There are few debuts as renowned as the legends, and the Undertaker is a step above that as his career is in near mythic waters and it started on this day in wresting history on November 22, 1990.
What’s pretty cool about this is it wasn’t planned for him to debut here as he replaced Bad News Brown, but he also had his true debut a few nights earlier as Kane The Undertaker on Superstars Of Wrestling.
He defeated Mario Mancini in that match, but his Survivor Series match is the debut the WWE recognized as the Undertaker-Mancini match wasn’t televised until December 11, 1990.
This way, the WWE gave birth to the Phenom on one of the Big Four pay-per-views in the company.
Need someone without personality
Few stories about being hired are as entertaining as the Undertakers, and we want to thank @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript and other fun tidbits.
“This is way back, probably before a lot of you were born, it was actually in 1989. I was working for another company and they (Ole Anderson) actually told me, I was going in to renegotiate my contract,…’Listen, you’re a good athlete, but no one’s ever going to pay money to watch you wrestle.’ They said that to me. I was like ‘Really?’ Okay, that’s all I needed to hear and that stuck with me.
“So I eventually get a meeting with Vince McMahon, right? and I was like ‘Okay. I’m going to walk in here. I’m going to blow him away. I’ll get hired right on the spot’ I’m thinking that so I go to Connecticut and I meet with Vince and at the end of the meeting, he goes, ‘Well, we really don’t have anything right now. Maybe after Wrestlemania, we might have an opening.’ And I was like ‘Oh, wow. I already quit the other place.’ I didn’t figure that part in.
“I’m at home one day and the phone rings. Back then you had to go pick it up. ‘Hello. Is this The Undertaker?’ So I put the phone down and think to myself ‘Undertaker? I’m sure not Eggman or Egghead.’ I say ‘Yeah, yeah, this is The Undertaker!’ I was probably on the verge of an ulcer.
“I was so uptight about this and it took me a second to process who it even was. Vince’s voice, you can distinguish it pretty quick, and I was like ‘Yeah, OK’ He had the character, he needed somebody big with no personality. “I’m your guy!’’ – The Undertaker, C3 Conference interview, February 20, 2019.
The thought of one of the deepest, most entertaining wrestlers in history getting started as someone without a personality sounds like a strange plot twist.
This day in wrestling history came about because of a simple idea Vince McMahon had and the rest is history. It was an awesome beginning and to see the Undertaker grow so much over the next 30 years was an awesome experience.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
Remember to stay up to date with the latest news on TheOvertimer. Don’t forget to visit ScreenJuicer for great videos, news, and gameplay!
