The Undertaker has given his thoughts on the biggest mistake he sees young WWE stars making.
The Undertaker has been announced as one of the coaches on WWE LFG, a new reality TV series that will air on A&E. The show features Undertaker and other legends helping recruits on their journey in WWE.
Speaking about the show in an interview with Collider, The Deadman was asked to name the biggest mistake that young wrestlers make. For the Phenom, it’s seeing trainees trying to “act like wrestlers” rather than actually being wrestlers.
“Great, great question. I talk about this quite a bit with my kids. I think the biggest mistake—and let me just kind of backtrack here a little bit. A lot of times now, we’re getting athletes that are coming from different sports, and not all of them were fans of wrestling. A lot of times, this is just something they think they might be good at, or they want to give it a shot.
“So I think the biggest mistake a lot of times is when these kids watch our programming, and then they try to go in the ring and act like wrestlers instead of being wrestlers. They try to emulate what they’re seeing, and it comes off disingenuous to the fans and to people who really know the business. It looks staged.
“You have to be able to dive into something inside of you and bring it out to set yourself apart. That’s probably the hardest thing for new wrestlers to grasp—not to act like a wrestler, but to actually be a wrestler.”
He went on to speak about the difference between today’s wrestlers and other eras he was part of in his three-decade career. This led to another criticism, as while Undertaker is impressed by today’s athleticism, he thinks the art of storytelling has been lost in favour of getting a reaction from big moves.
“Yeah, I mean, the athleticism is off the charts. It’s crazy what these guys are physically able to do. I think that’s a good thing… but sometimes, I think it’s a bad thing. I always go back to video games.
“I think these guys grew up playing video games and doing all these crazy things, and now they’re trying to bring that into the ring. The things they do now? I couldn’t even imagine doing some of that stuff back in my day.
“I think this era kind of relies too much on that athleticism. Not everyone, obviously—there are great storytellers out there too—but I think some guys fall back on big moves instead of focusing on the storytelling aspect of what we do.
“They’ll hit a double backflip off the top rope onto the floor and get a big reaction, but once your audience sees that a few times, it’s not as impressive anymore.
“That’s the challenge: they’re constantly pushing the envelope to get those reactions instead of learning to slow down and focus on the story they’re telling.”
The Undertaker Addresses Criticism For Appearance With Vince McMahon
The Undertaker has hit back at critics of him appearing with Vince McMahon at the Super Bowl. The Deadman knew he would “get hate” for it, but still Vince McMahon as a friend despite the explosive allegations against him.
In recent news, The Undertaker spoke about why fellow WWE Hall of Famer the late Yokozuna used to get mad at him during their matches.