WWE WrestleMania 36 Results: The Undertaker Beats AJ Styles, Proves Why He Is So Important To WWE

WWE let The Undertaker choose his opponent at WrestleMania 36, and “The Deadman” clearly chose the right one in AJ Styles even though the two didn’t get to have a proper match.

According to WrestlingNews.co, “Styles was picked by Taker because he feels that Styles is the modern-day Shawn Michaels.” Even though the “Boneyard” Match between the two was nothing like a traditional wrestling match, “The Phenomenal One” did his best to live up to the lofty expectations of “The Phenom,” and boy oh boy, did he deliver, with one of the most unique and most riveting matches—if you want to call it that—in WWE history. The Undertaker defeated Styles in an unforgettable bout that had the advantage of being taped and edited like something straight out of Hollywood, and while fans didn’t get to see Taker have a true classic, his strange in-ring encounter with Styles proved why he is such a pivotal asset to WWE.

It was three years ago that it looked like The Undertaker was retired by Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 after a match that wasn’t very good but seemed like the perfect way to let Taker ride off into the sunset. Taker, however, couldn’t resist the temptation of stepping back into the ring as WWE’s huge TV contracts and its deal with Saudi Arabia essentially gave the company free reign to spend at will on acquiring and retaining top talent. Taker has wrestled seven matches since that bout with Reigns, and his performances in those matches have been, well, a very mixed bag. Most notably, his Crown Jewel 2018 tag team match alongside Kane against DX and his Super ShowDown 2019 match against Goldberg, were widely criticized as terrible matches and proof that WWE should start relying less on veteran performers.

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But The Undertaker is reportedly back wrestling again because WWE made him an “offer he couldn’t refuse,” and he has been making millions for one-off matches that, in terms of in-ring work and even the buildup to them, have largely left a lot be desired. Prior to his wonderfully bizarre performance against Styles, his last match came at Extreme Rules in July 2019 in a tag team match pitting Taker and Reigns against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon. It was during that match that “The Deadman” metaphorically rose from the dead and delivered arguably the best in-ring performance he’d had since he defeated Brock Lesnar at Hell in a Cell in October 2015.

That tag team match also served as the blueprint for how WWE should use Taker moving forward.

While there had been rumblings of Taker potentially facing Sting at Super ShowDown or even at WrestleMania, that likely would have been nothing short of disastrous. At 55 years old, The Undertaker is long removed from his days of delivering five-star WrestleMania classics, but his cinematized bout with Styles and his tag team match alongside Reigns showed that he can still be remarkably vital to WWE when used correctly. Taker’s tag team match at Extreme Rules was able to hide his limitations and accentuate his strengths because he didn’t have to do much of the heavy lifting. The same was true of his WrestleMania 36 match with Styles, which exceeded any and all expectations thanks to a plethora of bells and whistles meant to accentuate Taker’s strengths and mask his weaknesses.

Indeed, Taker clearly has some gas left in the tank as long as he’s working with the right opponent under the right circumstances.

Taker doing battle with other older stars, a la Goldberg, is a recipe for disaster, but WWE will continue to utilize “The Phenom” as long as he can deliver decent performances and captivate fans. As WWE continues to lose WWE Network subscribers at an alarmingly rapid rate, the company will be even more likely than usual to rely heavily on part-timers to turn things around. Although that’s a controversial decision, there are cases when it clearly works, as it did with Taker at WrestleMania 36.

That’s precisely why the WrestleMania 36 card was filled with a boatload of part-timers even though many of their best days in the ring are well behind them. That remains true for Taker, who isn’t going to steal the show every year the way he did a decade ago but can outperform expectations when the atmosphere, the opponent and the booking is right. WrestleMania marked Taker’s second consecutive memorable performance, and he’s done a great job of washing away the putrid stench of that awful showing against Goldberg last year.

So, as long as Taker is passable in the ring, connecting with the crowd and making big money the way he has been, expect more matches from him in the future.