SUMMARY
- The Undertaker made a surprise appearance at WrestleMania 40 and delivered a chokeslam to Dwayne Johnson.
- The 59-year-old recently shared his thoughts on The Rock's selling of the chokeslam.
The Undertaker sent shockwaves across the wrestling world at WrestleMania 40.
The Deadman returned at the Showcase of Immortals to make Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson pay for his sins. Just as The Final Boss prepared to punish Cody Rhodes with his weight belt, the famous gong struck in the arena. As the lights returned, The Great One found himself face-to-face with The Phenom. The Undertaker thwarted The Rock’s offense before laying him down with a vicious chokeSlam.
THE ROCK TO THE UNDERTAKER
“I’ll see you down the road” pic.twitter.com/P5UDKzBxwf
— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) April 17, 2024
After taking The Rock out of the equation, The Deadman disappeared into the darkness. Taker’s appearance was enough to neutralize The Rock, ultimately resulting in Cody Rhodes finishing the story. Fans have been curious about The Deadman’s WrestleMania appearance ever since. Speaking on the Six Feet Under Podcast, The Undertaker answered several such fan queries.
One of the fans asked Taker if The Rock didn’t sell his Choke Slam properly, to which The Lord of Darkness gave his honest opinion.
The Undertaker denies The Rock underselling his ChokeSlam maneuver
According to The Undertaker, The Rock did not undersell his fatal ChokeSlam at WrestleMania. The Deadman denied the assessment that The Rock needed to sell his move dramatically, something which The Brahma Bull is known for.
He stated, “I thought he did a great job with it. Yeah. It wasn’t a time. Yeah, it was time for Rock to get his and get out of the way and let this happen, because there’s too many forces working, you know, that had worked against himself now, it’s kind of a shift, I thought. I was more than happy.”
As per The Phenom, the purpose of his appearance was solely to remove The Great One from the picture. The Final Boss had already had his moment of dominance against John Cena and hence, didn’t need to steal Taker’s spotlight with an oversell.
The Undertaker chokeslammed The Rock in shoes that be bought on Complex Sneaker Shopping pic.twitter.com/BCseDBPvZo
— WrestlingWorldCC (@WrestlingWCC) April 21, 2024
Considering the tension between The Rock and The Undertaker, an over-the-top exaggerated sell might have undermined the gravity of the moment, feels Taker.
THE UNDERTAKER TAKES DOWN THE ROCK!!!#WWWERaw#www pic.twitter.com/xX2QTMQdb7
— Muhammad Abu Bakar Siddique (@bakr56138) April 16, 2024
The Undertaker was also pleased about the timing of his appearance in the main event match. Once The Brahma Bull thwarted the positive energy of John Cena, the dark force in The Undertaker appeared to protect the good from the evil.
Had The Rock over-sold The Deadman’s offense, the moment would not have had the desired impact on the audience.
The Undertaker describes the state of his different characters in 2024
The Undertaker recently expressed his pleasure about his WrestleMania 40 appearance. The Deadman was contented to get the “closure” to his story in front of the fans, something that he was yearning for since his 2020 retirement.
Talking about the state of his different personas, The American Badass came up with an interesting assessment.
The Undertaker believes that the original Deadman, The American Badass, and his real-life Mark Callaway personas merged into one “holy trinity” when he battled AJ Styles in the Boneyard match.
This is why The Deadman no longer suits up in his iconic outfit when he does podcasts and fan meetups. It is the same reason why The Deadman appeared at WrestleMania 40 wearing a normal hoodie.
The Undertaker is the only wrestler to hold the Winged Eagle, Attitude Era, Undisputed and Big Gold Championship belts 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/fMk1b5CUEF
— 90s WWE (@90sWWE) April 16, 2024
The WWE legend has massive respect for his Undertaker character, and thus, he avoids tarnishing its legacy. According to Taker, if he keeps showing up to public meetups in his iconic outfit, it will cheapen his hard work of 30 years.