The Undertaker walked away from wrestling following his victory over AJ Styles in the Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36.
The match was not originally intended to go the cinematic route, but WWE had to call an audible for WrestleMania due to the pandemic. While the match could have happened in the empty Performance Center like so many other WrestleMania 36 bouts, Styles is thankful he got to do something different for Undertaker's last match.
"I'm proud that I had the opportunity to work with the Undertaker," said Styles in an interview with Ryan Satin on Out of Character. "It was icing on the cake to have one of the better cinematic matches that WWE has done. I was very proud of it and I'm sure Taker was very proud of it. It was one of those things where you weren't sure how fans would take it, but it was exactly what we both needed. I was certainly pleasantly surprised when they said, 'You're doing a Boneyard match and it's going to be different.' Okay, cool. Not a match in front of nobody? Perfect. It was exactly what we envisioned. I would have loved to have the opportunity to work with him before he retired because we gelled so well in that Boneyard match."
In the NBA, a jersey swap is common following games as a sign of respect between two players.
Styles and Undertaker followed a similar route after the Boneyard match.
"I called his wife [Michelle McCool] and was like, 'What does he want? I need to get him something,'" replied Styles when asked if a gift exchange occurred between the two men given the historical nature of the match. "She was like, 'Give him your gloves, that would mean a lot to him if you signed your gloves.' Michelle hooked me up. Hopefully, that was a gift he enjoyed. He actually sent his gloves to me with a very nice thank you letter."
Though the Boneyard match was Undertaker's last official match, he did have a Final Farewell at Survivor Series 2020.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Styles discussed his worry when it came to Vince McMahon's vision for him. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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