The Undertaker Wanted To Face TNA Star Instead Of Goldberg In 2019
A TNA star almost landed a high-profile match with The Undertaker.
By the time 2018 rolled around, The Undertaker was in search of redemption. The Deadman was coming off a disastrous outing at WrestleMania 33 against Roman Reigns, after which he left his famous black hat and gloves in the ring.
Despite initially intending to retire, ‘Taker wrestled a short match against John Cena at WrestleMania 34. He continued to be active through the rest of the year as he searched for a fitting goodbye, but things went off the rails at Crown Jewel in November when he teamed with Kane against Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
While looking to bounce back at Super ShowDown in June 2019 against Goldberg, ‘Taker narrowly escaped serious injury during a Jackhammer — the last of several unfortunate botches.
Since then, he’s often expressed regret while looking back at the match, and it seems, at least at one stage, the WWE legend wasn’t even meant to face Goldberg.
During a recent ‘Evening with…” event with Inside The Ropes, TNA star Elijah, formerly known as Elias in WWE, said he was originally in line to face ‘Taker in Saudi Arabia. He said that once the veteran got backstage after the infamous match, he even reiterated that he shouldn’t have wrestled Goldberg.
“Taker said something similar to that when he was walking back after that match (against Goldberg). Like, ‘Should’ve been you,’ and it’s like, yeah. Yeah. I agree. But what can you do?”
The Undertaker Reflects On WWE “Train Wreck”
On a recent episode of his podcast, The Undertaker described his match at Crown Jewel as a “train wreck” while discussing the chaos with Shawn Michaels.
The match is remembered by fans as something of a disaster, littered with botches and miscommunications from the get-go. Triple H tore his pec early on, and then, to cap things off, Kane’s mask and wig fell off.
To make matters worse, the match was Shawn Michaels’ first since retiring at WrestleMania 26 eight years earlier.
H/t to Fightful