Reason The Undertaker 'sacrificed' WWE star before Randy Orton WrestleMania match revealed: "That's old school"

Randy Orton has butted heads with several big names in WWE, but his WrestleMania 21 clash against The Undertaker is still considered one of his best matches. Interestingly, The Deadman had ‘sacrificed’ a fellow superstar on the roster to send a grave warning to The Viper.

The man in question is none other than Canadian pro wrestler Rene Dupree. He recently appeared on the ‘Rewind, Recap, Relive’ podcast where he talked about his role in the feud between The Undertaker and Randy Orton.

“Well, it was the build-up for him and he was wrestling (Randy Orton) that year. And the one guy on the roster that looked similar to Randy at the time was me. I remember Taker telling me, yeah, they wanted Spike. And I'm thinking, yeah, Spike. He was right. It was one guy that kind of resembles Randy as far as tall, young, good body, dark. You know what I mean? So it was me. So that took me out of WrestleMania that year. But, you know, Taker being such a big star within that company and being a, I was still a part of that WrestleMania angle because I helped build the story for them to wrestle. You understand? Yeah. So I'm still a part of it somewhat.”

Notably, while he was just chosen for the job due to his looks, Rene Dupree seemed very proud of his work in the Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker storyline. When asked if he saw their match, he denied it and revealed why he missed it.

“I don't think I watched that match... I had a neck collar, dude. I wore that f***ing thing the whole week. That's old school, baby.”

While Dupree was in high spirits despite being moved off-air to maintain the kayfabe of the sacrifice, Randy Orton wasn’t so elated at the time. In fact, The Viper began the preparation of his iconic match on the wrong foot.

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When Randy Orton messed up before WrestleMania 21

The WWE Universe was completely captivated by the next big match of The Undertaker with The Apex Predator Randy Orton back in 2005. Backstage, however, The Viper was dealing with a very big problem. He had just missed the rehearsal for the match, and he had to enter the ring the next day on April 3. Moreover, he also kept The Undertaker, several match officials, and his father, Bob Orton Jr., waiting.

Orton recalls that moment as one of the biggest regrets of his WWE career. The next day, he fought a 14-minute match with The Undertaker and lost to him, giving The Phenom his 13th straight WrestleMania victory.

The Viper was constantly beating himself up about missing the rehearsal, but fortunately, it didn’t impact the match. Since then, Orton has been more mindful and disciplined and also imparts the same values to fresh faces in WWE.