As noted before at this link, The Undertaker appeared in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week to introduce rapper Pitbull at the concert to officially kick off the 2021 Riyadh Season festival. Taker was rumored to appear at WWE Crown Jewel since he was in town, but he did not appear at today’s event. He made a similar festival opening appearance in 2019, but did not appear at Crown Jewel the following day.
Former WWE on-air talent Renee Paquette appeared on Busted Open Radio today and didn’t like the idea of Taker introducing Pitbull, mainly because of obvious differences between the two.
“I just feel it should’ve been somebody else introducing him,” Paquette said. “I feel like seeing the Undertaker, in the big black hat, in full Undertaker gear, introducing ‘the 305, the Grammy Award Winning artist.’ Bringing on Pitbull that way, I feel it could’ve been somebody else. I don’t know what the full crew is that is in Saudi Arabia right now, but I feel like maybe somebody else could’ve been better for that job. Not that Undertaker did a bad job, that’s not what I’m saying. I feel like it could’ve just been a great, happy go lucky babyface. Maybe, I don’t know, who from the New Day is there? That’s what we want. That’s how you want to involve Pitbull in the show in Saudi Arabia.”
Paquette said she remains a huge fan of Taker, and was not knocking him with her criticism. She did say appearances like these are bad for Taker’s legacy.
“I love the Undertaker as much as everybody else. Huge fan,” she said. “But did we already kind of start to lose a little bit of that mystique with the retired, not retired, he’s back in the ring and we’re seeing him in these unfavorable situations. Have we already done that? It needs to stop, I think it needs to stop. We all have little goldfish brains; we can forget things and we want to remember The Undertaker as The Undertaker. I think we can all get back to that to a certain degree. If you keep doing these things, it’s kind of hard to get back to that. I don’t want to believe that the Undertaker knows who Pitbull is. The Undertaker introducing Megadeath or Slayer or Metallica, I can get on board with that. It is just the position of different genres that I’m just not down to clown with. I don’t like it.”
Renee was asked if her issues with Taker introducing Pitbull have anything to do with a generational gap between her and newer fans who might not have any issue with the appearance.
“It could be,” Paquette admitted. “I guess maybe it could be. I don’t know. But I think anyone who is a wrestling fan, and wrestling fans love to know the history of things, love to know the ins and outs of all their favorite characters. I do understand the social media side of things and having the documentaries and being able to see little glimpses into these superstar’s real lives and whatnot. I get the lure of that. But let’s protect things a little bit. That’s what the business is about, right? Protecting these things, keeping these characters larger than life. I don’t want the Undertaker to be on the same level as me. He’s the Undertaker. He’s much better and cooler than me.”
Stay tuned for more.
(H/T to WrestlingInc for the quotes)
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