The Undertaker’s highway to retirement was admittedly bumpy. Mark Calaway, the person portraying the enduring skilled wrestling character, struggled via his later matches, most notably in opposition to Goldberg and D-Technology X. Happily, he laid his supernatural character to relaxation in a critically acclaimed and completely acceptable cinematic “Boneyard Match.”
The Undertaker’s 2020 retirement was far much less structured than the 2025 farewell tour that John Cena is at the moment having fun with. Calaway says such a tour was ill-fitting for The Undertaker, however praises how WWE is dealing with Cena’s final go spherical. Calaway hopes the WWE adopts this celebration tour for different worthy legends on the finish of their line.
“I believe it is nice that they are doing this tour the way in which they’re,” Calaway informed CBS Sports activities whereas discussing his teaching function on “WWE LFG,” A&E’s upcoming actuality collection premiering on Feb. 16. “I do not suppose all people deserves that. I believe Cena positively does due to the workhorse that he was for thus lengthy.
“I believe this is likely to be the prototype for sure wrestlers to do their swan music and depart.”
Cena is well within the dialog for the best WWE celebrity ever. His 16 acknowledged world title reigns, tied with Ric Aptitude as essentially the most acknowledged by WWE, make him an appropriate candidate. However Calaway credit Cena’s excellence as an organization man for why he deserves this farewell tour.
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“There was a time when Cena did every little thing,” Calaway mentioned. “He was on each home present. He was on each pay-per-view. He did each meet-and-greet. He did all of the Make-A-Want [appearances]. He needed it. He needed all of it.”
WWE’s major occasion scene at the moment options a number of performers who’re previous or will cross the 40-year age mark in 2025. Amongst them, Calaway names three who deserve the identical Cena-esque retirement rollout.
“I’d say [CM] Punk might be one,” Calaway mentioned. “I do not understand how lengthy [Paul] Heyman plans to hold round however I believe he is sufficient for sufficient expertise that he needs to be in there.
“If Randy [Orton] wraps it up, Randy positively deserves that. He is had a fairly storied profession. I wish to see guys like that get their flowers and say their goodbyes.”
As Calaway muses concerning the finale for WWE’s biggest acts, he is teaching WWE’s future stars forward of Sunday’s premiere. “WWE LFG,” a shorthand for “Legends & Future Greats,” pairs opponents gunning for a WWE contract with mentors Booker T, Mickie James, Bubba Ray Dudley and Calaway.
One clip doing main circulation on social media entails Dudley, who has a fame for being brash, and an equally brash younger upstart named BJ Ray. Whereas chopping a promo — or an improvised speech — Ray took challenge with Dudley refusing to shake his hand. Whereas this was a part of a personality train, it spun right into a official argument between the 2 events.
“Everybody has a reasonably good concept about Bubba’s mindset and the way he approaches issues,” Calaway mentioned. “This child, BJ Ray, has a ton of persona however I believe this child goes to outwork himself… He is clearly not on my staff which might be the perfect factor that occurred to him.
“He is a type of individuals who thinks they’ve all of the solutions however would not know one of many questions. He thinks he has this factor discovered and his persona goes to blow folks away, however what finally ends up taking place is he rubs folks the mistaken method. I believe he thinks, ‘I’ll garner consideration and other people will discover me.’ However he’s swimming with sharks. It isn’t fairly.”