The Streak Is Over...

You read that correctly. After 21 different memories at WrestleMania, this Sunday's was arguably the biggest of them all, when Brock Lesnar defeated the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX.

WOW!

I never would have called that in a MILLION years. There was no reason to think so. This had been one of the most lackluster build ups for an Undertaker WrestleMania match in quite some, that we all assumed that 'Taker would walk away easily with the victory. Of course, we all know what assuming does, and that was especially the case at the conclusion of this match. The looks on the fans faces said it all....

...wide eyes, stunned silence. Fans weren't upset, they were sad. Lesnar did not receive a heel's kind of reception, the crowd was so silent that he was awarded with the infamous "X-Pac" heat.

I'm not upset that Undertaker lost, or even that Lesnar was the one to beat him. I will be upset if nothing is done with Lesnar as a result of it. If he does the exact same thing he's been doing for 2 years, THEN I will be furious because the victory would be wasted, and Undertaker's legacy and the legacy of the 21 previous challengers are completely tarnished.

Thanks to the WWE Network, I replayed the ending of the match more times than I'd care to admit because it is quite possibly one of the most shocking moments in WWE history, if not WRESTLING history. You can go back, watch the three count and see a different fan's expression every time.

I became a fan in 2007, at a time when Undertaker as a character was undergoing a renaissance of having really excellent matches all around, especially at WrestleMania. Throughout my history with him, I saw him win World Championships, go head to head with some of the industry's biggest icons, be encased inside Hell in a Cell, show signs of mortality with the amount of damage he took, and continue a six-year shared continuity between matches. Granted, that was the point of his career where he was wrestling maybe once or twice a year (around 2009 or 2010), but the anticipation was built on his returns, the opponents he would face, and the chance to see the Streak continue.

In my time, I saw him take on the likes of Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels (twice), Triple H (twice, but three times in combined history), CM Punk, and now Brock Lesnar. It is these matches that helped personify the Streak as one of the most important matches on each WrestleMania card.

The biggest question hanging on all of this is whether or not the career of the Undertaker is actually over. Only time can tell if it is or not, with the rumored match with Sting taking place next year at WrestleMania 31 despite the fact that 'Taker is no longer undefeated (which I think would definitely be interesting enough to see him wrestle one match where the Streak didn't matter). But, maybe he is really done. Maybe this was his last fight, but we can only find out through time.

My thoughts on the rest of WrestleMania XXX will be coming some time in the near future (possibly when it's released on DVD), but for right now all I can even think about is that the Streak has been conquered.

And if this is the end of the Undertaker, I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart...Thank You



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