The Undertaker has seen every era of pro wrestling up close, and he isn’t pretending today’s talent isn’t freakishly athletic. He knows they can do things in the ring that past generations never even imagined.
During Booker T’s Hall of Fame podcast, The Deadman said the problem is that some wrestlers lean so hard into the athletic side that they lose the whole point of the business.
“It is completely two different worlds. It’s crazy because never in a million years can I imagine how athletic these guys are today. And I think because they are, I mean they’re doing like game, I don’t know if it was the video games they played as kids, but they’re doing video game type stuff in the ring.”
Undertaker said that athletic ability can almost become a trap, because wrestlers start chasing moves instead of moments. He also made it clear that wrestling moves are only there to serve the story, not replace it.
“And what I think, it’s almost sometimes it’s a curse because they’re so athletic and they rely so much on that aspect that they forget the most important aspect of what we do and that is storytelling.”
“Wrestling isn’t about wrestling moves. It’s not. We use wrestling moves to help tell that story, but it’s not about all that. That’s just a tool to get to the essence of A versus B and whatever that story is that wraps them up.”
Undertaker also warned that today’s style can be brutal on the body. He said wrestlers are always close to serious injury, and taking bigger risks just to get a crowd reaction only makes things worse. He said fans eventually get used to insane spots, forcing wrestlers to keep raising the danger level.
“These guys, and I’m just thinking of their health if nothing else, because I tell people this all the time and people look at me like I’m crazy, but in any given wrestling match, any match, at some point in that match you’re two inches away from something really catastrophic happening.”
“So you want to limit those as much as possible. And the stuff that these guys are doing to get reactions from the crowds, I mean, it just makes it exponentially more dangerous than what it has to be.”
Undertaker then dropped the part that should hit a lot of younger talent hard.
“It’s their era. It is what it is. But just being there through the years and knowing what it does to your body, it’s just like, man, you’re not going to have careers like we had. You’re going to burn out. You’re going to get hurt.”
The Undertaker isn’t hating on the current generation. He’s warning them. The moves may pop the crowd for a night, but the story is what people remember, and the body only has so many bumps in it.
What do you think about Undertaker’s take on modern wrestling? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
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