WWE WrestleMania 36: The Undertaker needs to keep new gimmick

WWE WrestleMania 36 was destined to be one of the most unique WrestleManias in history from the start given the unprecedented circumstances, but after night one’s main event featuring The Undertaker and AJ Styles, that premise continued to ring truer and truer.

Fans had no clue what was coming with the Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles at WWE WrestleMania 36, but the majority of the skeptics were silenced with one of the most creative and unique segments the WWE has produced in a long time.

This rivalry became personal quickly when Styles started talking about The Undertaker’s real-life outside of the ring. Styles called him by his real name of Mark Calaway on multiple occasions, but took things to an even more personal level when he mentioned his wife, Michelle McCool.

The Phenomenal One said McCool is the reason that Taker can’t stay retired and she has been burying his career over the past several years when Taker should have been retired.

Things were taken to a personal, kayfabe-breaking level and it seemed likely that we would see a new, or old, version of The Undertaker come forth at WrestleMania.

The promo Taker gave on last week’s edition of Raw was evidence enough when, instead of sounding like the usual deadman version of his character, he sounded more like a real person looking for revenge on Styles.

The match took place in a graveyard type of location with Styles making a grand entrance in the back of a hearst in a coffin, poking more fun at The Undertaker.

However, Taker’s entrance would take fans back to the early-2000’s when he zoomed in on a motorcycle with the sounds of Metallica playing. And what would ensue would be a match that people will talk about for years to come.

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It was more like a movie than it was a match in some regards, but it was simply fantastic. Hearing Taker trash talking Styles and looking similar to the vintage American Badass gimmick he carried throughout much of the Attitude Era was surreal in a lot of ways. After all of the madness that took place and all of the twists and turns, Taker literally buried Styles and drove off on his motorcycle in the darkness.

Simply put, this was the best that The Undertaker has looked in a long time. It wasn’t a traditional match, obviously, but the story that was being told and how well it was executed by everyone involved put this match over the top.

So many fans had been clamoring for a return of the American Badass version of The Undertaker and while this wasn’t exactly that, it’s the closest Taker has been to this version of his character since 2003.

It showed more personality in him as a human being and made him seem like a legit tough guy with a couple touches of The Undertaker mystical powers thrown in as well.

This match will be polarizing for some and this type of character for The Undertaker has always been polarizing, but for an Undertaker that is in his mid-50’s in 2020 some 30 years after his initial WWE debut, this gimmick needs to stick for the foreseeable future.

Let’s be honest, the vintage deadman gimmick hasn’t felt the same in a long time. It will always be the version of The Undertaker that fans most associate with, and for good reason, but for the current circumstances, this new gimmick makes perfect sense.

With how personal Styles took things with Taker, he seemingly turned him into a real person again. And with that, it would be hard to sell the deadman gimmick any time soon.

And in the social media era of 2020 with how much of The Undertaker’s real-life is shown to millions of people, that makes it even harder to buy into the deadman gimmick. It doesn’t have to be this way permanently and Taker will likely end up using that gimmick again, but for the foreseeable future, this American Badass-hybrid type of gimmick needs to have more time to shine and impress.

For the first time in a long time, fans bought into what the WWE was trying to sell with The Undertaker, and that’s because he seemed real. This boneyard match worked so well that the WWE should try producing more of these types of segments in the future, which would be tailor made for The Undertaker. At this stage in his career, he doesn’t need to be taking many bumps anyways given the injury history he has had over the past decade.

So, these segments make more sense. He could still have traditional matches from time to time as well, but more of what we saw at WrestleMania 36 certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing given the success of what took place. It’s a different time and this time is better suited for what this new gimmick of The Undertaker can provide.

Next. The Boneyard Match Was Legendary. dark

It was close to 20 years in the making, but seeing The Undertaker ride in on a motorcycle and look like the toughest man walking the face of the earth for those 30 minutes is the best direction the WWE could have gone, a direction that needs to remain.