The Undertaker reveals what he'd have to change to succeed in today's WWE - 'I'd do a few things differently'

The Undertaker has explained the adjustments he would need to make in WWE today as he spoke about leaving the iconic character behind after 30 years and to run AAA, the company’s fourth brand.

‘The Deadman’ is arguably the greatest character in the history of professional wrestling and the supernatural, horror-movie figure was played perfectly by Mark Calaway for around three decades.

It continues to transcend wrestling, with the seven-time world champion able to evolve into ‘The American Badass’ before thriving as the 2.0 version of ‘The Phenom’.

The Undertaker highlights the key change he would make to thrive in today's WWE

In the current era of WWE where there is a more realistic element and the audience are smarter, The Undertaker’s act would likely be slightly different.

However, the 61-year-old believes the biggest change he would make if he was to be dropped in the 2026 roster, involves changes in pacing.

“I would probably have to do a few things differently, but I feel like there's certain presentations that I think they're timeless,” ‘The Undertaker told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview.

“I think Stone Cold and The Undertaker, you could put them in just about any era.

“There's just certain talents and characters that come along.

“I would probably have to change my pace a little bit in the way I present my matches, but also I would probably pull the brakes or put the brakes on to the people that I was working with too if that makes sense.

“I would speed up and I would slow them down and then I think we would have excellent matches.”

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The latest evolution for the Hall of Famer is to simply be himself. After years of playing a dark, mysterious character and one that he kept under wraps, ‘Taker’ eventually gave fans access to the man behind the monster.

Once he hung up his hat and trenchcoat for good, he began his own podcast, giving interviews like this one and showcasing a different, human side to him.

“I enjoy being Mark Calaway but I also enjoy living that character as well,” he said on the transition.

“Because I know how it made people feel. It wasn't a hard transition like, ‘Okay now I don't get to put this hat and coat on anymore and and you know scare people’ or whatever.

“I miss doing that but I enjoy being able to talk to people ‘It's funny just getting reactions when people see me as Mark Calaway now.

‘It takes them a minute like,’This guy actually can talk and put a sentence together and he didn't mention my soul or caskets’ - they always had a little bit of a disconnect when they initially talked to me, but now the transition has been fine. Obviously I miss being in the ring, but I enjoy being home too.”

With such an extensive career, someone who had done everything in wrestling simply had to be involved in some capacity after retirement.

However, not many will have predicted his exact role in WWE. As well as being an ambassador, The Undertaker runs AAA - the WWE’s fourth brand which they acquired in April 2025 alongside Mexican company Fillip.

He calls the shots in the Lucha Libre promotion, which has its biggest yearly show this weekend when the two-night Triplemania event takes place in Las Vegas and Mexico City.

He explained: “It’s a job that I’ve never really done.

“When people ask me about that I was like, ‘Well they got everything out of my body they could now they're trying to get what's left in my head!’

“It's a different role, it’s exciting in the fact that I'm having to learn and deal with things that I never really put a lot of thought into as far as how things are done and the things that you have to account for.

“Trying to use main roster talent, injuries, travel issues, all of these things that figure in, that people behind the scenes, they don't really ever hear that part of it, right?

Like, ‘Why was so and so not there’ or ‘Why didn't they do this or why didn't they do that?’

“Well, there's usually a reason and it kind of falls down into a bunch of different things that people just don't ever really think about.

“But it's been very rewarding and learning about the Lucha Libre culture and finding out the things that are important.

“Recently we did a mask versus mask which is probably the most important match you can have in the lucha libre culture.

“Learning about that and learning about things that I never really experienced in my career, it’s always good to be able to learn new things and then apply and try and put out a product that's entertaining and people want to see.”

2026’s WWE sees The Undertaker running AAA, Shawn Michaels responsible for the NXT developmental brand and Triple H at the very top of WWE as Chief content officer.

Naturally, as there was back in the day, there is a competitive rivalry to produce the best product.

“It's unspoken, but I don't know how it couldn't be like everybody wants to be the best,” The Undertaker revealed.

"In our in-ring wrestling careers, we all strive to be the very best and I don't think that it changes now.

“I think everybody is very supportive of each other but at the end of the day, I think everybody wants to be able to say that, ‘Hey, we put the best product out’ and that's why it ends up being better because you have guys that are competitive and they're all vying for that same position of who's putting out the best product.”

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In his prime, The Undertaker is referred to as being the ‘locker room leader’ and he still helps out the current talent with advice.

While nothing compares to being in the ring, there is a different type of satisfaction that comes when a performer takes on feedback and applies it in their performance.

The Undertaker loves that part of the job - particularly when is allowed to impart his wisdom on talent who are hungry to improve.

He stated: “I enjoy that the most and I think I have the ability to take what I did and the generations before me, take those elements and then wrap them into today's athlete.

“I think there's a need for that because it's becoming less about just getting in the ring and doing moves and not being able to get people invested in the character the way that I think they should.

“And there's just certain things that need to go into the application of what you do in the ring that brings that element as a fan to the character.

“I really do enjoy when there's a certain talent that comes along that just you can see it, that they have that hunger.

“A lot of guys will come up to me and ask me for advice but a lot of times it's just, ‘Well I'm supposed to do this, here's somebody who has this role in the company I should go up and ask him what he thinks’ - when they really don't care one way or another.

“But there are those that really want to be better and obviously you would want somebody that has had a fairly good career, I guess, giving you some pointers.”

The Undertaker's surprise choice for current roster who could have broken his streak

The Undertaker is synonymous with WrestleMania and amassed an incredible 21-0 streak on the ‘grandest stage of them all’.

That was until Brock Lesnar came along and ended it at WrestleMania XXX in one of the most shocking moments in WWE history.

Again slotting The Undertaker into today’s roster, who would be the contenders to break the streak? Four big stars came to mind for the ‘Ministry of Darkness’ leader.

He commented: “I’ve mentioned on a few occasions, I really would have enjoyed working with Gunther, I think that would have been a really intriguing match.

“And now, you know, we've got guys like Oba [Femi] that have come along. I would have enjoyed working with Oba.

“This may be a little bit of a disconnect but Trick Williams, I'm really high on him and what his future is. I would have loved to have worked with Jacob Fatu.

“There's a few guys that yeah that kind I think I would have been able to have a good match with.”

A prominent star in the Attitude Era, a boom period of wrestling that fans tend to look back on with most fondness, The Undertaker admits that “ hanging people on a symbol” would not go down well in the current climate and the many big-money sponsors would be less than thrilled.

Times have changed and WWE have pulled back the curtain with the ‘Unreal’ Netflix documentary which shows how storylines and matches have been put together.

However, being as old-school as he is and someone who committed to the gimmick for so long, The Undertaker believes there isn’t enough mystery these days.

Asked if he would be featured in ‘Unreal’ if he was performing today, The Undertaker said: “Well, I wouldn't want to - I’m as old school as you can get. And understand what our business is, but I think there's too much of it is given up.

“There's a certain element to the mystery of things that makes it that much more interesting and compelling.

“And for me, I understand the business model and why things are being done that way.

“But for me as a traditional old school guy, I think we give too much away of what we do.”

The Undertaker recalls horrifying moment he was set on fire during WWE entrance

There is one particular moment which sums up The Undertaker’s mentality to a tee.

He spent a good chunk of his career around pyrotechnics but in 2010, he was accidentally set on fire in his entrance ahead of the Elimination Chamber.

Despite having serious flesh burns to his chest and upper body, he wrestled the entire match because he did not want to disappoint the paying fans.

“You really don't have that time to process a lot but obviously when I got lit on fire,” The Undertaker said on his most dangerous moment in the ring.

“Yeah, I knew I was in pretty bad shape there. I didn't know how that was gonna turn out.

“But that's the one that probably jumps off the page at me is being engulfed in a big fireball. I don't recommend it.

“That was just my mindset. In that run it was just like, ‘Okay like yes I'm in pain. Yes my skin is bubbling up and I can smell the burnt hair and flesh, but I'm still able to do this’

“There's a lot of people that were in the arena watching and there were a lot of people that had bought the premium live event, I felt obligated to finish.

“That was just the mindset that I had while I was a performer.”

Mindset is a big part of getting to the very top of WWE and being able to stay there. And nobody typifies that more so than 17-time world champion John Cena, who recently joined The Undertaker in retirement.

In Clash of Clans' latest campaign there is now a 'Search for Cena' for which The Undertaker has joined forces with Cody Rhodes to find him in the game.

Players are hunting for 'the face that runs the place' in a scenario that near enough mirrors how talents tried to take his spot in WWE.

But with hustle and loyalty and respect, nobody was able to do so for more than 20 years.

“He worked his tail off and he knew what his position was within the company," The Undertaker said, showering praise on his former WrestleMania opponent.

"He took that very seriously and was very competitive. It's one thing to get there but to be able to stay there, that's the true test.

“There's a lot of guys that get to a main event status and then they’re there and then they're gone.

“To be able to stay there for 20 plus years like he did, it just doesn't happen because there's always people trying to push you off of that perch.

“He didn't give anybody a free ride, he challenged people to take his spot.

“And when you have that mentality most times you're going to stay on top and guys are going to try and figure out a way to knock you off.”

Cody Rhodes has enlisted millions of gamers and WWE stars including Undertaker & Iyo Sky to help find John Cena in Clash of Clans. Download Clash of Clans for iOS or Google Play today to help Rhodes in his Search for Cena until September 30th.