The Undertaker has apologies to Roman Reigns for his performance in their match at Wrestlemania 33, claiming he was “disgusted” by the match the duo put on at the event. The pair main event Wrestlemania back in 2017, with Reigns becoming only the second man in 25 years to defeat The Deadman at WWE’s biggest show of the year.
Three years after Brock Lesnar ended his legendary undefeated streak, The Undertaker began a feud with Roman Reigns after the Big Dog eliminated him from the Royal Rumble. Proclaiming “this is my yard now”, Reigns vowed to take down the legendary WWE Hall of Famer and take over his spot as the leader of the WWE, effectively retiring the legend from professional wrestling altogether.
With rumours that the match would be the final ever match of Undertaker, the match was moved to the main event of Wrestlemania. Jim Ross, the WWE Hall of Fame commentator who helmed the WWE broadcasting table for decades, was brought back to call this legendary match in an incredibly emotional affair. Roman Reigns pinned him to win the match and seemingly end his career, although it was not the bout he wanted to go out on.
The match was not good. The Undertaker did not look as good as people remembered. It seemed as if he’d aged 15 years since losing his streak, with his movement’s slow and weary and the strength in his arms completely gone. He failed to hold up Reigns for a Last Ride and he collapsed attempting to hit his signature Tombstone Piledriver. It was an embarrassing performance that signified that it was indeed time to end his career.
Roman Reigns carried the match physically, but everybody knew that something was wrong. Taker had had multiple hip surgeries and was moving like a man much older, the years of hard bumps and long drives taking it’s toll on his ancient body. He himself considered retiring after the match, but didn’t want to be remembered that way by all the fans that watched him over the years.
The Undertaker apologised to Roman Reigns after their Wrestlemania match, and later revealed how “disgusted” he was with his performance in the bout. When meeting his opponent backstage the following year at Wrestlemania 34, The Undertaker’s words for Reigns were caught on camera during his WWE Network Documentary series “Last Ride”.
“I felt so bad about last year. I just want you to know, that bothers me… I didn’t have it, you know that.”
It takes a big man to admit that you’re not as good as you should have been, and to apologise in a way for the performance. Being such a huge legend in the WWE, nobody would have been upset had the Deadman not said sorry to his opposite wrestler but it showed great class to admit when you simply weren’t good enough.
While many thought he would retire, The Undertaker could not take his last match being such poor quality. He returned the next year for a dream match against John Cena at Wrestlemania 34, before having a final match against AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 36. He also wrestled a handful of matches in Saudi Arabia during this time, most notably involving Goldberg and Shawn Michaels in a pair of terrible bouts.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022 by none other than Vince McMahon in one of the best induction speeches of all time. Tell us what you thought of Undertaker vs Roman Reigns in the comments or click below to read more about The Undertaker.