The Undertaker has reflected on the origins of his WWE gimmick, revealing how Vince McMahon handed him the name and character that changed his career.
Speaking on Nightcap with Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, the Hall of Famer explained how McMahon laid out the vision. He also described why he instantly knew it would work.
Undertaker opens up on WWE gimmick
“That name was given to me by Vince. He had envisioned in his mind this character. Basically, he needed a big guy with limited personality.
“It was something that resonated with me. Everything was on these big storyboards, and I’m in his office, and he’s showing me this. Immediately, my brain is like, I knew.
“I didn’t know what it was going to become, but I knew it was different and I knew it was special. I was like, ‘This is pretty cool.’”
McMahon later inducted Undertaker into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022, calling him his favourite Superstar. That partnership spanned three decades, starting with his debut at Survivor Series 1990.
Now retired, Undertaker has shifted to mentoring the next generation. As part of WWE LFG, he works directly with recruits hoping to carve out their own careers.
Asked if he sees another “Phenom” emerging, he pointed to the late Bray Wyatt as the closest in recent years. He admitted it’s a high bar to meet.
Taker’s take on fresh talent
“I mean, I see a lot of people that are coming up that have potential to be stars. Now, whether their characters are similar to mine, I guess the closest within the past few years, obviously, was Bray Wyatt. We lost him last year, but he was in that category of Undertaker-esque.
“I don’t know that anybody’s really honed in there, but we have a lot of young talent coming up. They’ll probably be debuting really soon, because the machine, again, you’ve got to keep it fresh.”
The Deadman also hosted Gunther on the Six Feet Under podcast recently. He couldn’t resist drawing a contrast with today’s locker room.
“For me, I’m a notorious old school dude, man. It’s disheartening sometimes when I go to one of the shows. If you can even find talent — I’ve heard recent stuff that you’ve said, like to even catch talent backstage watching matches. Most of them are filming TikToks and doing all this other [stuff].
“Even when I was still on the road full-time and [Michelle McCool] was on the road full-time, if you weren’t sitting there watching the monitor, it was going to be a bad day for you.”
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