Undertaker Loved Edge and Randy Orton’s Backlash Match, Says There’s Too Much Focus on Athleticism

On the latest After the Bell, the Undertaker discussed Edge and Randy Orton’s match at Backlash and explained what it had that most wrestling today is missing. The Dead Man talked about how he appreciates the athleticism that wrestling stars display in the ring in the current era but noted that it can often be missing story, something that he pointed out was very much present in the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.”

Taker also explained how going too far into the athleticism can be dangerous for talent because it desensitized fans and stars have to try crazier and crazier things, shortening their careers. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

On what he sees in today’s wrestling athleticism: “Yeah, absolutely there’s positives and negatives. I think on the grand scale of everyone, the athletes of today are, I mean, my gosh. It’s like comic book stuff, super hero stuff where they can — I think what happens though, is that these guys rely too much on that aspect of their performance and not enough on their character and their willingness to sell and to make things mean something.”

On Edge vs. Randy Orton at Backlash: “Prime example: my gosh, last night at Backlash. Edge and Randy [Orton] — honestly, it almost brought a tear to my eye. Because I haven’t seen that type of wrestling match in so long. And I understand time parameters and everything else, that they had a lot of time. But my gosh, what a story they told. What an unbelievable story. And I sent Edge a text today. The next time I go down to the PC and work with guys, I’m gonna pull that tape up and show these guys and dissect — not that, it’ll probably be dissected a 100 times by then. But just the little nuances of the things that those two guys did last night. It just — it was phenomenal, and it restored so much faith in where I think the business should be and could be. But that tape right there, that needs to be studied by our main roster guys. That is what professional wrestling is, or what it’s supposed to be, is what they did last night, in my opinion.”

On the dangers of relying too strongly on high spot moves: “It’s great being able to be as athletic as all these guys are. But it really, at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything. Because when you rely on all that athleticism, and you rely solely on that athleticism? You continually push the envelope on our audience. Because they are going to get desensitized to the double backflip off the top to somebody on the floor. They’re gonna see it a couple times and then go, “Okay I’ve seen that. Now what do you got for me?’ So what happens is, you have to continually push the envelope athletically, which puts you at a higher risk for injury.

“These guys are — obviously, things are different right now but when things get back to normal, so does being back on the road 250 days a year. It’s self preservation a lot of times. You have to work smart to make this last. And that’s not taking a day off. You can work hard, and you should work hard every night. But, you have to work smart. And I think the guys right now are relying too much on athleticism and not enough on storytelling.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE’s After the Bell with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.