John Cena Sr. "wasn't impressed" with The Undertaker squashing his son at WrestleMania 34 [Exclusive]
Many fans considered John Cena vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 to be disappointing, including the 16-time world champion's own father.
John Cena Sr. was a guest on the latest edition of UnSKripted with Dr. Chris Featherstone and answered a bunch of fan questions. When asked what his favorite WrestleMania match involving his son was, Cena Sr. said:
"There's been so many. I can't just pick one. I really can't. It's very difficult because every match he was in, I think that they were good matches. The match I wasn't impressed with was the Undertaker match. That was just a quickie. That was a bury. Two minutes and it's over."
He stated that all of them were good, with one exception. John Cena's squash defeat to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 did not impress him, particularly because of its short length. Cena Sr. did highlight another match, praising his son's United States Championship match at WrestleMania 31.
"I thought the Rusev match was very well done. Yeah, I think they did a good job with that. I really did."
Why was John Cena vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 so short?
The Undertaker's involvement at WrestleMania 34 was not confirmed until less than two months before the event. WWE initially planned his retirement match at the previous year's edition of the Showcase of the Immortals.
He returned to the ring to prove that he still had plenty left in the tank, training for a 45-minute match against John Cena if he had to. However, Vince McMahon booked the match to go shorter than three minutes.
This was done to restore The Undertaker's image and confidence, after the disappointment he had shown regarding his WrestleMania 33 match with Roman Reigns.
WWE went around this by not announcing the match and The Deadman's appearance until it happened at the Superdome, to avoid increased fan backlash.
John Cena, being the elite professional he is, went along with the plan and helped to rebuild The Undertaker. The Leader of the Cenation has not wrestled in the ring at WrestleMania since then, with his last appearance for WWE coming in the Firefly Fun House at last year's Show of Shows.