Okay… this is an interesting installment, of my character analysis’. As wrestling characters both in the traditional sense and the modern sense, blare the lines between reality and entertainment. However the very epitome of a wrestling character is The Undertaker. For the better part of two and a half decades, The Undertaker has transcended the world of wrestling, even if you don’t follow wrestling, chances are you’ve heard of The Undertaker. Now its important that I mention that one of the reasons the character is so legendary is due to in-ring skill. However, the character has become so iconic due to the charisma and creative skill of the same man. Mark Callaway, the man behind The Undertaker has added layers upon layers to the character so that it has not only stood the test of time, but has transcended the wrestling business. When it was a character that many of his peers believed would have failed in the hands of anyone else. However as it is almost Halloween, its more than appropriate to analyze the spookiest most chilling character to arise from wrestling.
As this is an unusual analysis, I am going to stray from how I normally break down characters. First off I am only going to be analyzing the character of The Undertaker, not the wrestling skill or the majority of the in-ring career of the WWE superstar. I am going to break down the character into his different layers from beginning to present and how they have evolved through time.
The Deadman: The original concept was invented by Vince McMahon the owner of WWE; it was a gimmick persona of an undead wild west mortician, sunken bags under his eyes, dead-looking skin, wearing a long flowing trench coat and Stetson hat. The Undertaker was all but impervious to pain, he had a slow methodical walk and before he entered the arena the lights would go out and out of the pitch black gongs would sound, before playing the funeral march. The lights would brighten slightly, smoke would rise up and the Undertaker would walk slowly through the mists. When nearing the ring he would raise his arms, and the lights would slowly return to normal as the thunder sounds, Undertaker would terrifyingly roll his eyes into the back of his head. This atmosphere would silence a crowd and make children feel scared and uneasy. Furthermore, Undertaker was accompanied by Paul Bearer, a creepy looking rotund man, with a pale face and high-pitched wailing voice that would make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Bearer, also held the Urn, a mythical object that was linked to the Undertakers powers, Bearer could use the Urn to aid Undertaker in his battles, when downed or dazed, Bearer would raise the Urn to the sky calling out, and Undertaker would rise up terrifyingly and begin beating and choking his opponents.
For the first five years of his career this was the persona of the Undertaker, he said very little as it was the high-pitched wail of Paul Bearer that did most of the talking. However when Undertaker did speak, it would often be to utter chilling words of warning for his opponents, always followed by his iconic catch phrase: ‘Rest. In. Peace!” The Undertaker battled many iconic characters while in this persona like the superhero character of Hulk Hogan, the twisted Jake the Snake Roberts and the deranged psychopathic Mankind. Both live fans and the television audience were (and still are) in awe of this characters’ presence, and grew to like him despite his terrifying appearance, not to mention his methods of physiological warfare. Which often included but were not limited to; locking his opponents in coffins, sitting in coffins himself and rising up out of them, putting people in body bags, digging graves for his victims and creating hideous dead-looking replicas of his opponents and showing them in coffins. The Undertaker’s charisma was palpable, when he spoke or acted, people went silent to listen and watch. As weird as this may sound, The Undertaker’s acts were so creepy and supernatural that people became excited to see what he would do next, but little did they know at the time, they had only begun to see The Undertaker’s powers. The Undertaker rather fittingly had a match in his bitter, violent rivalry with the psychotic Mankind, a buried alive match; were the opponent needs to be buried alive in order for you to win. Although the Undertaker was dominant, despite the betrayal of Paul Bearer, several other superstars, tired of being victimized and dominated by the Undertaker saw an opportunity to rid themselves of the Deadman. Working together, they all forced Undertaker into the grave and buried him alive. Taking a moment to revel in their victory, the thunder sounded, the superstars ran from the grave as one terrifying hand bursts through the earth revealing that the Undertaker had not been vanquished. This version of the Undertaker was, to me, the least human of all his personas, zombie-like and threatening, the character was creepy, chilling and created a sense of unease through his words and actions.
The Lord of Darkness: After being buried alive and being abandoned by Paul Bearer. The Undertaker returned, different from how he was before. No longer donning the black hat and coat, he had opted for a Gothic cloak with a high collar on the back and proclaimed himself the Lord of Darkness. This side of the Undertaker is slightly more vocal, although, still more of an actions speak louder than words character. It was this persona that clashed with the crafty technician Bret “The Hitman” Hart and the brash and rebellious Shawn Michaels. The most interesting part of this persona (in my view) is that his character is really built upon, as his past is revealed. We learn from Paul Bearer that The Undertaker’s childhood home was a funeral home, in which Paul Bearer worked. Paul Bearer also revealed to the world that The Undertaker burned down the funeral home killing his mother and father, however his little brother Kane had survived. Undertaker denies this, claiming that it was Kane who had accidentally burned the funeral home down and that there was no way he could have survived. The drama unfolds further when Paul Bearer reveals Kane will be coming for revenge against the Undertaker. During a bloody Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels, Kane reveals himself, bursting from a wall of flame and attacks an astonished Undertaker. A vicious war ensues between the two demonic brothers, Undertaker reveals even more of his supernatural abilities, having control over lightning, when he uses it explode a coffin containing a replica of Kane and also mastery over fire when he survives being burned alive by Kane. After a long and brutal rivalry with Kane, Undertaker has to once again deal with Mankind in another Hell in a Cell match, it is in this match that the Undertaker shows just how cruel, ruthless and sadistic he can be, as he throws Mankind off the sixteen foot high structure not once but twice before the two subject each other to more hellacious brutality. He then embraces his darker sadistic side, after growing tired of being used by Vince McMahon as a weapon of destruction, he sides with his brother and rampages through the WWE superstars until he gets what he wants. Finally after six years of being the loved anti-villain of the WWE, Undertaker reveals just how evil and demonic he is, by reconciling with Paul Bearer and revealing that he did indeed burn his family’s home to the ground despite blaming Kane.
For me from a character standpoint; this is one of (if not the) most interesting personas of the Undertaker. While the original Deadman was charismatic and awe-inspiring we didn’t gain much about his personality as it seemed at the time to learn that would take away from his mystic. However, in this era of his character we learn about his dark past, and see how The Undertaker reacts to having it revealed. While this does humanize the character slightly, I don’t think it takes anything away from the aura of The Undertaker, on the contrary, it simply adds a new level of interest to the character, not to mention the humanizing aspect is made up for by the terrifying supernatural battles between Undertaker and Kane, in which Taker displays many chilling and shocking abilities. This new layer was exactly what the character needed to keep it fresh and moving with the times, moving into the late 90’s which would later become known as the Attitude Era of WWE. In this era audience’s were not impressed by the over-the-top gimmicks of the 80’s and early 90’s and the rebellious crowds would boo any character they felt was too childish or cheesy. With that being said I’m not sure how well the zombie-like, more or less mute, wild west Undertaker would have fared in this era. It might have worked it might not have, either way the audience appreciated the Lord of Darkness persona because it added a lot of character depth to an established character. Not to mention the back story of the Undertaker was the perfect catalyst for another iconic character of Kane to be created. For many this was The Undertaker at his peak, and it was in this era where he had some of the most memorable moments in his career. This persona of the Undertaker was emotional, vengeful, honorable, powerful, deep, ruthless, remorseless and near the end, demonic and cruel, not to mention deceitful. And this paved the way for the darkest of all his personas.
Leader of the Ministry of Darkness: After revealing his sick and twisted deeds, audiences turned on the Undertaker. Not just for his actions, but also because this persona became almost too dark and evil to be supportive of. The Undertaker adopted a more satanic attitude, with ceremonial robes, conducting dark rituals and speaking in Latin. It all made the Undertake feel far more evil than his previous personas, he founded the Ministry of Darkness which was basically a cult of superstars who followed the Undertakers twisted vision. He would incorporate them into his following through rituals and dark ceremony, he then used his group to take over the WWE. The Undertaker’s personality continued to show through this persona, any positive aspects of his character were diminished, he no longer had any morals or honor, they had been replaced by sadism and selfishness. Some of the acts he committed on his fellow superstars were beyond horrific; he crucified Stone Cold Steve Austin, he hung the Big Boss Man and even kidnapped Mr McMahon’s daughter Stephanie and nearly forced her into a black wedding while she was tied to his symbol. The Undertaker also became more verbal; he would describe just how he would punish and torment his victims, and his descriptions were vile and demonic. Any time his own followers would fail him he would brutally punish them, he would whip them and beat them down among other things. He was completely uncontrollable, then at the height of this darkness, The Undertaker mysteriously disappeared.
As a character this was as dark as it got for The Undertaker, although we had seen shades of this earlier on in his career, with his demonic powers and ruthless nature, this was different. Not only did it take those dark aspects to the extreme, but what else was added became something else entirely, I personally never looked at the Undertaker as a satanic cult leader who would commit the atrocious acts listed above. Also the Undertaker usually used his ruthlessness and dark psychological warfare against the villainous characters of WWE, almost like a guy who would bully the bullies. However what this persona does is just sick, twisted and evil, the rituals and speaking in tongues was also very uncomfortable to watch. This incarnation was truly terrifying, the Undertaker was dark, ruthless, twisted, satanic, brutal, callous, sadistic, blood-thirsty and just plain evil. Because the love and respect for the legendary character of The Undertaker is so strong, it is easy to focus more on his anti-villainous personas, but people tend to forget just how evil and horrifyingly villainous this version of the Undertaker was, so much so that I would rank him has one of the most evil and sadistic villains in WWE history.
The American Badass, Big Evil and The Big Dog: These personas of the Undertaker stand aside from the others. The way they came about were completely different. So far, the evolution of the Undertaker’s character was a natural progression; the Deadman persona gradually became the Lord of Darkness and that then flowed easily into becoming the Leader of the Ministry. They all kept the core aspects of The Undertaker; his slow, methodical, creepy entrance, his supernatural abilities, his dark mystic. So you can imagine how everyone was dumbfounded when the same man comes riding in on a motorbike, dressed in a bandanna and sunglasses with leather pants like a member of a motorcycle gang. All the supernatural and demonic stuff was stripped back to reveal the most human side of the Undertaker we’ve seen, this was the man behind the aura, yet the shades of the Undertaker’s personality that we had seen during his other personas, shone brightest through this one. Undertaker was still ruthless and sadistic but rather than seeing this coming from a demonic harbinger of doom sent from the depths of hell, we saw it coming from an all American, ass-kicking, tough, motorbike-riding bad-ass. The Undertaker also showed something that we had never seen before: a sense of humour. Now his sense of humour may be dry, dark and usually centered around the pain of others, yet it was a side of the character we had never seen before. This persona of the Undertaker was also the one that talked the most, he was no less threatening because of this, on the contrary, the things the Undertaker would say would often make him more intimidating. The Undertaker remained in this persona for quite a few years until he was eventually forced to return to his darker roots, in a buried alive match against Mr McMahon. Although, he dominated the chairmen of WWE all through the match, he was attacked by his brother Kane and was buried alive. Kane would later reveal that The Undertaker, while once a monster like Kane, had betrayed himself by becoming one of us.
This was risky from a character standpoint, as this persona was more or less a different character entirely from The Undertaker we all knew. Like I said before, all the previous incarnations of the Undertaker were all linked and kept the core aspects of original character. This persona threw almost all of that out of the window. There were no supernatural aspects to this character or mysterious aspects of his personality. In real life this was the man behind all that, which honestly was an interesting insight for fans to see. A popular saying for wrestling superstars is that sometimes the best characters are ones that are not dissimilar from the real life people portraying them, in other words they are being themselves but turning personality traits up to eleven, exaggerating themselves and their own core aspects. This is what this character feels like, it’s now common knowledge that the man Mark Callaway is into motorcycles and often wears the same casual clothes that he did as this character. This persona gave us a completely different side of The Undertaker and it was new and exciting to see because in many ways it was the opposite of what we were used to. In many ways Kane was right; the original character of The Undertaker is an inhuman monster shrouded in darkness and mystery; whereas this persona of the Undertaker did more or less become human… albeit a terrifying, menacing, would never like to meet him in a dark alley human, but still. I honestly like this side to The Undertaker and I can even look at it as being short-lived, however, there was no denying that The Deadman could not stay buried within the Undertaker for long and had to rise again.
The Phenom: Several months after being gone, strange things began to happen around Kane, the lights would go out, the ring would shake, the thunder would roll in and by Wrestlemania, The Undertaker returned, not on a motorcycle but as the original Deadman character, although he seemed to have retained aspects of his other personas. He returned with the lights going out, the gongs sounding and the thunder and lighting with fog rolling in, his slow methodical walk to the ring returned which brought back an atmosphere long missed. He now wore a long black leather coat with a Stetson had to match, he retained his wrestling gear from his time as the American Badass and gone was the majority of the deadened makeup. The Undertaker also regressed to speaking as little as he used to, usually letting his actions speak louder than his words, although he would take the time to utter his chilling threat of “Rest. In. Peace!” to his opponents. Although he tended to stick with the leather coat and hat, there were times where he would don black robes with a hood, eerily familiar to the ones he wore as the Lord of Darkness. It became apparent that his personality also became a hybrid of all his previous personas, The Undertaker was quite happy to play his mind games and exact his dominance over one and all, villain or good guys. Although he would occasionally let his human side shine through to show moments of respect to the likes of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Triple H. This was also the persona, in which the legendary Wrestlemania Undefeated Streak, came into prominence, as it was around this time when people started to really take notice of the fact that at Wrestlemania no one could seem to beat the Phenom. For the next ten years, superstars would line up to try their hand at defeating the Undertaker and breaking the iconic streak, but none prevailed until Brock Lesnar in 2014. By that point he Undertaker was undefeated for 21 consecutive Wrestlemanias, and it would forever be hailed as the greatest undefeated streak in wrestling. As the years have went on, The Undertaker’s appearances have become fewer and far between, however when those lights go out, the gongs sound, and his silhouette appears through the mists, audiences everywhere wait in excited anticipation for what chilling acts we will see from the legendary Undertaker.
Although The Undertaker has been called the Phenom since pretty early on in his career. From analyzing his whole character it is my opinion that this persona is the one that truly embodies that title. After all his iconic accomplishments over the previous fourteen years, The Undertaker returns to the original Deadman character which has now evolved into a hybrid of all his other personas. It’s through these years that some of the Undertakers greatest moments happen; he becomes a multi-time World Heavyweight Champion, he has some of the greatest matches of his career, one of which was his match with Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 which is considered by many to be one of the greatest matches in wrestling history and the undefeated streak became prominent in this era. The fact that the Undertaker had achieved so much before this time and not to mention he has outlasted almost every other superstar who has made a big name for themselves in WWE. Each of the eras that the Undertaker has been a part of, most of his peers who were mega stars at the same time have now retired. And it’s the fact that during this time he has continued to achieve so much which has now cemented his legacy as one of the greatest of all time, this is truly phenomenal to me which is why I think this persona is most befitting of the title of the Phenom.
To wrap this up, this was a much longer analysis than I intended, however with a character that has evolved so much and developed many layers over the years, there was so much to talk about. The Undertaker has too many traits to list so I will focus on the core aspects of his character, he is; charismatic, mysterious, powerful and thrilling. His terrifying, awe-inspiring legend will never… Rest… In… Peace…
This was my analysis of The Undertaker. Thank you for reading.
The Creativity Storm 
Leave a comment