The legendary Undertaker recently sat down for a conversation with his WWE alum Maven Huffman. During their chat, they reminisced about the maiden Hell in a Cell clash that pitted the Phenom against Shawn Michaels in 1997.
As they delved deep into the intensity and resilience shown by Michaels during the face-off, The Undertaker gave voice to his notion of modern-day wrestlers catering excessively to their audience. He stated,
“Shawn demonstrated pure intensity in that comeback spot. He realized that facing a heavily-built opponent called for going all out. I believe many wrestlers in today’s industry would’ve been more crowd-oriented. They would’ve turned towards the crowd. And that’s illogical. You wouldn’t act like that in a real duel. Such impractical moves in situations like these annoy me immensely because our wrestlers, despite their remarkable athletic prowess, spend too much time pandering to the crowd.”
The debut Hell in a Cell match saw Michaels secure victory due to a timely disruption by the newly-introduced Kane. This set the stage for an enduring rivalry between The Undertaker and Kane.
This marks yet another instance of The Undertaker lamenting the ‘soft’ approach of contemporary performers. He has expressed earlier his discontent with wrestlers allotting an excessive amount of time to video gaming, in stark contrast to the locker rooms of his initial days that were filled with guns and knives.
Here’s a video of The Undertaker analyzing the first ever Hell in a Cell Match:
(Credit video accordingly)