The shapes and sizes of WWE Superstars have changed quite a bit since The Undertaker made his debut with the company in 1990. Thirty years later, the WWE roster looks a lot different than it did back then. The WWE Universe has seen some champions in recent years that would have reached the same heights in that era.
While some fans have embraced the new generation of professional wrestlers, others consider them to be too small and unrealistic given what they have seen in years past. This has been a debate among wrestling fans for years. It's clear there are wrestlers in the industry that feel the same way. The Undertaker recently sat down with Yahoo to discuss a variety of topics including why he just doesn't buy some wrestlers who have held the WWE Championship in recent years.
The Undertaker on some past WWE Champions - "I just don't buy it."
During the Undertaker's interview with Yahoo, the interviewer asked the Deadman how often he feels the WWE Champion should be held by a quote on quote "big guy". The Phenom had the following to say on the subject:
"It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big guy big guy, but we have stretched the realms of reality sometimes with some of our champions. When you see some of the guys that they have to work with, it’s like, OK, I get it, we’re sports entertainment — BUT. My whole goal when I went to the ring, I don’t care if you’re smart, not smart, whatever, when I’m in the ring I want people thinking, ‘This dude’s legit.’ And if I hit somebody, I want people in the front row going, ‘No, dude, he hit him. I don’t care what happened in the match before, he just lit him up. This is on.’ So it’s hard because we’re kind of starting to get a little bit of an influx of big guys, but it’s just kind of where– because there’s so much new talent, you can’t put the title on a guy just because he’s big. And back in the day, man, we had tons of big guys that could go and could carry it and do that.
So it’s more of a guy that kind of fits in the middle of the road. A guy that you’ll believe working with a big guy but can also work with a little guy. But there are certain guys that have had — I won’t bring in names — but it’s just like, yeah, I just don’t buy it. I don’t buy this as my champion. And it’s not any fault of their own, other than they’re physically not able to match up against certain people." - The Undertaker
These are interesting words from the future WWE Hall of Famer. One could look back at some of WWE's World Champions over the past twenty years and try to figure out who the Deadman is referring to. People like Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, and maybe even Daniel Bryan immediately come to mind. Professional wrestling has absolutely evolved in the last 30 years and this debate will most likely continue.