WWE planned to have Wade Barrett wrestle The Undertaker at Wrestlemania – potentially putting an end to the legendary streak the Deadman had taken decades to cultivate.
The Undertaker battled Triple H in a legendary Streak match at WrestleMania 27.
The Deadman fought valiantly as he vanquished The Game to extend his undefeated streak 18-0. He would face, and beat Triple H again a year later, but his WrestleMania 27 bout was never meant to be against Triple H at all.
Rumours began circling in mid-2010 that Wade Barrett was the man to face the Undertaker at WrestleMania 27. Barrett won the first edition of the “NXT” game show, earning himself a WWE Championship match against then champion Randy Orton.
In addition, he led the 7 losers of the show to take over the WWE, labelling his group “The Nexus”. The Nexus were a group of the top young stars in WWE, including future WWE Champion Daniel Bryan (Now AEW’s Bryan Danielson).
The group were hailed as one of the companies most exciting factions. They looked destined for future greatness, dominating everyone they came across in the ring due to their pure number advantage.
The group terrorised WWE, and looked certain to great eight new main event stars for the promotion, which had already lost Shawn Michaels that year, as well as the Undertaker and Triple H ceasing to wrestle full-time.
However, they would be defeated by John Cena’s team at Summerslam 2010 in a 14-man elimination match.
This took some of the shine from the group, but they were still a force to be reckoned with. They would interfere in multiple matches, including one in particular involving the Deadman himself, The Undertaker.
The Nexus bury The Undertaker
The Undertaker entered into a feud with his brother Kane in mid 2010. The Undertaker was attacked, left in a “vegetative state” in a “local medical facility”, with nobody sure who did it.
His loving brother, the Devil’s favourite demon, put it upon himself to find out who attacked his big brother.
After a while, The Undertaker returned. It was revealed that Kane was the man who attacked him. Kane had since won the World Heavyweight Championship, so the pair feuded both over the belt and over their long-standing hatred. This involved multiple matches, which Kane won, including a brutal Hell in a Cell match.
The feud would culminate inside one of the rarest, most dangerous stipulations in WWE. A buried alive match.
The match was a simple one. A grave had been dug near the entrance ramp, with a large digger full of dirt next to it. To win the match, you had to throw your opponent into the grave, and bury them alive with a digger full of dirt.
Kane would win this match, killing his brother for the 4th or 5th time in his life. However, he did so with the help of the interfering Nexus, who led by Wade Barrett beat down the Undertaker, incapacitating him enough to be thrown into the pit and buried alive.
The Undertaker vs Wade Barrett
This was meant to lead to a Wrestlemania 27 match between The Undertaker and Wade Barrett. Barrett was one of the hottest heels in the company in the tail end of 2010.
He was having blockbuster pay-per-view matches against Randy Orton and John Cena and main eventing those events. He looked destined for greatness and a WWE Championship run seemed certain.
However, losses to Cena and Orton lowered his stock immensely, When fans stopped believing that he could beat these top guys, it devalued himself and the Nexus greatly.
If he couldn’t win in those kinds of matches, there was no chance he could defeat the unbeatable Undertaker Wrestlemania.
Barrett cooling off forced WWE to go in another direction. The plan changed and the WWE wanted to do something related to Shawn Michaels. Michaels faced Undertaker for the previous two years at Wrestlemania, and would referee the Undertaker vs HHH match a year later.
Luckily, Triple H returned from injury in time for Wrestlemania and took on Undertaker in one of the main events of the show. Wade Barrett however was relegated to a mid-card, multi tag team match.
He led a team called “The Corre”, a bunch of former Nexus outcasts who never amounted to anything. They lost to a comedy team called “The Apple” led by Santino Marella, embarrassing Barrett greatly.
Who knows what would have happened if Barrett faced The Undertaker. The match could have elevated Barrett, especially if rumours of him breaking the streak were true. However, he never reached his true potential, and was not the first British WWE Champion in history, as most expected.
Why Did The Nexus Bury The Undertaker?
The question that has gone begging since 2010 is why did the Nexus bury The Undertaker alive?
That has become one of the biggest mysteries in WWE in recent years, along with who threw the pie at Kevin Owens and who attacks Hideo Itami in the parking lot of NXT.
Nexus helped Kane to bury his brother alive, but why? Well, you’re not in luck because they never bothered to explain it. The next night on Raw, Barrett barely mentioned the murder he had just committed, basically telling fans it was none of their business and to stay out of Nexus affairs.
It is theorised that The Nexus buried The Undertaker alive to set up a Wade Barrett vs The Undertaker match at Wrestlemania 27.
Sadly, that match never occurred and was replaced by The Deadman taking on Triple H at the event instead.
