Nearly 27 years after making his first WWE appearance at the 1990 Survivor Series, The Undertaker competed in what will most likely be his final match at Wrestlemania 33 on Sunday night.
The 52-year-old won his first 21 matches at Wrestlemania before finally losing his undefeated streak to Brock Lesnar in 2014.
A second Wrestlemania defeat came courtesy of Roman Reigns on Sunday, but from the opening bell it became clear that The Undertaker was on the way out.
He could barely walk from the first seconds of the match, but through sheer grit and determination he eked out everything he could from his failing body.
After he was finally pinned by Reigns, the reality of the moment hit the stunned crowd in Orlando.
As Undertaker rose up from the canvas and ceremoniously left his signature attire in the middle of the ring, the silence grew to respectful cheers, to wild applause, to earsplitting thank you chants.
News of his retirement spread across the globe with all the speed of his trademark big boot.
BBC, Sports Illustrated and ESPN covered the end of his era very respectfully, and even now, two days on from that momentous final match, his name is still trending on Facebook.
Tributes have been pouring in from all over the sporting and entertainment world, and there is still disbelief in some wrestling circles.
Athletes retire all the time of course, so why has there been particular attention on the end of The Undertaker?
To understand that, we have to understand wrestling, and just how loyal the fans are.
Although some people become wrestling fans as children and then gradually lose interest as they approach adulthood, for many others, watching wrestling is like supporting a football team or aligning to a particular political party.
When you’re in it, you’re in it for life, and The Undertaker has been a huge part of the wrestling industry for over 30 years.
Whether you became a fan in the 80s boom, developed an interest during the sensationally popular late 90s era, or across the last decade, you have never been too far from seeing The Undertaker in a high profile match.
After establishing his career in WCW, the man born Mark Calaway made the switch to WWE in 1990, using The Undertaker gimmick for the very first time.
This was the age of cartoon characters in wrestling, with athletes pretending to be Red Rooster’s, models, party boys, Macho Men, and even head-licking Bushwackers.
Still though, even in that era of unbelievability, surely a wrestler purporting himself to be a literal mortician would last months if he was lucky?
Luck is for losers though, and through a combination of hard-work, dedication, and let’s be honest, his significant height and size, Undertaker broke through to the WWE main event scene in rapid time, before winning his first world title in 1991.
Six further reigns would follow, as well as three tag-team titles and the 2007 Royal Rumble, but the legacy of The Undertaker goes beyond gold and glory.
Across his three decades at the top, the man reinvented himself more times than Madonna.
We had the inaugural Deadman initially flanked by Brother Love and Paul Bearer, before an American Bad-Ass emerged with a Limp Bizkit theme and a penchant for denim.
A return to the dark side saw him revitalise his career, in the mid 2000s, and he enjoyed the best matches of his career well into his 40s.
Wrestlemania became his kingdom, and as his undefeated streak continued, so too did the quality of his work inside the wrestling ring.
His brace of Mania matches with Shawn Michaels are among the best in wrestling history, while he also had legendary tussles with Batista, CM Punk, Edge and Triple H along the way.
And who could forget his long-term feud and later friendship with storyline brother Kane, his bloody bouts with Brock Lesnar, or his important role during the Attitude era as WWE’s most loyal soldier.
We will miss The Undertaker because he represented more than just brute and physicality.
