WWE legend The Undertaker seemingly announces his retirement from the wrestling ring in the final episode of The Last Ride. The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) has been a feature attraction for Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment for almost thirty years, making his debut at one of WWE’s signature pay-per-view’s Survivor Series in November 1990. The Undertaker’s mythical ‘Deadman’ persona has long been praised for its longevity, and in more recent years, he’s taken a part-time role, wrestling on a few occasions in big matches against John Cena and even Goldberg at WWE’s Super ShowDown last June.
Last month, the WWE started releasing their documentary series The Last Ride. The five-part series documents The Undertaker’s career and life from 2017's WrestleMania to this year’s WrestleMania where Undertaker wrestled AJ Styles in the cinematic Boneyard match, which received rave reviews from critics and fans alike. The documentary series goes in-depth with Undertaker’s struggle with making the decision to retire, and him chasing that “perfect” retirement. However, now, the superstar known as ‘The Phenom’ may have finally decided to hang up his black hat and boots.
Today, WWE released the final episode of The Undertaker’s The Last Ride series, and the Deadman himself shared a video from the episode on his Twitter. Along with the video he writes, “You can never appreciate how long the road was until you’ve driven to the end.” Seemingly confirming his retirement from the ring, and the tweet goes hand-in-hand with a quote from the episode itself where The Undertaker says: “This time the cowboy really rides away.” Meaning, his Boneyard match with AJ Styles may have been the final match of his long and storied career. Check out The Undertaker's tweet, below.
The story of Undertaker’s documentary series has been mostly of Undertaker trying to come to this decision, but due to his aging body, his internal struggle, and some unfortunate in-ring injuries, that fitting finale seemed to elude the WWE legend. So the fact he finally seems fulfilled and happy to walk away is selfishly a sad moment for a lot of fans, but also one that should bring those same fans a lot of joy, as his match with Styles at WrestleMania was universally applauded. Also, as Undertaker notes in the final episode of The Last Ride, the Boneyard match not only brought his Deadman and American Badass character together, but he also mixed the two characters with his real-life characteristics. So that almost makes this match even more symbolic and a fitting final act for Calaway.
Fans of professional wrestling often joke about wrestling retirements, as countless WWE legends such as Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and Ricky Steamboat have retired, only to then return to the ring for another big match. Time will tell if this retirement sticks, as the documentary series also highlights Undertaker’s willingness to do almost anything for McMahon and WWE. Hopefully, The Undertaker can follow in the footsteps of his fellow Attitude Era superstars Stone Cold and Shawn Michaels and end on a high note with a high-quality match at WrestleMania.
Source: Undertaker