Undertaker vs. Michaels

Hey Scott,


Long-time reader and always thoroughly enjoy your stuff. Keep up the awesome work!

Had a few UT/HBK-related questions.

1) How do you feel their RR ’98 casket match holds up today? It doesn’t seem to get a lot of talk. I feel it’s underrated and overlooked, which is unavoidable, however, since it fell between HITC and the buildup to WM.

2) If you had to rank their 5 main showdowns (Ground Zero, HITC, casket, WM 25, WM 26), how would you do it? I’m thinking HITC and WM 25 are 1-2 interchangeably depending on mood, WM 26 falls in the middle, then Ground Zero and the casket match and 4-5, again interchangeably.

​For me it’s weird, because 1997 Shawn Michaels is like a totally different wrestler than Comeback Shawn Michaels, so I hardly even equate them in my mind. Like, HITC feels like a lifetime ago. I think WM25 was the best in the moment, but the Cell is one of the defining matches in history, so it should be #1. I gave the casket match ***3/4 at the time and I think that’s fair still. Casket matches just don’t have the right psychology to be great for me. If anything I think Ground Zero is too underrated, actually, it’s a hell of a brawl!​