The Undertaker supplied his unfiltered opinion about the most important aspect of professional wrestling during his recent interview with Nightcap. The Deadman explained to Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson that technical execution serves a larger narrative purpose.
“Wrestling isn’t about wrestling moves. Wrestling is about telling stories. We use the moves to help tell the story, but it’s all about the connection.”
Professional wrestling is a business, and Undertaker argues there’s bigger factors at play than snug ring work and a killer move set.
“If you love somebody you pay money to see him kick the other guy’s ass, or if you hate him, you pay to see him get beaten. That’s the gist of what we do.”
Modern Recruitment Challenges
Storytelling is important, but athleticism is still WWE’s canvas. Charisma is the X factor, but Undertaker detailed how WWE still aggressively scouts collegiate athletes instead of waiting for independent wrestlers to show up on their radar.
“We recruit at the combine, go to colleges, pro days…because we have to continue to feed the system.”
This approach creates unique teaching challenges.
“When I came up, either you had it or you didn’t. Now we get people from ground zero who don’t understand the business, so you have to break it down.”
Remembering Bray Wyatt’s Unique Presence
When asked about potential supernatural character successors, The Undertaker immediately thought of the late Bray Wyatt.
“Do I see any young Undertakers coming up? Hard to say, but the closest in the past few years was Bray Wyatt. He was in that category. We lost him last year.”