The Undertaker Returns: What Does It Mean?

The Undertaker is back. And not just for Wrestlemania. For the months leading up to Wrestlemania. And he’s part of Smackdown. But he’s not part of Team Smackdown this Sunday at Survivor Series. That role still belongs to Shane McMahon.

So, what is exactly in The Undertaker doing?

The fact that he isn’t taking Shane McMahon’s spot in the match is a bit confusing. It’s Survivor Series. It’s an event synonymous with The Undertaker, even more so than Wrestlemania, especially since the streak ended. They already have James Ellsworth as the mascot, so what exactly is Undertaker doing for Smackdown at Survivor Series? He threatened the team, which I guess is scary, but his return felt very flat and disappointing.

If Undertaker is going to stick around on Smackdown from now until Wrestlemania, he doesn’t need to wrestle every week, or even every PPV, but he does need to be utilized better than someone like Brock Lesnar.

I’ve already written about Lesnar and Goldberg and how WWE favors the part-time guys (Rusev sure got a nice rub, eh?). I would hope that they are smart enough to break that trend with Undertaker. Even if he appears on TV every week, he doesn’t need the World Title, and he certainly doesn’t need to beat a guy like AJ Styles.

Even though Smackdown has been a very good show since the brand split and everything is very focused with things making sense, there is still a lack of top tier talent. Styles is the best performer in WWE at the moment, but he can’t afford to lose matches to a a 51-year old who only wrestles once a year. Not when he claims to be able to wrestle circles around everyone in the ring. The Miz has been great this year, but people still don’t think he’s a top tier guy, and losses to Taker won’t turn them from non-believers. Then there’s Bray Wyatt. Good ol’ Bray Wyatt. The guy who WWE still has no clue what to do with after nearly five years on the main roster. Taker has already taken down Wyatt and the Wyatt Family more than once. Maybe with Randy Orton on his side, things will go a different way, but no one deserves to get one over on Taker more than Wyatt. And no one can afford to take another L to Taker more than Wyatt.

The elephant in the room here is John Cena.

For years we’ve heard about the rumored Cena vs. Taker match at Wrestlemania. With both men being on Smackdown, and Cena expected back in the next month or so, it appears that the two legends are on a collision course heading into Wrestlemania season.

I’m all for it, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of the full-time guys. One of the reasons why I loved the Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar match making is because it didn’t allow either to cut off the momentum of a guy who appears on TV every week. Then they threw Rusev out there for no reason, and killed that theory. They can’t make the same mistake if they go with Undertaker and Cena as opponents.

Cena vs. Undertaker doesn’t need the title, much the same way Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels didn’t need the title. Sure, there’s no streak on the line (although Taker’s career being on the line is a real possibility), but it’s Undertaker vs. John Cena. It’s a one-on-one match that we haven’t seen since 2006. And that match lasted less than five minutes and ended in a No Contest. We haven’t truly seen it since they wrestled on Smackdown in 2004. To put that in perspective, Cena had yet to win his first World Title the last time they wrestled a meaningful one-on-one match.

13 years later, and Cena is the most popular and accomplished wrestler of his era while Taker remains the most respected legend who still competes.

There are plenty of options for Taker if he’s going to hang around on Smackdown for the time being. They are off to a rocky start since he didn’t replace Shane at Survivor Series, but my guess is that Team Smackdown will lose, causing Taker to go on a rampage that ends with a match against AJ Styles. The fact that Taker is committed enough to comeback in November should give everyone hope that good things are ahead for the current stars of Smackdown.