The Undertaker Admits He Was Dead Wrong About His First Impression Of John Cena & The Rock

First impressions are everything, especially in pro wrestling. Fans will judge a Superstar from the jump, but the same is also true for people backstage. The Undertaker is also not immune to this at all, because even the Deadman has his own opinions of people.

The Undertaker recently opened up about something most veterans don’t like to admit during a recent episode of his Six Feet Under podcast. While thinking back on John Cena’s retirement, Undertaker talked about how strange it felt seeing Cena reach the end of his run when it still feels like yesterday that he debuted. That moment led him to think about first impressions in wrestling.

Undertaker explained that he was already well into his own career when Cena arrived, which played a role in how he viewed him early on. He also had a way of looking at John Cena from a veteran perspective, one that he is open about now.

“That was day one for John Cena right there. He had just wrestled Kurt Angle. And at that point, I’m already twelve years into my career. And now here this kid is, day one… twenty-three years later, retiring.”

After starting out, Undertaker had quite an admission for fans. The WWE Hall of Famer said there were two wrestlers he watched on their first day and immediately wrote off.

“There was two people that I watched them work day one, and I was like, ‘Yeah, this guy ain’t gonna make it.’”

After a pause and some back-and-forth with Michelle McCool, Undertaker owned the miss without hesitation. He was wrong, and he’s not too big to admit that.

“I was wrong. I can admit when I’m wrong. There’s some people in the business that can’t do that. I’ll tell you when I was wrong, and I missed with him.”

Michelle McCool then pushed him to name the second person, jokingly guessing The Rock. Undertaker confirmed it and explained why Rock’s debut didn’t land with him at the time.

“You guys gotta go back to day one when he had the stuff hanging off of him and he came out there all rah-rah.”

Undertaker went on to recall Rock’s first appearance at Madison Square Garden and the expectations tied to his family name.

“He debuted in the Garden as Rocky Maivia. And I was like, ‘Oh, this poor kid.’ You’ve got his grandfather, Chief Peter Maivia, his dad Rocky Johnson, all these expectations…”

“He comes out with that thing on, and it was cheesy McGeezard. And I was like, ‘Oh man, this is not gonna be good.’”

Just like with Cena, Undertaker admitted he completely missed the mark. “And I was wrong there. So that’s twice,” Taker said.

Then Michelle McCool summed it up by calling them “two big ones,” which Undertaker agreed with before ending the story with a dry punchline.

“Those are two big ones. It took them a minute to find their stride… and I guess they had okay careers.”

For someone who has seen multiple generations come and go, Undertaker’s takeaway was simple. Even legends can be wrong about who’s going to last in the business. Others like AJ Styles, who was a guest on that week’s show, certainly proved people wrong if they had negative first impressions.

We will have to see what 2026 has in store for fans. The fact is that he is wrapping up his in-ring career this year, so it’s anyone’s guess what kind of last impression he will leave in the ring. John Cena and The Rock definitely proved The Undertaker wrong, which was refreshing to hear.

Who were you wrong about with their first impression in WWE? Do you think that The Undertaker is more of a legend for admitting this? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

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