Roman Reigns admits that he wanted to lose to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33
ESPN recently spoke to some of the biggest names of WWE who had the opportunity to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Roman Reigns, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Randy Orton, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Shane McMahon, Matt Bloom, and Triple H shared various previously unknown stories from The Undertaker's enduring WrestleMania legacy.
The Big Dog revealed his reactions when Vince McMahon told him that he would be facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.
Roman Reigns said that he'd met The Undertaker a week before Vince McMahon broke the news to him, but The Deadman did a good job of covering up and not entirely revealing the details of their match.
When Vince McMahon eventually did tell Reigns about the 'Mania plan, the former Universal Champion was in awe. The first thought that came in Roman Reigns' mind was about putting over The Undertaker.
Roman Reigns admitted that he wanted to lose to the Phenom, but WWE had different plans. Roman Reigns felt that it would have been a better story had he ended WrestleMania 33 on his back.
Here's what Roman Reigns had to say:
I remember the conversation with Vince. I saw Taker like a week prior, and he almost gave it away, but he did good in covering it up. He could tell I didn't know yet. When Vince explained it to me, I was just in awe. It's something that everybody who gets into the business wants, to get into the ring with The Undertaker. And I remember the first thing I thought was that I wanted to put him over. I wanted to lose. Immediately, that was my instinct. Out of respect. I knew he was in pain, but I didn't know he was going in [for hip surgery] soon after that or else I would have crafted that story a little differently. So I knew it was on me to try to help carry it. The movement of the match. Orbit around him. But I thought it would have been a better story if I was on my back at the end. Obviously, it didn't go that way.
Roman Reigns' WrestleMania 33 match against The Undertaker
As we all know, Roman Reigns and The Undertaker's WrestleMania 33 match ended up being an underwhelming bout. The Deadman wasn't at his physical best going into the match, and the unsatisfactory outcome led to him nixing plans of retiring from in-ring competition.
The fifth and final chapter of the ongoing docuseries, Undertaker: The Last Ride, drops this weekend, and there is speculation going around that the WWE Legend may finally announce his retirement at the end of the WWE Network special.
However, what if he doesn't? The Undertaker may still have one final chapter left in the WWE.
Check out the latest edition of the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast in which Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz talk about The Undertaker's possible retirement, among other major stories.