While speaking on his podcast, The Deadman emphasizes that his approach to chair shots was consistent regardless of the opponent’s experience level or personal factors such as sexual orientation. He denies any malicious intent behind his chair shots and stresses that they were simply part of his wrestling style at the time.
“In my defense, go back and look at the whole scope of how I swing a chair. I hit everybody the same. There was no malice. There was no, like, ‘Oh, I’m going to try and hurt the greenhorn.’ If you look at all my chair shots when we could hit. Now granted, at the time, we did not know about CTE. And I came up in a generation where that’s how you swung a chair.”
Addressing rumors that he targeted Kanyon with a chair because of his sexual orientation, The Undertaker states that he was unaware of Kanyon’s sexuality until years later. He dismisses the notion that personal factors influenced his actions in the ring, reiterating that his chair shots were delivered in the same manner to all opponents.
Reflecting on the increased awareness of head injuries, The Undertaker acknowledges that if he were wrestling today, he would approach things differently. He emphasizes the importance of protecting oneself and others in the ring and acknowledges the need to adapt wrestling practices in light of the current understanding of head trauma.
”And I have been accused and I’m getting a little bit hot about it… I’ve been accused of smashing Kanyon with a chair because he was gay. I didn’t even know he was gay. I didn’t even know until like, years later.… I could careless…but there’s people out there that have created that rumor, ‘Undertaker smashed him.’ Undertaker swung the chair the way Undertaker swung a chair. I didn’t expect anything. If I swung a chair at somebody, the way I swung it, I’d expect the same one back. Watch me and Triple H. He beat the crap out of me. That’s just the way I learned how to swing a chair. [Bruiser] Brody hit me with a chair in my first match that I thought broke my spine. That’s just the way I came up. Knowing now what we do about head injuries. It’s a different deal. I would say, ‘Okay, make sure that you get your hands up.’”
