WWE Hall Of Famer The Undertaker Looks Back On His Final Match
After 30-plus years in between the ropes, WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker capped off his professional wrestling career in unique fashion as he faced AJ Styles in WWE's first-ever Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the WrestleMania 36 matches were pre-filmed from the empty WWE Performance Center. The Boneyard match, however, utilized a more cinematic approach, with filming taking place in an abandoned warehouse and cemetery in the Orlando, Florida area. On a recent episode of "Busted Open Radio," The Undertaker looked back on what would be his final match.
"When we did the cinematic match, it was almost a relief because obviously that match originally was supposed to happen in a stadium. It was going to be a regular match," Undertaker said. "And in my mind I was thinking, 'Okay, this isn't Shawn [Michaels], but man, this is really close to Shawn.' And I was thinking about the match that we could have, and the only reason I was going to have that match was because I had never worked with AJ. Then obviously the pandemic happens, and now I'm thinking about having this match in an empty warehouse. It was really deflating. Then the cinematic aspect comes in there, and I'm like, 'Wow, okay. Now we have something. Now we have an opportunity to do something special and something that people have never seen.'"
Unlike the Firefly Fun House match between John Cena and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, the cinematic contest between Styles and Undertaker would only end when one of the competitors was fully buried into a grave. And given that the Boneyard match yielded no disqualifications, Styles' allies Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attempted to provide him with some leverage. Ultimately, those efforts were unsuccessful, as The Undertaker buried Styles with the aid of a tractor for the win.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.