While The Undertaker only hung up his boots four years ago, he missed the chance to work with a number of now-tenured WWE superstars. Taker spent the last decade of his career on a heavy part-time schedule, typically only wrestling a handful of matches per year. Most of these final matches went down at WrestleMania, the annual event that Taker held a prestigious undefeated streak at until 2014. Even after Brock Lesnar snapped the streak in 2014, wrestling Taker at the Showcase of the Immortals remained a highly-coveted spot that WWE awarded to only to main-event storylines or established talent.
WWE “Heavily Discussed” Undertaker vs. Kevin Owens
KO nearly got a one-on-one shot at the Deadman.
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Speaking to WrestleSphere, Kevin Owens revealed he was “heavily discussed” to be The Undertaker’s opponent eight years ago at WWE WrestleMania 32.
I know it was on the table and it was heavily discussed and it would have been amazing,” Owens said. “My first WrestleMania, to be in there with The Undertaker, would have been sweet.”
After spending 14 years on the independent circuit, Owens made his WWE debut in December 2014 at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution. Just five months later, Owens was called up to the main roster, targeting John Cena in his first WWE Monday Night Raw program. While he was far from green during this run, standing opposite The Undertaker within his “rookie” year in WWE, at WrestleMania nonetheless, would have made Owens one of the freshest superstars to challenge Taker at the historic event. The only star to be hot-shotted from their WWE debut to a WrestleMania match against Undertaker quicker would be Giant Gonzalez (three months).
WWE instead opted for The Undertaker to face Shane McMahon at WWE WrestleMania 32. While Shane was not necessarily in need of the Taker rub, the storyline implications surrounding his return and the fate of WWE Monday Night Raw made for the grandest storyline possible.
“I think things just shifted and that was the year that Shane McMahon returned,” Owens continued. “Obviously at the time, my standing in the company compared to Shane McMahon coming back after all those years, the thought was probably ‘Shane McMahon versus The Undertaker is a huge match.”
Owens would get to share the ring with The Undertaker two years later, competing against him in a tag match at a Madison Square Garden live event.
