What’s the story?
Several industry insiders believe that the Undertaker wanted to lose to a younger talent in his retirement match at WrestleMania 33. According to PWTorch, Vince McMahon and the Undertaker went over several prospective opponents for him before Mania and ended up choosing Roman Reigns.
In case you didn’t know...
The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) competed in his last match at WrestleMania 33 and was defeated by Roman Reigns.
Taker made his professional wrestling debut back in 1984 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest performers in the history of the sport.
The heart of the matter:
If one is to believe the rumour mill, the Undertaker had put forth a non-negotiable demand to Vince McMahon that he would wrestle at Mania but this would be his retirement match in which he would only ‘put over’ a younger talent.
Secondly, Roman Reigns was not McMahon’s initial choice who contemplated about giving the opportunity to either John Cena or AJ Styles instead.
Also read: WWE News: The Undertaker and Jim Ross shared an emotional moment backstage at WrestleMania 33
Nevertheless, Cena himself is alleged to have lobbied extensively for his WrestleMania proposal segment that led to WWE re-booking him alongside Nikki Bella in the mixed-gender tag team match against the Miz and Maryse.
Besides, AJ Styles, who much like Cena, was 39 years of age heading into WrestleMania 33, had also been considered as a possible opponent for Taker but was eventually ditched in favour of the 31-year-old Reigns.
What’s next?
The WrestleMania 33 matchup against Reigns is reportedly the Deadman’s last match. On the other hand, Reigns will most likely face ‘The Monster Among Men’ Braun Strowman at the RAW brand’s Payback pay-per-view on April 30th.
Author’s take:
Just like WWE fan and UFC Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier stated, the Undertaker is truly an old-school guy in every sense of the word.
Taker went out like a true pro-wrestler, that is, by ‘putting over’ a young talent in his farewell performance. Now, considering the fact that Styles and Cena are both pushing forty, the WWE higher-ups made the right move by having Taker lose to the much younger Reigns.
For better or worse, the Big Dog is here to stay and given enough time and proper booking, the WWE might just be able to make him the star that they’ve always wanted him to be.
That apart, kudos to Mark William Calaway for all the amazing performances over the years - Thank You Taker!
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