Brock Lesnar defeating the Undertaker and ending his WrestleMania win streak is one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. For 20-plus years, nobody knew if the Undertaker would ever lose at WrestleMania. WWE superstars would attempt to defeat the Undertaker each year but ultimately fail.
Nobody expected Lesnar to be the one to defeat the Undertaker since he was already a proven star. Brock didn't need this win in the grand scheme to take him to the next level, but you have to credit WWE for taking advantage of Lesnar's victory. This set him up for a monster run over the next few years and cemented him as one of the most dominant superstars in WWE history. Since WrestleMania 30, Brock Lesnar has been nearly untouchable. The issue is that Lesnar didn't need a win like this to go on a dominant run.
Should Lesnar have been the one to end the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak? Not many fans would say yes to that question. Fans always figured if the Undertaker were to ever lose at WrestleMania, it would be against an up-and-coming superstar who needed this win to get to the next level.
Former WWE superstar EC3 believes Lesnar was the wrong superstar to defeat the Undertaker. While on The Wrestling Outlaws, he said WWE should've had Roman Reigns end his streak.
“The torch passing should be from the legend to the next guy – and that definitely should have been Roman,” EC3 said. “I'm not saying Brock [Lesnar] wasn't worth ending the streak or should he have not, but to be the first one, that was such a big deal. As shocking as it was, I think that's the one thing that would have solidified Roman in the spot that he is now, across the board. I don't want to say it feels forced and artificial, because it's not. But with that win, that caveat, I think he's the guy.”
Even the Undertaker believes Lesnar wasn't the right guy to end his streak. He believes that Reigns needed the win more. Although he faced and lost to Reigns years later, the streak was already over. The match didn't do much for Reigns since the Undertaker losing wasn't as big of a deal as when Lesnar beat him. Looking back on it, the Undertaker wishes Reigns was the one to end his streak.
“I don’t know if Brock was the right guy,” Undertaker said. “I like Brock, me and Brock are friends. I don’t know that Brock needed that win. Brock was a bona fide superstar at that point. So, I don’t know that he needed it. Roman, definitely… that was the right call. I just wish he may have been first. If Roman would have been able to do it, I think it would have increased the value.”
Reigns defeating the Undertaker at WrestleMania should have been a bigger deal. Unfortunately for Reigns, the fans were so against him at that point that defeating the Undertaker hurt him more than elevated him. This could have worked if WWE decided to pull the trigger and turn Reigns heel after this match. WWE continued to force Reigns down fans' throats, and fans continued to reject him. This was supposed to be a “passing of the torch” moment, but it was a disaster instead.
To make matters worse, the match between the two was not good. The Undertaker was fighting through a serious hip injury and was nowhere near 100% for this match. While appearing on the Victory Over Injury podcast, the Undertaker said he felt like he let many people down.
“It was disappointing to me, and I knew in January when I was in the (Royal) Rumble,” Undertaker said. “You could tell I was overweight, I was out of shape, but I knew what they wanted to do. It was important for me to pass the baton on or do what I could for Roman, who’s the next generation. … It was just a bad, bad deal. That was probably as honest a moment as you’ll ever see in wrestling. Me taking that hat and coat and putting it in the ring, because I knew at that point I was done. I was so disappointed. Anything else I’d ever accomplished, I couldn’t think of that. I couldn’t think of WrestleMania 25, Houston with Shawn Michaels, all those thoughts were gone. It was, ‘You just stunk the joint out and you let a lot of people down.'”
Do you think Roman Reigns should've been the superstar to end the Undertaker's streak at WrestleMania? To this day, fans still debate whether or not the Undertaker should've lost at WrestleMania altogether. His win streak was so iconic that maybe it shouldn't have even ended. Fans can debate, but Brock Lesnar will always be known as the man to conquer the Undertaker's WrestleMania streak.
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