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Undertaker: The Last Ride Top Moments and Reaction from Chapter 2
May 17, 2020
The second episode of the Undertaker: The Last Ride documentary series on WWE Network aired Sunday and focused on The Undertaker's journey from WrestleMania 33 to WrestleMania 34.
Last week's first episode ended with what was supposed to be the final match of The Undertaker's career against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. In Chapter 2: The Redemption, Taker expressed disappointment in that match and a desire to improve upon his performance.
The Deadman was in severe pain during and after the match against Reigns, but he underwent a procedure on his hip that alleviated much of the discomfort. After that and a meeting with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about his role moving forward, the wheels began spinning for Taker.
The Undertaker said McMahon asked him about possibly facing John Cena at WrestleMania 34, but it wasn't until he watched back the WrestleMania 33 match against Reigns that he felt the need for redemption.
While watching the Reigns match, Taker seemed disgusted and referred to himself as "bloated Elvis." He also said he felt bad for Reigns because of the fact that he wasn't able to give him a great match.
The Undertaker insisted that leaving his hat, gloves and coat in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania 33 was "100 percent real, and me saying goodbye," but the competitor in him came out after watching the match back.
With regard to the WrestleMania 33 bout, Taker said, "It really wasn't a thought until I actually finally watched the match back. When I watched it back, it reaffirmed tenfold everything that I thought. I looked old, I looked slow, I was overweight, I couldn't move and it just wasn't Undertaker-esque, I guess, in any sense really."
Taker added that he shouldn't have been in the ring at WrestleMania 33:
After having a ring delivered to him and working out, The Undertaker made the decision that he was ready and willing to compete at WrestleMania 34 against Cena, and he informed McMahon of his decision on the night of Elimination Chamber 2018.
The Undertaker had the match against Cena, and while he was satisfied with what he was able to do physically after dropping 30 pounds and getting in shape, he was somewhat disappointed that the match was only a glorified squash for five minutes.
Taker said, "Selfishly I would've liked to have been out there a little longer. ... Kind of bittersweet."
The episode ended with The Undertaker being conflicted about his in-ring future but strongly suggesting that he wanted a chance to have a longer match at some point.
Aside from the story of The Undertaker going back on his planned retirement and competing at WrestleMania 34, the episode looked at Taker's relationship with McMahon. The Undertaker said he loves Vince "to death" and would even take a bullet for him.
When McMahon was asked what The Undertaker meant to him, he couldn't even get through it and ended up breaking down in tears.
Another intriguing nugget came from Royal Rumble 2018 when Taker was present to support his wife, Michelle McCool, who was there to compete in the women's Royal Rumble match. While watching AJ Styles on the monitor, Taker said he would have loved to face Styles since he reminded him of Shawn Michaels.
Fittingly, Taker and Styles did lock horns at WrestleMania 36 last month in a Boneyard Match that was universally praised as perhaps the best match on the card.
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