At WrestleMania 34, the undertaker will rejoin the ring, although his career seemed to have ended pretty much a year ago. With a 23-2 balance he meets the WWE figurehead of the last decade, John Cena. It’s the ultimate dream match on paper – and yet this pairing gave you the chance to create something unforgettable years ago.
Almost exactly one year ago, on April 2, 2017, one of if not the greatest careers in WWE/WWF history seemed to have ended. After his defeat against the current poster boy Roman Reigns, an undertaker, visibly drawn by the match and his emotions, needed plenty of time in the ring before he piled up his legendary collection of hat, coat and gloves in the centre of the ring and left the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, filled with over 75,000 people, to roaring applause.
In the meantime, the WWE cameras repeatedly captured visibly irritated and moved fans. After the undertaker had left the interior via the ramp, the lights went out in the hall and WrestleMania 33 ended with its trademark, the ring gong, which sounded three times as a farewell. It seemed like the final goodbye.
Reigns recently confessed on CBS Sports’ In This Corner podcast that the match did not live up to his expectations: “What made it so burdensome for me was the severity of the match,” he recalls.
“If I had played the undertaker 20 years ago, when he was in the middle of his career, it probably would have been different. But in the position I found myself in, it felt much more stressful and emotional than I had expected […].”
Reigns also explained that he felt his own performance was not good enough, but also emphasised that he enjoyed it and learned a lot in the one match.
While there was plenty of heat from the fans after the match for Roman, the Deadman went quiet. In the following almost nine months there were rumours at best about his damaged health and the possible admission to the Hall of Fame at the 2018 ceremony.
But at Raw25, the anniversary edition on January 22, 2018, the Undertaker suddenly reappeared and held a cryptic promo in the Manhattan Center.
Mark William Calaway, as the undertaker is known by his real name, recalled the legends that had fallen victim to him, the WWE scythe man, in the past: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Kane. Finally, while the audience chanted “One more match”, he explained that it was finally time for all his victims to rest in peace.
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler then puzzled at the commentator’s desk whether these statements were a warning to the WWE roster, but it could just as well be interpreted as a farewell speech. Not only because Calaway is now 53 years old – an almost biblical house number by WWE standards despite the rising average age in the squad – but rather because of the countless injuries suffered by the Houston, Texas-born Deadman during his now 34 year-long wrestling career.
His match against Reigns last year was already in the balance due to two hip operations. The health of the undertaker is not said to have improved since then. A general comeback and even more an appearance on WrestleMania 34 seemed unlikely.
Accordingly, the surprise was great when John Cena challenged the Deadman out of the blue in the March 12th issue of Raw to a match at the upcoming Showcase of the Immortals. Just one night earlier, the 16-time World Champion had won the SmackDown exclusive Pay-per-View Fastlane in a six-pack challenge.
If Cena had won, she would have broken the long record of the Nature Boy Ric Flair and would have gone down in history as the only 17-time WWE World Champion.
But instead WWE Champion AJ Styles successfully defended his title and Cena was without a WrestleMania match. The challenge to the Grim Reaper was sold as his desperate attempt not to miss WrestleMania.
A week later, he challenged the undertaker again and became more personal, which prompted his storyline brother Kane. The Big Red Machine gave Cena in the ring his trademark, the Chokeslam, whereupon the two faced each other in a no-disqualification match on 26 March, which Cena won. Afterwards he grabbed a microphone again, challenged the undertaker and called him a coward.
The storyline was also continued off the TV shows by showing an old, not very advantageous picture of Calaway with mask from his time as Texas Red at World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where he appeared from 1984 to 1988 via social media.
In the last issue of Raw before WrestleMania, Cena made a final attempt to evoke the legend – again without success. His closing words were clear: “You left your hat in the ring last year, Undertaker, but we all know you left your balls at home!”
Notwithstanding WWE’s untypical approach of leaving a big money match in the balance just before WrestleMania: Undertaker vs. Cena will definitely go up next Sunday.
The problem with the story: Although the ultimate dream pairing will create enthusiasm among the fans and bring a lot of attention to WWE, it is at least four years too late to keep the historical relevance it could have had.
This is not even primarily due to the undertaker’s health, but to the end of his legendary streak at WrestleMania 30, when Brock Lesnar unexpectedly taught him the first WrestleMania defeat of his career after 21 consecutive victories. 21-1 went down in history books, today his record is 23-2 – still fabulous, but the myth and the incomprehensible magic that once emanated from this unique winning streak has evaporated.
In addition, John Cena is no longer the invincible Superman he was portrayed during much of his impressive career. If Undertaker vs. Cena had been featured in WrestleMania 30 instead of Undertaker vs. Lesnar, it would have been the most anticipated, exciting match in history, but instead it is “just” the clash of two of the greatest, most deserved legends in wrestling history in – at best – the late autumn of their respective careers.
The result will have no long-term significance, the undertaker will be remembered as the greatest gimmick and perhaps even the greatest star in WWE/WWF history, while Cena will win at least the 17th World Title and thus immortalize herself in his own way. Both, like WWE, will have nothing missing from this approach – but the big question mark will remain forever: What would have happened if this match had been scheduled at least four years earlier?