For the last couple of months, we’ve been talking about the directive given to the announcers to make sure that they never definitely say that The Undertaker is retired. The only person on WWE programming claiming that Taker is retired is Roman Reigns.
During the John Cena/Roman Reigns segment on Raw, Cena pointed out that he is “not the Undertaker.” He added, “I’m not a battered veteran at the end of his career with a bad hip.” That was a scripted line and most of what was said during that segment was approved by Vince McMahon.
On commentary during the Cena/Reigns vs. Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson match, Michael Cole made a point to say, “John Cena with strong words about Roman Reigns’ claims of retiring The Undertaker at WrestleMania.”
Furthermore, while it was speculated on Jerry Lawler’s podcast that Taker was in town to get scanned for a new video game, that was not the case. Dave Meltzer reported that Taker was indeed in New York but it had nothing to do with the video game. In fact, the video game scans would need an elaborate setup and they did not have one in New York.
This week, PWInsider reported that Taker was seen working out in the ring before SummerSlam. That would seem to be an indication that he is not done. The in-ring workout took place with no cameras around and it was hours before the show, which explains why people at SummerSlam did not see him backstage later in the evening. Taker’s wife, Michelle McCool, stuck around to say hi to friends during the show.
The biggest hint might be in some of the No Mercy commercials that have been airing. There’s one commercial that aired this week and some fans noticed that Taker’s “gong” sound played at the very end of it. So, does this mean that The Undertaker is returning at No Mercy? Never say never and I would not be surprised if he got involved in the Cena/Reigns match to start the build towards a Taker vs. Cena match at Survivor Series or at WrestleMania. Both Cena and Taker have wanted to wrestle each other and it was being strongly hinted at last December as a WrestleMania match before plans changed. Cena is scheduled for Survivor Series on 11/19 in Houston.
If you missed some of the top news stories from the last 24 hours, check out some of the links below:
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- Major name being considered for the 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame
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- Jerry Lawler on what Vince McMahon said to him after Raw
