8 Signs The Undertaker Is Retiring At WrestleMania 33
Is it time for The Deadman to hang up his hat?
Unlike a lot of older WWE Superstars, fans have not been clamouring for The Undertaker to retire all these years, although it’s fair to say we’ve been expecting it for some time. Many assumed his loss to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX would signify both the death of the streak, and the death of The Undertaker’s wrestling career, marking Brock Lesnar as ‘the man who killed the Deadman.’
That didn’t happen, and The Undertaker returned to the following two WrestleManias to beat Bray Wyatt and Shane McMahon respectively. But this year feels… different. While a lot of The Undertaker’s feud with Roman Reigns has thus far centred on their battle for dominance over some sort of imaginary back garden, it has low key been teasing that The Ultimate Thrill Ride may indeed be The Undertaker’s last ride.
After an unparalleled career spanning thirty years, numerous character revamps, and several all-time classic matches, nobody could begrudge The Undertaker for riding off into the sunset in front of 75,000 screaming Orlando fans. If WrestleMania 33 is to be The Undertaker’s final WWE performance, then WWE have been doing a good job of foreshadowing his potential impending retirement, whilst not making it seem too obvious.
8. He's Fighting Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar’s ending of ‘The Streak’ was supposed to make The Beast Incarnate look like, well, a beast. It did a pretty bang up job – before his various run-ins with Goldberg, Brock was positioned as pretty much the most unstoppable man on the roster, as though he’d taken on some sort of supernatural qualities of his own after beating The Deadman.
When Bray Wyatt was announced as The Undertaker’s opponent the following year, he seemed like a less imposing foe, but his cult leader gimmick had a lot of fans guessing that Taker would finally pass the torch down to The New Face of Fear. He didn’t.
Then there’s Shane McMahon, a person who could never believably defeat The Undertaker in a one-on-one match, let alone a Hell in a Cell.
But Roman Reigns is a different kettle of fish. A large part of his unpopularity is down to his ‘superman booking’, the fact that WWE constantly pushes Reigns as an underdog, but one who never really loses, and can rarely be put down by multiple high-powered finishers. He’s strong, and in terms of current booking, he’s one of a small number of names on the roster who could believably best The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Taker has always said he wants to retire the ‘old school’ way, going out on his back to usher in a new generation. Like it or not, Roman Reigns does fit that bill.