Livid Vince McMahon Took WWE Title Off The Undertaker

The Undertaker has recalled falling foul of Vince McMahon’s famous temper.

Despite being a fixture in the main event picture for much of his 30-year career with WWE, The Undertaker was only World Champion on seven occasions. The third of these runs began at Over The Edge 1999 but lasted just 36 days before The Deadman lost the gold back to Steve Austin.

Speaking on his new podcast, Six Feet Under, ‘Taker recalled being told by McMahon that he was going to lose the title, and in the process, the boss made it clear it was because he felt his champion was underperforming.

Vince [Vince McMahon] pulls Stone Cold, Triple H, Kane, and me into a room. He’s livid, beside himself. ‘Something is not working. Something is not working right. We have to change some things. Steve, you’re going over Taker tonight. We’re switching the title back on TV.’ I think we did it live on TV, if I’m not mistaken, maybe a pay-per-view, I’m a little foggy.

I put Steve back over, he takes the belt. I’m not sure what else changed for the other guys. One of them was the Intercontinental Champion, one may have been the US Champion. Nothing changed for them, the only thing that was changing was me dropping this title back to Steve.

“[Vince] always liked a babyface champion. I’m thinking, ‘These are guys that I respect the absolute most and now we’re in a room together and it’s basically all falling on me.’ ‘Dude, you’re not getting it done as champ, you’re dropping the strap tonight. You two, get your shit together too or you’re next.’

That’s how it went down and that’s how I left that room. I remember Triple H coming up to me and he goes, ‘You didn’t deserve that.’ ‘You know what, I don’t think I did deserve that,'”

Editors note: The United States Title was still part of WCW at the time of the incident, and Jeff Jarrett was Intercontinental Champion until July.

The Undertaker Reveals Original Plans For WWE Retirement

During a different episode, the WWE Hall of Famer looked back on the final match of his career with AJ Styles. While The Undertaker was happy to go out with the Boneyard Match, he revealed the pair were originally meant to settle their differences in the ring.

H/t to Fightful