WWE NetworkAfter over three decades as a professional wrestler, it would be strange if your body hadn’t gone through a few changes, intentional or not, over the years.
WWE legend The Undertaker is one such wrestler, who every year leaves fans questioning whether this season will be his last.
However, with WrestleMania 35 just around the corner, The Undertaker confirmed his appearance at the showdown with – naturally – his face plastered on the side of a massive truck.
wrestlinginc/InstagramBut the 54-year-old always seems to have a few ‘will he won’t he’ rumours swirling around him, fuelled by hints of retirement, separations from the WWE, and appearances outside the company, Uproxx reports.
But, if the Arctic Monkeys have taught us anything, it’s ‘don’t believe the hype‘. And The Undertaker has taken to social media to put those rumours to bed, and show his drastic weight loss just in time for WrestleMania 35.
Taking to Instagram, he wrote:
The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!! I’ve made some serious lifestyle changes in an attempt to offset the years of physical abuse my body has endured. One of the major changes was losing 25lbs. Goal reached!
I wanted to thank @nutritionsolutions for the meal prep! I really appreciate the help getting my diet dialed in. #iaintdoneyet #neverstopworking #rentsdue #restinpeace #goals #wwe #deathvalley #makeithappen #goodfood
That’s a fair few hashtags, but notably #neverstopworking and #rentsdue means – presumably – he’s still working.
undertaker/InstagramSpeaking about whether he’d ever thought of giving up wrestling and leaving the WWE, The Undertaker told Wrestling Inc:
You know, at the tail-end now, I really have to put everything into perspective, and what damage I’m doing at this point, to myself, and my life after wrestling.
But when I was going full-time, no. Even when the business took a real nose-dive, you’re thinking, ‘OK, how are we gonna get out of this? What we gonna do? We can work harder.’
He added:
The one thing I was really good at, and in my mind anyway, if anybody else feels that way is another story, but in my mind, I felt like it was always where I belonged, and what I should be doing.
Obviously there were times where money was… but instead of, ‘Man, I need to get me a job at the Jiffy Lube and figure out something else later on…’, it was, ‘What can we do to make this product where we want to see it?’
See you at Wrestlemania 35, Taker!
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.