It has been four years since The Undertaker wrestled his final match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36. The bout which was originally supposed to be contested in a ring was changed to a cinematic match due to COVID-19 restrictions. Many fans still believe the Phenom deserved a sendoff in front of an audience but the legend himself seems to be content with it.
The Dead Man discussed the Boneyard match during the most recent episode of his podcast. Speaking about the bout being converted into a cinematic match, Taker said they were lucky to be able to shoot outside in the environment. He noted how due to the style of the match, they were able to tie in his real-life self with the different personas of his career:
“We got lucky in the sense that we got to go out of the Performance Centre. Because all the matches, Edge and I think Randy Orton, they had a hell of a match but it was so sterile because there was no reaction. We weren’t even pumping in noise at that point or didn’t have the virtual audience.
It was just them having a match in the Performance Centre, a killer match but there’s just no emotion to feed off of. That’s the thing that you live for. We were fortunate enough that we got to go off and had this cinematic match. It was cool for me because I got to kind of tie in all the characters in one.
I got to tie myself, the old school Undertaker, the American badass, everything got tied together for that match just due to the fact, the content of the interviews and the stuff that AJ was doing. That match was obviously supposed to be held in the ring. So we got really lucky that we were able to have those kinds of toys and the atmosphere.”
When Undertaker Realized This Was It
The Undertaker’s struggle with his health in the last few years of his career have been well documented. Before WrestleMania 36 there were multiple bouts Taker considered his last, only to be pulled back by the appeal of one more match. According to the Last Outlaw, the realization of the Boneyard match being ‘it’ finally hit him right before they filmed the climax of the fight:
“We were between takes. We were getting ready to, I think getting ready to go to the big finale off the top of the barn there. It was getting cold. We’ve been at it since I think we started filming around dark which was around eight o’clock. So now it’s four in the morning and my back, everything is locking up.
That’s like when I had [the realization], that’s when it finally clicked like ‘This is it dude. You’re not coming back after this one.’ It was just a moment; I was sitting there by myself and just a moment of pure clarity that just said ‘Shit. This is it right here’ Obviously I didn’t share it with anybody. We got through it.”
The WWE Hall of Famer was then asked if he feels content with the Cinematic match being the end of his wrestling journey. Taker mentioned how he always wanted to wrestle AJ Styles. He claimed that he is happy because of how poetic the bout turned out to be:
“I was happy because it was another thing like I was really fortunate enough to be involved in so many innovative matches and these crazy storylines and to be able to do this big cinematic type match which would add different layers to the product. I was happy with all that.
Deep down I always thought AJ was the Shawn Michaels of this generation. I wanted to have that kind of match that I had with Shawn with AJ in a ring, but I don’t think it would have been as poetic as what we were able to do.”
The retired legend later also revealed that AJ wanted to do even more things that would have put the spotlight on Taker in his final match. He refused however, because his body couldn’t handle it.
You can check out the full episode of the podcast below:
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