The Undertaker has seen a lot of champions come and go as a member of the WWE Universe.
Originally signing with the promotion all the way back in 1990 and remaining with them in one role or another to this very day, The Undertaker has held seven championships over 17 reigns as a pro and watched the promotion go from WWF to WWE, from HulkaMania to the Attitude Era, to the PG Era, and even into the future, where spots are designed to earn big social media hits in addition to pops in the arena.
And yet, despite having a front row seat to some of the best moments in WWE history, on the most recent edition of ImPaulsive, the “Deadman” celebrated Logan Paul for helping to elevate the United States Championship, even though he only defended it three times over 273 days.
“What you've done, with your platform, for that title, has been very impressive,” The Undertaker told Logan Paul via 411 Mania. “You actually made that thing mean something. What you did, all the places you go, and with your brother. You've got that belt, that's next level commitment, and that's made that belt relevant again.”
Alright, technically, Taker is correct; Paul has gotten more eyes on WWE's product in 2023 and 2024 as a result of his wide-ranging popularity outside of the sport. But elevating the title based on his in-ring performances? Gosh, that is a much harder case to make, and one even The Undertaker may not be able to pull off despite the respect he holds around the business.
The Undertaker believes modern wrestlers have taken things too far
Elsewhere on his SummerSlam weekend set of media appearances, The Undertaker stopped by The Mighty Cast with Demetrious Johnson to talk about the past, present, and future of professional wrestling, of which he has some serious concerns moving forward.
But why? Is it because wrestlers are making too much money? Because the sport will run out of new markets to grow into? Or maybe this, like every boom other period, will eventually come to an end, and that the sport will go back to being obscure once more?
It's actually because of…wrestlers putting too many spots in their matches?
“They're breaking records every time they go out. Everyone is bigger than the year before. They're selling more merchandise. Business is absolutely booming right now. Do they do it the way I did it? Nope, but it doesn't matter. The evolution of the wrestler and the performance is different, but it still resonates with the audience today because WWE arenas are full. The business itself is in a phenomenal spot right now. Wrestling, there is something for everyone within the family. Even if you don't like the violence of it, there is the character or the storyline or the drama. The athletes themselves, they are like video games. They do things in the ring…I don't think I had the vision. I don't think I would have ever thought of that. I think it's because of the video game era. There is nothing I can say of, ‘They should probably be doing this,' because they're killing it. The only thing that worries me, because I know the physical shape and condition that I'm in and the things that I've had to do since I've been in the business, is I worry about their longevity because of how much they continue to push the envelope. What ends up happening a lot of times is, there was a time period where the character development was really lacking. The athleticism part was there, so they started doing these crazy moves to (compensate for no character),” The Undertaker told Demetrious Johnson via 411 Mania.
“What they end up trying to do is, after two or three times of seeing a double backflip twist off the top rope to the floor, your audience gets desensitized to that. ‘I've seen that, what do you have now?' Now, you have to push the envelope a little further, and there are limitations to what the human body can do. If you can get them invested in the character, you have make them love you or hate you. That's the one thing I wish, as a whole, there would be more of. What most people don't realize about wrestling, is that any given match on any given night, you're two inches away from something catastrophic happening. Regardless of how much training you have. When you think about the number of dates per year that you're working, that risk factor goes up exponentially. When you're doing double backflips off the top rope into a group of people, it only takes one time.”
Is The Undertaker correct? Are spot-heavy matches ruining the sport? Or is this simply a classic example of old heads complaining that the young kids aren't working the style they came up with, which now looks downright slow by the result? Considering WWE is now running a much more indie-centric style of matches than under Vince McMahon, even the worldwide leader in sports entertainment has admitted that a faster style with more spots is the future of the industry.
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