Who knows what to expect when The Undertaker shows up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Greatest Royal Rumble in a few weeks.
His casket match at the stadium show on April 27 was just announced Wednesday, and his opponent’s already been changed. The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required but recommended) says Taker’s outing with John Cena at WrestleMania 34 was intentionally kept short when all involved realized the 53 year old couldn’t do a match of any length.
And that’s even before we get into the drama around Rusev, Lana and TMZ...
Okay, we have to get into it. Since there’s a theory that Rusev and Lana’s interview discussing, among other things, Taker’s age was the reason he was replaced with Chris Jericho as The Dead Man’s opponent, it’s worth noting Jericho’s Instagram promoting the match. Because he just used the same taunt TMZ falsely attributed to The Bulgarian Brute in their headline - absent any reference to how many birthdays The Phenom’s celebrated:
Of course, it wouldn’t make a ton of sense for 47 year old Chris Jericho to poke fun at how old his opponent is. But’s it’s also pretty unlikely that the promotionally savvy Jericho wouldn’t be aware of the Michelle McCool/TMZ issue and choose his words specifically to churn the rumor mill.
What a business.