On Wednesday, a photo of The Undertaker [which can be seen below] on crutches started to make the rounds. Of course, everybody knows that “The Deadman” is pretty beat up, but the recent photo raised a ton of questions, with the most obvious one being, will he ever wrestle again?
Recent photo of #TheUndertaker on crutches. #WWE #Raw #Smackdown #Undertaker #Wrestlemania pic.twitter.com/lWCDSUhDbj
— Pro Wrestling Worldwide ? (@ProWrestlingWW) October 12, 2016
Following this past year’s WrestleMania 32 , the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that The Undertaker told WWE chairman Vince McMahon that his professional wrestling career was over, and we haven’t seen “The Deadman” on WWE television ever since. In fact, he was even pulled from the post- WrestleMania European tour that he was advertised to appear on.
On Thursday’s Wrestling Observer Live , Dave Meltzer gave a bit of an update on The Undertaker, where he said that we might have seen “The Phenom’s” last WWE match.
“Obviously [The Undertaker] is hurt. He was on two crutches not just one. People are always asking about Undertaker at WrestleMania, and usually when it’s October, the usual word is when I ask people who are friends with him are like ‘he ain’t coming back this year, he’s done.’ And then around the end of November it’s like ‘well, maybe he’s gonna come back,’ and then by December he’s got a match. That’s the cycle every single year. Put it this way, I looked at those pictures and I thought, man, he may be done for real this time.”
Meltzer also noted that Undertaker had told Vince McMahon that he was planning to retire in the past, and he’s always agreed to come back. So, him telling McMahon that he’s done is nothing new.
The Undertaker was originally scheduled to wrestle John Cena at this past year’s WrestleMania , but his opponent was changed to Shane McMahon due to Cena needing to undergo shoulder surgery. Of course, Cena did end up appearing at the event, and while he did get physical, he still wasn’t cleared to wrestle.
There’s been a rumor going around that if The Undertaker does wrestle again, he’ll end up wrestling John Cena. For right now, though, it looks like WWE is building towards Cena winning his sixteenth WWE World Heavyweight Championship next spring, so unless The Undertaker somehow ends up being the WWE Champion before WrestleMania 33 , he’ll end up wrestling someone else.
On a recent episode of the WWE Network show, Legends with JBL , Sting, who officially retired earlier this year during his WWE Hall of Fame speech, admitted that he’s putting off neck surgery because he’s still hoping to get in the ring with The Undertaker, which is a match that WWE fans have been wanting to see for several years.
Since Sting signed with WWE in the fall of 2014, Vince McMahon hasn’t been too high on putting him in the ring with The Undertaker, simply because both men are over 50 years old. So we were never really close to getting Sting vs. Undertaker at any point, and now that Sting needs neck surgery, we probably won’t ever see the match.
WOL: TNA lawsuit, Undertaker on crutches, Dave Meltzer interview, more! https://t.co/2KDHjH05vQ pic.twitter.com/M9xBjXlXpw
— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) October 13, 2016
The Undertaker hasn’t missed a WrestleMania event since WrestleMania 16 back in the spring of 2000 and even though his streak has been broken for a little over two years now, WWE fans still love seeing him appear on WWE’s grandest stage.
If The Undertaker decides to wrestle again, there are a ton of fresh opponents out there for him, as guys like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Finn Balor have all said that they would love to go one on one with “The Deadman” at WrestleMania 33 .
WWE’s annual Royal Rumble event is scheduled to take place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and, according to Cageside Seats , WWE is trying to get The Undertaker to appear on the show. If he doesn’t, that could mean that he’s actually done with wrestling.
[Featured Image by WWE ]