WWE Hall of Famer JBL claims that the Buried Alive stipulation was a horrible idea, and it only worked because of The Undertaker.
During his appearance on the Something to Wrestle podcast, host Conrad Thomson asked John Bradshaw Layfield why the Buried Alive stipulation, which was introduced at WWE In Your House 11 in 1996, didn’t receive much criticism from the fans. He asked if the concept worked because it came from WWE, or if it was because of The Undertaker’s involvement. JBL responded by crediting the success of the stipulation to The Deadman’s popularity.
“No, it’s the power of The Undertaker. A 100 percent,” JBL said. “If this had been done with somebody else, I mean, this was a horrible idea. The whole thing was freakin preposterous. It worked, I mean, it worked because of The Undertaker. I mean, to bury a guy alive and to see that hand coming up at the end, that place went crazy.”
JBL Said He Believed Fans Would Jump The Rail After Seeing The Undertaker Get Buried Alive
Speaking about the impact of the first-ever Buried Alive match, JBL stated that he feared some of the fans would jump the railing, seeing The Undertaker getting buried alive by Mankind and several other superstars.
“I mean, Conrad, I was there,” JBL continued. “And you think, okay, no one’s going to believe you’re actually burying a guy alive,” JBL said. “I believe Crush was out there, Dustin was out there. Is that right? That was part of the group that was out there.
“Because I believe I told Crush, yeah, there’s Crush and Dustin. I believe I told Crush, brother, watch your back, somebody’s going to come over that rail. Because the fans were in shock and horror about this. They thought we were burying him alive.
“That was what I was thinking at the time because people were just looking at it like, I can’t believe that they’re doing this. This is too much, too far, that they’re going with this storyline. And so the people bought it, as crazy as that is, with the lightning with the hand. I don’t know if you suspend belief enough to think, okay, this is actually happening, or you just want to get involved and you care. Maybe that’s what it is.”
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If you use the quotes from this article, please credit the Something to Wrestle podcast and give an H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.
