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Tiffany: The Legacy of the Streak

After a WrestleMania 35 with no ‘Taker, what is the legacy of The Streak?

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The Undertaker The Streak WrestleMania

Tiffany MC puts a bow on her coverage of The Streak, looking back at The Undertaker and his amazing WrestleMania legacy. 

For the last three-ish months, I’ve been re-watching the Undertaker’s Streak matches, watching the once obscure wrestling trivia match go from brain porn to a central part of the WrestleMania mystique has been a really eye-opening experience, even for a seasoned fan like myself.

When I first started this journey, I wanted to see if the matches in the Streak lived up to the legend of the Streak, and, for much of the time, they weren’t. They weren’t all bad matches, but until the Streak was brought into the open, I can’t say there were a lot of great matches, especially in the early days.  In my opinion, the best matches in the Streak were: Jake Roberts, Diesel, Kane, all three of the Triple H matches, Randy Orton, and both Shawn Michaels matches.

When did it become “The Streak?”

As I made my way through the Streak, I noticed a few things that really hadn’t occurred to me as they were happening when I was a kid: That the Streak wasn’t a big deal and just how many of Taker’s well-known feuds were NOT part of the Streak. First things first, and I apologize for beating this point half to death over the course of this series, is that the Streak was NOT a big deal until 2005. If it was mentioned at all, it was at WrestleMania and only as a piece of trivia.

What really surprised me over the course of this re-watch is all the big feuds/rivalries of the Undertaker’s that were NOT part of the Streak: Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Mankind (that one was a shocker), Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Big Show in a straight one-on-one match, Diamond Dallas Paige, Kurt Angle, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. McMahon, and Sting, which still pisses me off. Undertaker had great feuds with all these guys, but none of them were part of the Streak.

Looking at the list of the men who did participate in the Streak, what stood out the most is how most of them were Legends or future Legends. I wanted to say ‘all of them’, but there was a Giant Gonzalez sized hurdle in the way. Of all the matches of the Streak, the only two really drizzling-shits bad ones were Giant Gonzalez and King Kong Bundy, but there were reasons to give them a break; Gonzalez for his size issues, and Bundy for his age (40 was pretty old in wrestling years in the 90s).

The Legacy of The Streak

So, what is the legacy of the Streak? How can something that has become a central part of WWE’s WrestleMania build be summarized in an interesting and clever (I hope) little afterward?

I think many people who have heard of the Streak, especially in the later years think that the Streak is something that everyone knew about and was planned from the start and, as we have seen, that was not the case. Triple H, who is a good friend of the Undertaker, was not even aware that Taker was 8-0 when they had their first WrestleMania match in 2001. Besides that, not even Vince McMahon could’ve planned a 24-2 WrestleMania streak, there are too many variables to consider.

The exposure of the Streak and the end of it were two situations that ended up doing more harm than good in the long run. Exposing the Streak made for a great feud with Randy Orton and made the younger man a star, but the fact that Orton didn’t win, and the Streak was intact ensured that the Streak became the focus of the match rather than an actual storyline. To Vince’s credit, the storylines leading up to Taker’s post 2005 matches were all compelling, but every match after Randy Orton all boiled down to one goal: I want to beat the Streak.


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‘What’s wrong with that?’ I hear you asking, ‘Look at all the great matches he had after the Streak was exposed!’ and it’s true, Taker had much better matches AFTER the Streak was exposed than before it, but it came at a price: He became less important and everything he’d accomplished in WWE became a distant second to the Streak, to the point where his only appearances in the year were for WrestleMania and special occasions and then he’d leave.

The biggest demonstration of why exposing the Streak was a bad idea long-term was the reaction to Taker coming back after the Streak ended. A lot of fans didn’t see the point of him coming back if the Streak wasn’t there, while not complaining about other legends doing the same thing. The fact that people thought that the only reason for Taker to come back to WWE was to continue the Streak angered me as a fan and showed how much the Streak had obliterated or overshadowed everything else that Taker had accomplished.

Even though we all knew the Streak HAD to end sometime, Undertaker losing to Lesnar was an instance of short-term win, long-term loss. Yeah, beating Taker was a star-making moment, but it was a moment Lesnar didn’t need, he was already a big star, deservedly or not, it was a moment that should’ve been given to someone like a Bray Wyatt or a Roman Reigns, instead of done for someone who didn’t need it, and the fact that Taker came back diluted the victory for Lesnar, as it did for Roman Reigns when Taker faced Cena last year.

So, back to my original question: What was the legacy of the Streak? I think the legacy is all the men who faced the Undertaker and achieved immortality and/or became stars in the process and of Mark Callaway, who went from a low carder on WCW to a WWE legend because of that Streak. No one will ever be able to top that streak, that will be his alone and that’s the way it should be.  

WrestleMania 35

Undertaker did not appear at WrestleMania 35, marking the first time since 2001 that he has not had a match at WrestleMania, so the less than stellar Cena match seems to be the last Undertaker match. Thanks for almost thirty years of memories, Undertaker, and thank you for the Streak.

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Opinion

Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

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Wyatt Sicks WWE

Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.

It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions, 

The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight. 

This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail. 

The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions. 

After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama

gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania. 

It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company. 

We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!

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Opinion

Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns 

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WWE Jacob Fatu Roman Reigns Backlash

Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call. 

Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story. 

The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line. 

 In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years? 

Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus. 

I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?

Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!

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TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) 

THURSDAY - Nefarious Means

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)


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