The forthcoming 33rd edition of WWE’s Wrestlemania saga is likely to include something that the company may no longer need. No, we’re not talking about massive entranceways that are 50 yards wide. Rather, we’re talking about the 24th appearance of The Undertaker at the event, likely wrestling a match that he may not necessarily need to have.
As of 2017, WWE is a company that’s significantly drifted away from being the sort of company where an in-ring limited, and soon-to-be 52-year old performer likely needs to be showcased. The stylistic mishmash of independent and international styles of wrestling converging in WWE’s current in-ring presentation is a perfect case of evolution not being “a mystery” as it once was in the company.
Rather, it’s a case of evolution being radical and quick, thus causing WWE as a product to make massive changes to their presentation in order to match the effects of time and chance upon their company.
With this being the case, it’s something like The Undertaker wrestling that may need to stop immediately. While it’s undoubtedly nostalgic and maybe even fun, they now have a much more dimished return than ever before on the investment of time from the company and its fans alike, in occurring.
Here’s five reasons why an Undertaker match does not need to occur at Wrestlemania.
#1 Who do you serve up to the guy who’s defeated everybody?
This would be a far easier problem to solve if The Undertaker were a here and gone attraction with minimal WWE history like Goldberg, or even a juggernaut like the man who ended his streak, Brock Lesnar. However, Taker’s defeated five WWE Hall of Famers as well as numerous certifiable modern pro wrestling icons.
There’s a true historical split between the “post-Attitude era” stars and the “new wave” of performers, none of whom, save maybe Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, have main event victories over established stars.
Thus, the value of one of these “unproven” talents against inarguably one of the top five WWE performers ever is quite small and would require an outlay of creative work that WWE has yet to invest in, and we’re roughly two months away from “The Showcase of the Immortals.”
They just don’t have the time to pull it off convincingly.
#2 Can’t Keep Hiding The Undertaker With An Illogical Gimmick
At last year’s Wrestlemania 32, The Undertaker wrestled Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match that was involved in a quickly developed storyline that largely dealt with Shane McMahon’s sudden return to Raw and desire to be a controlling partner in WWE.
The storyline’s one potential flaw was that heel Vince naming babyface Undertaker as Shane’s opponent was bizarre in the sense that it involved fans having to make numerous leaps in logic that only had the payoff of Shane falling off the side of the cell through a table.
Building up an entire match to hide one performer’s declining skills and risk another performer’s life with what is largely a stunt intended to pop the live crowd, is a step too far.
#3 Braun Strowman Deserves The Spotlight By Himself
Braun Strowman is being ideally positioned to be the next killer “big man” in World Wrestling Entertainment. However, there’s good reason to believe that in The Big Show and The Undertaker, there’s two larger-than-life and iconic performers he must face off with and defeat in order to be considered a sizable superstar on the level of the titantic twosome.
For as much as traditional pro wrestling booking states that in order to replace a star you have to beat them, Braun Strowman, if he’s “the next big man,” may not need to be in the ring with Big Show or Undertaker.
On this past week’s Raw, we’ve already seen that Strowman is neither as tall or as in-shape as the Big Show. At the Royal Rumble, we will likely learn that he’s not as over as The Undertaker, too.
The work that Strowman’s done in feuds with the likes of Sami Zayn to improve being wasted in less than five minutes? Let’s hope that does not occur.
#4 WWE Is A Much Different Company Than It Was 27 Years Ago
The Undertaker debuted at Survivor Series 1990, at a time wherein the walking undead undertaker as a gimmick made sense. As time and eras have passed, we’ve seen Undertaker’s presentation evolve with the times, to include everything from being the devil incarnate, a Southern biker, and now some sort of grizzled gunfighting cowboy.
However, this is now a gunfighter who has lost a major battle, and continues now to eke out victories and stand semi-bowed instead of being a proud warrior of a man. Yes, there’s worth in presenting The Undertaker in this manner, but at some point, age and time become more of the story than wrestling a match, which in many ways overshadows the Undertaker’s legacy of amazing matches.
This does not need to occur.
#5 WWE Needs A New “Sheriff”
There’s a good belief that The Undertaker’s greatest worth to WWE is as the “sheriff” of the territory; the gatekeeper to stardom who destroys all in his path using a mix of size, power, guile and technique.
This is a perfectly fine notion if it’s being done by a 30 or 40-year-old man who lacks significant injuries and hasn’t been demonstrably defeated in a way that many people thought his character “dead.” A “double-dead Deadman” is a thing that is need not exist on the roster because it further exposes an already-exposed product.
There’s an idea that needs to be considered of maybe having someone “bury” The Undertaker forever in a TV segment heading into Wrestlemania, and in some way “gaining his power” and thus elevating themselves “further” up the card.
Someone like a Kevin Owens doing this and then being able to breathe a second round of life into an extended title run could be something worthy of consideration.
In final, Mark Calaway has wrestled in four separate decades. Unlike the smaller, more compactly built and grappling-driven Lou Thesz who wrestled in seven separate decades, The Undertaker is seven feet tall and wrestles a high impact style.
Therefore, the wear and tear on his body is markedly different than any other man who’s wrestled for this length of time. While wanting the Undertaker to wrestle is understandable, holding him to a Thesz-like standard is likely to do him infinitely more harm than good.
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