The Undertaker vs. Sting: The Dream Match that Must Happen at WrestleMania 33
The Undertaker is coming back to WWE. The Deadman has not been in action since WrestleMania 32, and many fans have surely been wondering when the cornerstone of Vince McMahon’s company would finally return.
However, those fans don’t want a match against Randy Orton or anyone else. Taker likely doesn’t have many big matches left in him, as the clock is ticking on his career. However, until he faces Sting, his run in professional wrestling will not be complete.
It’s the only thing left on his to-do list; the only dream match fans really want to see. Speculation about a match with John Cena at WrestleMania 33 is still strong, and Kevin Owens’ name has been thrown around before, but no one compares to Sting.
The fact that Undertaker has never worked Sting in a WWE ring is unfathomable on so many levels. The moment that Sting signed with WWE, the match between him and Taker should have been booked. It’s akin to NBA legends Michael Jordan and Bill Russell in their primes, both playing for the same team, yet not being on the court at the same time.
How can WWE not move ahead with booking the two biggest stars of their generation at WrestleMania? It’s a storyline that writes itself, and that is true today, as much as it was when Sting debuted in 2014. WWE has always been the first to tell the story of The Monday Night Wars, and that’s been the case since WCW folded.
What better way to tell that story than with icon versus icon, on the grandest stage of them all? Instead, fans witnessed Sting’s first WWE match end in chaos, as he was pinned by Triple H, followed by Taker easily disposing of Bray Wyatt.
The Game was a big money opponent of course, and The Eater of Worlds deserved the spotlight next to The Phenom. But neither man was Sting.
Sting was up for anything WWE wanted to do; that much is certain. A match on the WrestleMania stage was a dream not only for his fans but for the man himself. If that match had to happen against one of the company’s biggest names of all time, then that was surely fine with Sting. The move made sense, and it had the potential to get over in a very big way.
However, when Sting lost as The nWo and D-X fought at ringside, the supposed good idea became very messy, very quickly. WWE was undoubtedly hoping it would be a magic moment of nostalgia, and maybe it was for some fans.
However, Triple H’s spot later in the night with Stephanie McMahon, The Rock and Ronda Rousey didn’t help matters at all. It diminished his match with Sting.
Once again, WWE had taken the simplest of possibilities and turned it into a massive complication. Sting versus The Undertaker; that’s it, and nothing more. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and had WWE known Sting would be put on the shelf, after his match with Seth Rollins, perhaps things would have been handled differently. But it’s not too late.
This is not a match in which either man should take any unnecessary risks. This is not Sami Zayn diving over the ropes the night he returns from injury, and this is not Daniel Bryan flying around the ring despite his own history of injury. This is two veterans in their fifties, who are well past their primes and have no business going 100 miles per hour.
But they don’t need to. Fans don’t want to see them hurt, and they would surely not work a style that would open the door for something bad to happen. The fact is that they could work on the mat in one hold after another, and the crowd would pop over every second of it.
This is the dream match to end all dream matches, and it must happen. WWE is in the position to make it happen. Sting has said even after his match with Rollins, that he still wants to face The Deadman. There’s no reason this historic match-up should not take place, other than WWE simply not wanting to book it.
In an era when fans have dictated so much of what happens in the business, this is one instance in which their voices should not be ignored. If Vince McMahon stood in the centre of the ring on Monday Night Raw and asked the crowd, who they would love to see face The Undertaker, the answer would be Sting.
The company did not book Ric Flair versus Hulk Hogan when The Nature Boy signed back in 1991. The door was open for fans to witness the biggest WrestleMania match of all time, and it just did not happen. History should not repeat itself with Sting and The Undertaker.
It’s the perfect way to bring The Monday Night Wars full circle, and no other match will sell WrestleMania 33 like this one. The Undertaker and Sting deserve this, and WWE needs to make it happen. Anything less will be a disappointment.
Tom Clark can regularly be seen on Sportskeeda. His podcast, Tom Clark’s Main Event, is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Android, Windows Phone and online here