[1996-03-31-WWF-Wrestlemania XII] Diesel vs The Undertaker

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was pretty good, better than I remembered for sure, but it's just the last few minutes.

[PeteF3]

Last few minutes of some not-bad action. Though I'm really growing tired of WWF heels hitting their finisher and then walking around posing instead of going for the pin. Diesel should know better, considering Sid was victimized by doing the same thing to him. Diesel had already given notice and was decisively beaten here--kudos to Nash for doing business.

[soup23]

Agree that Diesel being cool kind of works for his character but damn does he look like an idiot posing around for a minute plus besides taking the pin.

[tim]

Not bad, nothing approaching good from what we see. Diesel wasting time before the pins just looks stupid.

[cactus]

I'm not entirely sure why I loved this so much when I first saw this, but I think it might have something to do with me finding finishers being kicked out of the ultimate sign of a good match when I was young in my fandom. This is a solid enough outing by both men, with Diesel being much easier to digest when he's working as smug and arrogant heel. The Undertaker shows that he's actually able to sell and moves around a lot faster than what we are used to pre-1996. Big Sexy does the honours for 'Taker after two of his Jackknife Powerbombs aren't able to get the job done. 
★★½

[DMJ]

On 10/17/2017 at 5:46 PM, tim said:

Not bad, nothing approaching good from what we see. Diesel wasting time before the pins just looks stupid.

 

On 2/20/2015 at 3:35 PM, soup23 said:

Agree that Diesel being cool kind of works for his character but damn does he look like an idiot posing around for a minute plus besides taking the pin.

In my blog review (Kwang The Blog), I noted the same thing and why it bothers me even more with Diesel/Nash than other heels.

As a face, Nash was cool and cocky, but he was also quite often presented as being smart, or at least smarter, than monsters from the past. Even compared to fellow "monster" babyfaces like Hogan and Warrior, Nash wasn't this over-the-top id-gone-wild who was so emotionally-charged that he'd get lost in the heat of battle (see Hogan at WrestleMania IV for a great example). Diesel was well-established as not just being a 7-foot brawler, but also of having learned a few things in his matches with Bret Hart and his love/hate relationship with HBK. By this point, Diesel was Diesel in name only as he was 99% transformed into the Kevin Nash character in WCW (note, even in his pre-match interview, he basically spoils the finish of the main event by challenging Shawn for the Championship and not "the winner").

And because Nash was no idiot, him not taking the win and then celebrating comes off as not just stupid, but not in line with his character. For Sid or Kama or whoever, sure, because they're dolts...but for Nash, it just doesn't quite work. 

What I would've liked to have seen is for Nash to only hit one Jacknife and then maybe go after Bearer or the urn instead of just gloating. 

[Calvin]

Up to this point in his career, this is Taker's best WM match. It helps that Diesel is a more capable worker than Taker's previous big men foes, and there are some great character flourishes here as Diesel fully leans into his natural, charismatic arrogance.

**3/4

[dawho5]

So the idea that Wrestlemania is the place where finishers go to die came before the self-aggrandizing epics of later Manias.  Interesting.  Kind of a nothing deal, not bad, not good.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Diesel vs The Undertaker - WWF WrestleMania XII

This match has a little bit of rep because it outperforms on paper what the typical smark would think would be a plodding snore fest. But those in the know, know both these guys can go and that I think I was actually underwhelmed. The rep on Taker is he doesn’t get good until 97. Hogwash. Watched plenty of 93 & 94, he is already great and he is a very underrated mover and seller. He may have the worst collection of opponents in history between 92-95. 96 he finally got to wrestle credible challengers. Nash acquitted himself to be a motivated big man throughout 94 and 95. This match easily exceeds the matches both men had with the esteemed Bret Hart in the prior two months. I would say this is firmly very good instead of great. 
 

I really liked the beginning of the match, high energy slug fest felt the urgency. Undertaker constantly cutting off Nash. I liked how both men were constantly moving forward. Taker sitting up on the missed elbow and landing on his feet over the top to the floor were great choices. So many moments where you think Nash would take over but the Deadman just kept coming. I liked the transition to heat missed chair shot to the post, use of the post and railing. Taker sold the ribs well. Match lost steam after that. They didn’t do too much in the heat segment. They all of sudden went from heated brawl to Clash of Titans. Double big boot. Standing 10. Saito Suplex. Standing 10. It killed the momentum and took what was a heated match and made it feel stilted. 
 

Diesel is going out the door…100% the Jacknife should have been kicked out of. They shouldn’t have let Nash protect the move. This is what they should have done. He should have went for the cover immediately and the pop would have been killer. Second Jacknife but now Diesel get cocky then a Zombie Sit-up. Third Jacknife and Nash is even cockier and then you do the Death Grip. The way they did it with Nash farting around killed the Heat of the Moment. After the second one with the Death Grip, at least let Taker into him But again another Level The Playing Field spot. Finally we get a Chokeslam and a Tombstone. 

it is a very good match But after the transition to heat it is like they wrestled with lid on the match instead of going all out. *** 1/2