The Undertaker vs. John Cena: WWE Turns the Corner at WrestleMania

John Cena’s time is up. The 16-time world champion did his best to coax The Undertaker out of retirement, but to no avail. The Deadman did not heed the call. As far as WWE fans know, this match will not happen at WrestleMania 34 on April 8.

However the truth is still out there. According to Cageside Seats via The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Taker has indeed been training for his Mania match against Cena. Supposedly the bout was planned months ago and all of the hype over the past several weeks will indeed pay off. It may be unconventional, but this is how things should be.

Fans tend to lose a lot of sleep over how WWE does business and that is understandable. Despite how often the company trolls the audience online, or the Superstars rally together against them, there is no denying that fans often have many valid points.

The Undertaker does not respond to John Cena: Raw, April 2, 2018

Why is Roman Reigns still being utilized as the top babyface when it’s obviously not working? How many matches will The Revival lose before WWE does right by them? Why does Brock Lesnar continue to come and go as he pleases and why does he need a top championship around his waist?

Some arguments are small and some are not. Perhaps WWE is playing games with fans in every instance. Perhaps not. But no one can deny that the audience is intelligent enough to know when something doesn’t feel right. Opinions can change and so can WWE Creative. But making the conversation vague does not prevent the conversation from happening.

So when the company teased Cena versus Undertaker and did not deliver, everyone knew something was wrong. What was the plan? Why even mention the possibility of a match if WWE had no intention of following through? Was it all just a rib on the crowd, the ultimate troll job by WWE? Or was it something else?

Fans had their answer when Cena publicly called out The Phenom. Slow dancing around the topic or causally mentioning the possibility meant nothing. But actually speaking The Undertaker’s name on live TV was much more. There was no way the match was a hoax at that point. It just wasn’t possible.

The Undertaker's 20 greatest moments - WWE Top 10 Special Edition

Taker is a man’s man. He always has been. He was the measuring stick for years in WWE and he elevated guys just by working them. To get the nod from The Undertaker was to become a made man in the business. No one could call him out and expect no response. Ignoring a challenge is worse than accepting a challenge and then losing the match. Undertaker always stepped up.

If he ever chose not to step up, then he would be irrevocably changed. He would indeed no longer be an American Badass. He could not call himself Big Evil anymore. The Deadman would be dead in the water. WWE knew this. More importantly, the fans knew it. That’s exactly what the company wanted.