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To say WWE fans were disappointed when The Undertaker and Goldberg clashed in 2019 would be an understatement.
The highly publicised bout at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia was panned by critics and fans alike and almost ended in a life threatening injury to the Phenom after Goldberg – who suffered a concussion early on – almost dropped him on his head.
Both men have been vocal about things not going to plan, and now speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, former WWE superstar Elias has revealed the match wasn’t initially meant to take place.
Instead, the guitar-playing heavyweight – now known as Elijah after getting fired by the company in September 2023 – was told he would be working with Undertaker at the show.
‘We did a thing on Monday Night Raw, where I sang a song, he came out, he Tombstoned me and it was the whole thing,’ he explained.
‘I can remember Vince [McMahon] said, “Hey, you’re gonna be working with Taker”. Taker pulled me aside, he’s like, “Hey, man, we’re gonna go do some business at Saudi, we’re gonna have some fun”.
‘And dude, I’m game for anything, I’ll do whatever, I’m ready to have some fun and kill it, you know? I want to make my stamp here and really do something with The Undertaker.’
Although they did get to work together once on Raw and wrestling on house shows, Elias was ‘really excited’ about a longer storyline, which ‘never came to fruition’.
‘I think they called in Goldberg. And they had that infamous match in Saudi. And that match is what it is, whatever,’ he said.
‘My personal opinion is, it would have went way better with me and [Undertaker] and a lot safer, probably! But, you know, that’s that’s how history goes sometimes.’
The storyline between Elias and Undertaker was meant to kick off on the Raw after WrestleMania 35, when he did get laid out by the Hall of Famer.
‘It was all supposed to go from there. But you know, that’s how the business goes,’ he said, pointing out how, at the time, the creative side could ‘change on the drop of a dime’.
Elias and Taker have appeared close over the years, with fans going wild before the former’s release when a photo surfaced of them working out at a gym, which everyone mistakenly thought was a recent snap.
‘The picture that surfaced was actually me and him working out together at a gym in Saudi, I think! So, I don’t know how that picture surfaced relatively recently,’ he said.
‘But The Undertaker is a guy who would always say, “There’s something to you, man. There’s some quality about you that’s got to be on TV.” ‘
Another legend who was apparently keen to work with Elias was John Cena, who he worked with a couple of times – including WrestleMania 35 – but without leading to a longer programme.
‘I had a million ideas of how to do that. In fact, I know that he personally had fought for that a few times with me,’ he recalled. ‘But due to random decisions along the way, things don’t happen.
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‘And you just got to make the best of what comes your way. And I always tried to do that, no matter what, whether I was putting up a two minute segment or 20 minutes in a match or whatever. I always tried to just make the best of it.’
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