Undertaker Bio - Early Years in WWE

by Jack Windham
March 19, 2008

We're going to start our bio series on various wrestlers. Instead of doing a quick one, we're going to expand it and cover various parts of their career.

After paying his dues in Texas and the NWA, the Undertaker made his way to WWE. His early years were quite memorable.

New Gimmick

The Undertaker was always a light skinned wrestler with red hair. Someone in WWE saw this and immediately came up with the idea to have him become a zombie like character.

The idea was then to make the Undertaker into an old western style of mortician.

At the time, many felt that the gimmick was going to be yet another short lived over the top gimmick that WWE came up with. Very few, including Vince McMahon himself probably, would have guessed that the gimmick would still be going strong in 2008.

The Debut

Throughout the past few decades, plenty of wrestlers have made their debuts in WWE, but none have even come close to being as impressive as the Undertaker's debut.

Ted DiBiase and Dusty Rhodes were in the midst of a heated feud. Their feud culminated in a highly anticipated match at the Survivor Series.

Dusty Rhodes brought along with him Koko B. Ware and the Hart Foundation.

Ted DiBiase, though, would only reveal two members of his team. He was bringing along Greg Valentine and the Honky Tonk Man.

The last man was a mystery.

The mystery continued even as he made his way down the aisle in his patented eerily fashion.

The Undertaker made quick work of Koko B Ware in the match, eliminating him within a minute or so of the start of the match.

He then would finish off Dusty Rhodes before being counted out for going after the American Dream outside.

Feuding With Legends

After making an impressive debut, the Undertaker started feuding with some pretty legendary wrestlers.

Of course, your credibility receives quite a boost when your gimmick is that of a guy that doesn't feel pain. It makes it easier for the writers to put you up against wrestlers higher up on the card.

The Undertaker made his Wrestlemania debut by convincingly defeating Superfly Jimmy Snuka.

That would be the first of many consecutive wins at the biggest wrestling event of the year.

The Dead Man would quickly engage in short feuds with the Ultimate Warrior, Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and even Hulk Hogan.

Management wanted to make a quick splash with the Undertaker, so they booked him to win the WWE Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan.

Of course, Hulk Hogan would quickly regain the belt, but the title win was still enough to get extra attention from the Undertaker.

...TO BE CONTINUED