WMG / The Undertaker

The Undertaker

Undertaker was set to get crushed in his feud with the Ultimate Warrior

The feud was set to take a brief detour in the fall of 1991 and into early 1992 as the Ultimate Warrior feuded with Undertaker's stooge, Jake Roberts. Once Warrior finally puts Roberts out for good, Undertaker has nowhere else to run and is exposed as a cowardly, cheating wrestler, whom Warrior easily beats in what is billed as an epic match at WrestleMania XIII. The Undertaker gimmick is thusly reduced to a mere harmless individual who can no longer be taken seriously, and Mark Caloway immediately leaves the WWF after WrestleMania XIII. On the flip side, Vince McMahon's doggeded determination to make Warrior the Next Big Thing and World's Greatest Superhero ever ... and succeeds!

In 2006-2007, The Undertaker was positioned to be in a major feud with Umaga

Umaga was originally set to beat Maria Kanellis so severely — all over simply accidentally spilling coffee on Eric Bischoff's new suit — that she would never appear on television again, giving the implication that she had died after being buried alive, having her neck broken, her ribs crushed and other horrific injuries. Umaga turns into a new kind of Monster Heel, one that even the toughest, top faces in the WWE would be unable to even slightly faze ... until Undertaker shows up on the scene, takes his worst punishment and finally stands up to Umaga. A brutal match is planned for WrestleMania XXIII, and after both wrestlers have traded the advantage, Umaga gets on a roll, severely beating Undertaker to past the point of unconsciousness ... and after inserting him in the burial pit, it seems Umaga will escape with a victory (although he's paid a heavy price, and he struggles to get to the ring himself) ... until just a split second before securing the win, Undie's hand emerges from the dirt; the crowd pops wildly as Umaga's expression is priceless. Undie eventually turns Umaga's attempts to "rebury" him before he escapes in a huge burst, does a Superhman Comeback (by no-selling at least 18 Umaga thumb jabs to his throat, snarling and getting angrier by the second) before essentially returning the favor to Umaga (and Bischoff as well), and avenging Maria. This involves unleashing an incredibly brutal onslaught that involves him crushing Umaga's thumbs (Undie uses his bare hands to squeeze them into bits), crushing his skull with a pair of cinder blocks and piledriving him from the ring apron onto the cement floor ... essentially, doing everything to Umaga what Umaga did to Maria and then some.

• During the final match, as Undie is about to secure victory over Umaga, Eric Bischoff shows up to try to sneak attack Undertaker^note (as Umaga's handler, Estrada, was run off long ago and never to be seen again), very briefly having the upper hand before he tries to run off. Just then the WWE Divas show off and block Bischoff's escape from the arena and force him back to the Buried Alive area and a waiting Undertaker (who has regained his bearings) to take his medicine. Bischoff, after begging for mercy, grabs a pitcher of hot coffee and tries one last time to sneak-attack Undertaker by throwing its contents into Undertaker's eyes ... except Undie completely no-sells that and a second attempt. Bischoff, realizing what's about to happen, does an Uh-Oh, tries to flee but is blocked by the Divas, caught and Undertaker takes the coffee pot and lets Bischoff have it! Thereafter, Undertaker brutally beats up Bischoff, who is begging for mercy but since he gave none to Maria, neither will he be given any. In the end, a completely defeated and horribly bloodied Umaga tries one last time to escape his burial site but Undertaker throws Bischoff — like a missile — into the woozy Umaga, knocking both into the casket one last time and ending the match once and for all. Umaga is badly hurt and when he returns he is never taken seriously again, nothing more than a mid-carder who has a losing record.

The Undertaker was posssessed by a demon during his Ministry run

The Undertaker, starting after Judgement Day 1998, started acting like a proper heel, rather than the Anti-hero Face/ Tweener he usually is. He started by saying he killed his parents and burned Kane, which is strange, because we have seen how heavily Undertaker cared about his parents from what he told us way before this happened. Thats because he didn't set the fire, the demon thats currently possessing him did (at the time the demon possessed young Kane to set the fire). And this same demon is now possessing Husky Harris. The difference is while Undertaker had his own super natural powers and thus the demon was able to use him as "The Lord of Darkness" (Undertaker was eventually able to get rid of the demon, but it cost him his own supernatural powers, leading to his ABA and Big Evil runs, until 2004), Husky Harris had no such powers, so instead the demon made him into Bray Wyatt, a cult leader.

The Undertaker will play The Saint of Killers in the eventual Preacher movie.

C'mon! It's only the role he's been practicing for all his life! Can we get a petition started?

Mark Calaway sold his soul to the Devil in order to survive the fire that killed his parents, and Kane is a servant of Satan sent to Earth to keep his brother in line

Which is why Vince McMahon stated in the late 1990's that "Mark's beginning to think his gimmick is real" or whatever. Undertaker is to Mark Calaway as Ghost Rider is to Johnny Blaze (just that Vince wasn't aware, since he has to pose as a normal human). Kane DID die in the fire, but he was sent from Hell by Satan to make sure Undertaker did Satan's bidding. That's why Kane buried Undertaker alive for becoming "human."

Also why Undertaker started off as a jobber/lower mid-carder in WCW. He was simply wrestling as himself, and eventually realized that he could use the power of Satan to become a better wrestler, and then became The Undertaker. Since Undertaker isn't really a personification of death and more of a vicarious representation of Satan, he doesn't have his full power, which is why he's able to lose. He has some Satanic powers, but still has a human body.

The episode of Poltergeist: The Legacy that Undertaker starred in is canon in kayfabe.

Undertaker really does find souls who have escaped from hell and bring them back, at least when he's not busy wrestling. It's what he did all those times when he was supposedly out on injury, and now, it's what he does between WrestleManias.

• The episode took place towards the end of 1999. When Undertaker was defeated in the episode, he regained his mortality and was able to come back to the WWF months later as his mortal self, the Bikertaker. But then he died again in 2003 and was given his old job back.
• He brought Edge to Hell once, just to prove a point. Edge wasn't released until he was able to prove to the powers that be that he was actually still alive and didn't belong there.
• And Michelle McCool has retired in order to help him.

The Undertaker and Kane are reincarnations of the original Cain and Abel.

When Abel was killed, he became the Grim Reaper and Spirit of Death. In addition to his day job, he and Cain appear in instances where sibling rivalry is prominent at an extreme level, continuing their eternal feud of jealousy and revenge. Glen Jacob Callaway was jealous that his brother Mark got more love from his mother because their mother felt jealous over the affair with Paul Bearer. The two ended up fighting and inadvertently started a fire, which consumed the house and killed their parents. It was then that the spirits of Cain and Abel entered Glen and Mark respectively; they continued their feud, this time inside a wrestling ring.

• This theory fits nicely with the Serpent Seed theory, which states that Cain was the child of Eve and Samael, also known as the Devil, while Abel was the son of Adam and Eve. Hence, Undertaker is Abel, Kane is Cain, and Paul Bearer is Satan himself.

The Gatecrashers put The Undertaker in a coma

Come on! They were told to make an impact.

• jossed

Glacier is the long-lost Brother of Destruction

Undertaker and Kane, the Brothers of Destruction, are often spoken of as opposites, but while Kane is identified with fire, Taker is identified with both death and lightning. One would think that Kane's opposite number would identify with ice... and what wrestler shares Taker and Kane's flair for dramatic entrances, only with an ice and snow motif? Glacier, of course! Too bad Ted Turner gave him more money than Vince McMahon would have and then threw him up against an Undertaker knock-off in Mortis; we could have seen all three Brothers of Destruction as a force to be reckoned with.

• Glacier isn't tall enough to be believable as a Brother Of Destruction.
• If Glacier is a Brother of Destruction, then what about WCW's other Mortal Kombat rip-offs Wrath and Mortis who, thanks to a bizarre crossover between Nitro and Conquest, are now part of the Mortal Kombat universe?
  • Undertaker, Kane, Glacier, Mortis, and Wrath are all originally from Outworld.
  • So did Quan Chi kill Kane and 'Taker's family, too?

Paul Bearer killed Undertaker and Kane's parents

So, Paul Bearer claims that, as a child, Undertaker set the family home on fire and killed his parents. Taker says, Nuh-uh, my brother Kane did it, but I know it was an accident and I forgive him. So Bearer brings in Kane, who believes Taker did it on purpose and is looking for revenge, and was thought also dead in the fire. They fight a few times; then Bearer turns on Kane and sides with Taker, and all of a sudden Taker's going around talking about how yes, he did kill their parents, and he did it on purpose, and Kane sucks, and ha ha ha. And then, some months later, they're bestest buddies and tag-teaming together as if nothing happened. So what's going on?Simple: Paul Bearer was the killer of Taker and Kane's parents all along and used some kind of mind control to force Taker to admit it. This was all part of a Batman Gambit to turn Kane into his own personal engine of destruction. Undertaker and Kane discovered the truth at some point and reconciled — and then they later put their plan for revenge into motion some years later, when Undertaker returned to his "Deadman" character with Paul once again by his side. They conspired with Paul Heyman to have the Concrete Crypt Match at Great American Bash 2004 specifically to put Paul Bearer into a position where they could kill him without his being able to escape — hence Taker pulling the lever and burying Paul in concrete when he could have rescued him. Paul survived (as reported on WWE.com), but he learned a valuable lesson — don't fuck with the Brothers of Destruction.

• Then Kane was deluded and insane enough to bring Paul Bearer back in 2010... still seeing him as a father figure despite all that happened.

The Undertaker has not been portrayed by Mark Callaway for years.

Rumors about characters being replaced by different wrestlers fly about more than it actually happens. One truly bizarre conspiracy theory from around 1997, complete with its own website, purports that Mark Callaway left the then-WWF over some contrived but spiteful reason; as such, the Undertaker has since been his lookalike cousin, Ed. The website, lost even to the annals of archive.org, talked about things like how 'Taker's wife at the time didn't exist and was simply a fabrication leaked into the circles of fans on the Internet who know what kayfabe is to create a "legit" existence for Ed that was really a worked shoot.

The Undertaker is intentionally giving up part of his primary psychological advantage.

For the majority of his WWE career, Taker has used a variation of Chopin's "Funeral March" as entrance music. But as of mid-February, he's been using the Johnny Cash classic "Ain't No Grave". Now, most any of his opponents will tell you that Taker usually wins his matches with his entrance: The darkly lit arena, the pyro, the slow, "HE COMES!"-esque walk, and the Funeral March combine to rent space in his opposition's head, putting them off their game. So why drop a song about death.....indeed, THE song about death....and replace it with a song about hope? Simple. His next opponent is Triple H, at WrestleMania. Does he really need to psyche out an opponent at a show he's NEVER lost at, especially an opponent he's already beaten at that show? The message is obvious: He doesn't need any edge. Not this time. When you hear that trumpet (or gong, in this case) sound, he's gonna rise up out of the ground (or off the canvas), ain't no grave (or Game) gonna hold his body down.

The Undertaker is the most evil creature to ever walk this planet.

After all, the Devil still answers him with "Sir."

• Alternate guess. The Undertaker is a psychopomp and The Devil has to be polite if he wants to get the souls he collects. That doesn't necessary prove he's not evil but could be an out.
  • He also taught Kane everything he knows about evil. So…
    • Then again, the Undertaker is a generally frightening human being, so much so that even the Devil is terrified of him. I mean, when was the last time the Undertaker did anything evil?
    • Or, Undertaker, like Vince, isn't scared of the Devil. The Devil is afraid of him, but for different reasons. The Devil knows that Taker could hurt him. The Devil also knows that if Vince shows up in Hell his first action will be to buy the place and turn Satan into a Jobber or a road agent or something. You know that old line, "Heaven doesn't want me and Hell's afraid I'll take over?" That's Vince. To him, Hell is just another territory.

TexasRed became The Undertaker after a run-in with a Texas Ranger

Mark Calloway's earliest known gimmick was that of Texas Red. He was even managed by Percy Pringle (the man who would become Paul Bearer). The song details the story about how Texas Red was "killed," and would be the appropriate origin story for The Undertaker returning to life as a dead man! Yes, the song predates the gimmick, but it's no less conceivable!

• Sub-theory: the Texas Ranger in question was Cordell Walker. Chuck Norris himself would eventually come to the aid of Undertaker at Survivor Series 1994, to help him win a match against Yokozuna, to assist the entity he created in the pursuit of justice. Yes, Celebrity Paradox, but if Chuck Norris also exists in the Walker Texas Ranger universe as is mentioned in that series, it's not impossible for both men to be the same entity, just inhabiting different gimmicks as a Texas Ranger or a martial arts champion, in the universe of professional wrestling.

The Undertaker will return to WrestleMania one last time...and be defeated by Santino Marella.

Okay, if he returns for a 21st run, everyone will assume that the streak will end at 25, a quarter-century. If he ends up fighting someone like Marella, everyone will assume that its a throw-away match to get him up to 25... it will be the upset of the century. My evidence for this is the efforts recently to have Santino constantly, and unexpectedly, win matches.

• Please, for the love of God, no.
• Jossed for the most part. He only made it up to 22 WrestleManias. Brock Lesnar ended his streak. You were right about one thing though, everyone expected another easy win for the taker and it was quite the upset.

The Undertaker has only been a true heel once in his career.

Throughout the Undertaker's 20 year career, he has only been a heel a few times, but he has only been an actual heel only once Consider, when the Undertaker first debuted, he was said to be under the control of whomever was holding the urn, which happened to be Paul Bearer. Eventually, the Undertaker broke free from the urn's (and Bearer's) control when he saved Ms. Elizabeth from Jake "the Snake" Roberts. The next time he turned heel was the start of the Ministry of Darkness era. But according to the book Journey into Darkness, Bearer had begun drugging the Undertaker, brainwashing him into turning heel and possibly making him believe that he had killed his own parents. The only time the Undertaker turned heel on his own was at the end of 2001, when he believed he was not getting the respect he deserved. Once Jeff Hardy earned his respect in that Ladder match, the Undertaker saw the error of his ways, and turned back to face.

The Undertaker's kayfabe last name is Kane.

This is why he first debuted as "Kane the Undertaker".

• So Kane has been known by his surname all this time? Makes sense.
  • Jossed. Per the aforementioned Journey into Darkness (a novel describing the backstory of Kane), "Kane" is actually their mother's maiden name, which Taker briefly used, but which Kane adopted full time (he was born "Glen Jacob Callaway"; a reference to his Real Life name Glen Jacobs). Taker's birth name is indeed Mark Callaway, both in Real Life and Kayfabe.

The Undertaker had met Kane before his debut at Bad Blood.

• When Kane first came out at the end of the Hell in a Cell match, the Undertaker looked as if he had seen a ghost. But if he believed that Kane was dead, and he denied Bearer's claims to the contrary, then how did he know that that wasn't just some guy in a mask that Bearer brought out? He was wearing a mask after all, so as far as 'Taker knew, that could have been anybody. It would stand to reason that the Undertaker had met this masked man before, but didn't realize until then that it was his half-brother.

Undertaker will face John Cena at WrestleMania XXX.

• Jossed

The Streak will end...

• ...but it won't be beaten. It will increase to some symbolically significant number, and instead of doing his dramatic kneel on the stage after the match, 'taker will simply say, "it is over," and disappear, never to be seen again.
  • Jossed - Brock Lesnar broke it, at WrestleMania 30, ending it at 21-1. Which is how Taker wanted it, since Taker did not want to retire with the streak. He wanted the streak to end so he can have a proper retirement match.

The Undertaker will return for at least one more WrestleMania match, to face Kane.

• With the streak done, Undertaker will have nothing left to lose. Kane, who has always been there to capitalize on his brother's perceived weakness, will want to bury the Undertaker's legend once and for all. Perhaps it will be their retirement match. If it turns out anything other than a draw, the winner will have earned a Pyrrhic Victory.
  • He did return, but he wrestled Bray Wyatt and won. He is also set to wrestle Shane McMahon at 32.

WWE 15, 16, 17, (insert number here) will have a Taker career mode.

• We had a taste of it with the streak mode but as perhaps the most loyal, longest serving member of the WWE Taker has a storied career beginning with his introduction with Brother Love, then siding with Paul Bearer and his Heel–Face Turn, winning the WWF Championship in a year, beginning the streak by crushing legends such as Jimmy Snuka, King Kong Bundy, Kevin Nash and Syd Vicious. The changes in his gimmick from grave digger to zombie to grim reaper to cult leader to biker to phenom to The Last Outlaw. Some events, such as the Hell in a Cell or retiring Shawn Michaels had been covered. What about feuding with the Power Trip? Or winning the WWE title from Edge? Plus when the game engine is updated fans would love to go through the Attitude Era/WrestleMania matches again, either as Kayfabe or from looking at the real Mark Calaway.

Sting vs. Undertaker will never happen

Both men are in their fifties and it seems unlikely that Vince will risk putting them in the ring together after all the recent injuries. Not to mention that based on most accounts, Vince has never considered the match in the first place. Many fans have lost interest in the scenario, and any match the two could put on would never live up to the hype it has generated. Additionally, the Streak has been broken, meaning that neither man would benefit from victory. If Sting won, the fans would likely turn on him for beating the most loved WWE wrestler of all time and if Taker won (which would most likely be the case if this match were to take place) that would be yet another loss under Sting's belt. The match is just better off not happening.

• Confirmed due to Sting's in-ring retirement.

John Cena will be The Undertaker's final opponent

Contrary to what most people believe, I seriously doubt Undertaker is retiring at WM 32. According to some rumors, Cena was supposed to wrestle Taker, but Cena's shoulder injury put an end to that. As mentioned above in a previous entry, Cena is really the only person that Taker could go out to. It's not believable for him to lose to a rising talent and all of the other established stars have fought him too often (except for Sting, and it's too late for that). Cena and Taker have only wrestled a handful of times over the years (the last time they fought I think was 2003) and Cena is the biggest star in wrestling right now, which is what Taker needs to end his legacy. So after John Cena returns from injury, he'll be challenged by Taker to a match at WM 33, which, of course will be accepted. Following the match, Taker will retire and Cena will become a part-timer.

• Effectively confirmed. Cena was the one who made a constant challenge for Wrestlemania 34 for weeks, and Taker did accept it at the literal 11th hour. ...And then squashed Cena as if he were a bug in like two minutes flat. Taker hasn't been heard from or seen since, and Cena, already a part timer, has reduced his schedule still further.
  • Jossed. Taker is still wrestling.

Before rising from his grave as the 'Dead Man' the Undertaker was Mean Mark

I'm not just talking about how the wrestler Mark Callaway portrayed "Mean Mark" in WCW before moving to the then-WWF and taking on the role of the Undertaker, but rather that being the actual background of the character the Undertaker. I don't know if the kayfabe Kane biography "Journey into Darkness" says anything about it, but I believe it's the case. Whether he TRULY died, or it was a magic spell to turn him into an undead being is unclear, but...

"Bikertaker" was Mean Mark resurrected

...somehow the spell was broken or he got a full resurrection back to the human "Mean" Mark Callaway before appearing as the "American Badass" version of Undertaker. He later had to choose to die again or actively repeat the magical process that transformed him in the first place to return to being the proper version of the Undertaker.

The mansion from the interactive film Escape the Undertaker was bought with the money Undertaker earned from his pro wrestling career.

He added his own touches to make it suit his tastes as well as a security system, knowing that others would try to steal the urn again.

---