The Undertaker Reveals Winner For His Brock Lesnar WrestleMania Match Changed The Day Of The Show
Recently on The Broken Skull Sessions, WWE Hall Of Famer 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin sat down with The Undertaker for an episode entitled "One More Round". Among many other things, The Undertaker talked about shooting an angle with Brock Lesnar at UFC 121, and finding out the day of WrestleMania 30 that the finish of his match versus Lesnar was being changed.
The Undertaker, who recently pranked the WWE Universe, acknowledged that he appeared in an on-screen interview with the great Canadian MMA journalist Ariel Helwani following Lesnar's Heavyweight Championship loss at UFC 121 at the hands of Cain Velasquez to shoot an angle with Lesnar.
"Business, brother. Forward thinking? Yeah, absolutely," The Undertaker grinned. "I was there to pick a fight. Yeah, [Lesnar] knew I was there, but my whole mindset there was to pick a fight and start a buzz, and I knew it wouldn't take much. That was nothing. I mean, it was so simple, but it created such a buzz. It was a shame that it took so long to come to fruition."
Apparently, Lesnar was in on the angle from the beginning. 'The Beast Incarnate' had to go out of his way to confront The Undertaker at UFC 121. This clued 'The Deadman' into the fact that Lesnar was still willing to plant the seeds of a feud despite just losing UFC gold.
"What most people don't realize is that [Lesnar] went out of his way to come by me, and obviously, I'm thinking in my head, because I'm an athlete, right? And I have that mentality, like, 'okay, you just got stopped in the first round. Maybe this is going to be a wash, maybe I shouldn't do this. But Brock came that way, so I was like, 'okay, he's coming this way, so I'm going to shoot. I'm going to go with it and whatever happens, happens.' That was my mentality.
"I like UFC, but I like WWE, and if there is a chance you transition back to the WWE, I've got this laid out and it's ready to go." The Undertaker continued, "[the confrontation] was vaguely covered, but it was covered. I don't think he thought he had very many fights left in him anyway and maybe he would transition back to the WWE. And my train of thought is he's coming out of that world coming back into the WWE while I'm trying to position myself to be one of the first to get to him. He went out of his way to come my way, so I took advantage of the situation."
Going into WrestleMania 30, the plan was for The Undertaker for continue on in his winning ways at 'The Showcase Of The Immortals'; however, the booking changed sometime during the day of the event.
"When I got to the building that day, at that point, I was still going over, so the finish changed over the course of the day," The Undertaker revealed. "And I knew– I'm sitting in my dressing room and I'm all by myself, just in my head going over the stuff I want to get done, what I'm trying to get across. And I see Vince come in, and as soon as I see him walk through the door, I knew; I knew. I knew why he was coming because it doesn't happen, right? Vince doesn't come to you. It's usually if something needs to be done, he's going to send somebody, 'hey, Vince wants to see you. Can you see him in his office?'
"He came to my dressing room, and as soon as he walked through, I said, 'I know the finish is getting changed.' That's what I'm thinking in my head. And, of course, he laid it out and he goes, 'Mark, I'm going to put Brock over.' And I'm like, 'okay, are you sure?' And he goes, 'yeah, I think.' He was half way trying to sell me on it, 'if Brock doesn't beat you, who's going to beat you, right?' And I'm thinking, 'well, nobody, if the right guy doesn't come along.' Then, you don't break it. Then, you have this piece of history that would be cool. But always in my head, I always figured in this business, at some point, they're going to pull the card and ask for the favor, and that's just the way it is."
According to The Undertaker, he always hoped that if The Streak had to be broken, it would be done to elevate a talent to a new echelon. 'The Phenom' openly questioned whether WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was making the right call in having Lesnar, who was already made, end The Streak.
"I'd always looked at it like I wanted to save it for somebody who needed it. Like, if he were going to break [The Streak], I wanted to make sure that it was for the right person. I personally didn't think Brock needed it. Brock was made and beaten me. I don't know, I don't think it was going to elevate Brock that much more, so that was my only kind of question to Vince [McMahon]." The Undertaker added, "and that's all I questioned, 'is Brock the guy?'
"I mean, is this going to elevate Brock to a new level that he's not at already? If it was going to happen, I would have much rather done it for Roman [Reigns]. It would've meant so much more to Roman more so than Brock because Brock had already had his run in WWE, he had his run in the UFC, he came back and he ate everybody up. I just didn't think he was the right guy. Like I said, I didn't have a problem. I love Brock to death. I just don't think he was the guy who should have got it."
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