WWE: New Details Emerge About The Undertaker's Rough Showing At The Royal Rumble

01/31/2017 10:42 am EST

If you watched the Royal Rumble, odds are you were left a bit depressed for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons is probably the less than stellar showing of WWE legend The Undertaker, who just didn't look like himself in the ring.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio (via Squared Circle Reddit), Dave Meltzer answers that very question, and it just came down to coming back a bit too soon.

"So Undertaker, he was hurting real bad last night. I mean you could look at him and you could see that he wasn't in shape, and you know... it's the hip. You know... I mean there's nothing else to really say about it. He's got two months before WrestleMania. He had surgery. He came back to quick from surgery, I think that's pretty clear. But you know it was the time and they had a story... and the way that the match was structured he really didn't have to do a whole hell of a lot. But even that when he was backstage he was hurting a lot. So... yeah that's the gist of the thing with him."

Undertaker had hip surgery last year, reportedly so that he could handle a few more appearances in WWE than just WrestleMania. He was seen on crutches in September of last year, and even though he's appeared on Smackdown since then, he wasn't asked to participate in a full match until the Royal Rumble. He appeared quite slow and a bit out of ring shape, merely headbutting anyone who came near him during the match.

Granted, he's 51 years old and coming off of major surgery, so credit should be given where it's due. Still, it seems his return to the ring should have been postponed a bit longer.

For more, you can head to f4wonline to hear the whole show.

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