Ranking Every WrestleMania Retirement From Worst To Best

3. The Undertaker - WrestleMania 36

Triple H boots
WWE.com

For a while, it looked as though The Undertaker’s career was going to sputter to a depressingly familiar close. The aura around the Deadman had been diminished by a succession of terrible matches, proof once more that Father Time comes for us all, and any hope of ‘Taker going out on a high was dwindling. The Goldberg match was the cherry on top, albeit a particularly rotten cherry that might actually be a nugget of sh*t.

When whispers spread that ‘Taker was going to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36, the collective mind of the wrestling world went into overdrive. First of all; The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles? Rewind to 2006 and tell a wrestling fan the future. Secondly, the match was only being scheduled because AJ could bump around like a madman, allowing ‘Taker to do a whole lot of nothing before hitting a Tombstone, rolling his eyes into the back of his head and generally looking spooky, right?

Wrong. We got the Boneyard match. A cinematic masterpiece that was far better than it had any right to be, and a fitting end to one of the great pro wrestling careers of them all. Sure, Undertaker should have retired after the end of The Streak, or at worst he should have retired when he left his hat and gloves in the ring at the end of WrestleMania 33. The Boneyard match was an exercise in iconic imagery and incredible creativity, accentuated by a quartet of excellent performances (the Good Brothers more than played their part). Rest in Peace, and all that jazz.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.