“Vince Was Very High”: Former WWE Star Reveals How He Managed to Defeat The Undertaker

WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker had a record-breaking WrestleMania streak before retiring from professional wrestling. Being one of Vince McMahon’s favorite guys, The Undertaker rose in the WWE to become a wrestling legend. However, back in 2002, Vince McMahon was dead set on defeating The Undertaker via pinfall at the hands of the former WWE superstar.

This former WWE superstar collided with The Undertaker on the October 3rd, 2002, episode of SmackDown. On this episode of SmackDown, the former WWE superstar picked a victory over The Phenom in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

But unfortunately, The Deadman was left in the dust by the hands of none other than Matt Hardy. The 14-time World tag team champion Matt Hardy recently spoke about how Mr. McMahon chose him to pin Taker.

Why did Vince McMahon chose Matt Hardy over The Undertaker?

On the latest edition of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy noted that it was Mr. McMahon’s idea to put Taker to defeat. According to Matt Hardy, Vince McMahon was elated with him on the WWE programming during that time.

Matt Hardy said, “Vince was very high on what I was doing there. I had a great relationship with him at that time. It almost reminds me of when myself and MVP had a run on SmackDown. Vince’s door was always open to us because we were like the hottest thing on the show, and he loved us. It was a little bit of the same deal on SmackDown. I love the fact, and I was very grateful that Vince inserted me into the top feud on SmackDown, which was Brock and The Undertaker.”

The AEW star Matt Hardy explained he was grateful to Mr. McMahon for booking him with the likes of The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.

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In addition, Hardy noted it was a big deal for him when Vince McMahon allowed him to pin The Phenom. One-half of The Hardy Boyz stated that Mr. McMahon was “adamant” that Matt Hardy should put over The Phenom.

How was the finish of the match booked initially?

Matt Hardy recalled the finish of the match was being discussed by Mr. McMahon, Phenom, and Hardy. And Taker thought the brawl should end up in the backstage area. Even though the WWE boss agreed to his favorite guy’s request, he also demanded his defeat at the hands of Hardy.

“Vince understood that I was very aware of everything I was doing. I remember as we were doing that day, it was somewhere in Louisiana. But we fought to the back, and there was a deal where I climbed upon a cage to get away from Undertaker. Brock comes out, he ends up F-5ing him, and I feel like they were going to do it on the floor, and then Vince was worried, and they did it on the popcorn bags, if you remember that. It was very weird, strange, you know? That’s where I ended up pinning Undertaker after,” Hardy added.

Originally, The Beast Brock Lesnar was supposed to help Hardy when he hit an F-5 to The Phenom on the concrete floor. However, an immediate change in plans occurred, and Matt Hardy emerged victorious when Lesnar hit an F-5 on Taker onto a stack of popcorn.

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Matt Hardy parted ways with Mr. McMahon’s WWE a few years ago. But in 2002, the WWE boss had a great recommendation for Broken Matt. To this day, Hardy seems to enjoy blessings from the WWE boss.