"I put a big burden on people" - The Undertaker talks about finally retiring from WWE
The Undertaker retired from WWE last year at the Survivor Series 2020 pay-per-view, ending his time as an in-ring competitor in the company. Talking about his retirement recently, The Deadman revealed that he knew he had waited too long.
Throughout his career, The Phenom managed to hold the WWE Universe in his grasp and keep them captivated. However, by the end of his career, fans could tell that he was in pain and he was struggling in the ring at times.
The Undertaker appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he talked about his retirement from wrestling. He revealed that he was waiting for that one match that would allow him to leave satisfied. While he got that with the Boneyard Match against AJ Styles, he said that he knew that he had been there too long.
"I was looking for that one match where I could say: motherf***ers, I still got it, I’m out. There were lots of conversations. There were people I talked to along the way through my career where I said, 'look if I get to a point where my skills have diminished and I can’t recognize it or at least bring the conversation up.' It got to the point where nobody wants to have that conversation, I put a big burden on people. They just couldn’t do it."
The Undertaker talks about Vince McMahon and the end of his WWE career
The Undertaker talked about how his character was a huge intellectual property to Vince McMahon. He said that if he had wanted, he could have gone out for more years and wrestle, but he didn't want to. The Deadman added that he knew that there were many other wrestlers on the roster looking to fill in that position, and it was not fair to them.
"Vince, who I have an unbelievable relationship with, [The Undertaker was] a huge intellectual property to Vince, 30 years. I could go out for another few years, knock somebody on their ass, chokeslam somebody but I can’t do it personally. I can’t because I know there’s so many guys coming up that are trying to get that spot. I could say I’ve got all this equity built up for all these years and I’m going to live off of that."
The Undertaker also talked about how Vince McMahon's idea of the 'Undertaker' character had been something the WWE Chairman had come up with even before he met him.