One of the greatest characters in wrestling history may finally be calling time on his career as Mark Calaway, who is better known as The Undertaker, has announced that he has no desire to step back into the ring. The 55-year-old WWE legend made the statement in the final episode of The Last Ride documentary on the WWE Network.
The series was originally meant to document his retirement match against fellow wrestler Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 33 in 2017. However, because he was unhappy with the lacklustre quality of the match, the series ended up turning into a long-term project as Calaway sought to find the perfect final match for his career.
Throughout the series, he ended up going against the likes of John Cena and Goldberg though those matches left him feeling just as hollow as Reigns’. It wasn’t until his most recent Boneyard Match with AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 36 that Calaway finally felt satisfied with the quality of his final match.
“There was a lot of thought, a lot of emotion that went through my head, one of those being, ‘Are you happy enough with that?’ It was just a powerful moment, and you don’t always necessarily get those. Man, if there was ever a perfect ending to a career, that right there is it,” Calaway says in the documentary, about his recent match with Styles.
“If Vince [McMahon] was in a pinch, would I come back? I guess time will only tell, there. In case of emergency, break glass, you pull out the Undertaker, I would have to consider that. Never say never, but at this point in my life and my career, I have no desire to get back in the ring.”
WWE has also released a post on its Twitter, with the simple caption “#ThankYouTaker for…” followed by an image with glimpses of various matches over The Undertaker’s long career, which seems to confirm Calaway’s retirement as The Undertaker.