100 Worst WWE Matches Ever - 77 - Sycho Sid vs. The Undertaker
WWE Championship - Wrestlemania 13
This is one of those matches where the most interesting thing about it is everything going on around it rather than the match itself.
Wrestlemania 13 was set to be headlined by a rematch of Wrestlemania 12’s ironman match - a match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, where Bret would “break” Michaels’ ankle with a gimmicked boot, beating him for the title and setting up a feud for the rest of 1997. Unfortunately - or fortunately when you think about a match that happened instead - Shawn would vacate the World Wrestling Federation championship in February 1997, citing a knee injury and the infamous “lost his smile” promo. Both claims of which are widely disputed, most notably by Bret himself who felt that Shawn didn’t want to do the job to Bret. Like most things in 1997’s main event scene, this all connected together and bubbled over up to Montreal at Survivor Series, where Shawn’s refusal to lay down for Bret would end up being a major contributing factor to the screwjob.
WWE were left scrambling for a main event. By this point, Undertaker and Sid had been pencilled in for Wrestlemania, so Vince moved the championship match there. Meanwhile Bret had to wrestle a guy called Stone Cold Steve Austin in a pretty famous match you may have heard of. I love thinking of the butterfly effect of Shawn vacating the title had on the industry. Imagine he dropped the title as intended to Bret Hart. We wouldn’t have gotten Austin vs Bret at Wrestlemania, so does Austin become the star he would become? Would Montreal have played out the same way if Shawn had been willing to lay down for Bret at Wrestlemania? Without Montreal, you don’t have the Mr McMahon character. Shawn’s decision to drop out of the main event of Wrestlemania 13 changed wrestling forever and was a catalyst to many things that would ultimately make WWE the biggest most successful wrestling company to ever exist.
This is a lot of words for a couple guys (Bret and Shawn) that weren’t in this match. Except they were, and they were by far the most interesting and compelling part of the match. Michaels returns to WWE to do commentary for the match. As soon as the bell sounds, out comes Bret Hart who cuts an amazing promo on Michaels basically calling him a wuss and a little bitch (true) while Michaels on commentary calls Bret a whiny bitch (also true). The visceral hatred between these two men spilling onto TV made for some of the most compelling television in late 1996 and into 1997. As Bret is verbally berating Michaels, you’ve got Vince holding Shawn’s shoulders and saying “no … no … no”.
Bret also takes the time to say that Undertaker was an asshole for smacking a cage door against his head a couple weeks earlier. Then turns his attention to Sid, who he calls a fraud and not a real champion. Sid, fed up of Bret’s bullshit, hits Bret with a powerbomb to massive cheers and much to Michaels’ joy - solidifying once and for all Bret’s heel turn.
Considering the extremely positive reactions to Sid in the months leading up to Wrestlemania, it’s a wonder they didn’t accidentally turn him into a clear cut babyface here, especially since Undertaker jumps Sid immediately afterwards.
Undertaker is wearing the gear he wore when he defeated Hulk Hogan in 1991, and Jim Ross references that he has never been defeated at Wrestlemania (currently 5-0). It would be several more years before the Streak was established as a thing, however.
Once the match begins between Sid and Undertaker, the interest kind of falls off a cliff. Sid was never a great worker on his own - tremendous presence and the fans at this time loved him - but he wasn’t a guy you’d trust to have a good match. Undertaker would have a career year in 1997, but only once he was paired with much better wrestlers as the year went on. I say all this to say that the decision to give these two 21 minutes proved to be unwise. Sid is not very good at all here particularly with his offence. He’s slow, stiff and awkward. The story of the match is that Sid is portrayed as the dominant monster, even against the Undertaker. Unfortunately that means that Sid has to dominate this 21 minute match and therefore pad out the match with a lot of chokes, bearhugs, and various other rest holds. Sid’s best match came against Michaels a few months before this, where Michaels could bounce around like a madman for him - a benefit the Undertaker could not provide.
At one point Sid climbs to the top rope, and thankfully Undertaker was smart enough to cut him off, realising that such a large man jumping from the top rope would be an unwise decision …
Frustratingly, the closing moments of this match are pretty good on the whole. I say frustratingly, because if they weren’t given the absurd 21 minutes, they could have had a much shorter, more energetic battle of behemoths that probably would be quite fondly remembered. It almost feels like a precursor to Undertaker vs Batista from Wrestlemania ten years later, where they would get this kind of match right.
The finishing sequence included an excellent and surprising spot where Sid reverses the Tombstone to hit a Tombstone of his own. Bret Hart come out twice to attack Sid, much to Michaels’ chagrin, which gives Undertaker enough to pick up the win and his second WWE Championship. I hate that finish, because it doesn’t make Undertaker feel like a conquering unstoppable hero who slayed this monster. He looks like a guy that got lucky that Bret Hart was a whiny bitch. Extremely odd finish to any title match, nevermind a Wrestlemania main event.
The bell to bell action is most famous for a rumour that Sid would end up shitting himself during the match. This is almost certainly not true, at least as it pertains to this match, as Undertaker has said on a radio show that Sid did poop himself, but it was in a different match. So sorry to disappoint anyone that held on to this urban legend. Still funny, though.
Following on from the muddled main event scene going into Wrestlemania 13, the aftermath was not too dissimilar. Sid and Bret were meant to wrestle at the next show, Cold Day In Hell, but that was scrapped in favour of an excellent Bret vs Austin rematch as Sid suffered a neck injury - a series of which would put a temporary halt to Sid’s career until he popped up in ECW in 1999. I suppose that makes the end of the match make a little more sense, because as it is Bret just costs Sid the match to absolutely zero consequence or long-term story. It’s fascinating to see how drastically different the fates of these men were by the time Wrestlemania 14 comes around next year. Sid was out of wrestling following those aforementioned neck injuries. Bret Hart was now in WCW, unmotivated, depressed, and horribly mismanaged. Shawn would suffer the back injury that would cost him over 4 years of his career. Undertaker was the ever-present of course as WWE would usher in a new era over the next year.
Up Next - Can The Fiend ruin a match he isn’t even in? You betcha.
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