Cornell Gunther says being a part of filming Undertaker's final match, the cinematic Boneyard Match against AJ Styles at WWE WrestleMania 36, is one of the greatest experiences and opportunities he's ever received in his life.
Cornell Gunther was a producer at WWE during the peak of the global pandemic. While entering those unprecedented times brought a lot of unknowns, it also afforded him a lot of opportunities such as getting the opportunity to help film several of WWE's cinematic matches from that era.
Perhaps the most important cinematic match WWE ever hosted was the final match Undertaker would ever be part of, the Boneyard Match against AJ Styles which headlined the first night of WWE WrestleMania 36.
Speaking about the experience of filming this match on the Wrestling Winedown podcast, Gunther had nothing but glowing words about the experience.
"First off, it was a blessing and honor, one of the greatest opportunities I think I've ever received in my life. Amazing experience. Tired as hell. Man, we got there, it was like 11:00. We drove about an hour, it's 11:00, and I'm thinking, 'Oh, I guess we'll start shooting in a little bit.' Hunter's like, 'Nah, we're going to wait till it gets dark,' but even then, prior to that, planning out everything was already done ahead of time. Then, once you get there and you get to watch [Triple H] be like, 'Hey, so we want to light up this. You guys can do these kinds of things.' He's basically organizing the board and putting everybody in place. It was magic to watch.
"We started filming probably like 8:00 when it started getting dark and we were not done till about 7:00 in the morning, of course, it's crazy, but at the end of the day, everybody that was there wanted to be there. We had a great freakin' time," he continued. "Afterward, it was just like, 'I need to go to sleep and recover.' It was crazy because a couple of days prior, we did the Gargano and Ciampa cinematic match. We filmed that as well."
Gunther also explained how working in that environment expanded his abilities as a creative thinker and how his time at WWE benefited his career.
"Those guys and girls at WWE, I'll tell you right now they are some of the most organized and most creative thinkers that I've ever seen. That pushed me because when I got there everybody's like, 'I got all these ideas.' Of course you do. Of course you've got all these ideas. Then, they kind of honed it in and get you to understand what an actual creative idea is," he explained. "It's not what you want. That's not a creative idea. A creative idea is being able to tell layers and stories. I have benefited so much and that's kind of how I move in my career now. It just helps so much."
Undertaker, when talking about his final match, has said that he has so much respect for AJ Styles and considers AJ Styles to be "the Shawn Michaels" of his respective generation.
If you use any of the above quotes, please be sure to credit the Wrestling Winedown podcast. Also, be sure to link back to this article giving Fightful credit for the transcription.
