Despite the questionable build-up, WWE fans were treated to yet another appearance from The Undertaker at WrestleMania as he defeated John Cena in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday night.
Cena had been calling out The Deadman for weeks prior to the event, only for WWE to decide that they weren’t going to have The Undertaker answer the challenge on an episode of Monday Night RAW or SmackDown LIVE.
WRESTLEMANIA
From a storytelling aspect, the WWE did a good job. The continuation was there as Cena spent time with the audience inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as a fan, like he said he would on RAW. Plus, The Phenom returned to answer the challenge in the same venue where the streak had ended at the hands of Brock Lesnar four years ago, so it was time to right that wrong.
However, with that win, The Undertaker achieved a couple of milestones that are going to be almost unattainable in WWE and just show why he’s arguably one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time.
Part of the reason why The Undertaker is considered the best is his longevity. He might only compete in one match a year now, but it’s clear that his one match draws more interest than anything else on the card and he still moves pretty well for a man of his age with hip issues.
Reddit user ‘yoosufmuneer’ brought to light two incredible stats regarding The Deadman, the first being that as of WrestleMania 34 on Sunday night, he has been in the WWE for 10,002 days, which will only continue to increase until he calls it a day, meaning he’s been in the company for around 27 years.
In comparison, Triple H is next on the list who has been in the WWE for just under 8,400 days but it’s common knowledge that the longest-serving WWE employee is Howard Finkel, who has been in the company for 41 years in a non-in-ring role.
MILESTONES
The second milestone is equally as impressive. With his victory over Cena in under three minutes on Sunday night, it marked The Undertaker’s 100th pay-per-view win. Cena is second on that list with 91, but it’s clear that he is slowly phasing out of a full-time role too.
Triple H is third with 87 pay-per-view wins, Kane is fourth 70 wins - despite having the most pay-per-view appearances in history with over 170 - while Randy Orton takes the fifth spot with 66 pay-per-view victories.
It shows just how long The Deadman has been at the top of his game
The Undertaker probably isn’t going to have many more opportunities to continue expanding on his impressive pay-per-view record after becoming the first man in history to achieve the incredible feat of 100 pay-per-view wins.
However, with fans speculating that he could meet Cena again at WrestleMania 35 in New Jersey, perhaps he’ll have the opportunity to extend that record and move even further away from the 16-time world champion at the top of the list.
What do you make of the two milestones The Undertaker reached at WrestleMania 34? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.
WWE 2K18: WrestleMania Edition is out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.