The Undertaker comments on modern wrestlers, identifying their shortcomings and pointing out that video games play a role.
The Undertaker will be one of the Legends featured on WWE LFG, a new reality series on the A&E Network. The series will feature several recruits learning the ropes and trying to advance in WWE. The Undertaker was a WWE Superstar for 30 years. During that time, he saw plenty of evolution in the locker room and in the predominant style of professional wrestling that each generation championed.
Speaking with Collider, The Undertaker was asked what he feels is the biggest mistake that young wrestlers make when starting out in the WWE and trying to make a name for themselves. The WWE Hall of Famer says that while modern wrestlers' athleticism is off the charts, they are too stuck in the mindset of trying to act like wrestlers rather than just being present in the moment, feeling the crowd, and being wrestlers.
"Great, great question. I talk about this quite a bit with my kids. I think the biggest mistake—and let me just kind of backtrack here a little bit. A lot of times now, we’re getting athletes that are coming from different sports, and not all of them were fans of wrestling. A lot of times, this is just something they think they might be good at, or they want to give it a shot. So I think the biggest mistake a lot of times is when these kids watch our programming, and then they try to go in the ring and act like wrestlers instead of being wrestlers. They try to emulate what they’re seeing, and it comes off disingenuous to the fans and to people who really know the business. It looks staged. You have to be able to dive into something inside of you and bring it out to set yourself apart. That’s probably the hardest thing for new wrestlers to grasp—not to act like a wrestler, but to actually be a wrestler."
He goes on to say that he believes some of it is related to video games because many modern wrestlers grew up playing wrestling video games. That experience, which was focused on the cool moves that could be done, translated into their actual wrestling philosophy.
"Yeah, I mean, the athleticism is off the charts. It’s crazy what these guys are physically able to do. I think that’s a good thing... but sometimes, I think it’s a bad thing. I always go back to video games.
"I think these guys grew up playing video games and doing all these crazy things, and now they’re trying to bring that into the ring. The things they do now? I couldn’t even imagine doing some of that stuff back in my day. But I think this era kind of relies too much on that athleticism. Not everyone, obviously—there are great storytellers out there too—but I think some guys fall back on big moves instead of focusing on the storytelling aspect of what we do. They’ll hit a double backflip off the top rope onto the floor and get a big reaction, but once your audience sees that a few times, it’s not as impressive anymore. That’s the challenge: they’re constantly pushing the envelope to get those reactions instead of learning to slow down and focus on the story they’re telling."
Far from a hot take from The Undertaker, he's spoken in the past about missing the vibe of his era of the WWE locker room. Fans can read what he thinks about today's locker room here.
Undertaker does have positive things to say about Jacob Fatu. Read those comments here.
Learn more about the format of WWE LFG here.
Fightful will provide any coverage of matches on WWE LFG and ratings information of all programs on A&E once the shows start on February 16.
