During a recent interview with Yahoo! News, The Undertaker commented on what’s next for him, Wrestler’s Court, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On why he doesn’t buy some wrestlers as legit WWE Champions: “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big guy big guy, but we have stretched the realms of reality sometimes with some of our champions,” Taker said. “When you see some of the guys that they have to work with, it’s like, OK, I get it, we’re sports entertainment — BUT. My whole goal when I went to the ring, I don’t care if you’re smart, not smart, whatever, when I’m in the ring I want people thinking, ‘This dude’s legit.’ And if I hit somebody, I want people in the front row going, ‘No, dude, he hit him. I don’t care what happened in the match before, he just lit him up. This is on.’ So it’s hard because we’re kind of starting to get a little bit of an influx of big guys, but it’s just kind of where– because there’s so much new talent, you can’t put the title on a guy just because he’s big. And back in the day, man, we had tons of big guys that could go and could carry it and do that. So it’s more of a guy that kind of fits in the middle of the road. A guy that you’ll believe working with a big guy but can also work with a little guy. But there are certain guys that have had — I won’t bring in names — but it’s just like, yeah, I just don’t buy it. I don’t buy this as my champion. And it’s not any fault of their own, other than they’re physically not able to match up against certain people.”
On what he sees for his post-wrestling career: “You know, that’s the pickle that I’m in right now, is trying to [figure] out what lane I want to take. I’ve been on the road for so long, that really doesn’t appeal to me, traveling and doing all that. I love to teach. Triple H and I have had many conversations about me working with the talent there at NXT, in Orlando at the PC. And I really enjoy that. And we’re just trying to figure out how it works because I’d have to come in and go out. I live in Texas. So I’m sure I will do more of that moving forward. I think there’s a lot of– I think I have a lot to offer. The product is changing and evolving, but I think there’s a lot of what I bring to the table that is still applicable to the product and these guys need to hear it and see it from somebody who has made it work. So we’ll see what happens there.”
On how he feels about The Last Ride: “Very proud, very proud of how it turned out. That part of it I was extremely happy with. But it took a while for me to let my guard down. Initially, to even give that access, I was fighting it… Funny story, I may have said it already at some point, but Dan Pucherelli, who is the main producer on this thing, they were following me backstage somewhere. And I turned around and I snapped at him and was like, ‘Why the hell are you guys filming me?’ And Dan is such a respectful guy, and he just kind of was like, ‘Um, you asked us to?’ ‘Oh, yeah, you’re right, you’re right. That’s my bad. Just give me a second.’ So, yeah, I had to work through a lot of it, especially talking about behind-the-scenes things. It just was so unnatural for me to do.
“Even today, as proud as I am of The Last Ride doc, it’s like, man, should I have done that? I have this internal struggle with myself, like, should I have just kept protecting the gimmick? Everybody has been very happy and receptive to it, but there’s also those ones that are like, ‘Oh man, you just ruined my childhood.’ And I laugh at it, but it’s like, man I should have just rode off into the sunset and not give anything. Obviously, I know that’s probably not the right thing to do, but that’s my nature just due to the fact of how I protected [the character and the business] for so long.”
On how wrestler’s court was used to handle serious infractions: “Well, it’s not always solved by beer but there’s– sometimes it was used to kind of send a message. Sometimes that message was, ‘Look, everyone’s kind of taking notice. You’re doing this. It’s not out of hand yet, but you really need to check yourself before it becomes an issue.’ And then there’s been other times where things have moved on a little bit further along and it’s, like, OK, you kind of need to be made an example of. And it’s bad because you get put in front of your peers and you really don’t have much of a choice other than to sit there and take it. And what happens is, what do you do with it from there? Do you change the habits that brought you to Wrestlers’ Court or do you wear a chip on your shoulder and then you become really ostracized and on your own? Which is not a good thing to be in the wrestling business. Really, it’s not.
But for the most part, it was a lighthearted way to say, ‘Hey, you’re screwing up. Check yourself and get back on the same page as everybody else.’ And then there were times where it’s like, ‘OK, this– you really need to be made an example of.’ Because some people think they can get away with certain things and that ain’t the way it works. And we all lead by example. But, yeah, there were a few occasions that the beer and the Jack — I took ‘em — it didn’t help the verdict any.”
