“His Body Was Banged Up”: The Undertaker’s Former Manager Recalled How the Deadman’s Matches Against a 7ft Tall Giant Impacted His WWE Career

The Undertaker was one of WWE’s biggest draws throughout his tenure with the company. Moreover, he was a fantastic in-ring worker. The Undertaker did some of his best in-ring work during the brand-split era. His presence and aura piqued interest whenever he was on any show. It made sense for WWE to feature him on their biggest shows, adding to the star power of their program.

However, it was during this time when ‘The Phenom’ was at the peak of his abilities that they left him out of the 2006 SummerSlam. This surprised fans. WWE veteran, Bruce Prichard, opened up on why Taker didn’t feature on the SummerSlam card that year.

Prichard reveals why The Undertaker missed SummerSlam

WWE was looking to book ‘The Deadman’ against ‘The Great Khali’ who is 7ft, in a ‘Last Man Standing’ match for SummerSlam 2006. However, the match got pushed and took place in SmackDown.

It made little sense for the company to keep someone like Taker away from a marquee event given his status. But Bruce Prichard revealed the reason behind this move. He stated, The Undertaker needed some time off after a string of matches with a WWE giant.

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He said, “The Undertaker wanted to some time off as well. I think that, you know, his body was banged up a lot. … hey man, if you work with the Great Khali, kind of night in and night out, trust me, your body would want to break after a little while.”

“That’s all it was. Not the most you know advantageous or the best position for the company to be in or for creative to be in and much rather have had him.”

The amount of exertion required in wrestling someone like ‘Khali’ must be heavy. For ‘The American Badass’, it seemed to have been a similar case. There is no telling how much physical strain a wrestler’s body goes through during a match, especially involving a large opponent.

WWE had to leave out one of their biggest names out of the match card. This was because pro wrestling was taking a toll on his body. What do you think about Prichard’s comments?

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