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That's how you close WrestleMania! When a Boneyard match was announced between The Undertaker and AJ Styles, nobody knew what it was or whether it'll work. Well, it seems like it worked wonders after looking at the social media reaction! With the cinematic effects and the entire match being shot in a graveyard, this was a match to be remembered for ages.
It was The Undertaker who came out victorious in his 27th WrestleMania outing as he went on to bury The Phenomenal One in typical Deadman fashion. With this win, 'Taker is now 25-2 (Wins-Loss) at The Show of Shows and has become the first WWE Superstar to have 25 victories at the Grandest Stage of them All.
As we gather ourselves together after that thrilling Boneyard match, let's take a look at the five reasons why The Undertaker buried AJ Styles and won his match on the first night of WrestleMania 36. Be sure to let us know your reactions to the match in the comments section below.
#5 To make it clear that The Deadman is not done just yet
For the past many years, there have been rumors of The Undertaker calling it a day and retiring as an in-ring Superstar. Well, this is his 30th year as an active performer for WWE and that's not something you see every day.
It has been a recurring theme for Superstars to challenge The Deadman and claim to retire him and finish his career, much like AJ Styles did - with the former WWE Champion taking it a little too far andpersonal.
During night one of WrestleMania, WWE aired a commercial about a new WWE Network Special, Undertaker: The Last Ride which again started talks about whether tonight was going to be his last match. From the looks of it, that's surely not the case. The Deadman is back, digging holes and taking souls!
#4 Announcing the arrival of the new Undertaker
Not only is he not retiring anytime soon as discussed in the last slide, we saw the arrival of a new version of The Undertaker in WWE tonight. We previously noted during the Road to WrestleMania how the 7-time World Champion rocked a new look which was a throwback to his former "American Badass" gimmick. Tonight, we got a better glimpse at that as he had a nostalgic entrance on his bike which was another throwback to his former gimmick.
But at the same time, there were glimpses of his Deadman persona as well. It's the Reality Era we live in these days and just like all the WWE Superstars, The Undertaker has adapted and made changes to his character as well. Having a match pre-taped with all the cinematic effects just added to his character and made him look more lively than he has in years while hiding his shortcomings at the same time.
I can't be any less excited to witness what's next for The Undertaker! Who will he take on next after comprehensively defeating AJ Styles at WrestleMania?
#3 A loss in such a manner does not harm AJ Styles
While The Undertaker is an icon and a living legend, AJ Styles is slowly getting there as well. Even though his stay with WWE has been relatively less, the entire world has only praises and respect for the Phenomenal One for his work all around the globe. It was The Undertaker who himself chose Styles as his opponent for WrestleMania 36, with the reason being that he believes Styles is the closest to Shawn Michaels in the current roster. That's a huge compliment in itself!
After some offense in the middle of the match by the 2-time World Champion, The Undertaker quite comfortably defeated him in the end. But even though he "buried" Styles to win the match, a loss in such a manner does not harm AJ. The fact is, you can never lose momentum by facing the Deadman at WrestleMania and ending in defeat.
If anything, Styles just got his name inked in the history books to be The Undertaker's opponent in The Deadman's most unique match of his career.
#2 Styles to potentially go through a character change
How do you come out unchanged after being buried alive by the The Phenom? Well, you don't! AJ Styles learned a lesson of a lifetime at WrestleMania that you don't provoke The Deadman no matter what.
Now the question to be asked is, what's next for the Phenomenal One? Will he continue his same old ways after WrestleMania as well? Or will this match with The Undertaker make him go through a character change? I believe the answer is the latter one.
Styles had all the support he needed in the Boneyard match. He had his OC brothers, Gallows and Karl Anderson interfere in the match and distract Taker from Styles. Unfortunately, none of it helped in the end as The Deadman proved to be too much for all of them.
This could be the start of a face turn for Styles who can start questioning his and The OC's way of operating and taking out people unfairly. The Phenomenal One has been out of the World title picture for quite some time now and it has to be seen whether a character change could push him to the title picture on whichever brand he ends up on after WrestleMania!
#1 It was a match in The Undertaker's backyard
The Boneyard match started with The Undertaker in control, beating AJ Styles all over the place. But just when he looked set to put an early end to the match, Anderson and Gallows interfered, turning the odds in favor of the Phenomenal One. Not long after, Styles had complete control over the match and went on to push the Dead Man into the grave dug.
This is where The Undertaker made Styles realize why he made a huge mistake by choosing to have the match in his backyard. Throughout the match, the Dead Man's supernatural powers were in full display as he made use of them to terrorize the 2-time World Champion by teleporting behind Styles and causing massive explosions. In his words, he brought the Unholy Trinity with him!
This is the Undertaker that we had all been missing for some time as he looked completely unstoppable. Fans on Twitter are already claiming that WWE should consider having all of The Undertaker's match in a similar setting and we would have to wait and see whether the company listens to them or not.
You don't mess with The Undertaker in his own yard!
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