Reliving 'The Streak:' The Undertaker defeats Diesel at WrestleMania 12
Now that The Undertaker's famous undefeated streak has ended, we can now look back it in its entirety. In the days leading up to WrestleMania 31, we will take a look back at every memorable chapter of the feat that can never be duplicated. Here's a look at what became the holy grail of professional wrestling.
The Undertaker vs. Diesel (5-0)
WrestleMania XII | Arrowhead Pond (Honda Center) — Anaheim, Calif. | March 31, 1996
Attendance: 18,853
Match length: 16:46
By 1996, The Undertaker had become one of the most popular good guys the WWE had on its roster, despite the fact that his character was based around doom and gloom.
Although his star was shining as bright as it ever had been, The Undertaker had yet to have a noteworthy match during his four appearances on the show of shows: WrestleMania.
None of it was really The Undertaker's fault, however. He held up his end of the bargain, but his first couple of matches were booked to make him look like an unstoppable monster and weren't very competitive.
His latter two appearances were simply hard to watch.
But WrestleMania XII, The Undertaker finally had a memorable match, a match worth watching a second time.
It came as no surprise that it happened against a competitor that was still in his physical prime like Diesel (Kevin Nash). Unfortunately, Diesel used up the rest of his peak athletic years in World Championship Wrestling. If he hadn't, we probably would have been treated to more good-to-great matches between him and The Undertaker.
But on this night in Anaheim, both Undertaker and Diesel put on a great performance that was only topped by the 60-minute iron man match that followed.
Unlike Undertaker's first four matches, this contest lasted longer than 10 minutes, clocking in at 16 minutes and 46 seconds.
The Undertaker also looked vulnerable again, but in a much more entertaining way. Instead of being hit by chloroform, The Undertaker took two jack knife power bombs from Diesel. One was usually good enough to put anyone down for a pin, but The Undertaker survived both, delivered one tombstone and picked up his fifth consecutive victory at WrestleMania.
This match doesn't quite compare to the classic Undertaker matches that took place in the future, but The Undertaker's run of great matches at WrestleMania started on this night against none other than Diesel.