The Undertaker’s career looks to be over after taking on Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 and fans still haven’t really gotten over it. Facing The Deadman at a pay-per-view event is a massive honor and many feel that a larger star should have gotten his last match.

Reigns’ profile has risen even higher after all the press generated by his bout with a literal legend at the Ultimate Thrill Ride. That comes at a cost though, as fans have taken to booing the superstar even more loudly at live events since Mania concluded.

The part-time performer had been a fixture at events like WrestleMania in the past and now it will be up to a younger generation of stars like The Big Dog to step into the void that he created with his departure from the country after such a long tenure.

It’s hard to believe now, but Taker was once a newer face on the block himself in the early 1990s as he strived to make a name for himself. Impressing Vince McMahon has been and still is a tall order for a lot of performers once they make it to the pinnacle of the sport.

Bruce Prichard shared a funny story about a younger version of The Deadman trying to balance getting that push with escaping what he thought was a bogus promotion on his podcast. These are the kinds of stories that keep trickling out now.

Prichard said: “You had the All-Americans, Lex Luger’s team, and Undertaker being on it, you had the Steiners and everybody there and then you have Undertaker. And Vince says, ‘Goddamn, pal, once you get out there and Luger introduces you as one of the All-Americans, you just open up the coat and there’s the red, white, and blue!’.

“They took his coat and they lined it with ‘The Stars & Stripes’ and it was like an old colonial flag...Vince comes to him and says, ‘hey, we want to do something with the jacket’ and “Taker says ‘Well, yeah, about that.’ [McMahon interjects] ‘What do you mean?’ Well, my dog kind of at the lining of the jacket.’”

Sometimes the oldest excuses in the book just work and in that instance, Vince bought that tired line from The Undertaker. Obviously, that wasn’t the end of his career and he went on to have many different gimmicks.

The fact still remains that even legends like the Undertaker had to figure out ways to get where they wanted. There is still hope for Roman yet.