The Undertaker has discussed the scary moment in his all-time great WrestleMania 25 match with Shawn Michaels when he dived to the floor, almost taking out a cameraman.
The Undertaker and Michaels had one of the greatest ever WrestleMania matches ever in 2009 as HBK looked to end The Streak. The match met with critical acclaim inside and outside of the company with it winning the 2009 Slammy Award for best match.
Speaking to ESPN SportsNation The Undertaker discussed the legendary match and the moment in it when he went for his trademark dive. Clearing the ropes the Deadman aimed for Michaels outside the ring. The Heartbreak Kid grabbed a cameraman to take the impact rather than him. The cameraman, in this case, was played by former WWE Superstar Sim Snuka, also known as Deuce. Undertaker never quite made it as far as Snuka as intended and landed headfirst into the aisleway in a truly horrific moment.
Looking back, The Undertaker says that terrifying moment added to the match:
“I’ve always been pessimistic with my matches. I would never watch my matches back with anybody else I’d have to sit by myself so I can pick them apart and say, ‘Wow. I should have done this, not that.’ That night, other than missing the cameraman on the dive over to the top which added to the story because it was such a nasty bump that I took, but even that ended up turning something bad into something good. Just everything was the way it was supposed to be and there was so much ad-lib in that match and that is something that you can do when you have guys that you trust and have that kind of ring acumen.”
“All I had to worry about that night was being The Undertaker. I didn’t have to worry about Shawn and what Shawn was going to do because I knew he was going to be right there. Those are those kinds of special nights that you don’t have to thank for your opponent you don’t have to come up with something you know he’s on the same wavelength as you are and it was the perfect storm I couldn’t have been more happy with how that turned out.”
The Undertaker continued the match after his hard landing, defeating Michaels to keep his Streak intact at WrestleMania. The two men met once again a year later in the main event of WrestleMania 26. The result was the same with The Undertaker coming out on top, ending the legendary career of Shawn Michaels.