Throughout his legendary career in wrestling, The Undertaker has been known for his dedication and intensity in the ring. However, it seems that even The Deadman had his breaking point, and it almost led to a major WrestleMania match being cancelled.
After losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 in what was believed to be his final match, The Undertaker was determined to redeem himself with a better performance the following year. He was scheduled to face John Cena in a dream match at WrestleMania 34, but things didn’t go according to plan.
The Undertaker had trained for weeks to put on a classic match with Cena, hoping to make up for the previous year’s loss. However, when he arrived at the venue, he was informed by Vince McMahon that the match would only last about five minutes, and that he was going to squash Cena. The news didn’t sit well with The Deadman, who had prepared for a 45-minute war.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, The Undertaker recalled the conversation he had with McMahon regarding the Cena match. He was shocked to hear that the match would only last for five minutes and argued with McMahon, telling him that he was either going to do 30 minutes or not go out at all.
Despite The Undertaker’s protest, McMahon and Cena convinced him to go through with the shorter match. The Deadman was disappointed with the outcome, but he still put on a memorable performance for the fans.
“Yeah, I didn’t know it was gonna be short till I got there that day. So I’ve trained for a 45 minute war, right, and all right, here’s redemption. I’m gonna, man, I am going to light this place on fire, I felt good. And Vince calls me into his office and he goes okay, he says it’s just gonna be about five minutes, you know, you’re gonna squash him. I’m like, what? What? And, you know, Vince, he just thought that was the funniest [thing], because he knew how hard I’d been training. I mean, he, and I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I said, I’m going. I said, I’m doing 30 or I’m not going out. And he’s like, Mark, that’s not what we need. And I’m like no Vince.
I was like, Where’s John? Where’s he at? So John comes in he goes, Oh no. He goes I talked mad smack about you dude. Yeah, you need to beat me quick and get this over with. I’m like are you kidding me? It’s like we’ve never worked on pay-per-view are you [serious]? And this is WrestleMania, give me a break here. And they both, they ganged up on me. I was finally, I threw my hands up. I was like, I can’t believe [it], and Vince just thought that was the funniest thing because like I said, I trained like an animal, I was so unbearable at home. I mean, as far as my diet and the training and just all my protocols of you know recoup, rehab, I was a nightmare. I get there and yeah, five minutes. And it was like that was it.”
The Undertaker retired from wrestling in 2020, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021. As for John Cena, he will be returning to the ring at WrestleMania 39. Fans will be eagerly awaiting the match to see if it lives up to the hype.
