With FastLane this weekend and all the hints that Bray Wyatt has been dropping, I fully expect to see the return of one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, The Undertaker. He’s a legend. He’s an Icon. He’s a tentpole character of the WWE. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling.
It is time for The Undertaker to go away.
Here are the last six WrestleMania matches the Undertaker has been in:
2009 - Shawn Michaels (W-pinfall)
2010 - Shawn Michaels (W-pinfall)
2011 - HHH (W-submission)
2012 - HHH (W-pinfall)
2013 - CM Punk (W-pinfall)
2014 - Brock Lesnar (L-pinfall)
All of these matches were five-star but the last one was special, not because of the wrestling but because of the result. The 2014 loss to Brock Lesnar was the breaker of his never-to-be-repeated WrestleMania win streak and left him at 21-1. As is tradition in wrestling, he went out on his back and put over the next generation of performer. This is how I want to remember The Undertaker.
A few months ago, my WrestleCast (www.worldofbear.com) podcast partner Fred, started reporting rumors and theories that The Undertaker was going to indeed return and most likely feud with the next “dark anti-hero” Bray Wyatt. The idea was nice but the last time I saw Taker was as he limped backstage after being demolished by Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30. He literally was taken to the hospital because of injuries he’d suffered in that match. Now, a year later he was going to return? For what? Why? To whose benefit?
The hardest thing for anyone to know is when to step down. Be it an actor, an athlete, a titan of industry or the guy working a 9-to-5 for the past 40 years. Of course there are factors such as health and wealth which will dictate what decisions one will make. I assume The Undertaker is financially secure. Keep in mind he WALKS into the Hall of Fame, instantly receives a generous WWE Legend’s contract and still gets royalties from Undertaker merchandise (for god’s sake one of the best known monster trucks is named after him). I think he’s set as far as money, although if his financial decisions are on par with the decision to tattoo his now ex-wife’s name across his throat… maybe he needs the money?
Regardless, it is the right time for The Undertaker to officially retire. Sure he can wear the costume and have an awesome entrance but once he makes it to the ring, takes off the coat and the hat, all that’s left is an old man. What will losing to Bray Wyatt do for either of them? Nothing. If he beats Bray Wyatt, he’ll hurt Bray’s push. Is the WWE going to start a new streak for The Undertaker? Can they drag “The Deadman’s” corpse out one more year in 2016 to fight an only slightly less rigor mortis’d Sting?
The WWE’s case for keeping him around and active would be that if even for one night a year, The Undertaker vs (fill in the blank) is an attraction. But the WWE doesn’t need to sell one night PPV’s anymore. They need to sell storylines. Sure, there may be a pop for people to purchase the WWE network in March to get WrestleMania but the WWE’s model should / is changing to long form storytelling that doesn’t need to culminate at the PPV. This is a longer and much different conversation but by this time next year, if the WWE is still booking their storylines to culminate at a random Sunday each month, their network will be failing. Maybe WrestleMania will be the last bastion of singular event shows each year, which is fine. I love a big event that pays off. I would also love to see five good feuds which built up to a defining match that resulted in a 30 - 60 minute special each night of a “special event week.” Take FastLane’s card for instance. There are five matches listed on WWE.com. Instead of a one night event, spread FastLane out all week on the Network. Once completed, you could still put the matches into a television showcase and air it on Sunday. Again, this is a longer topic but to the point regarding The Undertaker, his value as a spectacle is diminishing. If he can’t help build up a story and is ineffective in-ring, then why is he there?
For the past five years, The Undertaker’s value has been in “The Streak” and now there is no streak. The WWE needs to move on and focus it’s efforts into building Bray Wyatt into the next Undertaker and not be buried by the burden of wrestling against The Undertaker. On their respective Stone Cold Steve Austin podcast appearances, HHH and Mr. McMahon both said that many of the younger wrestlers needed to find their voice and show greater initiative. It’s very hard to do that when you’ve still got characters like Kane, Big Show and The Undertaker filling up valuable slots on RAW and PPV’s.
One of the unspoken secrets to the WWE’s success during the Monday Night Wars was that most of the older talent went to WCW. This cleared the way and forced the WWE to push their younger stable into the spotlight. Stone Cold, The Rock, Mankind and even HHH were thrown into the main event with the likes of The Undertaker, HBK and Bret Hart because they WWE needed new stars to compete with WCW’s hired guns (such as Hogan, Hall, Nash, etc.). If you look back to the Attitude Era, you’ll find just as many wrestlers that didn’t take off as the ones that found success. The difference then is that the WWE was forced to test these guys and luckily they found some diamonds. You can’t tell me that in the field of Wyatt, Ziggler, Bryan, Barrett, Rusev, Ambrose, Rollins, Reigns, Miz, Sandow, Cody Rhodes, Kofi, Big E, Cesaro, Sheamus, etc. and countless NXT potential, there aren’t a few mega-superstars to be found? Someone has to step up to the Cena / Lesnar / RKO level in the next few years or the WWE, and their aging stars, will look like a scene from The Walking Dead. I’ve seen flashes of greatness from their current roster and NXT-ers. The next generation of Superstar is out there.
Sadly, the future doesn’t involve The Undertaker as an active character. Learn from The Patriot’s coach Bill Belichick; it’s better to cut or trade a player a year too soon than a year too late. As shocking as it was when The Undertaker lost at WM30 and as upset as all the fans were, WM31 isn’t going to be any less special because the “The Streak” isn’t a part of it.
And fear not, Mark Calaway is not actually dead. He’s living a better life than you and I somewhere in Texas.
Until next time…
WK
@wkbear
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