The Undertaker & Big Show: A Completely Forgotten Team Of Legends During WWE’s Attitude Era
In 1999, The Undertaker and The Big Show joined forces in a short-lived but dominant WWE Attitude Era tag team known as The Unholy Alliance.
The Undertaker has had one of the most successful legendary careers in the wrestling business. However, despite him and his kayfabe half-brother Kane being well-known as The Brothers of Destruction, one could argue that The Undertaker doesn’t get enough respect as a tag team specialist. The reality is, The Undertaker is a multi-time Tag Team Champion, and that doesn’t just include his brother Kane. For instance, The Undertaker’s alliance with The Big Show doesn’t get much recognition, as they held the WWE Tag Team Championships on two occasions in 1999.
Alliance’
No one denies that The Undertaker is among the all-time greats in professional wrestling. Someone who revolutionized WWE and was a prominent performer for the company for almost three decades, two decades as a full-time superstar. The Undertaker wrestled in generations such as the New Generation Era, the Attitude Era, and the Ruthless Aggression Era, and there are many moments during his tenure that fans look back on with fondness.
However, certain aspects of The Undertaker’s career don’t get enough notice, even during popular periods like the Attitude Era when The Undertaker was a top star and a focal point of WWE storylines. One of the best examples are the tag teams he engaged in during the Attitude Era, especially when he led the Ministry of Darkness in 1999.
Not long after The Big Show made his debut at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: In Your House 1999 PPV, he and The Undertaker aligned with each other in late 1999 until The Undertaker took time off in September of that year. Their alliance was dubbed “The Unholy Alliance.
The Undertaker’s Gimmick Evolved While Teaming With The Big Show
Around the time The Undertaker started teaming with The Big Show, his character began going through changes that would later be the defining attributes of his “American Badass” persona in 2000. For instance, when he teamed up with The Big Show, he started to humanize his character. Considering that The Undertaker’s “Deadman” gimmick could be seen as too cartoonish during the early years of his career, seeing The Undertaker in a more humanized form was a sight to see.
Although he also showed signs of humanizing himself during the early years of the Attitude Era, teaming with The Big Show was a turning point where he shifted from the “Deadman” gimmick to a rebellious biker. Fans started to witness The Undertaker sport a bandana with sunglasses while also wearing Harley-Davidson t-shirts. With The Big Show on his side, The Undertaker took the opportunity to talk more, as he started developing a “sharped tongue” to his arsenal.
The Unholy Alliance Won Tag Team Gold Twice Together
It’s worth noting that The Undertaker continued to be featured in the main-event scene on WWE programming despite being in a tag team like The Unholy Alliance. It didn’t deteriorate The Big Show’s position on the show at all, as it helped showcase him as a credible figure to be taken seriously along with the likes of The Rock, Triple H, and Mankind. Even after The Undertaker took a hiatus from WWE, The Big Show went on to do big things, as he soon won the WWE Championship at the Survivor Series 1999 PPV.
While many may not remember much about The Unholy Alliance, it’s worth noting that in the little time that The Undertaker and The Big Show were a tag team, they managed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship two times. The Undertaker and The Big Show won their first WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating X-Pac and Kane at the Summerslam 1999 PPV. Although they lost the Tag Team belts to The Rock n’ Sock Connection on an August 1999 episode of Raw Is War, they soon won it from them in a Buried Alive Tag Match on a September 1999 episode of SmackDown.
As The Unholy Alliance held their second reign until The Undertaker took time off in late 1999 after dealing with an injury, The Undertaker and The Big Show made for an intimidating unit, considering their size and aggressive demeanor. It’s one of the few times that The Undertaker and The Big Show teamed together, as they’ve interacted and battled each other many times throughout their decades-long careers.
