Undertaker's Theme Song
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Jake Roberts's Theme Song
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The Streak: #2 – The Undertaker vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts: WrestleMania VIII
The match was a back and forth battle as both men were able to get some offense in the ring and on the outside. The climax of the match would occur as battle of the Invented DDT against The Tombstone would come to a head. Roberts would hit a DDT only to see The Undertaker sit up. Roberts would hit a second one that would put The Undertaker down for a stretch of time. Roberts may have even got the win there to stop The Streak dead in its tracks, but the vicious side of Roberts would be his downfall. Rather than go for the cover, he would move on to The Urn and Paul Bearer. This would give The Undertaker another sit up moment before hitting the Piledriver onto The Snake on the mat outside sending Roberts to Tombstone City. The Undertaker pushed Roberts back into the ring for the 3 count and his second Wrestlemania win.
If I’m being picky, I’d would have liked another Tombstone inside the ring for good measure before the three count. However, this match continues the trend of making The Undertaker look invincible at Wrestlemania while continuing to show how dominating the Tombstone Piledriver is. Robert’s Inverted DDT was a major move that changed in ring wrestling, yet two of those were not powerful enough to take down The Undertaker. However, one Tombstone was enough to put out Roberts on the outside. This put over the Tombstone even more and made Undertaker a positive threat in the WWF world. The payoff of watching the vicious Jake Roberts get put in his place by The Deadman was a good story, and the work in the ring was solid enough to be able to tell that story appropriately. I don’t know if I agree with using the Macho Man as the victim and The Undertaker the hero, but here we are all these years later and the wrestling world spins just fine. What is really interesting to me about this match is Roberts was the selling point of the feud. That is a trend that is going to become crucial to The Streak later on since every year someone tries to conquer The Streak. In that way, Jake Roberts through some luck and a solid heel run was simply ahead of history. I’d argue Roberts was the first one to really try to conquer The Streak, and it seems appropriate that exactly twenty years later, as The Undertaker goes for victory 22, The Snake enters the Hall of Fame. Good timing for all involved and a fun note of The Streak’s history.
If I’m being picky, I’d would have liked another Tombstone inside the ring for good measure before the three count. However, this match continues the trend of making The Undertaker look invincible at Wrestlemania while continuing to show how dominating the Tombstone Piledriver is. Robert’s Inverted DDT was a major move that changed in ring wrestling, yet two of those were not powerful enough to take down The Undertaker. However, one Tombstone was enough to put out Roberts on the outside. This put over the Tombstone even more and made Undertaker a positive threat in the WWF world. The payoff of watching the vicious Jake Roberts get put in his place by The Deadman was a good story, and the work in the ring was solid enough to be able to tell that story appropriately. I don’t know if I agree with using the Macho Man as the victim and The Undertaker the hero, but here we are all these years later and the wrestling world spins just fine. What is really interesting to me about this match is Roberts was the selling point of the feud. That is a trend that is going to become crucial to The Streak later on since every year someone tries to conquer The Streak. In that way, Jake Roberts through some luck and a solid heel run was simply ahead of history. I’d argue Roberts was the first one to really try to conquer The Streak, and it seems appropriate that exactly twenty years later, as The Undertaker goes for victory 22, The Snake enters the Hall of Fame. Good timing for all involved and a fun note of The Streak’s history.