The Undertaker said that he changed his mind and agreed to face AJ Styles after realizing how this was a rare opportunity to face someone he had admired for a long time.

“Ultimately, I just figured in my head like, ‘Dude, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s somebody that I’ve always wanted to work.’ Even back before we had met each other, when you were still with TNA, I was like, ‘Man, this guy can go.’ So it was just like, dude, it’s one night. It’s one match one night, what a way. If that’s gonna be the last one, what a way to go out,” recalled The Undertaker. 

“The Phenom,” though, didn’t give Styles the good news right away, as he and Vince McMahon played a prank on him, informing him that he was going to wrestle at ‘Mania, but that it wouldn’t be against him. Eventually, the cat was out of the bag, and ‘Taker began preparing for his last fight, comparing his preparation to a boxer going into camp ahead of a big bout. Undertaker’s wife, Michelle McCool, also played a part in trying to convince him to have one final match, and that too against Styles, by telling him that there was nobody better for him to have his farewell match.