which used to be very verbally gripping.

Smackdown: Undertaker dominated Kozlov in a match to show to Shawn that if he could beat Kozlov, then the dead-man himself could do it with more ease. So much for Kozlov’s undefeated streak on Smackdown, the Phenom connected all his moves including old school top-rope walk, snake eyes followed by big boot, choke-slam and an unbelievable tombstone piledriver on the heavy Kozlov to end the match. Undertaker then rose and pointed towards the Wrestlemania logo, and the lights/ music effect made it look even more classy.

Raw: Taker and Shawn Michaels teamed up in a tag-team match against JBL and Kozlov, where obviously the legends won. Shawn took a beating and then tagged in Taker. Taker cleaned house, beating both the fatsos of the other corner, and when he was just about to choke-slam JBL, Michaels touched Taker’s raised-hand to tag himself in and connected Sweet Chin Music on JBL to win the match. Taker was angry, because he did all the hard work which went towards winning the match, but Shawn showed his cocky behavior of capitalizing on the situation once more. Taker tried to kick Shawn but Shawn escaped, and then Taker followed him through the aisle-way in anger. Shawn quickly ran back-stage in fear of getting beaten up. Taker left following him and while he was looking towards the crowd, Shawn came back out of nowhere and super-kicked Taker on the jaw with Sweet Chin Music. The crowd loved it, because it was once again Shawn’s home-crowd of San Antonio, and Michaels had to be given the upper hand in front of them.

Raw: Taker appeared in the ring out of nowhere said that once again, Shawn’s arrogance had taken him too far and he was himself opening the gates to hell with his actions. Taker said to Shawn, “Need I remind you that the last time we met, you spent 5 years at home in agonizing pain”. (Undertaker even flicked a very minute smile when he said that!) To this, Shawn cut another unbelievable promo where he appeared on the titantron but he appeared in a graveyard like Undertaker used to earlier!!!!!!!! This was reminiscent of the promos which Undertaker did from the graveyard against Hulk Hogan, Yokozuna, Kane, Kamala, Vince McMahon, Batista, etc. This time, Shawn was standing I in a graveyard and supposedly, the tombs shown there belonged to Undertaker’s Wrestlemania opponents. Shawn showed a video package of Undertaker’s achievements at Mania and himself quoted all of them as he went past each tomb. Then he went to the last tomb which read 16-1, and he said that he had created this one for Undertaker himself. Then he broke that tomb, pushed it into the grave below, said “Undefeated Streak – Rest In Peace”, and started putting mud into it with a shovel as Undertaker used to do in his earlier promos. This was way too amazing, and when the video ended and the lights came back, Undertaker was as angry as hell, striding up and down the ring and rolling his eyes back, with a groan in anger. The commentators spiced it up by saying that, “I have never seen the Undertaker like this – does Shawn Michaels have a death wish or is it actually Mr. Wrestlemania winning in mind-games against the Undertaker? Nobody has done this to the Undertaker before. Will we see the same Undertaker that we’ve known at Wrestlemania?” By now, Shawn had gained the upper hand in mind-games as well as action. What is interesting is that Shawn himself put the 16-1 tomb inside the grave which indirectly could mean that it won’t be 16-1 at Mania but in reality the dead-man will go 17-0.

Smackdown: Shawn Michaels appeared dressed as the Undertaker! But he was dressed all in white instead of black. He made a similar entrance, and raised his hands to bring back the lights from the ring-corner. He then claimed himself to be the angel of good and said that he will fight the lord of darkness at Wrestlemania and beat him so that good prevails over evil. However, this might be the only case where evil will be cheered more than the good, and that evil will actually prevail over the good. Undertaker came out from below the ring (reminded me of how he came out against Diesel, Shawn's former manager) and tried to choke-slam him, but he lifted Michaels so high that he escaped from above the ring. It is important to give Shawn the upper-hand in the mind-games and the build-up to the match, because otherwise he cannot compare to Undertaker in power/ size or popularity. Everybody remembers how badly Undertaker beat him in their matches in the 1990s, and since Shawn is at an obvious disadvantage in strength (moreover he is fighting Taker at Mania, where Taker never loses), it is obvious that to make the rivalry look double-sided, Shawn should be given the upper hand right now. They are making it look like Shawn Michaels is not scared of the Undertaker and he is as cocky/ confident as ever, and he is playing Undertaker’s own mind-games with him to make him weak and obtaining the psychological advantage before the match (unlike regular story-lines where Undertaker plays the mind-games, scares the opponents, says Rest In Peace and beats them). The more he is given an upper hand before the actual match (to make it look double-sided), the more are his chances of losing the actual match at Mania. Of course, most of the promos are derived from Undertaker’s character (like Shawn appearing in his attire or in the grave) because the Undertaker’s gimmick is more innovative and allows for a lot more manipulation/ story-telling around itself.

Raw: Shawn Michaels offered a funeral for the Undertaker, who appeared in the ring and started throwing just about everything in anger. Shawn was hiding under the casket, and then he came out to give another super-kick to Undertaker.

I cannot stop to imagine what the Smackdown promo will be this week. Surely it should be something explosive! I guess that either Undertaker will get a hand at Michaels or he will evade a kick from Michaels, sending him a message back. Shawn will still retain the advantage before the match.
 
Shawn has long waited for this match because he wanted a good match with the best in the business, the Undertaker, before calling it a day. It is not known whether Shawn will actually retire after Mania or not, but considering his recent injuries and last year’s part-time schedule, he might quit soon. So he wanted to have a good show with Undertaker before quitting, and this will also help culminate their 12-year old rivalry. Taker might go for the championship after Mania (which he never lost last year but which he was stripped off due to injury). What will make this match more interesting is that Wrestlemania is in Undertaker’s home-town of Houston, so the crowd support for Undertaker should be awesome. At the same time, since Houston is in Texas and close to San Antonio, there should be good support for Shawn Michaels also. The both have met several times at San Antonio before as stated earlier but this time when the 2 greatest war-horses and the longest-lasting legends in the business battle it out at Undertaker’s home-town for the first time and that too at the silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the grandest show in pro-wrestling, Wrestlemania, the atmosphere is bound to be spell-binding!