Tatanka's Undefeated Streak

[Guest The Mountie]

Tatanka was (at least on television) undefeated from his debut in early 1992 to late 1993 when he lost to Ludvig Borga. Does anybody know how many wins he racked up in that time and if his winning streak is therefore longer than Goldberg’s (in terms of the number of victories)?

[Guest sebbeh65]

Well, if you don´t count his losses against Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty and Yokozuna before he lost to Borga then, yeah, he was undefeated.

[Guest Drury37]

When did Tatanka ever lose to Shawn Michaels,Marty Jannetty or Yokozuna?!?!

Thanks.

[Guest Army Eye]

ah.. the good old days when newcomers to the WWF would get a push, instead of getting jobbed into oblivion

[Guest nWoScorpion]

Tatankas streak was probably longer thenGoldberg, cause im sure they made up the amount of wins he had. He was undefeated for what? Nearly a year, and had like 100+ wins. I dont see it happening. Also, Tatanka never lost to yokozuna til 1994, he beat Shawn Michaels 3 times without a loss and he never faced Marty Jannetty. Only exception is when he was Chris Chavis in 1991.

[Guest DEEP THOUGHT]

Really who gives a shit? Tatanka never made it past the midcard, nor did he hold any WWF title (thank god) and it really pissed me off how guys like Rick Martel -- you know wrestlers with actual talent were constantly jobbed to him during this reign. Keeping his "streak" alive also lead to bullshit finishes such as Ric Flair getting counted out when he faced him, Shawn Michaels getting counted out at WM IX when he fought Tatanka, the first round time limit draw at KOTR '93, and Yokozuna (The WWF CHAMPION at the time) losing to him by DQ or C/O on the house show circuit. He never did lose in any fashion from his debut in late 1991 - late 1993, which meant that we had to put up with TWO YEARS of this crap. My favourite Tataka moments included him crying with Chief Jay Strongbow on WWF Superstars when IRS tore up his "sacred" headdress because he wouldn't pay the gift tax, and Ludvig Borga smashing him with a chair several times and pinning him with one finger to finally end his damn streak.

[Guest nWoScorpion]

No offense, but Tatanka's gimmick was over with the fans,until they made him the sell out tatanka, basically the same gimmick except he was greedy. If they made him a true sellout character, then maybe he woulda been around longer. Atleast he jobbed to people ALOT in 1994 an on. UnderFaker, Borga, Bigelow, Owen (R.I.P), JArrett, Luger etc etc.

[Guest goodcleanfamilyfun71]

Hey don't insult Tatanka buffalo, come on I once met him about a week before his heel turn with Chief Jay Strongbow, they were signing at a video store, I rented Summerslam 1988, ahh nothing like Koko B. Ware Vs. Big Bossman on a late spring day while skimming through the latest issue of WWF magazine with an extreme closeup of Yokozuna's face on the cover. Any hoo, I liked Tatanka for some reason, he was the last guy who yelled high pitched noises to get the crowd on his side. Although by the time he did his heel turn, I was already bored with his storylines. I was never a Lex Luger fan, I was more of a 123 Kid and *sigh* Adam Bomb fan.

[Guest Army Eye]

My favourite Tataka moments included him crying with Chief Jay Strongbow on WWF Superstars when IRS tore up his "sacred" headdress because he wouldn't pay the gift tax

hahaha I miss I.R.S.   I don't miss Tatanka but I sure miss I.R.S.

[Guest JHawk]

Tatanka's streak should have ended at King of the Ring 93 against Luger.  The WWF's top feud at the time was Luger-Bret Hart, and if they were going to push Luger for the title at SummerSlam having Tatanka take you to a draw probably wasn't the way to go.  Luger wouldn't have had to beat Hart in the finals.  A solid 15-minute match (carried by Bret) would have made him credible.  Bodyslamming Yokozuna didn't do it.

 

As far as Tatanka goes, he had some talent and he was over, and saying he was undefeated for two years seems odd now, but remember how much less TV wrestling there was at the time.  One hour of Raw a week, plus the syndie shows.  Hardly a lot of feature matches on television.

[Guest Drury37]

Another thing is that it would have been cool if Tatanka's winning streak ended on PPV not just on WWF Superstars, it would have made it more notable.

Thanks.

[Guest MaskedDanger]

I live in North Carolina, one town away from where Tatanka was born and trust me, the people there (it's a really small town, probably clocking in around 5,000 people) take his win streak VERY seriously. I don't mean "throw a parade every Sunday in his honor" seriously, but you'd be hard pressed to find ANYONE there, man, woman or child, that hasn't heard of him and almost every one of them can spout off about his undefeated streak. Considering he was strictly mid-carder (didn't he get the IC title, or am I on crack? I can't remember...) that's pretty surreal, although I suppose it's the same with any small town wrestler made good. If it makes any difference, they all say he was one hell of a guy, a real class act.

 

As for Tatanka's life on the reservation stuff, I for one can say without hesitation that it's all bullshit (which probably doesn't surprise anyone). Pembroke (the town he's from) is just a small rural town: no teepees, no wigwags, no roaming buffalo, just a few hardware stores, some restaurants and a small four-year college (which I graduated from). The predominate tribe that lives there can't get official federal recognition, so they can't start a reservation, although they've been trying to for years. It's just a plain, ordinary town and the natives (about eighty percent Indian, the rest black, white and mexican) there are just plain, ordinary folks, more likely to wear a Harley Davidson tee shirt than a pair of mocassins. It's just a nice, normal small town, that's all. A couple of times a year, and during special occasions, some of them get all dressed up and have a huge shindig at the college, but that's it. The first time Tatanka probably put on a headress was when he showed up to the WWF his first day in.

[Guest bob_barron]

Does anyone else want to start singing 'Tatanka Buffalo'?

 

About the undefeated streak- my friend once went to an msg house show where he lost to Model by countdown so take that for what its worth.

[Guest DEEP THOUGHT]

I didn't mean to insult Tatanka personally in my first post. I was just upset that he was given such a push while possessing very litle wrestling ability, not to mention all those indecisive matches to keep the streak going. Furthermore the streak meant nothing in the end because it was Ludvig Borga who ended it, and because of an injury, Borga never amounted to anything in the WWF.

[Guest TheDames7]

Tatanka's streak should have ended at King of the Ring 93 against Luger.  The WWF's top feud at the time was Luger-Bret Hart, and if they were going to push Luger for the title at SummerSlam having Tatanka take you to a draw probably wasn't the way to go.  Luger wouldn't have had to beat Hart in the finals.  A solid 15-minute match (carried by Bret) would have made him credible.  Bodyslamming Yokozuna didn't do it.

Thats not true.  Around the KOR '93, Luger was a heel, and although he attacked Bret before Wrestlemania 9, they weren't fueding.  Luger's push for the world title at SummerSlam 93 was after he turned face by bodyslamming Yoko.  Luger and Hart didn't have an issue until Rumble 94 when they both won...yet they never faced each other at WM X or any PPV for that matter in the WWF.  

 

Dames