Opinion: Will The Undertaker Leave WWE?
The legendary Phenom, The Undertaker, is once again back to being one of the most talked about superstars in wrestling, as it usually happens during WrestleMania season. However this year is a little different than every other.
In a piece of news that I don't think anyone ever expected to hear, their have been some minor rumors making the rounds that The Undertaker could be on his way out of WWE. As of this writing, there are no plans for The Undertaker to wrestle at this years WrestleMania, and according to Dave Meltzer, if the Deadman does wrestle in 2019, then it would be at the next Saudi Arabia show in May, as those have become the new highest payday of the year.
Should The Undertaker not compete at WrestleMania, this will be the first time in 19 years where he has not wrestled at the Show of Shows, with the last being WrestleMania 16 in 2000, due to injury and revamping his character.
Other than his seemingly non-existent WrestleMania plans, another alarm that has caused for concern with fans is what is happening with The Undertaker's social media accounts.
The Undertaker is surprisingly active of social media and often posts pictures of his workouts, with wife Michelle McCool and even humorous facial expressions from his matches that he asks fans to caption. The cause for concern however, is that the Deadman has removed all affiliation with WWE from Twitter and Instagram accounts.
And while The Undertaker has made some convention appearances representing WWE in the United States recently, Taker will be making his very first non-WWE appearances this coming April and May in the United Kingdom.
The Undertaker's first outside of WWE appearance will be at the For The Love of Wrestling convention in Liverpool on the 28th of April (his photo ops tickets are almost gone), followed by a sold out Q & A tour in London, Glasgow and Manchester with Inside The Ropes on April 30th, May 1st and 2nd.
This has all led to speculation that The Undertaker may leave WWE soon. So, will it happen?
Well, no. But let's go into detail as to why. Firstly, for someone who doesn't wrestle very often, The Undertaker is still very well paid by WWE every year, still coming in at seven figures. Secondly, The Undertaker is one of those superstars with will be with WWE until he is literately a dead man, he is just too loyal.
And finally, Taker removing his affiliation with WWE from social media doesn't mean as much as it sounds. WWE legend X Pac recently commented on why he thinks Taker removed it, saying:
"If anyone ever followed Shawn Michaels on social media before he took the job back at the Performance Center, it was a similar situation. Shawn was taking outside appearances; I did appearances with him. For independent wrestling shows, the catch was it has to be separate, the appearance has to be separate (from WWE), it's not part of the wrestling show. So, I am pretty sure that's what it's going to be for Taker too."
And there you have it. I think what X Pac is saying makes a lot of sense. More importantly though, The Undertaker has always been loyal to Vince McMahon and WWE, and it will always be his home. He will always be that one big superstar to have always been associated with WWE. As far as WrestleMania goes, if he does compete, then great, but if not then he is just resting his body for his next match and taking in some personal appearances in the meantime and because he can.