The Undertaker SummerSlam Plans, Batista, Eric Bischoff in July 12 WWE Roundup

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Reported Plans for The Undertaker at SummerSlam

Ahead of his tag team match with Roman Reigns against Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules on Sunday, there has been plenty of speculation regarding who The Undertaker may face at SummerSlam.

Local advertising in Toronto has The Undertaker facing McIntyre at SummerSlam, but according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Raj Giri), that match is not currently in WWE's plans.

It isn't known who The Undertaker will face at SummerSlam if McIntyre isn't his opponent, nor is it even guaranteed that The Deadman will compete at SummerSlam.

Since WWE brought Taker back into the fold for Extreme Rules, it is widely assumed that he will wrestle at SummerSlam as well since it is one of the biggest shows of the year.

The Undertaker last wrestled at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia last month in a match against the Goldberg that was roundly criticized due its sloppy and disjointed nature.

The Phenom has a chance to put that behind him with a strong performance Sunday, and he should be able to deliver since the tag team stipulation will allow Reigns to do most of the work before handing Taker a hot tag.

Although The Undertaker is clearly near the end of his career and nowhere near the caliber of performer he once was, he still has value as an in-ring performer in the right situation.

McIntyre is the type of Superstar capable of carrying The Undertaker to a quality match, and he would benefit greatly from getting a win over The Deadman on a stage as big as SummerSlam.

Batista Talks Calling Undertaker Before Goldberg Match

Batista competed in the final match of his career at WrestleMania 35 in April against Triple H, but he is still invested in the wrestling business.

In an interview with Tom Philip of GQ, Batista revealed that he spoke with The Undertaker prior to his match against Goldberg at WWE Super ShowDown in June:

"I called, man. I called Taker and said, 'Is there any way I could change your mind?' He laughed, and I knew I couldn't change his mind. He said it sounded good when we first started talking about it. I only saw highlights which were, you know, low lights. it was not good. It's just bad circumstances all the way around. I feel like Taker's there for the right reasons. I think he's there because he still loves it. But I wish that they would utilize him in the right way. I think a novelty match with Goldberg is the wrong way. I just don't think it's good for anybody and especially it's not good for the fans."

The Undertaker vs. Goldberg match featured two 50-plus-year-old wrestlers who were among the biggest stars in the business during their heyday, but that didn't help them produce a quality performance.

The pageantry of their entrances and the allure of the fact that they never faced each other before generated some hope that the match could deliver, but once it stretched beyond five minutes, it was doomed to fail.

Goldberg busted his head open, and after that, both Superstars struggled to pull off their signature moves, as The Undertaker botched a Tombstone and Goldberg botched a Jackhammer. Taker finally ended it with an ugly-looking chokeslam, but the damage had already been done.

The Undertaker will look to bounce back at Extreme Rules when he teams with Reigns against McMahon and McIntyre, but it isn't clear what the future holds for Goldberg.

Older performers like Batista and Triple H have shown that they can still be an asset even if they are past their prime, but The Undertaker was not put in an ideal position to succeed at Super ShowDown.

Latest on Bischoff's Role as SmackDown Executive Director

As part of WWE's attempt to freshen up its product, Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman have been placed in significant positions of power as the executive directors of SmackDown and Raw, respectively.

While Heyman has seemingly been hands-on with Raw over the past couple of weeks, Bischoff's involvement has been less clear.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), Bischoff is expected to officially start in his new role on Tuesday's post-Extreme Rules edition of SmackDown Live.

Per Meltzer, Senior Vice President Bruce Prichard is expected to help Bischoff get acclimated to the position, and it is also believed that Prichard played a big role in convincing Chairman Vince McMahon to bring Bischoff aboard.

Bischoff was WCW's president in the late 1990s when its Monday Nitro show beat WWE's Raw in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. Bischoff later joined WWE in an on-screen capacity, but he has largely been away from the company for well over a decade.

In terms of working with network executives, Bischoff has a ton of experience, and it could come in handy when SmackDown moves to Fox in October.

Bischoff isn't known as being as much of a creative savant as Heyman, so it is possible that he will be less hands-on than Heyman when it comes to creating storylines.

Regardless of how Bischoff and Heyman opt to divvy up responsibilities on their respective shows, there is a great deal of value in putting two highly experienced executives like Bischoff and Heyman in positions of power.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).