The Undertaker Reveals the Moment He Realized His WWE Career Was Ending

The Undertaker didn’t plan on retiring during the Boneyard Match—but somewhere between the body blows, freezing temperatures, and overnight filming, he realized that was the end.

During a conversation alongside AJ Styles and Michelle McCool, Undertaker revealed exactly when the decision hit him—and why that now-iconic WrestleMania 36 match was the final chapter of his legendary career.

“It was about at that three… somewhere around three-thirty, four in the morning, when it had dawned on me that this was pretty much it for me.”

He wasn’t looking for a dramatic exit or emotional sendoff. Instead, the decision came from deep within—driven by the physical toll of a match that shot all night and left him limping between scenes.

“Although I was in shape, it was very apparent to me. And I know it had to do with the temperature dropping, doing the physicality, and then having to stop while they moved cameras.”

Undertaker said he kept his thoughts to himself in the moment, “I didn’t really say anything for a while. But I knew—this was it.” What made the moment so powerful was the closure it gave him. After chasing the perfect farewell for years, he finally found it in a graveyard alongside AJ Styles.

“This was what I had been looking for—for that closure.” And once it hit him, there was no doubt. “I knew that it wasn’t going to get any better than this.”

Even though the match had no crowd, no ring, and was filmed like a movie—it gave the Deadman the peace he’d been seeking for years. “It was somewhere in those early morning hours that I realized this was gonna be it for me—my body,” Taker said.

Looking back, Undertaker said he has no regrets, “I’m extremely, extremely proud of what we did that night.” And he left no doubt about what that moment meant to him, saying, “I knew that this was it. This was the way to go out.”

This marks one of the clearest statements Undertaker has ever made about when he actually knew his career was over. It wasn’t months later, and it wasn’t something WWE framed after the fact. The realization came in real time—at 3:30 in the morning, during the Boneyard Match itself. Undertaker didn’t just retire with that match—he discovered his retirement mid-match.

What do you think about Undertaker calling it quits during the Boneyard Match? Did he make the right choice ending his career that night? Let us know in the comments.

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