WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker is looking back at one of the most criticized matches of his career, openly admitting that the 2018 WWE Crown Jewel tag team bout featuring D-Generation X and The Brothers of Destruction did not live up to expectations.
The match saw Shawn Michaels and Triple H reunite as D-Generation X to face The Undertaker and Kane, marking Michaels’ return to the ring after eight years of retirement. The bout was heavily promoted by WWE as a major nostalgia attraction, but it quickly became remembered for several botches and visible struggles from the legendary performers.
Speaking during a recent episode of the “Six Feet Under with The Undertaker” podcast, the WWE icon reflected on the match while talking with wrestling veteran Michael “P.S.” Hayes, admitting that he knew before the match even began that he was not physically where he needed to be. Undertaker explained that he was aware of his limitations at the time, saying that he realized physically he wasn’t where he should have been and added that fans could “forget about Saudi and that… catastrophe.”
Despite how the match is often laughed about today, Undertaker made it clear that the wrestlers involved treated the match seriously at the time. Looking back now, however, he admitted that the outcome almost feels surreal given the legendary names involved. Undertaker joked that if someone had predicted beforehand that Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kane, and The Undertaker would end up having a complete bomb of a match, nobody would have believed it. According to Undertaker, everything that could possibly go wrong during the match ended up happening.
Undertaker also revealed that part of the motivation behind continuing to wrestle late into his career was the desire to find one final standout performance that he could end his career with. He said he was essentially “chasing the dragon,” searching for one last match that he could hang his hat on the way Shawn Michaels did with his final matches against Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 and WrestleMania 26.
While the Crown Jewel match failed to deliver the sendoff Undertaker hoped for, he would eventually get a more fitting final chapter when he defeated AJ Styles in the cinematic Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36, which ultimately became his final match in WWE.
Do you think WWE should avoid bringing legends back for matches like Crown Jewel 2018, or do these nostalgia matches still have value for fans?
