Backstage Details for WrestleMania 36 Boneyard Match: Improvised Lines, Accidental Blood, AJ Styles ‘Hand’ Idea, More

WhatCulture has an awesome, detailed behind-the-scenes look at the Undertaker vs. AJ Styles Boneyard Match from WrestleMania 36 Night One that reveals a lot of interesting production details on how the match was put together. It’s recommended you check out their full article, but here are a few of the interesting things they report:

* WWE hired an outside production crew to custom build the set for the match. It took five days to build the set. WWE originally contacted the production crew on March 21st to put together a graveyard promo scene, but when Triple H and Michael Hayes arrived on set and saw the quality of work, they started thinking about what else they could do and the match concept grew from there. WWE ended up shooting overnight, from 9PM on March 25th to 5AM on March 26th. All the destruction from the shoot took a week to clean up afterwards.

* WWE originally planned to use an abandoned ditch, bridge, and roadside for Undertaker’s arrival on his motorcycle, but because those locations were city property and WWE didn’t have a permit, WWE opted to go with the location seen in the match entrance.

* The trash talking between the Undertaker and AJ Styles during the match was all improvised and not in the original script for the match. Both wrestlers convinced Triple H to let them have some freedom with it and he agreed.

* The Undertaker smashing the glass of the hearse and getting cut on his arm was not planned. The crew considered turning the hearse around so they’d have an un-smashed window and shooting the shot again but WWE decided to keep filming even though the Undertaker was bleeding rather than stop and bandage him up.

* Triple H and Michael Hayes had come across a prop hand during the shoot that they wanted to incorporate into the match, and it ended up being the Undertaker who pitched the idea of using it as AJ’s hand poking up from the dirt after he was buried.