The Undertaker Was Okay With “Deadman” Retirement In Front Of No Fans

Having his retirement in an empty arena didn’t bother the Undertaker that much.

Given that he has been respected and revered so much, many fans expected the Undertaker’s formal retirement to take place in front of the largest venue possible.

After all, there are so many die-hard and passionate Undertaker fans all over the world that WWE wouldn’t have had any trouble filling a venue of any size if the headlining event was “The Undertaker’s Final Farewell” or something along those lines.

Yet according to the man himself, having his final appearance as The Deadman in front of no fans worked out just fine.

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, ‘Taker explained that he had to retire in front of an empty arena to protect the Deadman character. Had he gone out in front of thousands of fans, he would’ve struggled as he did during his 2022 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“Even though I knew I was done, and it was over, like, I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t want to break down. I was still trying to protect that character. I was like, man if I’m out here in front of a live audience, like, I mean you saw how hard of a time I had at that at the Hall of Fame, and you know, that’s another year or two later, I would have been a wreck because I didn’t want to retire.

In my mind, in my heart, there’s nothing more that I want to do than get in the ring and perform. You know, it was my body that just said, ‘No, you’re done dude, We got everything out of this we can get, and it’s time for you to move aside and let these guys come up.’

So I would have been a wreck if there had been people there and, you know, all that kayfabing I did and protecting the character would have been destroyed in one promo. I would have been balling.”

The Undertaker has commented recently that he’s struggling to adapt to retired life, yet he knows that he won’t ever be in good enough physical shape to wrestle again. And yet, WWE seems to have found a role for him as he has been offered to act as a “coach” for the company’s next generation.

h/t WrestlingNews.co for the transcription