10 Undertaker/AJ Styles Memes That Make Us Laugh

It’s tough to discuss 2020 without bringing up how much needed to be changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In pro wrestling, WWE had to run its biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 36, in their Performance Center with no audience instead of in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with a huge crowd. As a result, several bouts on the card were pre-taped “cinematic” matches, including the big clash between The Undertaker and AJ Styles.

Thankfully the ensuing “Boneyard Match” proved to be a well-received effort, with fans praising the B-movie silliness of its presentation. It also gave the non-wrestling internet one of 2020’s great memes thanks to a shot of a grim-looking Undertaker looming behind an unaware, celebratory AJ Styles.

10 Adulthood

The best use of the Undertaker/AJ meme is when the subject corresponding to AJ comes with a strong sense of unawareness, and this one is particularly strong because, as a kid, there’s loads of stuff you’re blissfully unaware of.

Lots of children yearn for adulthood because they don’t have to go to school and can stay up all night, but aren’t exactly aware of the annoying responsibilities that come with it.

9 The Obligatory COVID Meme

An impossible topic to avoid, the COVID-19 pandemic really upended, derailed, and disrupted daily life for everyone.

For many in North America, the various quarantines, lockdowns, and Zoom meetings started in the spring of 2020, so lots of people found that COVID really snuck up on the fun stuff they were doing -- just like how ‘Taker snuck up on AJ on that fateful March night.

8 Mom Memes (Part 1)

Of course, memes don’t need to address hot-button issues or reflect current events. In fact, the trend of labeling really specific images to address the general is what has made memes so fun in recent years.

This one plays off of how parents have the uncanny ability to wake up at the drop of a hat -- and get kind of mad when their kid is awake when they’re not supposed to be.

7 GPS Voice

Smartphones have really revolutionized how people drive their cars. With GPS apps like Google Maps, a driver’s ability to travel is only limited by distance and gas money. And the driving experience has changed, as drivers can rely on Spotify to listen to music rather than resorting to the radio or whatever CDs are in the car.

But if you’re using a GPS and music app at the same time, the GPS will invariably interrupt the music at the least opportune time.

6 Kirby

The flip side to using a specific image as a meme to express a broad human experience like growing up or technological inconvenience is that the same image can be used to express a very specific situation like playing the 2011 Nintendo Wii game Kirby’s Return to Dream Land.

While it seems esoteric, it does reflect a broader video gaming experience where you think you’ve beaten the final boss of a game only to find out that the big bad actually has a second, more difficult form.

5 Math Games

Speaking of games, here’s a scenario very near and dear to anyone who had those high school math classes where you had to use a ridiculously expensive graphing calculator.

While the Texas Instruments TI-83 seemed prehistoric even when it was new, it did offer the ability to program games into it, and so you could sneak in a game of Tetris during algebra class. Shame that your teacher was standing behind you the whole time.

4 Zatoichi

Here’s one for the cinephiles in the crowd: an Undertaker/AJ Styles meme based on the Zatoichi films. A long-running Japanese franchise that began in 1962, the films and TV shows star the eponymous Zatoichi, a blind swordsman who travels around 1800s Japan righting wrongs.

Many of the swordsmen featured in the films often disregard and underestimate Zatoichi, thinking of him as little more than a harmless blind masseur. Needless to say, they’re quickly and consistently proven wrong.

3 Meta

Like Godwin’s Law for memes, the longer a meme goes on the likelihood of a meta/self-referential meme increases. What’s hilarious, of course, is that it always works.

Here the meme creator has done the Undertaker/AJ meme, but with the labels literally just naming each of the wrestlers. You could call it anti-comedy, as there’s no joke here except that it’s purely factual instead of representational, but it’s also incredibly funny.

2 Mom Memes (Part 2)

Part of growing up involves learning about the world and what adults get up to -- often before adults deem it appropriate that you know. This meme captures that moment when you’re watching a sitcom with your parents, and end up laughing at a risque joke that only makes sense to those who understand what parents have euphemistically called “the birds and the bees.”

So of course your parents get incensed at the idea of you knowing something that you shouldn’t.

1 Mario Kart

This example of the meme is a great balance between extreme specificity and broad appeal. After all, lots of people have played at least one iteration of Mario Kart -- always great for meme material -- and are aware of the power of the Blue Shell.

One of many power-ups in the Nintendo racing game series, the Blue Shell is especially useful for players trailing behind the competition as once released, it automatically targets the player who’s in first place, often costing them the victory.

NEXT: Boneyard Match vs. Ultimate Deletion: 5 Reasons Each Was The Better Match