Undertaker was not seen for almost a year. At Judgment Day though he returned!!!! He returned no longer as the Lord Of Darkness though but as The American Badass as he drove down to the ring on a Motorbike! He cost Rock the title and destroyed everything in his path! The following month at King Of The Ring, Undertaker teamed with Rock and Kane in the main event to face HHH, Vince and Shane. If any member of Vince’s team were pinned, HHH would lose his title. Rock pinned Vince and won the title. In the match though, Taker destroyed Shane with a huge Chokeslam from the top rope to the outside through the commentary table.
The winner of The King Of The Ring itself was Kurt Angle and to prove himself that he was the king, he faced Undertaker at Fully Loaded. The weeks leading up to Fully Loaded, Kurt Angle was trying to do anything and everything to get out of the match. He even came down on a little scooter and offered it as a present to Taker. Undertaker took the scooter and threw it off the rampway. Kurt knew he could not wriggle out of the match so before the match began at Fully Loaded he attacked Undertaker with a wrench and worked down on his knee. This was still not enough to keep the Deadman down and Taker prevailed victorious.
Undertaker now was looking for a shot at the title but Kane turned on him. Undertaker now had to face Kane again. Kane claimed he was a monster and was unstoppable. Undertaker dominated Kane more than ever though at Summerslam, and even unmasked him for the first time on live TV! The match ended in a no contest after Kane fled from the ring.
Unforgiven was the next PPV up and Undertaker was in the main event. A Fatal Fourway between Kane, Chris Benoit and Rock for the title. Rock won the match and walked away champion. After the match though Kane beat down on his brother whilst injuring him in the process. Undertaker was out for a month. He then returned and opened Deadman Inc. He wanted Kurt Angle who was the champion, at Survivor Series for the title. This Survivor Series marked 10 yrs since Takers debut. Undertaker named it a "Decade Of Destruction". So once again, Undertaker met with Kurt. This time however Kurt walked out the victor after he swapped places with his brother Eric Angle at the end of the match. Taker didn’t realised and Kurt came from behind and rolled Taker up for the win.
Taker was furious. Mick Foley put Undertaker in a 6 way Hell In A Cell Match at Armageddon. Undertaker promised to make someone famous. At the end of the match, Undertaker was on the top of the cage with five other competitors. Steve Austin, HHH, Kurt Angle and Rikishi. HHH and Austin made their way down leaving Rikishi in Takers grasp. Rikishi was then chokeslammed off the top of the cell! Taker was on the top of the cell when Kurt Angle won the match below. The Year 2000 was over and The Royal Rumble was just around the corner. The Rumble looked promising with the likes of Kane, Rock, Rikishi, Steve Austin and Undertaker all the top favourites to win. Kane entered at the early stages and destroyed everyone. The ring built up though and everyone was beating the hell out of Kane. Just as things looked bad for Kane, Undertaker entered and eliminated everyone except his brother! The two waited for the next person who they eliminated. When people began to fill the ring again, Undertaker was eliminated by Rikishi!
After the Rumble, Undertaker sunk completely out of the title race and teamed with Kane. They feuded with Rikishi and Haku for a while before they went after the Tag Titles and feuded with Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boys. At No Way Out, the three teams met in a Table Match. Once again, Undertaker went away empty handed after The Dudleys put Edge and Christian through the tables.
With a terrible month for the Phenom over, Undertaker feuded with HHH. This was a first time feud as the two had a match set for Wrestlemania. Week after week, HHH got one over on Taker with the majority of the time getting him arrested. HHH even mocked Taker by riding out on Takers bike to his Limp Bizkit Theme. HHH destroyed The American Baddass’s Bike by pushing it off the side of the ramp! The two finally met in a Brutal Match at the biggest extravaganza of the year Wrestlemania 17!
The Taker dominated The Game. Near the end, Undertaker hit a tombstone, which he hadn’t done for ages but the ref was down. Undertaker then went for the Last Ride but as he lifted HHH, Hunter grabbed a sledgehammer and smashed it over Takers head. The ref made the count but Taker kicked out. HHH put Taker in the corner where he did some mounted punches. Undertaker grabbed HHH though and countered with a Last Ride for the victory!
Undertakers feud with HHH was not completely over though as HHH joined Austin and feuded with Taker and Kane. On Smackdown a few weeks before Backlash, HHH won the IC Title and Kane and Taker won the Tag Titles from Edge and Christian. This set the scene for the Backlash main event. Undertaker and Kane vs. Austin and HHH with all 3 titles on the line. Whoever got pinned would lose their title. After a pretty long match, Kane was pinned and The Two Man Power Trip left with all the gold.
Following Backlash, Taker started a singles feud with Steve Austin whilst Kane feuded with HHH. On an episode of Smackdown, Taker took over Steve Austins lockerroom. Austin did everything he could to avoid the Deadman and not get any of his personal belongings damaged. Austin sent in Regal and even his own wife Debra. Both were unsucessful. Near the closing of Smackdown, Undertaker took Austins title and 3:16 Jacket and headed for the arena. He called Austin out. Steve quickly came out and Taker kicked his ass. The following week, Steve Austin and Triple H played a prank on Undertaker. Together, they called the police and told them Undertakers wife Sara, had been in a car accident. Taker left the building leaving Kane to be destroyed by the Two Man Powertrip. Come Judgement Day, Steve Austin was in for a serious ass kicking. Thats exactly what he got. Unfortunatly, towards the end of the match, HHH hit Taker around the head with a sledgehammer. Kane came down but it was to late. Steve had covered Taker and retained the title.
Undertaker was off tv for the following week, but on another episode of Raw, it was revealed someone was stalking Sara. Each week, a video clip was played of someone watching Sara. The person spoke using a voice distorter. Three weeks on, the Stalker was revealed as...DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE! Page told the world he wanted to be made Famous by Taker, and told Taker he would see him at King Of The Ring. King Of The Ring came and Taker reversed the mind games on DDP. After about every match, clips of DDP were played. Someone was now stalking him. All DDP could do was look on in the crowd. DDP finally got into the ring and told Taker to come out now. Another clip was played of DDP and it was then revealed Sara had been stalking him! She told DDP he was about to be made famous. Undertaker then made his way to the ring and destroyed DDP!
After about 10 minutes of an ass beaten, DDP escaped through the crowd and had had enough of The Deadman! Once again Taker met DDP this time though in the confines of a 15ft height steel cage. This match though was for the WWF and WCW Tag Team Titles. Taker and Kane had defeated Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire just weeks before Summerslam for the WCW Titles and DDP and his partner Kanyon had defeated the APA for the WWF Tag Titles. Taker and Kane dominated the match. Towards the middle, Kanyon left his partner, DDP in the ring to fend for himself. It ended though with Taker and Kane winning both Tag Titles!
Following Summerslam, Undertaker ended his feud with DDP and started a short feud along with his brother Kane, against Kronic. Kronic dominated Taker and Kane the whole month leading up to Unforgiven in which the two teams met. Kronic took early control until Taker and Kane came back for the win.
Following Unforgiven, Taker and Kane successfully defended their WCW Tag Titles until losing them to Test and Booker T. They then lost the WWF Titles to the Dudley Boys.
As Survivor Series approached, the WWF and Alliance would battle it out to see who the real Survivor would be. Along with Kane, Big Show, The Rock and Chris Jericho, Undertaker was on Team WWF. Unfortunately, Taker was the third eliminated from his team.
With Survivor Series out of the way, Taker changed. He joined Vince McMahon and turned heel. The following week, Undertaker began his feud with RVD. The two met at Vengeance in which Taker destroyed RVD. At the closing stages of the match, Taker delivered a huge Chokeslam off the stage sending RVD crashing through the tables below! Taker got the three count and became Hardcore Champ!
Following Vengeance, The Hardcore division had never seen such a dominant force hold the title as the Undertaker. Undertaker destroyed Spike Dudley on Raw before putting each member of Team Xtreme on the injured list! Taker then injured Tajiri before he was challenged by his former partner The Big Show! Come Smackdown, Undertaker took on Big Show. Show took control of the opening stages of the match but Taker took over, before locking on "Taker Care Of Business" which forced Big Show to tap out! Unfortuatly in the match, Undertaker was injured by a chokeslam via the Big Show.
Taker didnt take any time out however, and was shortly back in the ring, this time in the 30 man over the top Royal Rumble. Undertaker entered at number 7 and eliminated everyone in the ring. Next to enter was Matt Hardy followed by Lita and Jeff! They triple teamed Taker until Undertaker eliminated Jeff and gave Matt a Last Ride. Taker quickly disposed of Matt and awaited his next opponent. Out came Tough Eenough winner Maven, as Undertaker laughed on at his opponent. Taker punched Maven down but Team Xtreme quickly made their ways back into the ring and beat down on Taker. Yet again, Taker fought back and eliminated them again. Whilst he was being distracted by The Hardys though, Maven got up and drop kicked Taker over the top rope and out! Taker went crazy and got back in the ring. All hell broke lose and Taker gave Maven the biggest beating he had ever recieved since joining the WWF.
The following week on Raw, Maven challenged Y2J for the Undispited titles. After losing the match, Undertaker made his way back to the ring and gave Maven yet another beating. After Takers actions towards Maven, a match was booked on Smackdown between Taker and Maven in a Hardcore title defense. Taker dominated the match even after interference from Al Snow. Taker was about to go for the Last Ride, when The Rock who at the time was feuding with Taker made his way into the ring and gave Taker a Rock Bottom! Maven then covered Taker for the win!!! Rock may have cost Taker the match but also nearly cost himself his own career. Following the loss, Taker went backstage and beat down on The Rock before delivering a Tombstone on top of a limo!! Come No Way Out, Taker was more ready for The Rock than ever. During the end of the match though, Ric Flair interfered and smashed a lead pipe over Takers head, causing him the match! Takers business with The Rock was all but over, but his business with Flair had only just begun...
Come Wrestlemania, Taker was prepared for his nemsis. With a 9-0 Wrestlemania record under his belt, Taker wasnt ready to give up anytime soon. The stage was set. The Toronto Sky Dome. In front of 68,000+ fans. Undertaker vs Ric Flair. Both participants entered and the match began. Taker dominated as expected.
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