How The Undertaker's unselfish actions prevented travel chaos for WWE Superstars
The Undertaker once traveled from England to America with a severe ear injury because he wanted his fellow superstars to return home on time.
Steve Austin injured The Undertaker’s ear during a match at the Insurrextion pay-per-view in London in May 2001. If The Deadman wanted immediate hospital treatment, the rest of the WWE crew would have been held up in England for an extra day.
John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) spoke about the incident on the latest episode of his Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw podcast. The WWE Hall of Famer said his friend’s unselfish actions proved why he is regarded as a locker room leader:
“If he did [go to hospital], we were gonna miss the charter window to get back to the States, and so he got all fixed up and they kind of sedated him a little bit. He got on the plane, flew home, went back across the ocean so that he could have surgery – it had to have been killing him – just so the rest of the crew didn’t have to spend the night,” stated JBL. [53:16-53:42]
The Undertaker defeated The Two Man Power Trip (Steve Austin and Triple H) in the main event of Insurrextion 2001. The freak injury occurred when Austin jumped onto his opponent’s back against the ropes and accidentally tore part of his ear.
JBL reacts to The Undertaker’s WWE Hall of Fame induction news
Received an overwhelming response to the news. Thank you to everyone who reached out but for now, I’ll say this… it’s been a wild ride … headed to the #WWEHOF! ⚱️ twitter.com/WWE/status/149…
The Phenom will join the WWE Hall of Fame in Dallas, Texas, on April 1. It is unclear who, if anyone, will induct the 56-year-old into the elite group of legends.
JBL, a close friend of the iconic superstar, believes we will never see anyone like The Undertaker again in WWE:
“When you compare him to guys, you need to compare him to guys who are other pillars of industry or cornerstones of Hall of Fames in other places. To be in the main event from Hulk Hogan to Roman Reigns, that’s a span that I don’t think anybody will ever match again.” [54:40-54:59]
The Deadman retired from in-ring competition in 2020 after 30 years in WWE. His final showdown came against AJ Styles in a cinematic Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36.
Please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.