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Of all the gimmicks or characters
Vince McMahon has saddled wrestlers with, none has been as
successful as the Undertaker. However before he worked as
the Undertaker, Calaway found himself with more gimmicks than
Brutus Beefcake.
Mark Calaway first started
wrestling in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and
USWA under a variety of names (the Punisher, Texas Red, and
Master Pain to name a few), Then in 1989 he came to
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) where he teamed up with Dan
Spivey to form the Skyscrapers. He then went into
singles action as "Mean" Mark Callous, the master of the heart
punch.
All of this was merely a warm-up
for his World Wrestling Federation debut. In 1990,
Calaway debuted as the Undertaker at the 1990 Surivor Series
as part of Ted DiBiases's team. The Undertaker destroyed
his opposition, making quite the impression. Originally
managed by Brother Love, the Undertaker's contract was bought
out by Paul Bearer who would manage him for much of his WWF
career. Fans wondered what the relationship between the
Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Bearer would bring a golden
urn to ringside which seemed to give the Undertaker some sort
of superhuman recuperative powers.
The Undertaker crushed all of his
opponents over the next year, beginning his unbeaten streak at
Wrestlemania 7 by destroying Jimmy
"Superfly" Snuka. After he defeated his opponents,
he would stuff them in body bags. He continued his evil
ways when locked the Ultimate Warrior in a coffin during Paul
Bearer's interview segment The Funeral Parlor. The
Undertaker began wrestling the Warrior in "Body Bag
Matches" in which the only way to win was to stuff your
opponent in a body bag.
After Jake
"The Snake" Roberts turned heel, the Undertaker found just
the kind of partner he was looking for. The Undertaker
and Roberts crashed Randy "Macho Man"
Savage's wedding reception after Savage's wife Elizabeth
opened a box containing a snake. The Undertaker
clobbered Savage with his urn, laying out the new groom.
Fortunately Sid Justice prevented the Undertaker and Roberts
from causing any further harm.
The Undertaker continued to create
a path of destruction wherever he went and it was only a
matter of time before his incredible win/loss record earned
him a WWF Championship match. At the 1991 Survivor
Series, the Undertaker wrestled Hulk
Hogan for the WWF Title. Hogan had a tough time with
the Undertaker who seemed to shrug off all of Hogan's
offense. The Undertaker delivered his Tombstone
Piledriver but incredibly, Hogan kicked out! Hogan rallied
back but outside interference from Ric
"Nature Boy" Flair allowed the Undertaker to deliver a
tombstone piledriver to Hogan on a steel chair. The
Undertaker was the new WWF champion.
President Jack Tunney ordered an
immediate rematch at the Tuesday in Texas
pay-per-view and he was going to personally watch the match to
make sure that there was no outside interference. It was
another colossal encounter as Hogan struggled with the
Undertaker. Once again Ric Flair interfered but this
time Hogan took advantage of the confusion and clobbered the
Undertaker with his own urn. Hogan then pinned the
Undertaker for the win (a short-lived one as Jack Tunney held
the WWF Title up due to Hogan's use of a foreign
object).
Despite his evil ways, fans were
taking a liking to the Undertaker. After Jake Roberts lost to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Roberts waited
in ambush behind the dressing room curtain. Roberts was
going to use a steel chair on Savage's manager Elizabeth but
to everyone's surprise, he was stopped by the
Undertaker. An enraged Roberts then began feuding with
the Undertaker and faced him at Wrestlemania VIII. Roberts
delivered every bit of offense he could (including two DDT's)
but in the end he was tombstoned outside the ring and then
thrown in the ring where he was easily pinned.
As a babyface, the Undertaker began
wrestling monster heels such as Kamala and the
Bezerker, During this time the Undertaker began
wrestling in Casket Matches. The match was no
disqualification, no count-outs, and the only way to win would
be to put your opponent in a casket (kept at ringside) and
close the casket lid on them. At Wrestlemani IX, the
Undertaker defeated Giant Gonzales. The two would feud
for several more months before a blow-off match at
SummerSlam.
The Undertaker next turned his
sights to the 600 pound monster (and WWF champion) Yokozuna.
The two clashed at Surivor Series and a title match was signed
for the Royal Rumble with a special stipulation- the match
would be a Casket Match. The Undertaker took Yokozuna apart
until a veritable army of heels came out and destroyed the
Undertaker. In a very unusual angle, it was implied that
the Undertaker had been killed. Then the lights went out
at the arena and the Undertaker's spirit seemed to ascend from
the coffin as a video message aired stating that he would
return.
For several months there was no
sign of the Undertaker and then reports began coming in from
fans that they had seen the Undertaker (just as people had
claimed to have seen Elvis Presley after his death). Then Ted "Million Dollar Man" DiBiase
claimed to have found the Undertaker and brought him in to
wrestle. Fans were mystified as DiBiase seemed to now
have the Undertaker under his control. Shortly after
this, Paul Bearer confronted DiBIase and claimed that this
Undertaker was a fake. The WWF hired Leslie Neilsen of
The Naked Gun! film series to get to the bottom of
things.
At SummerSlam, Paul Bearer brought
the real Undertaker back to face DiBiase's Undertaker.
In a match that can only be described as horrendous, the real
Undertaker defeated the faux Undertaker and the imposter was
never heard from again. However DiBiase was not happy
and he sent members of his Million Dollar Corporation after
the Undertaker, stealing his urn in the process. After
going through DiBiase's men (including squashing King Kong
Bundy at Wrestlemania XI), the Undertaker would regain the
urn.
With his reputation enhanced by his
tremendous win/loss record, the Undertaker seemed to find
himself the constant target of wrestlers looking to make a
name for themself. During a match where he teamed with Diesel
and Shawn Michaels against the British Bulldog, Yokozuna, and
Owen Hart, the Undertaker was ambushed by King Mabel.
Mabel injured the Undertaker's face, putting him out of
action for several weeks. When he returned, the
Undertaker wore a bizarre white mask (resembling the mask from
The Phantom of the Opera ) to protect his
injured face. As usual, the Undertaker took his revenge
against King Mabel, destroying him in an eight man Survivor
Series match at the pay-per-view of the same name and
finishing the job in a Casket Match at the December 1995
In Your House pay-per-view.
In early 1996, the Undertaker began
feuding with Diesel who had interfered in the Undertaker's
title match against Bret Hart, costing him his chance at
winning the WWF Title. The Undertaker returned the favor
when he interfered in Diesel's title shot against Bret Hart in
a cage match. As a result, the Undertaker and Diesel
began feuding, leading up to a match at Wrestlemania XII where
the Undertaker defeated Diesel.
1996 was looking to be a good year
for the Undertaker until the debut of a bizarre superstar
known as Mankind. Like many other newcomers to the WWF,
Mankind set his target on the Undertaker. Unlike many of
his predecessors though, Mankind scored victory after victory
against the Undertaker, using his bizarre finisher the
Mandible Claw. To make matters even worse, Paul Bearer
betrayed the Undertaker and began managing the deranged
Mankind.
Despite his losses, the Undertaker
challenged Mankind to a Buried Alive match in which the only
way to defeat your opponent was to throw them into an open
grave and bury them alive. The Undertaker defeated
Mankind only to be attacked by a masked wrestler known as the
Executioner. The Executioner knocked out the Undertaker
with a shovel and buried the Undertaker.
This was not the first time the
Undertaker had escaped from a deadly situation and he came
back to challenge Mankind in a match where Paul Bearer was
suspended above the ring in a cage. Despite interference
from the Executioner, the Undertaker prevailed and defeated
Mankind. While Mankind and the Executioner would
continue to challenge the Undertaker, he had their number by
now.
Wrestlemania XIII was a special day
for the Undertaker. Not only did he keep his unbeaten
streak at Wrestlemania intact but he won his second WWF
Heavyweight Championship by defeating Psycho Sid!
Over the next several months the Undertaker successfully
defended the title against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Farooq,
Psycho Sid, Mankind, and the British Bulldog. Finally at
SummerSlam, the Undertaker lost the WWF Title to Bret "The
Hitman" Hart after Shawn Michaels accidentally hit him with a
steel chair.
Unwilling to give Michaels a pass
for costing him his title, the Undertaker began feuding with
Michaels and his sidekick Hunter Hearst
Helmsley. Around this time, Paul Bearer began
spreading rumors that the Undertaker's dead brother was
actually alive and that he was returning to reveal a terrible
secret from the Undertaker's past. The feud between
Michaels and the Undertaker intensified until the two agreed
to wrestle in the first ever Hell in a Cell (HIAC)
match. During the match, the Undertaker's brother Kane came to the ring, tore off the steel
cage door and destroyed the Undertaker, allowing Michaels to
win.
Despite the beating he received,
the Undertaker refused to wrestle Kane. Kane, led by
Paul Bearer continued attacking the Undertaker until the two
met at Wrestlemania XIV after Paul Bearer claimed that the
Undertaker had set the fire that killed his parents and maimed
his brother. The Undertaker defeated Kane and met Kane
the next month in an Inferno Match (in order to win, a
wrestler had to set his opponent on fire) where Kane lost
again. However Kane's thirst for revenge was strong and
he continued to harass the Undertaker, teaming with Mankind in
an effort to destroy his brother.
The Undertaker and Mankind met in
the famous HIAC match at the 1998 King of the Ring
pay-per-view. During the match, the Undertaker threw
Mankind off of the top of the cage and through an announce
table. Somehow Mankind survived the fall and continued
to wrestle! At one point in the match, the Undertaker
and Mankind were battling atop the steel cage when the
Undertaker chokeslammed Mankind through the cage.
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