RVD Addresses The Undertaker’s Snub for Major WrestleMania Match

WWE Hall of Famer RVD has faced off against the best of the best in the world of professional wrestling, but he never got to square off against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 18, as The Deadman chose to face Ric Flair instead. That being said, RVD has addressed The Undertaker’s decision to choose Flair over him.

While speaking on his 1 of a Kind podcast, RVD addressed The Undertaker revealing on the Six Feet Under podcast that he opted to square off against Ric Flair instead of the Whole F’n Show at WrestleMania 18, which is something that surprised even Vince McMahon.

“That was a lot of fun… I remember Vince coming to me that year, I hadn’t… I didn’t have an opponent. And he comes up to me, he goes, he’s like apologizing to me. He goes, ‘Mark, yeah, we booked all this out and I don’t have anybody for you.’ He says, ‘You can either have RVD or Flair.’ And no nothing against RVD. Cuz I had really good matches with RVD.

I was like, ‘Flair.’ He looked at me like, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘I want Flair.’ And he just… He couldn’t grasp it. I mean Flair had a run in the WWE. But he wasn’t a WWE guy. For me, it’s Ric Flair. I said, ‘At WrestleMania? Are you kidding me? I want Flair.’ Flair was on the backside of his career. But still… That whole thing was a lot of fun. That’s where I went and beat up his kid at the training center. That was one of my favorite vignettes that I ever did.”

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RVD recalled that his own WrestleMania 18 match, where he wrestled William Regal and won the Intercontinental Championship, was a memorable experience. He pointed out how it was the first time he performed in front of 70,000 people at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, which was an incredible feeling.

Although RVD would have loved to face The Undertaker, he recognized that The Undertaker likely saw wrestling Ric Flair as a special opportunity, almost like a bucket list moment. RVD felt that a match between him and The Undertaker might have involved him being thrown around like a ragdoll before pulling off one of his signature moves, the Van Daminator. However, he had no regrets about his match with Regal and was grateful for the experience, even if he didn’t remember all the details of the match itself.

“WrestleMania 18 is when I wrestled William Regal and won the Intercontinental Championship belt, and that’s an awesome memory for a lot of us. They made an action figure out of it, which is cool. I have that to remind me. That was awesome. It was the first time I had been in front of that many people—70,000 people—in Toronto. It was at the Canada Centre, or Air Canada Centre, whatever it was. Anyway, it was an awesome experience for me.

If I would have wrestled The Undertaker, I could see where wrestling Ric Flair at WrestleMania could have been a bucket list kind of thing for the ‘mark’ inside of Mark. There’s no telling. I mean, I have good matches with everybody, but I could imagine that match being more like, ‘Let’s throw RVD around like a ragdoll, then slip out of something and catch the Van Daminator or something.’ You know, I don’t know. As far as showcasing, I probably did some cool stuff with Regal. I don’t really remember the match, but let’s just say no regrets.”

Although RVD would have loved the opportunity to face The Undertaker, he is thankful for his own special moment at WrestleMania 18 and treasures the memory of winning the Intercontinental Championship and that is all that matters to him in the end.

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