Backstage News On Why Undertaker/Khali Was Cancelled

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

In what may be a first, WWE pulled a major match off a major pay-per-view because one of the wrestlers is considered to be so terrible from an in-ring ability standpoint.

The Great Khali's last man standing match was pulled from SummerSlam and added to this week's edition of SmackDown because the decision was made that the only way the match would air would be if they could edit it before anyone sees it. Khali's house show matches with The Undertaker were considered to be awful and they decided against risking to air it live on pay-per-view. Basically, people with the mindset "the house show matches were so bad, why stink up a good show?" won out against people who wanted it to take place at SummerSlam. Also note, Khali's match with The Undertaker on this week's edition of SmackDown was heavily edited.

The Great Khali's long-term future in WWE is currently in limbo. He may have wrestled his last match in WWE at last Tuesday's SmackDown tapings. Then again, nothing has been said about him getting released. What is known is that his scheduled matches with The Undertaker have been scratched from all immediate house shows after SummerSlam. Internally, the general feeling is that they can still get some use out of him due his size, but they can't risk him doing anything live. Due to that notion, his push may be drawing to a close because blow-off matches typically take place on PPV shows and WWE is too scared to have him wrestle on live television.