WWE History: When The Undertaker nearly retired in 2000

Some moments in wrestling history have changed the fate of the industry forever. The Hulkster body slamming Andre the giant at Wrestlemania, Nash and Hall leaving the WWE for WCW, Mick Foley surviving the hell in a cell fall or even WWE buying competition brands to emerge as numero uno are some moments that were gamechangers.

Today, we discuss one such instance that could have changed the fate of both the industry and the locker room had it happened. An event involving perhaps the greatest WWE superstar of all time, The Undertaker, who almost bowed out of the ring two decades ago owing to an injury.

Let us take a look at the events leading up to this:

The backstory

The worst thing a pro-wrestler might come across in his career is early retirement. Anyone who aspires to become a pro-wrestler would not even contemplate the chance of him having to retire very early in his career.

Few of them had the unfortunate luck and retired very early in their careers, and the list includes WWE Superstars like Corey Graves and Hall of Famer Trish Stratus who were only 30 when they announced their retirement.

Some wrestlers were fortunate enough to make a comeback after suffering career-threatening injuries. Daniel Bryan made such return last year after being out of action for nearly three years.

But no wrestling fan would even imagine an early retirement for their favorite pro-wrestlers. But what if we told you that a legend of the business and one of the all-time greats nearly retired in 2000? The one we're talking about is the WWE's Phenom the Undertaker.

What went down?

The Undertaker was in his "Ministry of Darkness" gimmick in 1999, and while drawing closer to the end of the year, he sustained a groin injury forcing him to take a hiatus to heal. But unfortunately, he suffered another injury by tearing his pectoral muscle, and both injuries forced him to consider retirement as an option.

The Undertaker couldn't get himself to train for his return, and the depression the injury caused made him contemplate hanging up his boots for good. We can't even imagine what we would've missed had The Undertaker retired 20 years ago.

The aftermath

But that wasn't the way The Deadman wanted to go out, and he said to himself if there's one way to announce his retirement he'll do it inside the ring. 20 years later, the moment has indeed arrived.

The Undertaker made countless memories over these 19 years, including two classic WrestleMania matches with Shawn Michaels and the end of the streak against Brock Lesnar.

Though his Super ShowDown match with Goldberg didn’t go as planned, The Undertaker still has some gas left in the tank, and we haven’t seen the last of The Deadman yet despite his announced retirement.

The Phenom refused to stay down when most people would've given up, and he made his epic return with a new gimmick as "The American Badass" - something the fans are dying to see one more time.

The legend of the Undertaker will continue and like all other WWE legends, one can never rule out the possibility of the deadman wrestling 'one more match' at the biggest stage of them all.

If, hypothetically, the Undertaker had indeed retired, then Wrestlemania, a pay-per-view he had made his own would have borne a barren look. This would naturally give opportunities for other wrestlers to make the most of the void and who knows what heights Kane, Triple H, HBK or Jericho would have reached had they been given the attention that the Undertaker commanded.

A part of history would have truly changed.