THE UNDERTAKER has revealed he found it ‘difficult’ not being a part of WrestleMania for the first time since his retirement. The 56-year-old, real name Mark Calaway, retired from the WWE at Survivor Series last year after 30 years with the company. And while he acknowledges it was the right time to step away from […]
THE UNDERTAKER has revealed he found it ‘difficult’ not being a part of WrestleMania for the first time since his retirement.
The 56-year-old, real name Mark Calaway, retired from the WWE at Survivor Series last year after 30 years with the company.
And while he acknowledges it was the right time to step away from the business, he also insists it was incredibly tough watching WrestleMania without featuring in a match-up himself.
Speaking to Digital Spy, he said: “I was fine all the way until that first ballyhoo of fireworks.
“Fortunately, I was home, which made it a little easier, but going through the show and watching, I kept thinking to myself, ‘You should be there.’
“I had to work through that. It’s a little difficult once WrestleMania starts. I started second-guessing myself. So much of my history revolves around WrestleMania.
“There was a bit of an emotional tug of the heartstrings watching this year, but it’s time for me to step aside and let this next generation have the reins and go where they’re going to go.”
The Undertaker is notorious for his undefeated WrestleMania streak which ran from 1991 to 2014.
After 21 victories in a row, the run came to an end in 2014 when he was beaten by Brock Lesnar.
He appeared five more times at Mania between 2015 and 2020, before his final appearance last year where he defeated AJ Styles.
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He added: “About halfway through that night with AJ, I knew that was it for me.
“It became really obvious throughout the course of that night that I could no longer physically do things the way I want to do them, and I refuse to ever shortcut our fans.”
The Undertaker is widely regarded as one of the greatest WWE superstars of all-time and has competed in more Wrestlemania matches than anyone else with a startling 27 appearances to his name.
