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If there's one WWE Superstar whose legacy will never be rivaled, it is The Undertaker. In the last 30 years, The Phenom has entertained us, scared us, and made us cry as well as laugh (yes, The Deadman has had his fair share of funny moments in the wrestling business).
However, it looks as if The Undertaker has finally decided to call it quits. In the final episode of "Undertaker: The Last Ride", an epic WWE Network docuseries centered on The Phenom's last few years, the seven-time World Champion indicated that he had no desire to get back in the ring again.
The Undertaker last wrestled at WrestleMania 36 in the first-ever Boneyard match. Considering how incredible the said match was, it won't surprise us if the Demon of Death Valley decided to walk into the sunset right after that.
So, if The Undertaker has indeed retired from in-ring action, that means he won't be wrestling a number of top Superstars who wanted to lock horns with The Deadman before his retirement. And here is a list of five such Superstars.
#5 Seth Rollins
The Monday Night Messiah is undoubtedly one of the greatest professional wrestlers in WWE today. The fact that he strives to complement his solid in-ring style with gripping promo work makes him a "Superstar" on all fronts.
When it comes to locking horns with The Undertaker, Seth Rollins, along with his Shield stablemates, took on The Phenom, Kane, and Daniel Bryan in a six-man tag team match back in 2013.
During an interview with Bandwagon Asia in 2017, Rollins reflected on his "tremendous experience" of sharing the ring with The Undertaker in 2013. For those of you unaware, The Undertaker teased retirement after losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33. On this and a potential singles match against The Undertaker, Rollins had the following to say:
"Is the Undertaker retired? I don't know, the way he left the arena at WrestleMania 33 it would look like it, but you never know in this business. If he's up for another match at WrestleMania I'd love to be his opponent."
Even though he has squared off against some all-time greats such as John Cena, Triple H, Sting, etc. it looks as if Seth Rollins' desire to face The Undertaker in a one-on-one match will remain unfulfilled.
#4 Samoa Joe
The Samoan Submission Machine can't seem to catch a break lately. His career, over the last few years, has been severely impacted by injuries. Currently, the former United States Champion is serving as a commentator on RAW. But interestingly, injuries couldn't stop Samoa Joe from envisioning a hard-hitting dream bout with The Undertaker.
For the first time since Extreme Rules 2019, the Phenom returned to action earlier this year at WWE Super ShowDown where he replaced an injured Rey Mysterio as the final entrant in a gauntlet match for the "Tuwaiq Trophy". The Undertaker ended up winning that match by pinning AJ Styles, and a feud between the two was initiated.
Around that time, Samoa Joe was recovering from a concussion and a few days later, he would be suspended for 30 days for violating WWE's wellness policy. During his time off, Joe expressed interest in a match against The Undertaker, even though he stated that timing may not allow it to go down. He told SportsBible:
"And for the timing not to match up where me and the 'Deadman' could have crossed one another in the ring and got down, it's probably one of the unfortunate checks that I won't be able to mark off my bucket list."
It's unfortunate that we never got to see a Samoa Joe vs The Undertaker match. With The Phenom now ready to hang up his boots for good, it's everything but confirmed that the showdown in question would never take place.
#3 Braun Strowman
After floundering in the upper mid-card division for over two years, the Monster Among Men finally won his first World Championship at WrestleMania 36. But what if I tell you that becoming a Universal Champion wasn't the biggest thing that Braun Strowman could have achieved? Apparently, the "Greatest Royal Rumble Match" winner stated last year that he wanted to retire The Undertaker.
In an interview with Express Sport last year, Strowman revealed that not only did he want to get in the ring with The Undertaker but he also wanted to write the final chapter of the Deadman's legendary career. The former Wyatt Family member said:
“Just the opportunity to share the ring with The Undertaker but maybe be the final hammer to nail the coffin shut at The Deadman, The Monster is up to the challenge. I don’t know how many more retirement matches he can have. I can put him out to pasture like I did to Big Show.”
While The Undertaker and Braun Strowman have never faced off in a singles match, the latter was involved in The Phenom's program with Roman Reigns on the road to WrestleMania 33. The Monster Among Men was also a part of The Wyatt Family during their feud against the Brothers of Destruction in 2015.
#2 Drew McIntyre
2020 is the year of Drew McIntyre and that goes without saying. The Scottish Terminator started off the new decade by winning the Royal Rumble match. He then proceeded to win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36. But do you know that the Scottish Psychopath was once considered to challenge The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak?
Yes, that's true. The current WWE Champion recently told WWE on BT Sport that he was in line to face the Deadman at WrestleMania 26 (2010). However, those plans were shelved. Even McIntyre admitted that he wasn't ready back then. Instead, we got the outstanding The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: Streak vs. Career match at the show, which is cherished by the WWE Universe to this day.
The Undertaker and Drew McIntyre ended up facing each other on a SmackDown episode in 2010, where the former defeated the Chosen One, who was still 24-years old at that time. The Phenom also got himself involved in Roman Reigns' feud with Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre last year.
While there's no denying that Drew McIntyre would want to face The Undertaker in singles action now that he is the face of the company, The Phenom may have already wrestled his last match. The current version of McIntyre squaring off against The Undertaker would surely have been a brawl for the ages.
#1 Sting
Topping this list is the WWE Hall of Famer, Sting, who has been clamoring for a dream match between himself and The Undertaker for the longest time. Fans have been asking for a dream match between the two since the Monday Night Wars era in which The Phenom as well as The Icon did their best to support their respective promotions stay afloat. Moreover, their Goth personas added to the appeal of a potential encounter between the two.
While The Undertaker proved his loyalty to WWF (now WWE), Sting did the same for WCW. After the latter went out of business, Sting was concerned about WWF not protecting his legacy and thus, he decided not to sign with the sports entertainment giant.
After wrestling for different promotions including TNA/Impact Wrestling, Sting signed with WWE in 2014. But in the words of The Icon, it wasn't possible to book a match between the two then. Sting told Fite TV.
"I mean, everyone knows who it would be. Taker, he’s the only guy I’d come out of retirement for now. No one else. We could just never get it together to make it happen. When I started talking to WWE he was booked with Brock and then I did the deal with Triple H and he had another feud going on at the time, so it was just one of those things we couldn’t make happen."
With The Undertaker announcing his retirement and Sting unable to get cleared to compete, there's absolutely no way this match could take place now, no matter how much the latter or us fans want(ed) it to happen. Even The Undertaker admitted recently that he no longer has the skill set to make the dream match as great as fans want it to be.
