There are some historic events that are so obvious, there’s no way they can be forgotten. They are the ones that make the headlines and get our attention. Then there are others that seem lesser on the surface, but have a deeper meaning many don’t ever know about. One of those is when Kurt Angle beat the Undertaker to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out on February 19, 2006.
It was meant to be a WrestleMania moment for the Undertaker
Thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for this nugget and transcription.
“I was champion in 2006 and Undertaker approached me and said he wanted to face me at WrestleMania. Until then, Undertaker didn’t have a WrestleMania moment with a five star match. He thought he could have that with me, and he was considering possibly losing as long as he had that moment he wanted, and I don’t blame him. Vince said no way, and I agreed with Vince.
“I don’t think Undertaker should ever have lost at WrestleMania, I think he should have been undefeated forever. They made their choice, and if you’re going to do it with anybody, do it with Brock Lesnar because he’s as legit as it gets. Me and Undertaker ended up having our match at No Way Out 2006. If you ever see that match, it was definitely a WrestleMania type of match.” – Kurt Angle WrestlingInc interview October 27, 2015
@awrestlinghistorian also added, “The dirtsheets confirmed Angle’s story that Undertaker wanted him to end his Wrestlemania Streak. Booking the match at No Way Out instead of WrestleMania XXII was McMahon’s compromise because he wanted to keep The Streak intact.”
It’s all about the Streak
As fans, we often point to ending the Streak as one of Vince McMahon’s worst ideas, and it’s doubtful we’d have been receptive to it happening in 2006 or being at the hands of Kurt Angle. The Undertaker is practically a mythic figure, and he deserved to have the five star match he wanted on the grandest stage of them all, whether it cost him his streak or not.
The fact that many of the Undertaker’s WrestleMania matches were good rather than great (Especially his early ones. Those were more jobber matches than not, in my opinion.) really puts a highlight on what he felt was in his best interest in 2006.
It makes sense that Vince McMahon would want to keep the Streak alive as it had taken on a life of its own over the years, but how much of that was because he wanted to decide when it ended, as well as who did it?
In this case, I believe the Undertaker should’ve had full autonomy on the decision.
Maybe he did and he agreed that Brock Lesnar was the one that should’ve ended it. Maybe he was talked into it. The thing is, we’ll never know for sure.
It’s a shame he couldn’t have his WrestleMania moment in his prime with someone of his choosing. Of course, we could debate if he ever truly did. But that’s a discussion for another time.
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