Even Vince McMahon didn’t know what the Boneyard Match was supposed to be
The cinematic matches at WrestleMania 36 were among the high points of a surprisingly excellent show, but even Vince McMahon didn’t really know what a Boneyard Match was supposed to be going into the show.
Although the Firefly Funhouse match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt blew everybody’s minds on the second night of WrestleMania 36, the Boneyard Match received more widespread acclaim as the main event of Night 1.
The first of the two cinematic matches at WrestleMania 36, the Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker initially seemed like a joke. Styles challenged Taker to a “Boneyard Match” on an episode of Raw, leaving wrestling fans speechless and collectively asking a singular question: Just what in the hell is a “Boneyard Match”?
And according to Triple H, who was tasked with being the guiding creative force for the bout, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon didn’t have a clue either:
"“I was like ‘okay great so what is the boneyard match?’ He’s [Vince] like, ‘I don’t know.’ He was like ‘a graveyard, it’s in a graveyard’ and I said ‘okay.’ As we go I said ‘what do you want it to be?’ and he’s like, ‘I don’t know, just make it good.’”"
Triple H spoke more about the development of the match on Corey Graves’ “After The Bell” podcast, including his decision to make it a cinematic match and involve Jeremy Borash.
But it’s hilarious to think that even Vince had no general vision of what a “Boneyard Match” entails, other than it being in a graveyard. Of course, the match looked like it was in someone’s backyard and not a graveyard, but there was a giant grave, so it all ended up working out.
I mean, it’s typical of Vince to throw out a wild stipulation or match name that could only exist in his mind, and then make someone else fill in all the blanks to turn it into something great.
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The final product was incredible and will likely encourage WWE to have more cinematic matches, which could help them get the most out of legends like The Undertaker. He truly turned in one of his best performances in the last several years with Styles as his opponent.
Hat tip to WrestlingNews.Co’s Jake Jeremy for the transcription.