Following his WrestleMania XXX defeat at the hands of Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker's future is very much in question -- after all, common sense would dictate that the end of the streak marks the end of his career, and the loss functions as a passing of the torch. Furthermore, we all know how banged up Undertaker is -- it's an incredible testament to the man's toughness that he's kept going this long. Still, whether he ever wrestles again or he doesn't (I'm betting he will), this is far from the first time his retirement has been discussed. Years of working a physical, athletic style on a large, injury-susceptible frame caught up to the Deadman quickly. According to Dave Meltzer in his coverage of the loss to Lesnar, impending retirement first came up in 1997. The following year, 'Taker injured his ankle (aggravating it jumping down from the hole Mick Foley burst in the roof of the Hell in a Cell), and bone chips kept plaguing him, leading to more speculation of his calling it a career. His "American Bad-Ass" character change was rumored to be 'Taker going out on "his terms," and his return to the Deadman persona was thought to be "one last run." Still, he kept going, with the 2007-2010 period seeing some of the best work of his entire career. A shoulder injury in late 2010 ended his full-time career, but since then, he's still made it to every WrestleMania, usually stealing the show. Where he goes now is unknown, but he damn sure shouldn't be counted out.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
