Despite [gestures wildly] everything that is happening in the world nowadays, WWE is committed to having WrestleMania this year. Despite having to relocate into an empty Performance Center. Despite having to pre-tape all the matches. Despite one of their biggest stars pulling out of his match due to being immunocompromised and replaced. The show must go on, baby!
As such, matches continue to get announced and stipulations continue to be added, as we saw on Monday when AJ Styles informed the Undertaker that their upcoming WrestleMania 36 match would be a “boneyard match.” This left just about everyone watching at home asking the same thing: Just what in the hell is a boneyard match?
Thankfully, Styles cleared it up during a livestream on his Mixer channel (via Fightful):
“What the heck is a Boneyard match? Even I was wondering what a Boneyard match is. Under the circumstances, I think there’s a reason it’s called a Boneyard match. We didn’t want to say cemetery, graveyard. Let’s tread delicately on this. Everything that’s going on, it sucks. What is the match? It’s a combination of things you thought it was, most likely. It’s going to be different. I don’t want to give anything away. I want you guys to enjoy this. Because of the circumstances, I’m so glad that my opponent is The Undertaker, because it’s an opportunity to have a different match. I don’t want to have it in an empty arena. You guys are the life blood of what we do. We react to you. It’s all about you. I wouldn’t be anything without you, but we know how to react based on how you react. All this stuff matters. I feel for the guys who have had to have those matches.”
So there you have it: Expect to see AJ Styles and the Undertaker (and probably Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and maybe even Michelle McCool) going toe-to-toe in a cemetery next weekend. Presumably, this is one of the cinematic gimmick matches WWE is filming for this year’s Mania.
