The Undertaker Takes Back Controversial Comments

The Undertaker has walked back his previous controversial comments.

Shortly after hanging up his boots and black hat, The Undertaker drew the ire of fans and several wrestlers by claiming that the industry had gone soft. The WWE Hall of Famer spoke glowingly about the era in which he broke in, commenting that the roughness of the business helped make him who he was.

Speaking on his new Six Feet Under podcast, The Deadman has now gone back on those comments, explaining that wrestling didn’t get softer, it just got smarter — something he admits he didn’t really know how to deal with.

“It’s amazing now, all the protocols that are in place. We’re treated, today, like NFL players, NBA players, Major League Baseball guys. There are a list of protocols that you have to clear once you get injured before you get back in the ring. Back in the day, we didn’t have trainers that traveled with us. If somebody had a roll of white athletic tape, that was the trainer because he had something that you could possibly use. Nowadays, we have two or three trainers that travel, we have doctors that travel, concussion protocols.

I have to be honest, for me, it was hard to accept that at first because it was ‘ah man, everything is getting soft now.’ I appreciated that badge of honor, as silly as that sounds. It was hard for me to accept that. ‘Man, our business is getting soft.’ It wasn’t getting soft. It was getting smarter.

I’m glad that I was part of the generation that led into that because, today, you see the referee and they throw the X up, you know something bad has happened. You’re not going to get a bunch of blood in the ring. If someone is concussed or injured to a point, the match is going to stop and the athletes are going to be treated the way they need to be. Even with all that going on, the wear and tear and the risk of injury is crazy,”

The Undertaker Recently Returned To WWE TV

The Undertaker recently made a surprise return to WWE television, appearing at the end of the October 10th episode of NXT. On the show, the WWE Hall of Famer closed the show by delivering a Chokeslam to Bron Breakker before saluting the crowd with Carmelo Hayes.

H/t to Fightful