Although he officially stepped away from in-ring competition after defeating AJ Styles in the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36, The Undertaker has remained active with appearances, business ventures, podcasting and creative work, including his recent role with AAA.
Speaking on an INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet interview at Fanatics Fest (see video below), The Undertaker admitted retirement hasn’t turned out the way he imagined.
“I can’t tell. I work more now than in the last 10 years I was on the road wrestling. I’m always gone. I’m always at places like this now. Retirement is not quite how I envisioned it.”
The WWE Hall of Famer also revealed he didn’t seriously start planning for retirement until very late in his career. While he originally envisioned spending his days hunting and enjoying the outdoors, new opportunities quickly filled his schedule.
“Unfortunately way too late (when he started thinking about retiring). I think it was November 22nd, 2020 when it dawned on me like, ‘You might need to find something else to do here.’ … I was thinking about wrapping it up but I envisioned myself like, ‘Alright, I’m going hunting and doing all those things that I wasn’t really able to do while I was on the road.’ That’s what I started out doing. Then things started popping up, [I] started doing a podcast and then this thing came up and that thing came up. It’s just like all of a sudden my calendar’s full again and I hadn’t been out on a mountain or on a lake in a while so it’s really cutting into my outdoor life.”
Later in the interview, The Undertaker was asked how much longer he plans to continue podcasting. Based on his response, it may not be much longer.
“Not at all, no (if he was having fun doing the podcast). Fanatics is actually one of the sponsors, but I’d almost rather go to the dentist and pull a tooth than do a podcast. How much longer? Oh man, you say years? No, we’re probably talking months. I think when this contract rolls out, I don’t think we’ll be renewing.”
Also during the discussion, The Undertaker elaborated on his AAA role and revealed origins of ‘Old School’ top-rope spot in WWE.
