It’s easy to forget just how long The Undertaker has been captivating WWE crowds and scaring the beejesus out of little kids. He’s been a part of the wrestling world for over 30 years. But if Andre The Giant was the Paul Bunyan of wrestling, The Undertaker might be its Bigfoot. Rarely seen and even more rarely heard from these days, The Deadman is one of the few Superstars left with an old school mystique.
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As such an exceptional life and storied career would permit, quite a few facts and fables have escaped that are just as unique as the man himself. Only in the book 30 Years of WrestleMania is a true, insider peek behind the curtain given to the man, the myth and the legend of The Undertaker.
The Undertaker, however, is a creation. Mark Calloway is a man. A man with stories. Hopefully some day those stories are brought to wrestling fans in the form of a book or documentary and straight from the Dead Man’s mouth. Until then, we’ll just have to rely on the second hand accounts of the men who have traveled the road with The Undertaker.
In honor of what could be his last match at Wrestlemania 31, here are our favorite Undertaker tales that just cement his status as an icon.
He Enjoyed Strip Clubs In His Day
In the mid ‘90s, with the company still being PG at the time, Vince McMahon called a meeting, banning the wrestlers from hanging out in strip clubs, citing Kevin Nash and the Undertaker as two particular frequenters. A short while later, according to Nash; “I walk into a strip club, it’s like one in the morning, I think we’re in Philadelphia. I walk in the strip club, I look around, there’s none of the boys, I’m like ‘alright, I’m cool’. So I go and get up in a corner, my eyes adjust to the room. I look over; I see this big guy in a black leather coat…I look and he just goes (waves). I walked over and sat down next to him and said ‘well, nice to see you listened’. He said, ‘nice to see you listened too’.”
Another Strip Club Tale (This Time With Jake Roberts)
Remember when The Undertaker used to team with Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts and you just assumed they were the most evil duo on the planet? Their Saturday morning shenanigans were only the tip of the iceberg compared to what they’d do the night before. The duo hit a plethora of strip clubs and certainly knew how to make a scene.
According to Roberts, “The Undertaker and I went into a strip club in Houston to relax. If you go to a regular bar, there’s always some jerk who wants to fight because you’re a wrestler or their girlfriend thinks you’re cool. Next thing you know you’re in court. So we would go to strip clubs — they put more security around you because they know you’re there to spend money and they don’t want to interrupt that. This blond stripper there tells us we’re phony wrestlers and says she hates wrestling. She tells me I’m the worst because I’m the one with the mechanical snake. Undertaker tells me “Go get that (snake).”
I go out and get the 15-foot (snake) in my car. I had the snake in my car because I couldn’t waste valuable strip joint time and take it back to my hotel. I take it out, and she’s like, ‘It’s not alive.’ She tosses it around and starts swinging it around the post. Perfect shot — the snake bites her on the nipple. She’s screaming and people there think it’s part of the act. We were asked to leave, but, amazingly enough, I went home with her.”
He’ll Make You Do Things — Whether You Want To Or Not
The Undertaker can be a convincing presence to even the most stubborn of Superstars, like Chris Jericho, who just caught the ire of a hostile crowd.
“I saw our head of security, Jimmy Tillis, backstage and gave him a major bollocking.
‘Where the fuck were you? Did you see what happened out there? I got hit with a battery!! I’m not going back out there, you got that?? Nothing you can say is gonna make me go back out there, do you understand? You can’t make me, you can’t make me, you can’t make me!!’
Then I saw The Undertaker standing behind me.
‘You’re not going back out there, huh?’ he asked with a bemused look on his face.
‘No!’ I said, even though Taker was the locker room leader of the WWE and not someone you wanted to talk back to.
The big man intensified his glare. ‘You sure that’s the best idea?’ he said, like a colossal Clint Eastwood.”
— excerpt from The Best In The World: At What I Have No Idea by Chris Jericho
He’s The Judge Of Wrestler’s Court
Perhaps the most telling sign of respect The Undertaker has garnered from his peers is being appointed judge of “Wrestler’s Court” – a kangaroo court formed as a way to self-police the locker room. Grievances are aired, issues are resolved and, more often than not, the offended party is handed down a punishment that is designed to swiftly humble. As such, getting on the bad side of this courtroom is something that an offender, try as he might, may never recover from.
He’ll Mess With Your Head
Is being a wrestler not enough of an acid trip already? Not for Justin Credible (Aldo Montoya at the time), who decided that he wanted to enjoy the brightly colored spandex just a little bit more. Unfortunately, he did so on a plane full of wrestlers on its way to India, making him instantly fodder for some mind games. Like the he isn’t freakishly intimidating enough, the Undertaker, noticing Justin in the middle of a trip, began hissing like a cat, sending Justin even higher than their flying altitude.
He’ll Back Up The Boss
“The quintessential alpha male, Vince McMahon always liked to prove himself, even against Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. On a plane ride, Vince decided to sneak up behind Angle and take him down amateur-style, starting an impromptu match in the aisle. The ruckus woke a sleeping Undertaker who, seeing his boss about to get put in his place, sprang into action and took out Angle before he knew what hit him. That’s company loyalty.” — Courtesy of It’s True! It’s True! by Kurt Angle
He’s Got A Posse
Of course somebody as badass as The Undertaker would have a posse and he managed to pick the toughest, manliest manly men on the roster. Yokozuna, Savio Vega, Papa Shango, The Godwins and Fatu (Rikishi) comprised this unofficial backstage faction with Undertaker at the helm, known as B.S.K. That either stands for Back Stage Krew or Bone Street Krew depending on who you talk to, but they took it quite seriously, each getting a tattoo of the initials, with The Undertaker’s right on his stomach.
Good To Have Around In A Pinch
“You’d certainly want the Undertaker on your side in a fight, but sometimes, he didn’t even have to get out of the car. Bruce Prichard (then Brother Love) was traveling with the Undertaker, in his earliest incarnation. The duo got lost in a less than savory neighborhood and when Bruce stopped to ask for directions, the man was a local gang leader with a less than clean record. About to start a bit of trouble, the man took one look at the ghoulish ginger giant sitting in the back seat and wisely decided to back off.” — Courtesy of Episode #58 – The Steve Austin Show
His History With Jenna Jameson
Before he was dead (relatively speaking) a young Undertaker used to hang out in the same circles as a young Jenna Jameson, before her poon turned pro.
As she recalls in her book How To Make Love Like A Porn Star:
“Back when I used to hang out in Jack’s shop and make needles for him, the Undertaker used to come in and get tattooed. I obviously never talked back then, because I was so shy. And he was very serious. So I met him that night dancing, and we hung out and became really good friends. And he told me that he took Jack aside one day and said, very serious, “I don’t want your girlfriend to be here any more. I think she’s a cop.
Yeah, I never knew that he was the reason why Jack wouldn’t let me hang out at the shop. The Undertaker said I’d sit there for six hours and never move or say a word. I guess I creeped everyone out. It’s funny that The Undertaker was scared of me. He’s probably the most psychotic man I’ve ever met in my life. He came to one of my dance gigs and this guy asked me, “Can I buy you a drink?” The Undertaker looked at him totally stone cold and said, “Yeah, you can get me a shot of Jaeger and you can get yourself a shot of shut-the-f—-up.
Jordan was there at the time, and the Undertaker said, “I’m going to kick your boyfriend’s ass and take you away with me.” I knew he was serious. I ran upstairs and told Jordan we had to leave, because this guy was going to beat the f— out of him and kidnap me. So I never saw him again. I think that was when Jordan forbid me to talk to any more guys on the road.”
Jordan is a wise man.
He Fears Cucumbers
You can put him in a casket, bury him alive and set him on fire, just don’t give him a cucumber. In what sounds like an episode of Maury, Paul Bearer once revealed that the Undertaker absolutely detests said vegetable (for reasons unknown). Of course, Bearer had to expose such a weakness, making the Deadman puke all over a Waffle House, after he found ONE cucumber in his iced tea.
On behalf of all the fans you’ve entertained over the past thirty years, we love you, Dead Man.
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