The Undertaker recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and gave credit to Elias, Shane McMahon, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns for helping to restore his aura back in 2019.
Taker has talked about how bad he thought of his WWE Super ShowDown 2019 match against WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg in Saudi Arabia. He noted to SI how his rejuvenation took place a month later at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view as he and Reigns teamed up to defeat McIntyre and Shane McMahon in a No Holds Barred match. Taker said both McIntyre and Reigns were integral in restoring his aura following the Saudi debacle with Goldberg.
“That match meant a lot to me,” Taker said of the tag team match. “I go all the way back with Shane to when he was in college. I have a long-lasting relationship with all the Samoans, and Roman is one of the Samoan greats. As a human being, I think the world of Roman. And Drew is one of those genuine guys. Anytime I’m around, he’s right there picking my brain. He’s not doing it because it looks good to others, he does it because he genuinely wants to get better. Those are two legitimately great stars.”
The Extreme Rules match saw Elias attack Taker as he went to perform The Last Ride on McMahon. It was noted how Taker laid out McIntyre and Elias, who both took great pride in selling for The Deadman. Taker also praised Elias for his work in the match.
“Elias deserves a lot of credit, too, for that matter, because he was another guy involved in making that match,” Taker said. “The energy level was high, and I had a bit of comfort working with all those guys.”
Taker recently made his now-viral “soft” comments about the current WWE product. Reigns responded to those comments. You can read what Taker and Reigns had to say about the controversial statement by clicking here. Speaking to SI, Taker was clear about the importance of the Extreme Rules match and his co-workers who were responsible for making everything work. He also revealed how he grades his own matches, which may have been reflective in his opinion of the current WWE product.
“I was trying to erase that stain out of memory [from the Goldberg match],” Taker said of the Extreme Rules match. “I’ve heard from so many people who think they know all about wrestling and what I should do, but no one has any idea how I grade myself. It’s far more severe than people may think, and my expectations for what I do are higher than people think, too.
“So that was a fun night. We were all on the same page, we knew what the objective was, and that match was special. Roman and Drew are very special talents, two of the best at what they do.”
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