For years, wrestling fans have wanted to see Sting vs. The Undertaker. Much like Hulk Hogan vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, it was an epic dream match that has eluded us. The only difference is Austin/Hogan had such a small window to ever truly happen, thus some can forgive WWE for that. Plus, with a couple of reported issues between The Rattlesnake, The Hulkster, and the company, it makes even more sense why it never took place.
That still begs the question though – why did we never get Sting vs. Taker when both were in WWE for over five years. Heck, both even competed at WrestleMania 31 in separate matches, separate feuds, separate segments, separate story lines, and separate paths. Yet, both were right there. It was very possible for the bout to take place there or any other event from 2014-2020. Heck, you could throw in a few other time periods as well if you choose to.
WWE and The Undertaker have been fairly quiet on the matter. The official WWE Youtube page does have a fun feature on the dream match, and WWE Network even did a little mini-series on the match never happening. It appears that the company is aware of the so called blunder. Yet, still…no match. With Taker now retired and Sting over in AEW (All Elite Wrestling), it is safe to safe this showdown will NEVER happen.
Why?
Well, The Stinger has a few thoughts, as he spoke to Paste Magazine recently:
“To this day, I honestly don’t know. I don’t even know, it could be Taker. Maybe Taker just never really wanted to work with me. Maybe they brought it up and he kind of snubbed his nose and said he didn’t really want to do that. For whatever reason, even though Taker and I have always gotten along great. I don’t think he has issues with me, I certainly don’t have any issues with him. I just have a great amount of respect for him. But I have no idea why that match never happened. I think it was not right that it didn’t happen. It’s something that I believe should have happened. I said it for 20 years, I made it clear, you know, “I’d love to have that match, I’d love to have one with that guy.” With the two characters, I had so many ideas of how we could’ve done that, and made it definitely a night that nobody would ever forget. But you know what, I’m here, I’m with AEW, I love what’s going on here, and I love what’s getting ready to happen. And I’m glad I made that move and came here.”
Credit to Paste Magazine again for the interview.
He went on to promote this Sunday’s AEW pay-per-view, Double Or Nothing. Really though, nobody cares about that. It all comes back to the dream match with The Undertaker. He touched on a point that I have before, and it revolves around The Deadman himself.
If WWE was aware of Sting’s wishes, and both were in the company for years, maybe, just maybe, the holdup was The Undertaker? Maybe. He’s usually pretty coy on backstage subjects, so I doubt we ever get a straight answer from him. Maybe their wrestling styles didn’t fit? Maybe Taker truly wasn’t interested? Maybe there are other unknown factors?
All we can do is speculate, until we actually get some facts. The bottom line is Taker vs. Sting never happened, and WWE had multiple opportunities to make the dream a reality but for whatever reason, they didn’t. The mystery continues. Any theories?
TWITTER: @JustinWatry
