Retirement of a Phenom: The Future of The Undertaker in the WWE

Speculation is currently circulating in regards to the career of the legendary professional wrestler, The Undertaker. The man known all over the world as such names and monikers as “The Deadman”, “The Phenom” and “The Last Outlaw” is current missing in action in the WWE since his epic and illustrious match with Triple H at WrestleMania 27 earlier this 2011 year.

Now, it is currently being rumoured that The Undertaker has silently retired from the WWE.

The Undertaker is currently the longest serving member of the former World Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment media behemoth, a bragging right that only he and Shawn Michaels had prior to the retirement of “The Heartbreak Kid” in 2010 at the hands of The Undertaker himself.

Rumours presently state that many within the WWE now consider The Undertaker to be retired from the entertainment giant. These rumours were fuelled by the fact that The Undertaker’s real-life wife, Michelle McCool, retired from the WWE at Extreme Rules 2011. McCool was evidently on the road solely to be with her husband and now rumours are stating that she has retired to settle down and start a family with the wrestling legend. This comes shy of news that just a few weeks ago, The Undertaker was gearing up for a WWE return to the RAW brand.

It also has to be noted that The Undertaker has scarcely even been mentioned or acknowledged since his match with HHH. It seems that they are intent on not building him up towards any other storylines or feuds in the near future. With that in mind, exactly what does the future for the WWE hold without The Undertaker, or will Taker ever actually return to the WWE in 2011 or beyond?

If The Undertaker retires

If The undertaker retires, there will be a massive void in the WWE that will never be filled. The recent changes in the WWE now make sense however. The retirement of Shawn Michaels left the WWE in somewhat of a panic, but it also resulted in many new debuts of major superstars and the company building up younger, up and coming talent rather than veterans. It also has to be noted that prior to his match with HHH at Mania, The Undertaker had not been on Smackdown or RAW for elongated periods of time.

It now seems that the WWE was actually trying to take the focus away from The Deadman and put that focus on other superstars. Basically, they were trying to make the fans forget about him whether right or wrong, for better or worse.

The fact of the matter is, The Undertaker is the most established veteran that the WWE has on their roster. HE has seen the ups and downs of the WWE and he has seen some of the most epic and illustrious matches and feuds in the history of the sport. He came from the WCW as nothing more than a jobber that had a slight amount of potential and a glint in his eye that only top superstars have. The WWE took this and turned him into arguably the most recognisable figure in the wrestling world. Everybody knows The Undertaker and those that k now his image often know his sheer talent.

There will be a massive void in the WWE if he retires, a gap that will never be filled and with the recent retirement of other veterans such as Shawn Michaels and more recently, Edge, the void is much larger than it should be. Everyone knows The Undertaker and everybody knows exactly how important he is to the WWE. For many, he is not only the face of the WWE, but also the face of professional wrestling. He is the man that made the attitude era amazing for most, he is the man that carried the WWE into the 2000’s and into the present day.

Perhaps the WWE did in fact make the right decision to make the WWE universe forget about him throughout the course of 2010, but his one off return at WrestleMania 28 was too good to forget. It shows the WWE Universe that there is only one Undertaker, and he is by far, the very best that they have on their entire roster, veteran talent or young talent alike. If The Undertaker does retire from the WWE, it will be a huge, incredible and potentially irrecoverable loss when it comes to a roster that is already severely lacking top-name veteran talent and star power.

If The Undertaker returns

If The Undertaker does actually return to the WWE, there is a lot on the line this year. 2011 and 2012 could be the definitive years of his illustrious and legendary career simply because these are the final years leading up to his potential WrestleMania climax. At WrestleMania 28 in 2012, if The Undertaker does in-fact wrestle, his 20-0 streak will be on the line. The Undertaker made Triple H his 19-0 at WrestleMania 27 in 2010 and now, the Undertaker is one match away from claiming 20-0 glory.

Of course, this will only happen if he returns to the WWE. Potential candidates for The Undertaker to wrestle may be currently scarce as John Cena is scheduled to face The Rock. There were critics and insiders alike that wanted John Cena to be Taker’s 20-0 at WrestleMania 28 but obviously, that will not happen.

Earlier this year, there was also talk of bringing in an outside name to wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27. The two names majorly discussed and hinted at were Sting, who is the current TNA world heavyweight champion and Brock Lesnar who at the time was the UFC world heavyweight champion. If The Undertaker should return similarly to the way he did this year, just one-off every now and then to hype his Mania match, then they could certainly make a huge deal and a huge rivalry by bringing in an outside name to wrestle him.

This means that technically, The Undertaker vs. Sting could happen at WrestleMania 28, The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar could happen at WrestleMania 28, The Undertaker vs. Steve Austin could happen at WrestleMania 28 and even, The Undertaker vs. Bill Goldberg could happen at WrestleMania 28.

The latest batch of rumours state that despite the WWE considering The Undertaker retired, he is expected to return for WrestleMania 28. This means that The Undertaker could either lose at WrestleMania 28 and retire, or win at WrestleMania 28 and formally retire. However, if he does win, there is no reason why he could not simply return once a year to continue his WrestleMania streak until he loses, indeed, if he does ever lose.

Retired or not, there is still an incredible amount of hype and expectation for The Undertaker at WrestleMania 28 in 2012. It just will not make sense if he does not return to potentially make his 2-0 legacy come to life and it would not make sense if he wrestles a nobody. For his 20-0, The Deadman needs to wrestle a legend; the WWE need to bring an Undertaker dream match to life for the entire world to stand in shock and awe at.

To Conclude

It is presently unknown if The Undertaker is permanently retired or not and it is also unknown if he will return to the WWE this year or even for WrestleMania 28 in 2012 next year. IF he chooses to stay permanently retired then it is certainly true that the WWE has lost its biggest legend and its biggest veteran talent of all time and that is a void that will not soon be filled. Perhaps they did the right thing in 2010 and 2011 after all by removing him from television so the fans would forget about him. Not only did this add hype to his return, but it instantly made him the biggest thing in the WWE once again.

Of course, it’s not like The Undertaker needs hype at all. The fans will always be struck by a sudden cold chill whenever the gong of his music hits and the lights go out. Retired or not, there is only one Phenom of the WWE and the WWE Universe and professional wrestling fans all over the world are heavily anticipating his potential return and his future in the WWE. Will he make his return to Raw or Smackdown in 2011? Will he wrestle at WrestleMania 28 in 2012 and bring his 20-0 WrestleMania streak to life or as it is now; have we seen the last of The Undertaker in the WWE?