After his legendary bout with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania, which saw The Phenom end the fairytale career of the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker ended his full-time career with WWE and transitioned into a part-time role, making one, or very few appearances a year, generally appearing around Wrestlemania time.
Last year was the first time in a while that the Phenom wrestled more than just a single match in a year. After his match against Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 31, he had two matches with Brock Lesnar. One at Summerslam where he was victorious, albeit a dirty finish, and one at Hell In A Cell, where he was defeated, thus ending their feud.
He had a match against Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper when he teamed up with Kane to take on The Wyatt Family at Survivor Series, an event that was dedicated to celebrating 25 years of The Undertaker. The Brothers of Destruction were successful in their efforts against The Wyatt Family.
The Undertaker returned in 2016 after Vince McMahon told a returning Shane McMahon that he would be facing The Phenom at Wrestlemania 32 in a Hell In A Cell match, with the stipulation being that if Shane McMahon could beat The Undertaker, he would take control of Monday Night Raw. The Undertaker beat Shane at Wrestlemania and has not been seen on WWE television ever since.
Recently, someone posted a picture with a frail looking Undertaker holding a cane, leading to heavy speculation over his in-ring future.
However, the man posing next to Undertaker responded to these claims and said: "it's not his, it's my friends’ rattlesnake cane, and Taker was just checking it out, posing like godfather". Undertaker himself spoke to Pro Wrestling Stories, where he spoke on why he hasn’t retired yet:“Honestly, I love it, that’s why. I’ve got 26 years in the business and all these injuries, but WrestleMania has become so huge, it’s just hard to walk away from it. I want the audience leaving the stadium going ‘Wow!’ It’s a responsibility I have being a top dog in this business. The crowd will let me know when it’s time to leave. They haven’t yet…And if I didn’t perform at WrestleMania, in some strange weird way, I’d feel like I was letting Vince McMahon down. I’ve been in the WWE for so long, and he’s done so much for me.[Away from the ring] I spend a lot of time with my family, my children. I also work on my horrible golf game. I love golf, but I’m awful. For some reason, I go out there and make myself miserable because I’m so bad at it. But most of my time is spent healing up … so I can be the Undertaker again.”
There were rumors on Undertaker being furious with Vince McMahon for asking him to work after Wrestlemania, but that seems to have all cooled down. In fact, there are rumors going around that The Phenom will be making a future appearance on WWE Television, perhaps even as soon as Summerslam.
It is also being rumored that The Undertaker will be having his final match with John Cena next year at Wrestlemania 33, and the seeds for the same could be planted at the biggest party of the summer.
