Undertaker: WWE has gotten ‘too comfortable’ pulling back the curtain
As you’d probably expect given his old-school mentality, The Undertaker isn’t the biggest fan of “WWE: Unreal.”
The latest episode of Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast included a discussion about the “Unreal” docuseries. While Undertaker thinks the show is well done, he does not like pulling back the curtain in this way.
“The actual presentation and everything is wonderful, right? From my aspect and my end of the business, I don’t like it,” Undertaker said. “And everybody’s going to say, ‘Oh my God, that’s an old-school guy trying to protect kayfabe.’ Look, I don’t care if it’s 2025, it’s 1990, or it’s 1984. Everybody understands what wrestling is. Everybody knows. Ain’t no big veil been lifted — except I don’t want to go to see a magician and know how he’s doing everything. And I understand that there’s a huge part, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, I want to do that.’ But there’s still that aspect…
“Everybody knows what we do, right? But when I’m in the ring, my whole goal, my motivation is to get one person, just one person to think, ‘Wow, Undertaker just clocked him. I don’t care what everybody else is doing. That right there, that was the real thing.’ So there’s always the doubt.”
Undertaker admitted that he knows people on the internet will take issue with his comments and feel like he’s out of touch. Still, he wishes pro wrestling would not expose the business as much as it does. Even hosting his own podcast can be difficult for Undertaker given his reluctance to pull back the curtain.
“I think we’re too comfortable now in talking about our business. And I struggle on these podcasts too, because it’s hard to talk. It’s hard to talk and tell stories without lifting it up a little bit,” he said. “But I think we’ve gone too far. And again, I understand. Everyone knows what it is, what we do. But there’s got to be a little bit of mystery.”
The second season of “Unreal” premiered on January 20, and the series has already been renewed for season three.
Undertaker retired in 2020 and is now involved behind the scenes in WWE, helping lead creative for Lucha Libre AAA.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.