Undertaker on Raw segment with Rhea Ripley: ‘I didn’t want to step on her moment’

Undertaker says he was hesitant when WWE first pitched the idea of him sharing a moment with Rhea Ripley during the Raw on Netflix debut. 

Ripley defeated Liv Morgan to regain the Women’s World Championship on the show. Following the match, Taker rode a motorcycle out to the stage area and around the ring. The segment closed with him and Ripley posing together. 

He addressed his moment with Ripley during the most recent episode of his Six Feet Under podcast. Taker says that when he first heard about the plan, he was afraid he would step on Ripley’s spotlight.

Taker said:

“Originally, I was going to do an entrance and an interview, which would would have been fine. I think they had somebody that that was going to interview me. And then they just thought (Taker appearing after Ripley vs. Morgan) would make that whole thing even bigger for (Ripley).”

“When they told me, at first, I was like, ‘I don’t think so.’ And I was like, ‘That’s her moment. I don’t want to step on any part of that. This is the payoff to a very long storyline and I sure don’t want to come out and step on her moment.'”

Taker continued to say he was sold on the idea after it was presented as more of him and Ripley “crossing paths.”

“They basically explained that she’s going to have a moment in the ring, she’s going to have this moment where you two will cross paths. And I was like, ‘Okay, well now if it’s like that then it’s pretty cool.”

“Not that our characters are similar, but they are a little bit. It was just me dabbing her up there a little bit.”

Taker also spent some time on his podcast addressing John Cena’s WWE retirement tour, saying he thinks it’s “really cool” how WWE is giving fans a chance to give Cena his flowers. 

“They’ve got a certain amount of dates he’s going to make, certain amount of Premium Live Events he’s going to make, and it’s going to give people a chance to, kind of, give him his flowers, give him his props, let him say goodbye. It’s a cool way of doing it.”

The full episode of Taker’s podcast is available below: