The Undertaker On Who Came Up With The Idea For AJ Styles Match At WrestleMania

On the finale of WWE Network's Undertaker: The Last Ride, Chapter 5: Revelation, The Undertaker talked about thinking his Extreme Rules (2019) match versus Shane McMahon would be 'The Deadman”s retirement from in-ring action.

The Undertaker, who was recently honored by Madison Square Garden, said that he told WWE Chairman Vince McMahon he was going to retire from in-ring action after facing off against Shane McMahon at Extreme Rules.  

"I don't think it's going to get any better than that," The Undertaker said of his match versus Shane McMahon. "I came through the curtain and I just whispered in Vince's ear. I said, 'I think that's it.' He was like, 'Mark, whatever you want to do? I think you have a lot more left, but it's completely up to you. It's your decision. You do what's right for you.'"

The Undertaker divulged that he never used to think about getting injuries when he was younger; however, he realized he could have been accidentally killed at Super ShowDown while wrestling Goldberg.

"When I was young and I was out on the road all the time, you never think about getting hurt or something catastrophic happening," Taker said. "You don't. You go out, and you work hard, and you do your thing every night. Nowadays, I think a lot more because 1) I don't move as well as I used to move. I don't have the reaction time that I once did. Due to injuries, I don't have the same strength I used to have. And all those things, they start getting in your head, and you worry about something catastrophic happening.

"Something nearly catastrophic happened in Saudi [Arabia] the last time I was there. It wasn't anybody's fault. It was just something that happened, but I was two inches, probably, away from having my neck broken. Wow, I was two inches away from making my wife a widow and my kids fatherless."

The Undertaker admitted, "once those thoughts, once they get in there, it's really difficult to get them out."

According to Styles, he got the impression that The Undertaker was going to wrestle only a couple more matches from The Undertaker's appearance on The Broken Skull Sessions. From there, 'The Phenomenal One' reached out to 'The Phenom' to determine whether a match between the two could happen.  

"My buddy and I were talking and he said that he watched the podcast with 'Stone Cold' and [The Undertaker] wants to retire on his own terms," Styles recalled. "It almost sounded like he was going to go one more match or maybe two more, and I thought, 'well, if he's going to do something, how can I be one of those matches if he's going to do more than one?' I just wanted to be one of them. I was like, 'do you know what? I'm going to give it a shot. All he could say is, 'no'. It's no big deal. I didn't ask Vince because if Taker doesn't want to do it, then it's not going to happen, so I called Undertaker and he just started chatting."

At that time, The Undertaker stated that he told Styles that he would have loved to have worked with him years ago, but that he had no intention of returning to the squared circle.

"I had a pretty good idea what he was calling for," The Undertaker remembered. "[Styles] goes, 'when you were on Steve [Austin]'s show, you said you were kind of going to go do things on your own terms. What [does] that mean? Are you going to work? Do you want to do something because I would love to do something with you at 'Mania?'" The Undertaker sighed, "I was like, 'oh, oh man?' I was like, 'bro, honestly' I said, 'I would have loved to work with you 10, 15 years ago.' I said, 'man, I think we could've tore the place down.' I said, 'I just don't have any aspirations of getting back in the ring.' And he goes, 'man, I just want you to think about it.'"

Apparently, Styles reminded The Undertaker that his better matches have been against smaller opponents.

"We talked about how some of his matches with smaller guys like Shawn Michaels have always been his better matches." Styles later added, "I said, 'just so you know, whatever your decision is, it's the right one.'"

McCool, The Undertaker's wife, suggested that she was in favor of The Undertaker working with Styles at WrestleMania given her connection to Styles's family as well as Styles's exceptional in-ring abilities.

"Oddly enough, we'd been vacationing with one of AJ's best friends for almost 10 years, so we've gotten to know AJ, and Wendy, and his kids through them," McCool acknowledged. "So AJ reached out and he was like, 'hey, Take, if you've got one more in you, I'd be honored.' And Mark looked at me and I was like, 'there's nobody better. There's absolutely nobody better to get into the ring with. If you're going to do it, it'd be good.' He was like, 'really? You're steering me in the direction I thought you wouldn't steer me in.' I said, 'but it's AJ. It could be magic.'"

The Undertaker struggled to decide whether to return to the squared circle for a match with Styles.  

"Oh man, I talked with Michelle about it, watched some of [Styles's] stuff, and I've always really enjoyed watching him work." The Undertaker said, "and I was like, 'crap.' I was like, 'every time I think I've gotten out, they pull me back in,' so I said, 'alright. I'll do it. I'm going to do it.'"

After mulling over the decision to face Styles at WrestleMania for a few days, The Undertaker called McMahon to inform him that the WWE Universe had not seen the last of the 'The Demon From Death Valley' and to enlist McMahon's assistance on a rib. 

"I called Vince up. I tried to rib AJ and I said, 'look, I'm going to do [the match versus Styles], but I want you to call AJ for me. I want you to let him know that I'm going to work 'Mania, but just tell him that I'm going to work with somebody else,'" The Undertaker laughed.

Although Styles recalled the telephone call from McMahon, he claimed that he did not fall for the rib.

"Vince, he goes, 'well, I talked to Taker and there's some kid in Tennessee he wants to get over.' And I said, 'what?' And he goes, 'no, no, I'm serious. You probably need to call him.'" Styles continued, "and then, I called Taker and he said, 'look, listen, there's this younger kid that I want to put over.' I was like, 'bullcrap! Bullcrap, man! That's bull.' So they tried to rib me, but come on!"

Styles said that while the match probably would not mean much to The Undertaker, that it was the most match to Styles. The reigning and defending Intercontinental Champion revealed that he wanted The Undertaker to be "so satisfied" with the match that he could happily retire after.

"It probably doesn't mean that much to him. It's another WrestleMania for The Undertaker, but for me, I get to get in the ring with The Undertaker! This is huge! This is the biggest match of my [professional wrestling] career. No doubt about it." Styles added, "I just want to make sure he goes, 'do you know what? If I'm going to retire, maybe this is the one to do it on.' I want him to be so satisfied with this match that he could be done if he wanted to."

Check out Undertaker: The Last Ride by subscribing to WWE Network here. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit Undertaker: The Last Ride, Chapter 5: Revelation with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.