As seen on SmackDown’s epic 900th Anniversary show last week, The Undertaker laid down the challenge that if anyone cost Team SmackDown the win at Survivor Series then they would have him to answer to.
Whilst this doesn’t mean that The Deadman is ‘digging holes and taking souls’ on a full-time basis in WWE, it does mean that he is going to be making a few more appearances on WWE TV over the next few months, and many of the WWE Universe believe that this will lead up to his retirement at WrestleMania 33.
The Deadman has had a career that will never be matched, he had a streak at WrestleMania that will never be replicated and he is a surefire WWE Hall of Famer one day, but it seems that at the tender age of 51, it might be time for Undertaker to start thinking about life outside of wrestling.
For the past 25 years, Undertaker has known nothing but the wrestling business and in turn, the business has been much kinder to The Deadman than it has too many other stars who began their careers around the same time.
Undertaker has seen rosters of WWE talent come and go over the past two and a half decades and he’s still remained one of the biggest audience attractions that WWE have. No one knows what his secret is, but it seems that much like the man he portrays on WWE TV, the legend of the Undertaker is immortal.
The last few years have taken their toll on The Undertaker though and after his match with Brock Lesnar when the Undefeated Streak was finally broken at WrestleMania 30 back in 2014, Taker was reported to have collapsed backstage and was then taken to the hospital where he remained for most of the night.
This then happened again following his match with Brock Lesnar the following year at SummerSlam after Undertaker failed to learn his lesson and continued to bait The Beast.
Over the past few years Undertaker has appeared on WWE TV much more, following his return at Battleground in 2015, he then appeared at SummerSlam, Hell in a Cell and Survivor Series before making his triumphant return in the build up to WrestleMania 32 and defeated Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match at the event itself.
It is thought that Undertaker could now decide to challenge whoever costs SmackDown the match on Sunday night to a showdown at TLC in a few weeks time, before then making a rare appearance at The Royal Rumble in January and being a part of his final match at WrestleMania in April.
This will then allow WWE to set up three final matches for The Phenom and it will also allow the WWE Universe to squeeze every last drop out of the legend that many fans have watched their entire life and it will make it easier to say goodbye.
There have been retirement rumours for many years about Undertaker and this could well be another one of those, but given that WWE is setting up the John Cena versus Undertaker match that they have wanted for many years, it seems that there wouldn’t be a better place for Undertaker to decide to bow out. Undertaker has a family that he probably wants to spend more time with and he has his health to consider, which should make this a pretty easy decision.
John Cena and The Undertaker would put on one hell of a match and it would really be a match that Undertaker wouldn’t be able to top. Shawn Michaels said that you should always leave the WWE Universe wanting more, and Undertaker should take that into consideration. His feud with Brock was incredible but since then he hasn’t been a part of any big storylines.
The match with Shane McMahon made very little sense and was obviously just a filler because John Cena couldn’t be there. This is the match he should have had, this is the match we have all been waiting for and despite the fact that fans still hold out hope that Sting will one day face Undertaker in a one-on-one match, it has come to the point where Undertaker really should bow out.
Always leave the crowd wanting more.
