wrestling / News

Marty Elias Recalls Being Picked by Shawn Michaels to Referee WrestleMania 25 Match

September 11, 2018 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Undertaker Shawn Michaels WrestleMania 25 Image Credit: WWE

– Former WWE referee Marty Elias spoke with the Pancakes and Powerslams podcast about refereeing the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker match at WrestleMania 25. Highlights from the interview are below:

On bot being originally assigned the match: “The referee assignments came out and Charles Robinson was assigned that match. I went to Shawn, we were in San Antonio, Texas, his hometown, and I went to him very casually and I said, ‘Shawn, I don’t have your match at WrestleMania. It would have been great, but maybe next year.’ But I knew what he was going with next year and I was hoping that I was going to be able to get this match. So, he says, ‘What do you mean you don’t have this match?’ I said, ‘I don’t have your match. Charles was assigned the match.'”

On Michaels getting him the match: “So, the next day, we were in Corpus Christie, Texas, and Shawn and I dressed together. And he goes, ‘I talked to John. You have my match at WrestleMania.’ [I thought], whoa, okay. What was I gonna say to Shawn Michaels? No? So that’s how it happened. I’ve apologized up and down to Charles Robinson for that, but at the same time, I wasn’t being vindictive. I wasn’t being anything, or trying to be malicious or a backstabber, or nothing like that. It was just friends having a conversation, and that was it. And that’s how it happened, that’s how it came to be.”

On the possibility of Michaels facing Undertaker again at WrestleMania 35 and him being involved: “It’s the 10-year anniversary. You wanna give somebody the rubber match? And, if it happens, it would be an honor. Just think; getting those three original guys in the ring again. If that match was created once, what’s not to say that it can’t happen again, to some extent?”