This Iconic WrestleMania Win Changed History Yet Its Star Can't Remember It

There are few things as iconic in professional wrestling as The Undertaker and his WrestleMania streak, which started with his first victory way back in 1991 against Jimmy Snuka. "The Deadman" retired with a 25-win and 2-loss record at "The Showcase of The Immortals," and for the longest time, he just couldn't be stopped at the event. That's until the fateful night of WrestleMania 30 when he went face-to-face with "The Beast Incarnate" Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar had been a top star in WWE for years throughout two different runs with the company and had already had plenty of WrestleMania matches, but WrestleMania 30 in 2014 was the first time he stepped onto the biggest stage in wrestling to challenge "The Deadman." Throughout the match, Lesnar seemed to have an answer for everything Undertaker threw at him, from blocking the Old School, chokeslams, and multiple big boots. Undertaker couldn't keep Lesnar down even with his Hell's Gate submission. Lesnar kicked out of the tombstone piledriver at two and dodged a second, countering into an F5. Lesnar hit Undertaker with his finisher and got his shoulders down to the mat for the three-count. The match lasted just over 25 minutes.

The fans in the crowd were stunned at what they had just witnessed, and Undertaker himself seemed rattled despite the predetermined outcome of the match. The iconic streak was snapped at 21 victories and history had been made in New Orleans, Louisiana that night. While it was a historic night for every wrestling fan watching and for the men competing in the ring, The Undertaker has claimed that he doesn't remember much from that night and had to watch his iconic streak come to an end in the days following, despite living through the match.

The end of the streak sent "The Phenom" to the hospital and he was accompanied by then-chairman Vince McMahon, in an unprecedented move where McMahon left gorilla position during WrestleMania. The Undertaker talked about his experience with the streak ending on an episode of his "Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway" podcast in November 2024.

He explained that he only remembers the match from what he's watched and his last memory of the day of WrestleMania 30 is having a conversation backstage that afternoon with his wife, Michelle McCool, and his next memory is being in the hospital. Undertaker told "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on an episode of "Broken Skull Sessions" that he woke up in the hospital the following morning and didn't know his name or birthday when the doctors asked him. He said the doctor explained the concussion he suffered as "like you're a lamp and somebody unplugged the power." 

The Undertaker recalled receiving an impact test for his concussion from doctors in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The doctors cleared him to wrestle at WrestleMania the following year but said that if he got another concussion, the future of his career would be in doubt. He said when watching the streak-ending match back, he can't pinpoint exactly where he suffered the concussion but can see when his body language changed and knew Lesnar was waiting on him to call the rest of the match. He told "Stone Cold" that it was nothing Lesnar did and Lesnar didn't know he was concussed.

While The Undertaker initially said his only regret when the streak ended was that he got concussed, in recent years, he's explained he thinks Lesnar didn't need to be the one to end his streak. Lesnar wasn't Undertaker's only WrestleMania loss, with the two in 25-2 being a Roman Reigns victory at WrestleMania 33. In an interview with Ariel Helwani in March 2023, Undertaker said he believed that Reigns should have been the first man to beat him. He explained he didn't think Lesnar needed it because he was already a star and a major attraction. He told Helwani he didn't think Lesnar's victory over him elevated his stardom more than it would have for someone else.

In March 2024, The Undertaker said in a Q&A that he thought it should have been Bray Wyatt to end the streak if it wasn't Reigns. He said that the win would have meant even more to Wyatt's career. The Undertaker and "The Eater of Worlds" faced off at WrestleMania 31 in 2015 in 'Taker's first WrestleMania match after losing to Lesnar.