I’m going to be blunt here: I don’t want The Undertaker vs. John Cena to happen. I think this is a match that stopped being relevant in 2014 when the Streak ended. That said, it seems to be a given by now that Taker/Cena will probably happen at WrestleMania, but it also seems that WWE is trying to head off fan disappointment by lowering expectations of what kind of match this is going to be.

Since 2003-2004, John Cena has been a babyface. Now how he was perceived by the audience has changed from super over babyface to heelish and everywhere in between, but his behavior lately has been obnoxious. He has not only called out the Undertaker, but insulted him at every turn, even implying that Taker had lost his balls. Not only is it incredibly disrespectful, but it’s not true. It takes a lot of balls to ignore a blowhard who keeps egging you for a fight. The Undertaker doesn’t owe it to Cena, or the fans, to give him that match at this stage of his life and career.

That said, I do think this match will happen, but WWE is setting it up so that fan expectations for this confrontation are low by making Cena such an obnoxious bully that fans will just want Undertaker to appear so Cena will shut up about it. It also paves the way for a short encounter instead of a 30-minute match.

The reason why I think they’re doing this is because The Undertaker’s match with Roman Reigns was HEAVILY hyped, as it should’ve been, and did not live up to hype. This is not a condemnation of Reigns or Taker, they did the best they could with what they had to work with, but Taker’s movements were so limited, it really hurt the match and disappointed a lot of fans. By making Cena so unlikable and making Undertaker appear to be pushed into this match, WWE can give the fans what they want but also hedge their bets against fan expectations.

Here’s how: Cena gets in the ring at WrestleMania and is still whining about Taker not answering his challenge, the lights go out and we get the American Badass or Big Evil entrance (Probably American Badass because Kid Rock is there), The Undertaker comes out on his motorcycle, gets in the ring, has a face off with Cena, beats Cena up, maybe hits the chokeslam and leaves. Fans get what they want, Taker gets to end his career with his head held high, everyone wins.

Will WWE do that? I don’t know, I can’t see them wanting to risk fan disappointment by putting The Undertaker through another long match like last year, even with a new hip. Having a quick and dirty not-match would give the audience an encounter they want, seeing Taker shut John Cena up, and let Taker have one last moment at WrestleMania as a victor, instead of the sad finish we got last year. I think we could all live with that.