One of the top storylines heading into WrestleMania 34 on Sunday is John Cena’s persistent calling out of The Undertaker for a match at WWE’s biggest show of the year.
The Dead Man laid down his coat and hat in the middle of the ring after last year’s WrestleMania 33 loss to Roman Reigns, signifying the expected end to his WWE tenure.
‘Taker returned for an odd, rambling promo at Raw 25 and we haven’t seen him on television since. Cena proceeded to call out Undertaker for a match at ‘Mania, Kid Rock was announced as a Hall of Famer, and everything seemed to be falling into place for the American Bad Ass to make his grand return to the stage.
Chris Jericho, however, is thinking otherwise, per his appearance on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio:
"I would feel a little disappointed if it were the American Badass. I love the Undertaker and I love that entrance." @IAmJericho tells @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 why believes we will see the Deadman vs. @JohnCena at #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/mNJxJmX8DS
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) April 4, 2018
“Taker loves it, but guess which character Vince McMahon loves — The Undertaker, it’s his greatest creation. I’ll be the Devil’s Advocate to you guys, I would feel a little disappointed if it was the American Bad Ass because I love The Undertaker and I love that entrance. There’s never been an entrance like that in wrestling, in my opinion. I feel as though if it were the American Bad Ass, it would be a little bit of a downer, for me,” said Jericho
“When you have 70,000 people in the Superdome, where 60,000 of them don’t even remember what the American Bad Ass is. We haven’t spoken about the American Bad Ass, we haven’t had any video packages or recollections. We’re going to have a bunch of people going, ‘what is this?’ I think it’s a really cool debating point if you know wrestling and you’re a giant wrestling fan and you’ve been watching since 2000. There’s a lot of people who have started watching in the last three or four or five years. There’s a lot of John Cena fans who don’t know what happened in 2000. In my opinion, the hardcores who would like to see it because it’s something different, whereas your average wrestling fan will go nuts when The Undertaker’s music hits. I’m 100 percent certain it’s going to be The Undertaker at WrestleMania and not to the American Bad Ass.”
Jericho has a fantastic point here, but everything lines up way too perfectly for WWE to not at least consider bringing back the American Bad Ass. If you need a refresher:
No matter how their match starts (assuming it actually goes down), hopefully the segment begins with Cena sipping brews in the front row with his best friends in New Orleans before jumping into the ring and tossing hands with the Dead Man.
(H/T Cageside Seats)
