One of the juiciest rumors of the SummerSlam weekend had the Undertaker interrupting an unfortunate soul’s match and delivering a story-altering Tombstone. Despite this photo and multiple confirmations that Taker was indeed in Brooklyn, we never saw him.
WWE had three opportunities (SummerSlam, RAW, SmackDown) to pull the Undertaker’s lever, yet decided against it. But perhaps it was never in the plans to begin with. On the most recent episode ofJerry Lawler‘s podcast, Dinner With The King, WWE Hall of Famer, Lawler says there was no evidence of Taker in Barclays.
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“I did not see or hear him mentioned at all [backstage at SummerSlam],” Lawler said. “I dress in the talent relations room where at one point or another everybody on the card came through that room and I never saw him.”
The King introduced a thoughtful theory on the matter.
“Here’s something that I just realized. He may have been there because they were doing scans for a new game,” Lawler stated. “Everybody that was on the show that night, myself included, had to be scanned. This company, it’s not the 2K people, it’s a different game that’s gonna be coming out next year. So everybody had to have their face scans and their body scans.”
This is a very plausible scenario. However, it’s just not as sexy as a chokeslam to Roman Reigns or a Tombstone to Brock Lesnar to cost them the Universal Championship.
The Taker hysteria really picked up after a fan snapped a photo of The Deadman boarding a plane destined for New York. The hype would morph into madness after Jim Ross posted a message on Saturday.
“Until he says he’s done he’s not done. I think Vince McMahon is a marketing genius. He’s not going to miss any opportunity to monetize and maximize this amazing investment in this legacy of The Undertaker. Until The Undertaker says he’s done and it’s validated by the company and is signed off in that essence, for lack of a better term, I still say Undertaker is active and could return and wrestle at any time,” Ross said.
This declaration of an active Undertaker had us really believing he’d show. So much so that the Brooklyn crowd boomed into an “Un-Der-Tak-Er” chant during the monumental moment between Roman Reigns and John Cena.
But nothing happened and now the most likely story is that Taker is indeed retired. Unless he isn’t…
