FINAL FOUR HERE
Wow. We've finally made it: the last matchup of this bracket. Did I initially think it would take me this long to reach this point? No. Am I shocked it took this long in hindsight? Also no. We had to roll with the punches and deal with someone else's bracket, selections and seeding. I've made it known before that a few off the rankings were very off in my eyes, and thats not even counting the fact that I think the field that was selected isn't exactly the best. There are tweaks you could make to make it (somehow) harder and more interesting for sure. But that's not what this was about. This was about having correct opinions, of which I am batting 1.000.
So here we are. The last matchup. The last dance (Michael Jordan or ESPN or both are going to sue the everliving hell out of me for using that).
(1) Stone Cold Steve Austin v. (4) The Undertaker
Both of these men had to go through some serious talent to make it here. The Undertaker beat the likes of British Bulldog, Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio. Stone Cold ran through Lex Luger, Mick Foley, Daniel Bryan, Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle. Those are two murderers rows of talent, so these two certainly deserve to be here.
As adversaries for a good portion of their careers, they've run into this matchup before. But who's had the greatest impact, the greatest legacy? I've said it before but I really mean it now: This is an incredibly tough call to make.
They each have titles. They have signature wins, signature moments. For instance, "Austin 3:16", Stone Cold's many stunners on Vince McMahon, or spraying him with a hose from a beer truck:
The Undertaker has buried people alive, had that insane WrestleMania undefeated streak that lasted over two decades, and, oh yeah he once crucified Austin. Like, not verbally attacked him. He literally crucified Stone Cold:
Both men were more than serviceable in the ring but weren't what I'd call top tier. In terms of athletic talent and ability, guys like Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels would take an edge for the most part. But they both excelled at what they could do. They weren't going around doing flips and jumping off ladders like Jeff Hardy. They perfected the Stunners and Tombstone Piledrivers and things of that nature, and they stuck to their lanes and still tore the house down. Thats because they were two of the best (obviously since this is the finals) at connecting to an audience and playing their characters perfectly. They made people care and made people want to be them.
It's just downright difficult to find the flaw in either case that would give the other an edge. I have to get incredibly nitpicky and bring up the fact that, for the most part, Stone Cold never strayed from that character once he really got rolling. Post-King of the Ring '96 he was just the Texas Rattlesnake with tweaks. Sometimes he sided with one person, other times he went against them. That sort of thing. Taker, meanwhile, went under a bit of a reboot in the early 2000's as "Big Evil". Instead of being the silent Deadman we had known, he was basically the same undead wizard but now he was in a biker gang and listened to Limp Bizkit and wore bandanas and chains and stuff.
People actually liked it, and it has been gaining popularity in the current day. But that would be a slight knock on The Phenom. Stone Cold didn't have to change much, Taker apparently did.
Sometimes in these matchups thats what it takes to get a win. What's the one chip in the opponents armor, and how big is it? In this case its a small crack but it should be enough...
WINNER: STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN
As I have continued to to say literally overtime I write these, this was so goddamn hard to decide. In the finals alone you had two legitimate icons of the entire business, not just WWE. What I've realized more fully in doing this is how vast pro wrestling has been. This focused entirely on American wrestling and it still left out major figures. You get into Japan and the current day? Forget it. I pray for whoever tries to take that task on. Kenny Omega against Triple H? Kofi Kingston against Antonio Inoki? Couldn't be me.
Here's your final bracket:
For now, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the GOAT. And thats the bottom line, 'cause STONE. COLD. SAID. SO.
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