The Undertaker recently sat down to talk with Barstool Sports, and explained why he decided to bring back his "American Badass" gimmick for that unforgettable Boneyard match during this year's WrestleMania. That was widely believed to be the Deadman's final WWE match after he announced his retirement on the WWE Network earlier this year.
According to the legendary WWE Superstar, he came to the realisation that the story he was telling with AJ Styles simply wouldn't work if he ended up portraying the classic version of The Undertaker.
"It’s become too personal, crossed too many lines, you’re going to have to get the American Badass all grown up and he’s still got that evil side to him," the future WWE Hall of Famer explained. "It’s going to be a much more personal approach to delivering that match. So that’s kind of how we ended up American Badass 2.0 if you will."
"It was fun, at that point I hadn’t made the decision of whether I was gonna work or what I was going to do post this. It really felt good and I was like thinking to myself ‘I gotta run here if I want it’ and it was cool. We were out as they were setting up, doing the lighting and everything, I was taking that bike up and down the road. People in the neighborhood, their lights were coming on and I was like, this is fun, it was. Regardless of what I do on camera moving forward, I’m sure that’s the persona that I will continue to move forward."
It seems the classic Undertaker has definitely been retired, but the door may be open to this new version returning...