The Undertaker discusses the current state of the pro-wrestling business.
The Deadman appeared on The Mighty Cast with Demetrious Johnson, where he opened up about how the wrestling business is booming, especially in WWE. However, the Hall of Famer admits that he is worried about the longevity of today’s wrestlers due to the severe amount of risks they take inside the ring.
They’re breaking records every time they go out. Everyone is bigger than the year before. They’re selling more merchandise. Business is absolutely booming right now. Do they do it the way I did it? Nope, but it doesn’t matter. The evolution of the wrestler and the performance is different, but it still resonates with the audience today because WWE arenas are full. The business itself is in a phenomenal spot right now. Wrestling, there is something for everyone within the family. Even if you don’t like the violence of it, there is the character or the storyline or the drama. The athletes themselves, they are like video games. They do things in the ring…I don’t think I had the vision. I don’t think I would have ever thought of that. I think it’s because of the video game era. There is nothing I can say of, ‘They should probably be doing this,’ because they’re killing it. The only thing that worries me, because I know the physical shape and condition that I’m in and the things that I’ve had to do since I’ve been in the business, is I worry about their longevity because of how much they continue to push the envelope. What ends up happening a lot of times is, there was a time period where the character development was really lacking. The athleticism part was there, so they started doing these crazy moves to (compensate for no character). What they end up trying to do is, after two or three times of seeing a double backflip twist off the top rope to the floor, your audience gets desensitized to that. ‘I’ve seen that, what do you have now?’ Now, you have to push the envelope a little further, and there are limitations to what the human body can do. If you can get them invested in the character, you have make them love you or hate you. That’s the one thing I wish, as a whole, there would be more of. What most people don’t realize about wrestling, is that any given match on any given night, you’re two inches away from something catastrophic happening. Regardless of how much training you have. When you think about the number of dates per year that you’re working, that risk factor goes up exponentially. When you’re doing double backflips off the top rope into a group of people, it only takes one time.
Undertaker last appeared for WWE at WrestleMania XL, where he helped Cody Rhodes fight off The Bloodline and ‘Finish the Story’ against Roman Reigns. Do you agree with Undertaker’s take on wrestlers being too risky? Give your thoughts in the comments below.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
