What’s the story?
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, The Undertaker was hurting really bad during the Royal Rumble match. He looked really out of shape and the reason for it is his problematic hip. As reported earlier, The Undertaker recently underwent a hip surgery and by the looks of it, The Phenom hasn’t recovered fully.
Here is what Dave Meltzer had to say about The Undertaker’s Royal Rumble performance and the injury:
So Undertaker, he was hurting real bad last night. I mean you could look at him and you could see that he wasn't in shape, and you know... it's the hip. You know... I mean there's nothing else to really say about it. He's got two months before WrestleMania. He had surgery. He came back to quick from surgery, I think that's pretty clear. But you know it was the time and they had a story... and the way that the match was structered he really didn't have to do a whole hell of a lot. But even that when he was backstage he was hurting a lot. So... yeah that's the gist of the thing with him.
In case you didn’t know....
The Undertaker entered the Royal Rumble match and lasted for 8:46, before being eliminated by Roman Reigns. The Phenom eliminated Goldberg, Baron Corbin, The Miz and Sami Zayn before he bowed out from the match.
Roman Reigns was the 30th entrant of the match, which elicited a negative reaction from all quarters. However, Randy Orton ended up winning the 30-man bout after he reversed a spear into an RKO and eliminated the Big Dog.
The heart of the matter
As was evident from the match, Undertaker looked really stiff while throwing punches and delivering his iconic moves. He looked in bad shape which subsequently hurt the impact of the match. Fans and critics were quite critical about his performance after the match and the teaser of a Reigns-Taker WrestleMania match made things worse.
As Meltzer stated, he looked to be pain backstage after the match, further increasing the ambiguity regarding his WrestleMania status.
What's next?
It seems Undertaker needs more time to recuperate after his hip surgery and WWE needs to be careful about using their biggest WrestleMania draw till date. Undertaker looks certain to wrestle at the show and if that’s the case, the next two months are going to be crucial in ensuring optimum fitness.
Sportskeeda's take
WWE have come way to far now to keep Undertaker out of the WrestleMania card and it would be a shame if we don’t see him in action. At the same time, in the condition that he is, all the fans can expect is a lacklustre match if he ends up facing Reigns, Cena or anyone from the roster.
Moreover, the risk of a serious injury also looms large. We hope he rehabilitates from the injury fast and works the speculated retirement match at WrestleManai 33.
