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Monday, August 17, 2015

SummerSlam A to Z: Undertakers

Purple vs. gray Undertaker
Courtesy: WWE
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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The Undertaker has been a part of 15 SummerSlams, and next week he'll return to the summertime tradition after missing several of the past few years.  He's wrestled the likes of Edge, Randy Orton and even the legendary Kamala at SummerSlam.  But maybe his greatest opponent of all-time was against himself.  Yes, the Undertaker stepped into the ring and did battle against the Undertaker at SummerSlam '94.

Quick backstory (if it's possible to be quick)...  The Undertaker was beaten by Yokozuna in a casket match at the Royal Rumble in 1994 and disappeared from TV for months, even missing Wrestlemania X that year.  By late spring or early summer, Ted DiBiase was a manager and claimed he had seen Taker and was bringing him back to the WWF (he and Brother Love introduced Undertaker originally at Survivor Series 1990).  


Leslie Nielson on the case
Paul Bearer claimed that DiBiase's Undertaker was a fake and for some reason Leslie Nielson from Police Squad and The Naked Gun was brought in to investigate.  It was very cheesy, but this was all happening around the same time as the steroids trial and sexual abuse allegations.  I don't remember much of Nielson's involvement beyond the vignettes that aired leading up to SummerSlam.


Tombstone!
Courtesy: WWE
Speaking of SummerSlam for some reason this match went on last and is recognized as the main event, following a more than 30 minute steel cage battle between Owen and Bret Hart for the WWF World championship. Bearer's Undertaker was the real deal, easily beating the bogus 'Taker who was played by Smoky Mountain Wrestling star Brian Lee.  After the defeat, the druids took Lee away and he'd come back years later as Chainz in the DOA with Crush and the Harris twins.


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