After a year's hiatus, the Undertaker will be wrestling at this year's WrestleMania. The Phenom is set to take on A.J. Styles at WrestleMania 36, provoking "the Phenomenal One" by interfering in his matches at Super Showdown and Elimination Chamber. But despite having Taker and Styles in the match, and the build further intensified by some choice words from the former TNA and New Japan superstar, will it be spectacle enough... or should WWE institute a special stipulation that could act as an apt "death knell" for The Undertaker?
Styles officially challenged the Deadman to the Mania match on Monday's Raw, blaming the Undertaker's wife, former WWE star Michelle McCool, for his continued one-off matches and the fact that The Phenom is long past the natural end point for his career. He specifically mentioned Brock Lesnar breaking Undertaker's Streak at WrestleMania 30 and his apparent retirement ceremony at WrestleMania 33 before vowing to put the "final nail" in his career at this year's show.
Funereal metaphors are a part of the Undertaker's character, of course, so it's easy to brush that line off as your standard wrestling promo threat. That said, it's hard to ignore how it teases a tantalizing stipulation for a match that could very well use one: a Casket Match.
While he's only competed in one Casket Match at 'Mania -- against Mark Henry at WrestleMania 22 -- they were a constant for most of his three decade long WWE career. For the uninitiated, the object of a Casket Match is to close the lid on an incapacitated opponent. Before he became synonymous with Hell in a Cell, it was Undertaker's signature match.
Undertaker's two pay-per-view matches with WWF's biggest heel of the '90s, Yokozuna, were both Casket Matches. Their first, at Royal Rumble '94, is infamous for the number of wrestlers (9) who ran in to help Yokozuna trap 'Taker in the casket. In the aftermath, 'Taker cut a promo on the Titantron (apparently from inside the casket), which exploded on screen. He then ascended to the rafters of the arena.
The aftermath of that match saw Undertaker missing WrestleMania for the first time in his career. His comeback match was against Ted Dibiase's imposter Undertaker at SummerSlam. After defeating his doppelganger, 'Taker finally got a return Casket Match with Yokozuna at Survivor Series.
That match had a novel solution for interference on Yokozuna's behalf -- Chuck Norris was the special enforcer. He stared down the massive King Kong Bundy and Bam Bam Bigelow and even kicked future WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett in the stomach. That allowed Undertaker to finally get revenge on Yoko. The loss marked the end of Yokozuna's run as a top singles star.
The most consequential Casket Match in WWE history, however, was at the Royal Rumble in 1998. Shawn Michaels defended the WWE Championship against the Undertaker in a rare non-Rumble main event. Michaels retained when the Undertaker's brother betrayed him to cost him the match, when that was still a new concept. That set the stage for their first singles match, at WrestleMania 14. They'd even have a Casket Match of their own on Raw in 1999. It ended in the only No Contest in Casket Match history, when they broke the casket from the inside.
As important as the Undertaker/Kane feud was, it's what happened to Michaels that changed WWE history. A nasty bump off a back drop onto the casket caused Michaels to herniate two disks in his back and crush one completely. He gutted out the rest of the match in obvious pain. After sitting out the next two months, Michaels lost the WWE Championship to Steve Austin at WrestleMania 14, his last match until 2002. His absence allowed Triple H to step up as leader of D-GenerationX and become the dominant main eventer WWE fans have known for 20 years.
The Undertaker's appearances in Casket Matches were sparse in the 2010s. That decade saw him move into his current special attraction/part timer role. In fact, he went a decade between Casket Matches. His match with Big Show at Survivor Series 2008 was his last Casket Match until a bout with Rusev at WWE's first Saudi Arabia show, Greatest Royal Rumble. Future AEW star Chris Jericho was slated to replace Rusev in the match at one point, before being moved to the Rumble match in his final WWE appearance to date.
The return of the Casket Match at WrestleMania could be a big boost to the Styles/'Taker feud and the card as a whole. There's novelty to a match that we don't see regularly on such a packed card. Casket Matches are No DQ affairs, which would allow Styles' running buddies the OC, Aleister Black and even Kane to interfere. That would do a lot to take the pressure off of having a technical classic with a 54 year old Undertaker.
Styles is as close to a made man in WWE as anyone who spent the majority of his career outside of the company could be. Defeating the Undertaker at WrestleMania is about the only thing he can do to add to an already sterling resume.
It would put him in exclusive company with Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, two of WWE's favorite sons. He could one-up them by being the only one to defeat 'Taker in his signature match. We're of course well aware of the reports filed by Bryan Alvarez and others that this rumored stipulation won't happen, but stranger things have happened, and we can still dream.