WHERE CHATTERS GO TO TALK ABOUT OFF TOPIC STUFF!
While the Undertaker (real name Mark Calaway) somewhat formally retired after his Boneyard match against AJ Styles at Wrestlemania with comments he made during the "Last Ride" documentary series on WWE Network, the WWE will be honoring the Undertaker's career this year at Survivor Series (Nov. 22) to celebrate his 30th Anniversary with the WWE. In anticipation of that, here are some of the more memorable highlights to his WWE career. (He started out in World Class Championship Wrestling as Texas Red, and was later in WCW as Mean Mark Callous, but this is going to focus solely on his Undertaker character and WWE career.) Also, this is far from comprehensive, the man's career could span multiple books, these are just the ones that really stuck with me personally) The 1990 Survivor Series featured a 4 on 4 matchup between the Dream Team (Dusty Rhodes, Koko B. Ware, and the Hart Foundation, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), going up against the Million Dollar Team, made up of Ted DiBiase, the Honky Tonk Man, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and a mystery teammate... The character was immediately a hit. The Undertaker, despite being a total gimmick character, struck a chord with the fans, and he got insanely over. So over, that exactly one year after debuting, The Undertaker got his first chance at WWF Gold, by taking on The Immortal Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series 1991. At age 26, Mark Calaway became the youngest WWF champion ever (at the time)...for 6 days, until Jack Tunney stripped him of the title, due to Ric Flair's actions. (This is the storyline that eventually led to the 1992 Royal Rumble being for the WWF Title, and not just for a guaranteed title shot at Wrestlemania, which of course, Ric Flair won, in one of the greatest Royal Rumble matches ever) He was out of the title picture for a while, feuding with various wrestlers, until early 1994, in which he "lost" a casket match against Yokozuna, and disappeared for over half of a year (due to the first serious injury of his career). But then, people started claiming they saw the Undertaker, and lo and behold, Ted DiBiase brought the Undertaker back...only, something wasn't right...It was an imposter (played by Brian Lee, Mark Calaway's cousin)...the Underfaker! One Summerslam match later, and the Undertaker was back, but this time, he added the iconic purple colors to his character's costume, replacing the grey gloves and boots. Skipping ahead, The Undertaker feuded with people, did some stuff, and started his feud with Mankind (Mick Foley). We haven't gotten to the HIAC match yet, be patient, that comes a little later. Next we get to Hell In A Cell. Sorry, still not that one...but rather, the FIRST one. The one at In Your House: Bad Blood, in 1997. Don't tell me you forgot all about that...because you really didn't. You just don't remember WHY you remember...we will get to that. First, OF COURSE the Undertaker was part of history, by being one of the wrestlers involved in the first ever HIAC match...His opponent? Who else but Shawn Michaels? Shawn Michaels was the European champ (remember when that was an actual thing?) and while I don't quite remember what led to their feud, somehow, It led to the creation of the first Hell In A Cell match. The match itself was history making just for that fact. Throw in the fact it was a really good match, between two future WWE legends, the Showstopper and the Dead Man, and it was guaranteed to be talked about...And yet, despite that being the first ever HIAC match, despite it being a classic matchup between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker (more on those two later), there is an even bigger reason people remember that match from Badd Blood... That match also involved Vince McMahon giving us one of the most memorable quotes ever, from In Your House: Badd Blood of all places: "THAT'S GOTTA BE....THAT'S GOTTA BE KANE!!!!" And while they wouldn't team up for a while yet, this was the first time the Brothers of Destruction would be in the ring together. Whether as rivals or allies, you can't talk about the Undertaker's incredible career without also talking about Kane. Kane became an integral part of the Undertaker's career, giving him a complicated background story, giving him a credible threat who was just as invincible as he was, Kane was the perfect foil, and perfect friend to the Undertaker, at various points in his career. So that match gave us the first ever HIAC, it gave us a fabulous match between Taker and HBK, AND it introduced the character Kane, who enjoyed a 20 year run as the Dead Man's brother himself...Not bad, WWE...Not bad. Ok. NOW we get to the HIAC match you really care about, because when it comes to HIAC, it's the one everyone thinks of... Ok, now that we have gotten that over with, can we move on? Shortly after, the Undertaker changed his gimmick from the standard Undertaker/Deadman gimmick to the more satanic Ministry of Darkness version, where he dyed his hair black, wore nothing but black, and basically looked like a comic book villain. I didn't much care for this version of the Undertaker, and fortunately for me, it didn't last very long, only about a year...and then Mark Calaway abandoned the entire Undertaker character, except for the name itself, to become the American Bad Ass, or as I called him, the Underbiker. (Basically, it was Mark Calaway playing himself for the most part). Now, we are going to skip ahead quite a bit. Not that the Undertaker didn't do anything for the next decade, but rather this post is getting long, and there are two MAJOR things I have to cover yet... So...remember a bit ago, when I mentioned we would be talking about Shawn Michaels some more? Well, we are there now. There are some defining moments in a wrestler's career, and the Undertaker ended up with two of those moments, a year apart from each other, against the same opponent, at the same PPV. At Wrestlemania 25, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker gave us one of the greatest Wrestlemania matches of all time. You guys know that I hold the IC title match at Wrestlemania III between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat as #1, but dammit, this match comes close...Two 44 year olds absolutely stole the damn show...and yet, that match isn't even the most signficant Undertaker/HBK match they would have...that would come a year later at Wrestlemania 26, in Shawn Michael's retirement match. Even knowing that HBK was retiring, knowing that Undertaker HAD to win, there was still a part of me that refused to accept that the Heartbreak Kid was done...But, if he is going to retire, honestly, who could retire Mr. Wrestlemania better than the Deadman? Outside of Triple H, the Undertaker, and the Undertaker alone, could have that honor. And on that note, I think I am going to wrap this up. I had to skip a lot of stuff, and quite honestly, The Undertaker's Wrestlemania Streak (and its end) deserves its own thread, not a mere blurb here. The streak was one of the defining characteristics of his entire career, it would be impossible to cover here, too big, to important to limit to a few paragraphs.
I remember seeing Mark Calaway in WCCW as Texas Red and as a young "Mean" Mark Callous when he was in WCW...If you had told me prior to his WWE debut, that someday, Mark Callous was going to be one of the most legendary, important wrestlers in history, that he would be one of the most respected, most accomplished wrestlers ever, that he would continue to have a meaningful wrestling career, in the biggest wrestling company on the planet until he was in his 50s, and is one of the few people in the world capable of changing Vince McMahon's mind about a wrestling idea, I would have laughed at you. And I would have been wrong. The Undertaker's career speaks for itself, and I hope that the WWE is going all out to celebrate it later this month...because he's earned the praise, he deserves it. The Undertaker character is dead, long live the Undertaker!
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February 2021
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