10 Things You Learn About The Undertaker From Pro Wrestling Books
The Undertaker is one of wrestling’s greatest legends. Some of his legacy is a matter of ability and his character work. Some of it’s about longevity.
Perhaps more than anything else, The Undertaker has a unique aura around him for how long he upheld kayfabe. While other wrestlers went on podcasts, and wrote tell-all books, he kept his privacy. Only recently has he let his guard down a little—most notably in the Last Ride documentary series. Without further ado, let's take a look at 10 different books by other wrestling personalities that shed some light on who The Phenom is behind the scenes.
10 Mick Foley: The Concerns Going Into Hell In A Cell
Mick Foley is one of the most successful and most prolific wrestler-turned-author. His original book, Have A Nice Day chronicled his career in remarkable detail, right up to the WWE run that he was still in the midst of at the time.
Foley wrote about his infamous Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker in which the Hardcore Legend took two of the biggest bumps in WWE history. Included in the book was an account that The Dead Man came into the match with an injured foot, while Foley was nursing injuries of his own. To avoid a dull match, Foley conceived of starting the bout on the roof of the cell and taking that first big bump. He maintains that second bump wasn’t actually supposed to send him all the way through the roof of the cell. Regardless, a match designed to mask his and The Undertaker’s limitations at the time turned into quite arguably the best remembered match of either man’s career.
9 Chris Jericho: Unhappiness With Y2J Early On
After the success of Chris Jericho’s A Lion’s Tale, which chronicled his career right up to his WWE debut, his second book, Undisputed, got right into his WWE tenure. As it turns out, Y2J wasn’t all that well received by his peers early on.
Jericho’s early mic work saw him pick fights with the biggest stars in the company. Despite him thinking everything he said was storyline work that no one would take too seriously, The Undertaker was one of the guys who took offense to the unproven star making fun of him. As one of the most respected guys in the locker room, The Dead Man had influence, and soon Jericho found himself in a hole as one of the least popular guys backstage.
8 Bret Hart: The Travel Partner
Despite publicly keeping up a cold, no nonsense exterior, The Undertaker was ultimately human. Bret Hart’s Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling described The Phenom as a friend and travel partner.
In particular, Hart’s book tells tales of the two of them visiting tourist attractions together during tours overseas, and even includes photos of the two of them in street clothes, soaking up the sights.
7 Jim Ross: While Working For WCW, JR Pushed The Undertaker To Sign With WWE
In addition to his legendary broadcast career, Jim Ross had a lot of experience working in different management roles throughout his time in wrestling. In WCW, he worked under Ole Anderson, who was the main decision maker in regards to offering talents contracts.
Ross recalls in his first book, Slobberknocker, that he recognized talent in the man who would become The Undertaker, and went to Anderson about offering the youngster a new contract. Anderson responded that the Dead Man would never draw a dime. Ross counseled the young star, suggesting there was little reason to hang around a company that didn’t believe in him, and he’d be better off in WWE.
6 Shawn Michaels: Saved From The Dead Man’s Wrath By Crush
In 1997, Shawn Michaels delivered a promo in front of a live audience—after cameras had gone off—in which he called out The Undertaker in obnoxious fashion. The Undertaker wasn’t even in the building, and HBK’s words culminated in suggesting the Dead Man was afraid of him.
The promo hadn’t been pre-approved and in his book Heartbreak & Triumph, Michaels recalls that Vince McMahon was livid. When HBK apologized to The Undertaker, the latter Superstar told him it was alright. The Phenom’s rationale? Michaels writes that The Undertaker said, “Crush is my boy, and when he told me it was funny, I knew it was okay. I love a good joke too,” before going on to say that his only regret was that he hadn’t been there to catch the promo live.
5 Daniel Bryan: Following The End Of The Streak
The late stages of Daniel Bryan’s book, YES: My Improbably Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania take readers right behind the scenes of WrestleMania XXX itself. Bryan recalls watching The Undertaker lose to Brock Lesnar—the end of The Phenom’s WrestleMania streak—and being as shocked as anyone. From there, he recalls seeing The Undertaker legitimately hurt backstage.
Beyond his concern, Bryan recalls feeling a sense of duty. After all The Undertaker had given to WWE, Bryan felt it was his responsibility to both honor The Dead Man and rejuvenate the stadium crowd by delivering an outstanding main event match.
4 Jerry Lawler: The King Wrestled The Undertaker At A Water Park
In his book, It’s Good to Be the King… Sometimes, Jerry Lawler recalls working with a number of eventual stars when they passed through his Memphis wrestling territory. He includes a bit about The Undertaker working under the nickname The Master of Pain.
Lawler indicates he and The Undertaker worked a match at an event staged at a water park. The gimmick was that someone would win by throwing his opponent into a swimming pool. According to Lawler, it was a memorably hot day, such that neither guy could wait to get into the water.
3 Pat Patterson: How Paul Bearer Aced His Interview
After his career as a wrestler, Pat Patterson went on to even greater importance in the wrestling business as Vince McMahon’s right hand man. In his book, Accepted, Patterson suggests that he himself was instrumental in envisioning The Undertaker gimmick, though he couldn’t put his finger on the word “undertaker” and first suggested that he’d be a wild west doctor.
As the Dead Man gimmick took shape, Patterson and McMahon interviewed Paul Bearer to come in as a manager. When Bearer disclosed he had previously worked as mortician, Patterson recalls he and McMahon laughed out loud at the serendipity of the situation, immediately agreeing that he would manage The Undertaker.
2 Ric Flair: Giving The Nature Boy His Confidence Back
Ric Flair is widely considered one of the greatest professional wrestler of all time. Over the course of a career that spanned nearly 40 years, one would assume that the Nature Boy had no issues with confidence.
However, Flair writes at some length in his book, To Be The Man, about how he no longer believed in his own abilities as a wrestler by the time he signed to return to WWE in late 2001. After clashing with management behind the scenes at WCW and only wrestling sporadically, Flair was in a bad place mentally. He credits The Undertaker for selecting him as an opponent for WrestleMania X8 and compelling Flair to another great match. Flair says this match got him back on track and facilitated the Nature Boy, adding a chapter to his career that he could be proud of.
1 Gary Michael Cappetta: The Beef With His First Trainer
Veteran wrestler Buzz Sawyer agreed to train the young man who would become The Undertaker. However, after taking the kid’s money and giving him some cursory lessons, he split town, leaving the big man to figure out the rest of the wrestling business on his own.
Ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta writes about becoming friends with The Undertaker—then Mean Mark—in WCW, in his book Bodyslams! Particularly, he recalls the Dead Man seeing Sawyer backstage and saying he was going to kill him. Cappetta takes credit for talking down The Phenom, lest he ruin his career or even get into legal trouble over attacking Sawyer.
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