Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Mark Calaway, also known as The Undertaker to WWE fans around the world, is one of the
most popular and influential wrestlers of all time. In his long career, he has won multiple
championships and been part of same great feuds. With WrestleMania 32 coming up, here
are 5 facts you probably didn’t know about The Undertaker.
Before he was known as “The Deadman”, Mark Calaway had multiple gimmicks and personas
as he tried to make a name for himself as a young talent. He debuted under the name
Texas Red, followed by the names The Master of Pain and The Punisher in the following
years. During his brief stint in WCW he was called ‘Mean’ Mark Callous, and Punisher
Dice Morgan in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Even in the WWE, he actually started out as “Kane
the Undertaker” before the name was changed. Yes, Kane. As you can see, Taker really struggled
to find his gimmick, but luckily he eventually landed on the perfect one.
The Undertaker has been around in wrestling for a long time, and he will forever be a
fan favourite superstar. He’s so popular in fact that in the last few years, likely
nearing the end of his career, he has only wrestled in a big match once a year. However,
the Undertaker has been getting paid close to 1 million dollars before bonuses for his
one match. Is that warranted? That’s debateable. The fans clearly love the Undertaker and only
time will tell how WrestleMania viewing numbers are effected once he is gone. Bonus fact:
The Undertaker has wrestled over 2100 matches in his WWE career.
Some of you may remember when Kurt Angle was jumped by Vince McMahon backstage at a show,
just for fun. Angle, an Olympic wrestler, didn’t appreciate being taken down by Vince.
While on a flight, Angle decided to playfully wrestle Vince to the ground as payback. Undertaker,
who was asleep, woke up due to the commotion and thought Vince was under a serious attack.
Not knowing it was Angle joking around, Taker put the attacker into a choke that caused
Kurt to black out for a whole minute. That’s why you don’t mess with the boss!
The Undertaker in recent years has added some martial arts to his WWE arsenal in the forms
of boxing skills and his infamous gogoplata submission, Hell’s Gate. Taker is actually
a huge combat sport fanatic and regularly attends boxing and UFC fights. He was in the
crowd when Brock Lesnar fought Cain Valasquez at UFC 121, where the two infamously exchanged
looks after the fight. He has publicly stated that if he didn’t pursue pro-wrestling,
MMA would definitely have been his career path. He’s even gone as far to train Brazilian
Jiu Jitsu under Rolles Gracie and was awarded his black belt in 2011.
This one may taint your memory of The Undertaker just a little bit. If you remember the Attitude
Era, you remember the Lord of Darkness gimmick. He was dark, mysterious, and straight up scary.
He often recited satanic phrases, was the leader of what was essentially a cult, and
regularly kidnapped and sacrificed other superstars. This over-the-top character is part of what
made that era so great, but you may be disappointed to know that this was Mark Calaway’s least
favourite gimmick. He is a very religious person in real life, so you could see how
all of this strongly goes against his personal beliefs. It does sting a little to know he
didn’t enjoy that part of his career, but I’m sure we can agree it was one hell of
a persona! And those are 5 things you probably didn’t
know about The Undertaker. If you enjoyed the video leave a like and subscribe, and
check out similar videos we did on Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns!