Ranking all 25 WrestleMania matches of The Undertaker

3. The Undertaker vs. Triple H – WrestleMania XXVIII

How do you top the first two WrestleMania matches between The Undertaker and Triple H?
You throw them inside Hell in a Cell and bring in Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. Yep, that’ll work.

Billed as the “End of an Era”, this match at WrestleMania XXVIII had just about everything you’d want in a build and then it went out and delivered on the big stage in a truly epic battle. The story here was that at WrestleMania XXVII, The Undertaker had to be carted out of the Georgia Dome on a stretcher while Triple H, who had lost the match, was able to walk away, essentially meaning that Trips had become the closest to ever beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania and he was content with that. He was a businessman now and said that it was better for business if someone else took a shot but ‘Taker goaded him into it by calling him a coward and telling him he wasn’t good as Shawn Michaels. This was really well done leading into the event.

The entrances took a little time here — even the cell itself got its own entrance — but I was okay with it as this had a big match feel to it and it was very cool to see all of these guys in the ring together, especially seeing as how these three have a big history with Hell in a Cell. The two brawled as soon as the bell rang and they went to the floor pretty quickly and the steel steps came into play as The Undertaker blasted Triple H with them and then threw them into the ring, at which point he took a nice spinebuster from Trips right onto them. While on his back, ‘Taker locked in Hell’s Gate but Hunter just picked The Deadman up and slammed him back down for a two count.

Chairs were brought in next and Triple H beat on ‘Taker mercilessly before HBK intervened. After a couple more, he brought the sledgehammer in and nailed The Phenom with it and was going for another one when Michaels simply took it from him. Triple H wanted Shawn to just end it right there and as HBK went to check on ‘Taker, he found himself locked in Hell’s Gate and was knocked out of the match for a while. He then put it on Triple H and knocked him out as well but there was no referee there. Charles Robinson got himself into the cage and we got a great two count. But not happy with the result, ‘Taker gave Lil’ Naitch a chokeslam to close out a really entertaining sequence of events.

Shawn was back up and hit ‘Taker with some Sweet Chin Music that sent him right into a Pedigree and this actually seemed like this might be the end of the streak. But ‘Taker was able to kick out and Triple H was not happy about it. He moved Shawn out of the way but walked right into a Tombstone for another dramatic near fall — plenty of those in this match — and then it was his turn to get some chair shots in, which he did just that as Triple H sold them all perfectly. The Game was as defiant as ever at the end as he gave ‘Taker the crotch chop and basically begged him to hit him with the sledgehammer. But instead it was just one last Tombstone to get the three count and the image of the three legends leaving the ring together and standing with one another at the top of the ramp is one of the best moments in WrestleMania history. Great story. Great match. Great finish. 20-0.