TJR Blog React: WWE Top 10 The Undertaker’s Best American Badass Moments (VIDEO)

Every once in a while I like to write a recap of a WWE Top 10 video. They produce them a few times per week on their Youtube channel. I should probably write about them more, but I’m busy writing about shows and other things. Anyway, when I saw this one pop up on Youtube today I thought it would be cool to write about it.

Here’s the WWE Top 10 for April 8 looking at “The Undertaker’s best American Badass moments” in honor of Taker going with the American Badass look at WrestleMania this past Saturday. If you don’t know your American Badass history, that was a version of Undertaker from the Judgment Day PPV in May 2000 until Survivor Series 2003 when he lost to Vince McMahon after Kane attack. The Kane attack led to “Deadman” Undertaker returning at WrestleMania 20 in 2004 and while Taker’s look has changed a lot in the last 16 years, for the most part, he was Deadman Taker. Anyway, here are the best American Badass moments according to WWE.

10. First Ride

It was the debut of American Badass Undertaker at Judgment Day 2000 when he attacked the heels DX and the McMahons at the end of Triple H’s WWE Title match against The Rock. I have written a detailed review of that PPV here. The timing of the finish was all messed up as you can read about in my Judgment Day 2000 review right here.

9. Throwing Brock Through Set

The Unforgiven PPV in September 2002 saw The Undertaker have his first PPV match with then WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. The match was a wild brawl that saw Undertaker throw Brock threw the set by the entrance. It was not a big bump, but it was sold great by Lesnar.

8. Chokeslam Off The Stage

While feuding with Kurt Angle in November 2000, The Undertaker grabbed the Olympic gold medallist while on the Raw stage and gave him a Chokeslam through the table that was below. It was a big bump for Angle that showed the viciousness of Undertaker, who was a babyface at this point.

7. Taking Hogan for a Ride

This one was always comical to me because Undertaker tied Hulk Hogan up to his motorcycle after Hogan tried to mess with him and drove him through the backstage area. Hogan ended up landing into a pile of soft boxes that were strategically placed backstage. It just looked ridiculous. This was during their WWE Title feud (Hogan was champion that was beaten by Undertaker) in 2002 when Undertaker was a heel. This was from May 13, 2002 on Raw.

6. Throwing Austin Through Glass

Steve Austin tried to attack Undertaker the backstage area, but Undertaker managed to fight him off. This was May 3, 2001, on Smackdown with Austin as a heel. After Undertaker beat up Austin with punches, Undertaker threw him a glass window. Normally for a spot like that they use something called sugar glass, which doesn’t hurt, is easily breakable and it looks like real glass. At King of the Ring 2001, when Kurt Angle sent Shane McMahon into the glass, they didn’t put sugar glass in and that’s why Shane had a rough night.

5. Last Ride off Stage

This was from Raw on December 17, 2001, with Undertaker in heel mode. The Undertaker had Jeff Hardy on the stage and he gave him the Last Ride Powerbomb off the stage and through a table that was on the ground. What they didn’t show was Undertaker also threw Lita off the stage where Jeff was although when she landed, the camera didn’t show it, so there was probably padding to soften it for her. Undertaker turned heel in late November 2001, so this was done to get him more heat.

4. Tombstone on Limo

It’s another heel Undertaker moment from Smackdown on February 7, 2002, when he attacked The Rock in a parking lot. they went on top of a limo and Undertaker gave Rock a Tombstone on top of the limo. It was a safe bump with Undertaker protecting him well. After it was done, Undertaker told Rock that they were even.

3. Chokeslam off the Cell

This one was very memorable from the Armageddon PPV in December 2000. There was a six-way Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Title held by Kurt Angle. The Undertaker, who was a face at this point, was on top of the cell with Rikishi, who was a heel. There was a big truck driven up to the side of the cage that had hay on it, so Undertaker got Rikishi against the edge of the cell and gave him a Chokeslam off the cell, back first onto the bed of the truck with the hay. It was a huge bump especially for a 400-pound guy like Rikishi. There’s a lot of trust there and a lot of pressure on Undertaker to not mess it up. They made it look great.

2. Distance Chokeslam

This was from King of the Ring 2000 (read my review here) when there was a six-man tag team match for the WWE Title with Undertaker in babyface mode. During the match, Shane McMahon was on the top rope and Undertaker was on the apron. Undertaker grabbed him by the throat (or the shirt) and gave him a Chokeslam through an announce table. It was a huge bump for Shane. If Shane wasn’t wearing a shirt they would have had a tough time doing that, but it worked because Undertaker was able to grab him.

1. Boneyard Match

It’s no surprise that this is number one from this past Saturday’s WrestleMania part one event. That’s why they did the list in the first place. Anyway, they showed the clip of when Undertaker was on top of the barn that they were at outside and he gave AJ Styles a Chokeslam onto some padded area below. It was a big bump that was similar to the bumps ff the ramp to the floor, but this may have been a bit higher.

Watch the Top 10 video below.

Final Thoughts

I liked the list for the most part. I may have changed the order a bit, but not that much. They picked some good things including a few that I had forgotten about. There are three things stand out to me in terms of things they missed.

The Undertaker’s memorable Ladder Match on Raw with Jeff Hardy in 2002 should have been on here. They didn’t show it at all. They probably wanted to avoid putting matches so they could focus on the moments instead. I think a lot of wrestling fans will think of that match as one of the highlights of the American Badass run.

It was not included in the list, but I thought Undertaker’s heel turn on November 26, 2001, when he helped Vince McMahon by making JR kiss Vince’s ass was one of the best American Badass moments. It worked so well as a heel turn. I assume it was not included since they don’t want to remind people of the Vince McMahon “Kiss My Ass Club” storyline now that we’re in the PG era.

They also didn’t include the famous moment in the 2002 Royal Rumble when Maven eliminated Undertaker and then Undertaker kicked his ass. I guess it wasn’t included because it made Undertaker look back, but it’s one of my favorite Royal Rumble moments. Since Undertaker got eliminated, that’s probably why it wasn’t considered a “best moment” although it was very memorable. I think I just talked myself out of it. That’s fine. It makes sense to me.

Anyway, that was a fun trip down memory lane. I enjoyed Undertaker’s run as the American Badass for in the early 2000s for a few years.