Insight with Chris Van Vliet - The Undertaker: 30 Years In WWE, Brock Lesnar, Kane, Paul Bearer, WrestleMania 40 (Interview From June 2024)

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets for the first ever INSIGHT LIVE the day before the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2025 in Indianapolis are on sale now! Mark Calaway (@undertaker) is a legendary professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. This episode originally aired on June 18, 2024. The Undertaker is best known for his 30+ year career in WWE as The Undertaker. Chris Van Vliet sits down with him at his home in Austin, TX to talk about his incredible career, his podcast "Six Feet Under With Mark Calaway", appearing in the main event of WrestleMania 40 to help Cody Rhodes with the WWE Universal Championship, his tag team with Kane, memories of Paul Bearer, the hilarious story of his coat that wouldn't come off, not remembering anything from his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30, his legacy as both The Deadman and The American Bad Ass, his iconic entrances, never breaking kayfabe and much more. Check out "Six Feet Under With Mark Calaway" here: https://www.youtube.com/@SixFeetUnderwithMarkCalaway Sponsors: VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flee! What chair do we have you on there? Who am I on? You are on... I'm not on myself, am I? You're sitting on your own face. I'm sitting on my own face. That's disgusting.

Your Survivor's Series 2015? What am I on? It's the 25th anniversary. I think you're on hell on the cell. I'm on a cell 2010. Oh, I'm sitting on you too. Yeah. Should have picked other people to sit on.

Well, probably you're going to have a hard time in this jump. finding different faces. Well, there was a WrestleMania over there. I love that you keep these chairs, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, these are really cool. And they've served their purpose. They're like most of the time, their decoration.

But like if we have a kids party or something like that, we'll break them out and be really vain about all of our faces on the chairs. People like, it's funny that my daughter. You know, some but not all of her friends, you know, realize who her dad is. And they'll like, why is your dad on a chair? She'll have to explain to him. And then they look at me differently. I thought it's just Mr. Mark. What do they think you are otherwise?

Just dad, I guess. Yeah, I think just Kai's dad. Yeah. And then, you know, they think, then they'll, then they look. And then the parents will pull it. No, this is, this is Mr. Mark. It's so scary. How's retirement treating you?

For the most part, good. I'm actually, I have spurts though now where I'm out more than I was, you know, the last few years that I actually wrestled. I'll get, I'll get busy and it's like, dang, when is the last time I've been home? But then I'll have stretches like I'm on right now where I've been home for, a month and a half and uh you know i get into a rhythm of doing things and it's it's nice and then soon as i get in that rhythm i'll get bombarded with you know a million appearances that i drive to do and the podcast is keeping you busy you're a podcaster a YouTuber well that's a stretch

i i don't yeah i yeah it keeps me busy um you're crushing it you're you're the number of One wrestling podcast on the planet. Well, I mean, most of that has to do with the fact that I was probably on TV for 30 years more so than it is the quality of the content that we're putting out. Well, you tell amazing stories. People tune in to six feet under because they know you're going to tell great stories. Well, I think, you know, I've got a million of them after, you know, 30 plus years of being in this business and then not saying much for. the majority of that period of time. I do have a lot of stories.

It's just the hard part for me is remembering all of them. And it's funny, a lot of times I'll be in the middle of a story that will spawn like another story. And I'm like, man, I completely have forgotten about that. And then I try to like, I try to kind of keep it in my mind so that I can write it down because also I have to,

like I got to share stories with, I have to share stories with my podcast and my show. And I'm like, dang, man, I'm really dwindling down the... Do you get fact-checked by people? They're like, oh, you said this happened in 98, and it was really 97. I'm trying to think where it was this happened. It may have been Australia. It was Australia.

What's the last show? You're going to get fact-checked on the fact-checked. Oh, man, this guy, I would say something, and I'm horrible. I'm absolutely horrible with dates and all that, and I will butcher it. completely. The story will be accurate, but the dates of when it happened or maybe what pay-per-view, premium live event, I'll screw it up every time. And you know how wrestling audiences are, their fans are. I think it was Australia. And I would say something, and this guy on the front row would be like, that was 94. It was in your house or whatever it was. Okay, thanks.

So I would go on and I'd tell another story like that, and I'd get to a point or I couldn't remember And I just turned to him. But it became a running joke in the show. I was like, hey, that by the time that I worked with Brett Hart and the U.K., it was when, when, what, and they'd give it to me like that. Wow. Damn. I'm like, dude, you need to get a life because you.

I live this stuff and I don't remember it. It's crazy. But they, it is crazy how much and how quick they will fact check. Oh, yeah. I mean, if they, if you, if I say something on the podcast, it, Matt will say, hey, you got that wrong. because this guy said it was sitting and I looked it up and I was like well look I can't remember it all man I've got a few concussions and like I've got a few years old me and I just can't remember it all when did you start thinking ahead to retirement and what you were going to do after you hung him up um

just I started I never really I knew the end was near but I knew but I didn't it's weird like I knew the end was going to come but I wasn't I wasn't mentally preparing myself for it, I don't think. Like, I always just thought I was going to be able to do it. Yeah. And realistically, you know, Father Time is undefeated. And I knew, I knew, like, early on, even when I was still working, and I love this business so much, but I knew I was going to have a hard time. Like, people always ask me, well, you know, why don't you go down to the PC or, you know, why don't you be a mentor?

And when I'm around, I do that kind of stuff. But as an everyday deal, I can't do it because I just, you know, recently, I've just kind of had closure at mania. I don't know if, you know, heard this, but like I've struggled. I struggled since I retired at being at live events. Like I would go, like I was at the Rumble because I had it one dead man show. in Clearwater, and I stayed over, and I was at the Rumble. And by the time, I think maybe the first match, or what first had gone out, and I left.

Because internally, my body and my mind is saying, you should be getting ready. You should be going out there. And I get almost, I wouldn't say anxiety, but I just get this feeling like, I can't take it. Right? Because I want to be out there so bad. I wanted to continue to wrestle. Obviously, my body broke down and my father time is undefeated. And I didn't want to be, I didn't want to be a, I never wanted to be a parody of myself. And I really risked that at the end. And I had some, some matches that I think maybe at one point in my career, like they were bad, but there was like one point in my career, I felt, like I could take anything and turn it around. Yeah. And I just didn't have it in me. I didn't have it left in me.

Like the match I had Goldberg in Saudi Arabia. You know, I should have picked up on the fact that he had his bell rung. And then rung it again when he hit the post. I should have been sharp enough to adapt at that point and not try to get to where I was getting. That was a scary match to watch. Dude. It was a scary match to be in. And it was, you know, it was just, it was, it was father time.

And the worst thing as you get older are the breaks. When you have late, you know, long periods of time where you don't work, man, you lose. And as you get older, you lose that sharpness, that the, the mental quickness to figure out things. And that was something that I always really prided my. myself on if something happened knowing what to do. Yeah. And I was so in that match, I was so just like, I'm going to make this good. I'm going to make it good.

I'm going to make it good. And I didn't have, I don't think I had enough mental acuity and the physical attributes to turn that around. And it just continued to go, you know, in a bad court. You know, it was nobody's fault. Just, you know, what happened happened. Are you pissed when you went to the back? Oh, man. Yeah, I was pissed because you don't get many opportunities,

especially that late in your career, to do a first. I had never worked with Goldberg. And, you know, the Saudis for what all the good, all the bad, they pay a lot of money. They paid a lot of money to get us to come over there for that. And regardless, I always like to live up to my name. And I really felt like I had let, I had let people down.

I'd let myself down because I hold a higher standard for myself than what anybody else does. I can get over what other people think of me, but what I want out of me is the very best. And, you know, it happened and it turned into a train wreck. And yeah, I was extremely pissed, but yeah, mostly because I knew it wasn't good. And, you know, we both were, you know, his head, you know, he probably had a concussion. And my back, I thought, was broken.

And it was, it was, it was just one of those moments. It was a frustration of the whole thing. And what was the closure you got at WrestleMania this year? So I guess it was just, it was being out there in front of, the in the live audience and having that moment. Now, I'd come back, you know, I did the deal with Bray and L.A. Knight, and then I did that little thing with N.X.T. But it was, I think it was, it must just been my history with mania and that part of my legacy,

just to go out there one more time and then, you know, have somebody like Rock who come up and was in that attitude arrow with me. And I don't know. I just felt once I got back, I was like, the funny thing is, you started that night watching. You were in the crash. Yeah. So I was there Saturday.

So I had a ton of appearances. I did a one dead man show in Philly. I had a ton of appearances. And I get a suite every year. And these last couple of years are the first years that I've even been in them with my family and friends. And, yeah, there was like one night I'm sitting there on the balcony. You know,

people finally look up and they recognize me. And there's a clip of my father-in-law giving them the DX chopped and all that. This is like, so yeah. So I had got a call earlier that way. I think it was like Tuesday around. Yeah, it was Tuesday the week of mania. Triple H calls me. He says, hey, said, what do you think about doing this and what do you think about doing that?

And I was like, I'm like, man, I don't, I mean, if you need me, of course, I'll, I'll, I'll do it. I said, he goes, well, you know, there guys are still throwing things around. I said, look, I said, just understand this. I said, this is not going to be about me. I said, if I can do something that adds to the story and helps, I said, I'm all in. I'll do whatever you need. I said, if there's anybody involved in this that doesn't want me in there. I said, my feelings are not going to be hurt.

I said, I'll be in the suite. I'll be having a good time. I'll probably be drunk. I said, but just don't worry. Like, we've had this conversation. I said, if there's somebody not on board, I'm fine. I'm good. Don't worry about it.

So I'm sitting up at the suite. They're going back and forth with everything. I'd had a couple other calls during the week, but nothing was really fine. And then I get the call that day. Yeah. He said, hey, we're going to go over this thing in about 30 minutes. So you want to come downstairs? And mania was like on?

It's on. Yeah, it's going. Yeah, I'm sitting in the suite. How many Coors lighted? How many Coors Lighted had at that point? What's that? How many Coors Lighted you had at that point? I'd have a few.

But so, yeah, so I go down until they talk about what they want to do. And I was like, yeah, all right, sure. Man. Yeah. I was like, that's easy money. I can do that. And that moment made grown men cry. It was a lot of fun.

The rib was on me, though, because normally, you know, we would stage a lot differently. So when I get downstairs and they say, okay, we're going to put you here. And then when this happens in the match, we got to start running. So I'm in the far end of the bowl of the stadium. them. And whatever spot happens, they say, all right, let's go. So I've got all these ring guys, these tech crew. We're all running in a big group trying to hide me. And I were running. And actually, no one is really paying attention. And so I'm running. I'm like, crap. I said, where are we, where do we have to go? And they're like, you see the tent down there? We got to get under it.

I'm like, crap, it's 75 yards. I just had both my knees replaced. So this is the first time that I've actually run on them. So I'm running through the crowd and I finally I get to the place and I'm like, I'm blowed up. And so then I waited on the second cue and slid in there. You move pretty good getting in the ring. Hey man, I tell you what? Two new, two new hips, two new knees. Well, the hips aren't they're replaced. They're not new. But no, I feel I feel pretty good. Does it make you think you could still do it? Yeah, I could do it. I couldn't do it to the standard that I want to do it.

But I mean, yeah. And I just, there's certain things that I wouldn't, I don't feel like I would be able to do. And so, but after I did it, like, I came back and I was like, I'm good now. Yeah. I don't, I don't need to do this again. I, no, I'm not saying that I wouldn't, if they needed something like that again,

I wouldn't, but I'm not going to have a, I'm not going to have a match or, I'm not coming out of retirement. So the Boneyard match is your last match. Yeah, yeah, that's it. And I have to, I just have to, I have to look at it that way because I'm sometimes my own worst enemy. And I think that I have a S on my chest sometimes that it's not there anymore. It used to be really bold and golden and shines.

And now it's just like kind of a faint outline. But it's, uh, uh, it's a, it's, I think it's out of my system and I'm good with it. And like I said, we'll see, we'll see where this podcasting business goes. It seems to be going pretty well for it. Well, did you think you'd be a YouTuber? I've gone, Chris, I've gone into this kicking and screaming the whole way. Matt Leida, Matt Leida has drugged me into this and back-allied me into doing this the whole way.

Yeah, and he's like, Mark, he was, I'm just telling you, your stories, the things that you, I'm like, hey, no way it's going to want to hear all that. I don't want to talk about it all the time. And I love, I love being in a bar. Yeah. I love being in a bar. And especially with guys that I come up with and I worked with, you know, in a full-time basis, I love telling stories. I just love talking about the things that we used to do. We could do.

that I thoroughly enjoy. But yeah, I'm not like by nature. I'm not that guy. I'm not the, that I think it's a good thing that, you know, our sponsor, one of our sponsors is a heart cell service. Because by the time we start, because we bat shoot a lot of, a lot of times,

which, you know, when I, But when I start, I'm a little, I'm a little, I would say, not stuck up is not the word, a little, like, cranky and it takes me a while to loosen up. Once I get loosened up by the end of the day, I'm having fun. I was honored to be a guest on your show, but I was the first episode of the day. Yeah, well, I was trying to be on good behavior with you. I mean, you know, we're still, you know, we're still thinking about taking you hostage to figure out how to do this. I think you guys have got to figure it out. I think you know what you're doing.

We don't. But we did. We told each other we would fake it until we make it. And, you know, Matt now is at the point where he closes every episode. Well, you know, well, maybe I'll see you next week. Man, maybe not. Maybe not. And that's a shoot.

What drove you when you were in the peak of your career and what drives you now? At the peak of my career, I wanted to be, I wanted to be the best. I wanted my name, I wanted my name at the top of the page. I wanted to carry, you know, I wanted to carry the company or do the absolute most that I could. I always felt like when you stop growing and you stop improving that it's basically it's time to move on. and I never felt like I and I said in my Hall of Fame speech never be content and that was one of the things I was just I was never content I was like I was happy obviously I was very proud of what I was able to accomplish in the business but I was never content I was always like man I want to do this like even back in the middle of the attitude era when when when when Rock and Austin were the top top two guys like that was that was a driving force for me to to to to be better. Like, man, whether it was attainable or not, that was a goal. Like, I, I want to be at the top of the page. You know, I was, I was, I was happy for, for, obviously, I was happy for

Steve and I was, I was happy for rock. I was happy for all those guys, because we were, we were killing it. Yeah. And business was awesome. But for me personally, like, I wanted to be that guy. And that was, that's what drove me. And I never got discouraged or I never, I just, that was a goal. and we'd go after it and I would unfortunately you know Steve's career

gets cut short Rock goes on to be a you know an adequate adequate movie star I guess I guess

I guess you know and then you know I move into into the role I took there in the you know in the 2000s

but it was now what drives me I'm I'm just looking to like enjoy myself because as much as I enjoyed, I enjoyed the business, which I did. The business came, I mean, the business came first, second, third with me. And my kids paid a price. Everybody paid a price for this dream that I was living. So now it's trying to catch up and enjoy the civil.

billion part of my life and do things like going hunting and doing going hunting, going fishing, doing those kind of things. But still, like having, like, you know, the one dead man show, it keeps me out just enough just to stay in the world, but not so engulfed in the world of sports entertainment, sport wrestling. I'm a trained soldier. man. I'm a train soldier. I don't have a battle all the time.

Like, man, you don't have to say sports entertainment. You don't have to say, you can say professional wrestling. You can say the belt, the strap. I feel like they say wrestling a lot now. Yeah. It's loose. Back. Yeah. There's the reins have been lightened up a little bit. When you think of your career, it's kind of like Kobe, where Kobe had a great career as eight and a great career as.

and a great career is 24. Incredible career for you as the dead man. Incredible career is the American badass. How do you look at both of those? Obviously, I think the dead man, my legacy is going to be wrapped around the dead man. But I had so much fun being the American badass. I think I enjoyed it. One, I think I had to do that just for the sake of staying relevant during that time period.

Again, you go back to the promos that everyone's cutting and the content that we were getting away with at the time. As great as that Undertaker character was, it was also kind of it shackled to where you're in a box. There's only so much that you can do within that box. And I needed, I think I just needed a little break and let me show the other side of my, of what I had in the toolbox. So it allowed me to cut promos with, on the likes of what Rock was cutting and what Austin was cutting, and Triple H and all,

everybody was cutting. So it allowed, it freed me up to do that. And then it freed my work up to where I could really, really get into what I enjoy most is storytelling. Which I had kind of figured out a way to do it with the dead man, but the American badass was, just there were no, there was no box, there was no parameters. I could do and say whatever I wanted to. I love doing the pre-tapes backstage with the chewing tobacco and just making Tommy Dreamer drink

Barbasol and everything else that he did. Poor Tommy Dreamer. And he did that. I mean, so for any, any bullying hate, he did that without reluctance. He relished the fact that. He relished the fact that He could do those kind of things. That was how he liked to operate anyway. Why did you take the mic flag off of the mic when you cut promos? I just didn't think it, especially with the dead man, it just looked, it looked out of place to me. Like, would the Undertaker hold this mic with this big red flag on it? It was out of place for me.

It was a disconnect. So I took the flag off, so it was just the black mic, and I could hold it, and I could cut the promo, and not distract people with the big WWE logo on it. Where did you find the voice for the dead man? Because it's so different from the voice you're speaking in the rest of the time. Well, you may hear a little bit of the dead man voice later tonight. It depends. How many shots of Jack? Well, it takes a few.

It takes a few, but. No, it just, I just kind of make the voice. It starts kind of deep in my throat instead of making it all the way out to my lips, I guess, if that makes any sense. Like, so it starts, yeah. He's here. He's here. You will rest in. Yeah, I got to think about it now.

No, you don't. I do. I have to think about how to do the voice. I have to think about how to roll the eyes, all that. How did you first learn that you could roll your eyes? crazy enough. I did it by accident. I had a match and I want to say it was Greg Valentine. I was working with Greg Valentine and I was on him and I had him down in the corner and then like I just like slapped a slap to choke on him and you know because of my hair being long like it was like I just

put the choke on him and I threw my hair back and when I threw my hair back my eyes went back and I I said, I wonder if I could hold them back there. And I did. And I didn't really, really, like, I wasn't consciously thinking, like, roll your eyes back. But I did it. And then I go back and I get to guerrilla position and everybody is looking like, what the hell was that? That was the coolest thing. That was so creepy.

And then, you know, they run it back and show it to him. And I was like, holy crap. That's scary. Right? So for, that's how that's right. It just happened by accident. And then naturally, I mean, I've got a, or used to have a very long tongue. So the eyes and the tongue, those were, those were requested a lot.

People that you probably wouldn't think would want to see that. But then it became a part of the entrance. It became a part of the pinfall. Yeah. Like a big part of the character. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was like, I think people realized, like once, well, I didn't let me, it was very late in my career before.

let anybody kick out of the tombstone. But they knew, for the most part, if the arms got crossed and the eyes and a tongue come out of, that was, that was it. I had Baron Corbyn on the show, and he said the best advice he got from you was protect your finish. Yeah, I did, you know, I was trying to put, from where the product is evolved to, I was trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube because now it's just like finishes, they don't mean anything. It's kind of almost like, it's almost kind of like Japan, the Japanese style, right, where they would take all these crazy bumps and end up getting rolled up and getting

pinned. And I think a lot of it comes from the match that Sean and I had kicking out. I let him kick out of the tombstone. And those people realize those false finish kickouts, man, they get a loud pop. They get a real of a reaction. So it's become. some kind of the common thing now is to let people kick out of your finish. It's, I mean, it's evolution, but, I mean, you look back to Jake the snake, give him somebody a DDT. You might see three DDTs in a match now. Yeah. Super kicks.

How many super kicks do you see? I mean, you'll see 12 super kicks in one match. But they're not the sweet chin music. He's got a, he was, his leg had a spring in it to give it. You know, but that was, that was kind of what I was trying to tell. get something. Yeah. Whatever it is, what's your number one, right?

What's your number one? I said, protect it. Now, come up with the number two that you can be, you can be a little more judicious and let somebody use that to kick out if you, if you need it. So what were you okay with people kicking out of the last ride? You know, the choke slam, I was, I was okay with that. The last ride, I guess, I don't replace the tombstone for a while.

For a little, yeah, during the American, badass period. I've used the, I used the last, uh, the last, uh, the last ride a lot. Um, but even, you know, those, there wasn't a lot of, a lot of kickouts. Um, but I mean, that's just, again, that's how, that's just how the business has evolved that,

whatever my, whatever finish I was using. I use a dragon sleeper for a little while. Um, I used the, obviously Hell's Gate. That was kind of added late in my career. Yeah. Just different. different options. That was, I added Hell's Gate in there, just because I was getting so beat up, like when I worked with the really big guys, it was, I couldn't pick them up and throw them around like I used to. So I had to figure out a way to, how do you beat Kali, right? You choke him out.

So that's kind of, that was just kind of self-preservation, figuring out different ways to beat different guys instead of risking, giving them a bad tune. Stone. This episode is brought to you by Manscaped. The holidays are right around the corner, and if you want to look sharp for all those festive gatherings, check out the latest masterpiece from Manscaped, the Chairman Pro electric foil shaver. Trust me, this is like Rudolph for your face, guiding you to a smooth, irritation-free shave.

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Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code Chris Van at Manscape.com. That's 20% off plus free shipping with the code Chris Van, C-R-I-S-V-A-N at Manscaped.com. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Sometimes ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim.

And they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Hencoe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I heard a story that you hate ticking chops. Yeah.

I'm not fond of chops at all. No. But then you worked Flair. Yeah, I did work Flair. I told him he gets three. I think I ended up giving him more. But I said, you get three.

So that's WrestleMania 18, right? Yeah, yeah. Three chops. You get three chops. And I'm pretty sure he got more than three. And I like Sean chop me up pretty good, too. And I don't, it's kind of a weird deal with me.

Like, and I didn't mind getting, I'd rather be. I'd rather get a potato than for a punch to look bad. Sure. I just, yeah, I'd rather you hit me, hit me in a safe spot, but hit me, and we'll get, I'd rather the match be good than, than me selling a punch that misses by six inches. Yeah. But so guys, you know, they spend all this time working on their punches and trying to work, you know, trying to work light and then just knock the crap out of you. with a chop. I don't know.

It was just a thing. You know, I would love right now to be able to work with Gunther. I'd let him chop the shit out of me. I would love to work with him. But it was just one of them, one of those deals, man. I remember working. I worked with, it was me and Kane, I want to say, and we were working against Rikishi and Haku.

and Haku put me in the corner and shot me. And instinctively, I grabbed him and I spun him around. I didn't potato him or anything. It was, thank goodness, like my common sense kicked in before I did anything stupid. I turned him around a quick. And then I was like, oh, shit, man, that's Haku. I was like, I don't want that smoke, man. Thank goodness

Haku's, I mean, he is a real, he's a sweetheart of a man, but he can also be alone if he wants to be. He liked me, thank goodness. But I don't know. It was just one of those deals. I just, the chop. Now it's, it's, there's two things that, like,

get overdone is the chop. And then the leg slap. Trust me nuts. just drives me absolutely nuts. It's so bad. And even my daughter, my 11-year-old, she points it out. And she does it, like, because she's all about the business. Wants to get in the business.

She wants to, oh, yeah. How do you feel about that? Well, if that's, if her heart's in it and she puts in the work, then I'll, I'll support her. She's a tremendous athlete. And but, um, what's she playing right now? Flag football. Okay. Yeah, that's the fastest growing women's sport right now.

It's flag football. Wow. Yeah. So, uh, in fact, we're going, we have a tournament out of town. Um, well, this, I don't know when this is going to air, but this, this weekend. And that's where they're at right now. They're at practice. But, um, but yeah, that's, yeah, she, she wants to, she wants to get in the business.

So we'll see, we'll see how that goes. So is Gunther your guy right now? Yeah, I love Gunther. The young guys. You know, the new guys that have come up. And, I mean, I think he's, I think what it is is he's old school. He, and I just heard a promo that he cut the other night where, you know, he's talking about how he, it was the, it was the promo with him and, um, who came out first. Is this when he won the King of the Ring?

Yeah, he, this is the coronation. So I think who came out first? True? No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. The champ. Who's the champ right now? Cody?

No, the other champ. Oh, Damien Priest? Yeah. So it was him and Jamie. I keep up with the product, damn it. There's been some chair shots. There's been a few chair shots. See?

So y'all cut me some slack when you start fact-checking me. Yeah, so it was Gunther, Damien Priest comes out, and then Drew came out, which I thought was a really good segment. But, you know, you could hear, even in his promo, you can hear his passion for the business. You know, I love this business. And very rarely do you hear somebody say, I'll protect this business in a work promo. I like it. He didn't do anything flashy. He sells.

He beats the crap out of you. takes advantages of, of his situation. Kaiser, too. I like Kaiser. Yeah. I mean, he's a, he's a good, he's going to be a great villainous type heel. He's easy to look at and dislike. Yeah. I mean, that's a quality. I totally know what you mean. I mean, it's a quality. You look at him, you like, I don't like him. He looks like a movie villain. Yeah, exactly, right? If you had like a, like a handlebar mustache. Maybe you're giving him an idea here. It could be. But he just has that, that heelish smug air to him. It's like, man, I want to punch him in a face.

That's the best quality you can have. It's a heel. I think, I think, you know, the rub that he's going to get off of Gunther, that, I mean, hopefully he'll get a heel run of his own someday. But I just like, yeah, he, Gunther tells stories. Everything that he does, there's a reason behind it. He's just kind of a throwback to me to the business that where I came up from, I guess. Do you think he's a future champion?

I think, yeah, maybe this year. Maybe. He's definitely going to be multi-champion. I like what they did with King of the Ring this year, where you get a title shot. So if you're King or Queen of the Ring, title shot, and not just like, it's at SummerSlam. Yeah. It's a big deal. That is a huge deal.

And that was what was so, it's such a compelling thing right now because Damien has to wrestle Drew at the clash. Yeah. In Scotland. In Scotland. I think we kind of know. Well, we thought we knew last year, right? That's true. But somewhere another, I mean, I don't know.

That's everybody thinks like I know everything that's going to happen. I don't know nothing. You got good instincts, though. Yeah, nobody's calling me like, hey, this is, what do you think about this? So I have the total fans perspective on everything at this point. But it just seems like there's a roadmap here to maybe Gunther. getting the belt here. You helped Cody out.

He helped him win the championship. What do you think of the work Cody's doing? Cody? I think he is doing a phenomenal job. And again, I think he's going to have a tremendous run as a baby face, but I think his bigger run will be as a heel. I think he just, there's just something about Cody with me that, I see, I envision a heel.

It's down the road because right now he's, I mean, I think he's killing it as a baby face and his promos are at home point. And he's fighting, he's fighting all the people he's supposed to be. He's the, almost the anti-Roman, you know, for the most part. So, but things are going to be really interesting when Roman comes back too. I mean, every week there's chance if we want Roman. Yeah. And he was supposed to be the biggest heel. Right?

People, you don't know what you got till it's gone. Yeah. I feel like, and you'll obviously know more about this than me, it puts Cody in a weird spot because he's kind of in that scenic spot right now where he's doing, he's doing the most, right? Like he's doing everything for the kids and he's, you know, all these live events. He's creating these moments and he's signing all the autographs. If he turns heel, who's that guy? Because it can't be Cody.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting. But a lot of times what those things do to you, it turns people against you too. Mm. Yeah. You be, if you try to be too goody-goody, yeah. It's a kiss of death, man.

People keep comparing him to Homelander, you know? Oh, yeah. It's the idea of like, he's going to turn at some point. At some point. Yeah. It's good. That's just, you know, that's what makes wrestling so, so fun is to have all these different kind of possible scenarios and, you know, of course, our fan base love

arguing about, you know, oh, no, this is, you know, you should do this and do this. Everybody's a booker. Right? Everybody's a booker. And so, I mean, the business is so good right now. It's strong. And I see, it was so good as I see, I see Triple H's fingerprints all over it. It's a different atmosphere.

Like when I do go to an event, it is such a different atmosphere. What's the biggest difference? It's just like there's like this calm. There's not a, there's not, it doesn't seem like it's as pressure filled as it used to be. And I don't know, know the reason for that. I know Paul is really good. Obviously being such a, you know, such a, you know, such a, asset as a talent.

I mean, he knows, there's not anything that anybody's going to experience that he hasn't already experienced and having that ability to communicate is crucial. There's nothing that anybody's going to, he's not going to have the answer for because he's been through it all. He's been through the injuries. He's been through the highs of winning championships. He's been through the lows, everything.

So, and he's just, he's, for the most part, he's a chill person anyway. So I think this new this new group of talent are really, he resonates with them and he's just, he's a brilliant wrestling mind. He always has been. And now he's just doing it on a bigger scale.

When you think about your WrestleMania matches with him, and I think people forget there's three, not just two. Right. Two back to back. Which one's your favorite with Triple H? Wow.

Man, they were... I love all three of this. The first one, and mostly because of the storytelling. I mean, I'll just go chronologically with the 17 in Houston, right? Is that right? Fact check me on that? Yeah.

I don't know. You were there. I know, but I don't remember dates. And it's 17 the greatest WrestleMania? Pretty damn good. Pretty good. It was pretty damn good. Yeah.

But two weeks, we had a hot shot. Neither one of us had an opponent. we had to hot shot that whole angle because neither one of us had opponents and we just backstage one day he was like hey who you working with I said I don't want to want who you got he goes I ain't got anybody I was like

what so we both went and talked to the old man said hey can we do something? Well god damn oh yeah what are we going to do that's you know they handcuffed me and I ended up going to the ring and I'm

handcuffed and he hits me with the thing and I get color so bad that they couldn't even show it back then. So, yeah, we had a good match and we fought all over the Astrodome and that one, that was, that one was physical. But the first or the second one after the two was Sean, man, man, we beat each other like we each owed each other money. Yeah. It was that. So a lot of people really don't know. this. So we had come up with the idea. Vince

did not like this idea at all that I was going over, but he's going to walk out. And never before, right, with the Undertaker. I win he walks out.

We want to trying to explain, you know, what a gator was. We're going to bring the gator down and we're going to load Undertaker on the gator because he is unable to walk out on his own. God, no, absolutely not. My Undertaker walks out. And he goes, no, no, that's what's going to make it so good. He's going to get his hand raised. That's where, you know, that's it. That's it. Die. No way. Absolutely not. There's no way, my undertaker.

Undertaker walks out and we go back and forth and finally he gives in. And believe me, my batting average with getting things changed, I would be, in baseball terms, I would be, like, if you start out in single A, I would probably, I would be in like quarter, quarter A ball. I don't even know what that is. That's semi-pro. I think that's beer league. Yeah, yeah, that's slow pitch softball beer league, right? That's how many times I got anything changed through my 30-year career with, and people think

that I have all this juice. had all this power and all, no, not, not, not, but this time, and I think it was because we just ganged up on him and we knew it was the right thing to do. So we just were persistent. We kept just, until we agitated the shit out of him. And he, he let me go up. So I go over with Hell's Gate after he beat them, freaking crap out of me. Well, we beat each other with the chairs. And, uh, and then they gatored me out. So the whole, Thing is, yeah, he, yeah, yeah, you won the battle, but I won the war kind of thing. And that was, that was, you know, that led to me freaking out that I couldn't walk out.

And that's why we ended up at hell in the cell, which to me, that's probably, and I don't usually put my own stuff over, but that may be one of the greatest false finishes of all time was the super kick into, the pedigree into kickout was just, I mean, we had them, I mean, everyone there bit so hard on that, which is really proud. And to have that moment, it's right there on the board, that moment is as real and as organic as you can have in this business. And to share it with those two guys who I have the, you know, the utmost respect for. And, you know, obviously, Sean and I's relationship has come along. way from the early days.

And, you know, at that point right there, like, I don't know. You can kind of look on my face. Like, I don't know that I come back after that. I did. I kept coming back for a while. But it was such a cool moment, the end of the era and the four-year story that we got to tell. But I would say that one probably just.

just due to everything that was wrapped around it. Sean being the special referee. I mean, the violence and the matches were all, they all up themselves year after year. You know, that one. So now we have all these things that we can't do. You know, we can't share shot to the head anymore. Thank goodness.

We ended up getting fined the year before for a chair shot to the head. You just did it just because? The ruling had come down. No more chair shots. And we were like, it was like, come on, man. I said, I'm the most tenured guy here, and you're a son-in-law. Surely he won't find us.

He finds our ass. He finds us. He doesn't have to tell me the number, but when you look at the check, is it like, yeah, I was like, oh, maybe. Was it worth it? I don't know that I should have chartered that plane. No, no, no. Oh, I might have lost money. But that and so, and then at that point, too, there's, there's no more blood, right?

So a hard way to. That's how much, I mean, when you talk about passion for the business, and, yeah, that was, that was what it was. And it was so easy working with him and Sean both because, and I try to explain this to people. like most people were so intimidated, especially at the end, like when they worked with me. Because one, a lot of them grew up watching me.

And now they're in the ring working with me. Yeah. And the lights go out and the fog and the lightning and everything rolls in. I can't tell you how many people have come to me. Like, dude, I had goosebumps. I had goosebumps until the lights came back on. That was the coolest thing I'd ever experienced. So, but people were legitimately,

like, I mean, you know, their butts are puckered because they're nervous, right? So a lot of times when that happens, I got to think for me and I have to think for them for a little while, just until they calm down with those two guys. All I had to worry about is be an undertaker. So it frees me up creatively to do the little things between the, that's, that was, I think that's the thing that I did the best when I was healthy and could still move around. It wasn't the moves that I did. It was the transitions and the little things between the moves that made the story more compelling. Like somebody, it's a simple thing.

It'll sound like nothing to somebody that really doesn't understand what we do. But like having a double knockdown, maybe even a cover and someone kick out at two or two and a half. But you're still kind of, you know, you're still kind of. of on them something, touching them in a way. But you have to be able to, like, show the fact that you're pissed, that you didn't get a, you know, and then just the way that you would shove somebody's head off or something like that. It just kind of, it gives it an air of realism. And that's the way that I approached, like, all my matches was like, yes, everybody understands what we do is entertainment now.

But my whole goal when I was in the ring working was to try and suspend someone's sense. Like, I always want somebody in the crowd to think, okay, this is entertainment, but he just cracked him. That was real right there. How did you crack Triple H the hard way? How did you get it? What was it? Yeah. Did it work first?

Because I've got the, so I have the MMA gloves on. So it took a few to put. puffer it up first for it, before it opened up a little bit. Yeah. And, yeah, I was like, he was like, he was hard way, man. I was like, you sure? I was like, yeah. Cracking.

I was like, damn, I said, it's just puffy. Hit it again. Back. Zoom again. But that, I mean, you just, you have to, you have to love that. Just, that's just the passion that you have for the business. and it's just dedication and wanting to go out, steal the show, and just be the guy, man. How did you come up with the sitting up?

That kind of was, that was kind of like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, kind of thing. That's where I got that from, because I studied a lot of all that kind of, what do they call it? Slasher horror stuff and Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees from Friday of the 13th. Even a little bit of nightmare on Elm Street. I studied all of those guys and how they moved and trying to put a mindset to what it was they were doing. And the setup was, that's what I came up with. I was just like, okay, these guys keep getting knocked down and they monster up here. And so it's perfect for the character.

Oh, it was, it was money. I had, I, I rolled the dice on a lot of things early on that really hit, hit well. And people just didn't, you know, they didn't expect. It was so different from what everyone else was doing at the time. And did you roll the dice on something that didn't work? Yeah, there was a pair of snake skin pants I wore at a match with Kurt Engel that really were, I really were, I really regret. It's one of the biggest regrets. They were very stylish, though.

No, they were horrible. The rumor for a long, long time was, is that I forgot my tights or I forgot my pants and I had to bury those from the Godfather. And they were mine. And Terry Anderson, bless her heart, she did all my gear, pretty much my whole career. I told her what I wanted to do. And like, throughout the extent of my career, my gear was very, I mean, it was minimalistic.

I mean, there was not a lot of thrill or frill to my character. When I told her, I wanted a pair of Python pants, she went, no, you don't. I was like, yes, I do. This was the Duran America badass part, right? Oh, yeah. What was the thinking behind it? I just thought it would be cool looking. They were snake skin pants.

I'm a biker. Yeah, it didn't translate well. It was, I really regret those pants. Those were awful, man. I see I remember once in a while they'll pop up on a feed or something I'm just like oh god do you still have the worst part no no no no no they're long gone

did I think I did I think I did I think I think I burnt those and the horrible thing was it was a really good match that's what it really sucks is I had a really good match with Kurt that's when we we used his twin and they screwed me out of the title there but I can't

I can't watch it enjoy the match for it quality. All I see are those damn. And I'm, I'm touching 3.30 at that time, too. I'm a big dude. And big dudes don't wear snake skin pants. But Kurt's run as him making fun of the American badass and coming out on the scooter was so good. He, he, he doesn't get enough. I mean, he gets his, he gets his flowers, but he doesn't get enough credit for how good he really was. He was willing, and it's strange because of his background. A lot of times shooters or, you know, the amateurs, they can't get that mentality out of their head and become professional wrestlers at a high level. They just can't do it.

And man, for an Olympic gold medalist to do what he did and be able to put his ego on the shelf and make himself look like a freaking idiot, But time and week after week after week, it was so entertaining. But when you crawl through those ropes, dude, you better be ready to go because he could flat go. I see, I mean, he, I had some really, really, really good matches with Kurt. And he was a machine, man. I just, a machine. He was another guy that I really had a lot of fun working with.

and enjoyed working with. But he was so good. He was such a, I mean, he had it all. He could cut, he could cut promos. I mean, his vignettes and his backstage stuff was, I mean, next level. And then his work was just so solid. He committed to all of the comedy stuff, like went all the way in a whole. Yeah.

And that's the only way. That's the only way you can do it. And I think he was smart enough to realize that he had, you can do that. if you have that skill level in the ring, you've got to be able to go, because you have to be able to let people kind of, yeah, I'm entertaining you here,

but when we get here, it's a different ball game. Yeah. And it's a really, it's a fine line of being able to, uh, to do both. And if you can't do both,

man, you're going to get relegated into something that it's going to, it's going to, you're going to plateau. And the sky was a limit for Kurt. Who do you think doesn't get enough credit? Like, who's the most underrated person that you worked with? Most underrated person, like throughout my career?

Yeah. Oh, wow. Man, that's a tough question. Most underrated. Yeah, I'm having to go through a 30-year Rolodex here, buddy. So that's the 90s. 2000s. What are you got in the 2000s?

Uh, man. No, people know he's good. Uh, I'm gonna, because he had his run, his big run late, I don't think people really realize how good JBL was. Um, you know, he,

he was, came in as a cowboy and then, you know, he was an accolite and then the APA, but it wasn't until he became JBL. I think he really got to showcase, his true ability, not only as being able to cut promos, but also his work as a heel, and as a big heel.

He's a big dude, but he was a chicken shit heel. And that sometimes it's tough to do, just like being an amateur wrestler. It's kind of, it's hard to conquer that, that the ego part. But he was a lot of fun to work with. I worked with him, I don't know how many hundreds of times in dark matches after TV tapings. And it was always just a constant trying to get me to crack kind of deal. He was, he was really, he was good. Did he get you to crack?

Did he get you to crack? Close. He got me close once, but no, he didn't do it. When you look at a picture of Bradshaw and you look a picture of JBL, they don't even look like the same person. No, no. He is, once that hat goes on,

he just becomes a smug, rich millionaire cowboy that he can, thinks he can fight and can't. We'll shortcut every, every angle he could. That was perfect for him. Yeah. I was,

I was standing, I was standing next to the old man. He was about to work with Eddie. This is when they, when they switch the title. And when the promo started, there was no plan to switch the belt. And then JBL cuts the promo that he cut before that title match. And Vince turned and looked at me and he goes, I got to switch the belt, don't I?

And I was like, I think you do. It was that, that promo was that good. Wow. And then he had, I don't know, what, eight, nine month run as the champ, which was, that was a great run, especially for that. that time period to have the belt that long. Yeah. But yeah, that's how that happened. Wow.

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It's guaranteed. Prize picks. run your game. When we talk about you sitting up, I think one of the greatest Undertaker moments, I'm sure unplanned, is you and Brock laughing at each other.

That was Brock. And that is not, you know, he kind of, so we talked a little bit about that match. And he ran, he ran it by me, but I don't think I was paying enough attention to what he really wanted.

wanted to do. So when he did it, I was almost taken back a little bit like, freaking hell you laughing at. And then it kind of dawned on me what he was doing. And then I laughed back at him. And it's, yeah, it's become kind of an iconic deal. But, yeah, I don't know that I would have, if I'd have been paying close enough attention, I'll probably, might say, I don't know if I want to do that.

But the way it worked, it worked out, it worked out fine. It's such a good moment. It was, yeah. Unfortunately, too, it was at the tail end of my career, not in the middle or the front end of it, because that surely wouldn't have happened then. But I think for the time period, it worked out, it worked out okay. What's the way you're laughing at him that makes it so funny? Yeah, I'm laughing at because I'm mocking him laughing at me.

Yeah, that's the whole deal is, yeah, you laughing now. Ha, ha, ha, bad things are about to happen here. I don't remember the match, but I think it was 2002. Appreciate that. Chris? Okay, I think we're about done here. What pay-per-view was it where you got busted open bad with Brock? Oh, was it to sell?

Yes, you're bleeding all over the place. Yeah. Was that the worst you had bled? Oh, no, no, no. The worst that with WWE, the worst that I bled was with Triple H going into that first WrestleMania. Yeah, I did a pretty good number. on myself on that one.

But I, but I, yeah, I was, I was bleeding pretty good. I think I'd taken a bunch of aspirin and stuff like that, you know, thins your blood. Yeah, yeah. There was a lot. Yeah, there was a lot of blood for that. That's the one I had, like I had the broke hand, right? I think I had the broken hand.

And, yeah, he smashed the cast off my hand, busted me, when both were bleeding. He's not a good bleeder. but why does he bleed well? Why doesn't he bleed well? Not everybody's a bleeder. Yeah. I guess I'm a good bleeder.

I remember when I was way back in the day, I was working for Lawler in his territory and I bled and it was cool as crap. Every time my heart would beat, I had a shooter. It was like, and it was going to the first row. People died. out of their seats.

That was good, man. It was good stuff. But probably not the most healthy or environment to be in. But yeah, it was what it was. It was cool visual. Like every time my heart would beat, it was a geyser of blood shooting out. What was the scariest moment you had in the ring?

I might have, thinking that I was injured, probably I was probably sorry. I mean, that was, I mean, that was, I had several, I already was nursing several injuries and body parts that already needed to be replaced that needed to be replaced years before. My spine was already starting to fuse. So I didn't, I didn't have like a full mobility. I don't know if that protected me or hindered me. I don't know which way that went.

But I know I went for a little bit, and then it was like a bolt of lightning went through me. I mean, it went up my leg and right through my spine. And I didn't know, like, for a second there, I was like, man, I hope I can move because I didn't know that I was going to be able to. Wow. But thank goodness, I got up and got to be pissed off and walked out. I lived. But, yeah. Didn't you go to the hospital after WrestleMania 30?

WrestleMania 30. That's with Brock, right? Yeah. Yeah. So that streak was broken. Yeah. That was, so I got concussed somewhere in the first five, maybe 10 minutes of that match. I've watched it back.

I can't pick it out. Do you remember that match? My last memory of that day happened around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Wow. this, to this day, my last memory is at two o'clock. Michelle had come backstage to check on to see me, you know, and then I told her, because I didn't know until like 30 minutes before that, that we were going to break the streak. I got to the building that day thinking I was going over. So I got, I just got the news that that we're going to break the streak tonight. And I'm

I remember telling her and the next thing that I remember, I'm in the hospital. Wow. At it's like 4.30 in the morning. And, you know, when you get concussed like that, they come in every five minutes. They want to know your name, your birthday, where you're at, and everything like that. It was crazy because evidently I knew I knew who she was. was, but I had no clue who I was. Sir, can you tell me your name?

What year were you born? Where are you? Hospital? Yeah. This happened several times, right? So, evidently, I knew who Michelle was, so they left. And I was like, she goes, yeah. What's my name?

She says, babe, I can't, I can't cheat for you on this. What's my name? Just tell me my name. And finally, like, 430, like, I figured out my name and, you know, where I was. And it took me a while to figure out that I'd already wrestled. I didn't even, like, I got to get to the stadium. Oh, it's already, all that. It already happened.

Are you in pain at this point? No, I mean, any pain whatsoever. Yeah. They did, you know, when they gave me a cat scan as soon as I got there. And the first report, and a lot of people don't know this either, that Vince left WrestleMania, him and Brock both got in a car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. And so the first thing they do. is give me a cat scan.

And they come out and Michelle and Vince are there and they say he's broken his neck. And then, you know, they're like, oh my gosh. And then another doctor comes in who reads the scans. And he goes, no, no, no. He goes, that's an old break. It's an old injury. So I had broken my neck at some point and didn't know that I had broke my neck. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. So. So, no, his neck's fine. And, you know, he's just, he's got a really bad concussion. So I remember, eventually remember my name and my birthday and where I was at and everything. But I have absolutely zero recollection of that match until I watched it back. Wow. I mean, I can tell, like, and a reason why I know is like five or ten minutes because I can tell by how I'm moving.

Like I went through the whole, the whole match, did whatever, you know, did everything that we, we were supposed to do, but I could tell about how sluggish I was and the way I was moving. My timing was off, just a little bit off on everything. So I tracked it up to. And I think what it was is at that point, I was in that period of time where I was only working WrestleMania. I would do WrestleMania. I would go have something fixed.

I would rehab that I'd start training again for the WrestleMania next year. And I think what ended up happening was, it's just, again, Father Time, like, I wasn't used to the trauma that you get during a wrestling match and especially a wrestling match with Brock Lesnar. There's not a lot of people that pick me up and throw me around like he was able to. It wasn't anything that he did. It wasn't anything he did that was unsafe. It was just the fact that I was taking a bunch of belly to backs and something just, I wrung my bag. hell on and don't remember a thing. So you don't remember how quiet it got after you lost.

No. I was there and it was like, there was a lot of confusion. Right. There's a lot of people like, wait, no, was that a mistake? That wasn't supposed to happen? Because Brock's music doesn't hit for a while. Right. So it's like, wait, did they mess this up?

And then we finally see that and one on the screen. It's like, oh. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's over. That's it. That's it. That's all she wrote, folks. How scary was it when you caught on fire on your way to the ring? Yeah, that, yeah, that was pretty hairy. Potentially could have been far worse than what it actually was.

A lot of things happened just by chance that night. Backstory, two weeks prior. I have Kevin Dunn. and the lead pyro guy out on the stage. I'm saying, look, I said, these pyro balls, when I stop at the edge of the stage right before I hit the ramp, I said, these two pyro bursts right here are too close. I said, I'm getting a lot of heat. And I said, look, I said, I want this, you know, I want my entrance to be as scary and as cool as possible.

I said, these right here, they need to back out a little bit. And the guy goes, no, I think it was, there's just a draft in the building. I was like, I don't care if there's a draft in the building. I'm telling you these pyro bursts are too hot. They're too close. And Kevin Dunst, you need to back them up. Okay. So now we jump forward two weeks.

It's, it's, not hell in the cell, it's the elimination chamber. It's in St. Louis. And I'm the champion. We're going to switch the belt because we're leading into me and Sean. So originally, I had one of my Hellraiser jackets on. I think of the one that you're setting on. So, yeah, there it is. So I had that coat on.

Well, when I wear that coat, when you wear the belt, you can't see it because it all fastens together. And I said, okay, this is my last night as champion. I want people to see the belt. I don't want to carry the belt. I don't want to drag the belt. I want to wear the belt. Yeah, this could be the last time that I have it. So the last minute, I switch from the hellraiser coat to the duster and hat.

So that when I walk down, you'll be able to see the title. First thing that I did right was that. So now, um, I was the last one into the pod and I was going to be the last one to come out. So I'm thinking about, okay, my hair's going to dry out. And when my hair dries out, and I can't see a thing. So I take a couple extra bottles more than I usually would do. And I'm just, I douse myself with water so that my hair stays wet.

So when my music hit, I'm drenched in water. I mean, it's just pouring off of me. That was crucial. I come out, I make my entrance, I stop my normal spot, you know, my head's down, waiting to do the, you know, the lift. The pyro ball on the left comes up and it comes right up my left side. I mean, it's like he moved it in. And it's so hot. Like, I will no-sell something as long as I possibly can't.

Like, I can't take it. So I turned to my right to get out of the fireball. and then this one goes off. Now I'm right in it. So I'm totally engulfed in this propane pyro ball. And the only place that I knew safe to go was go straight. You're also dealing with walking off at the stage and, you know, I'll be on fire and take a huge fall. So, you know, I run out of the fireball.

And, you know, they're obviously, everyone's freaking out like, well, you know, and they're, you know, They're trying to cover for me on, at an ounce, you know, he's so fired up. Not fired up, but he didn't use that word, but he wants to get this match. He was running to the ring. So I come out of the, I come out of this pyro ball and I can see, one, I can see my hat's on fire. Oh my gosh. And my right sleeve is on fire. Now, if I hadn't a switch coats, this arm, this arm would have been totally just trashed.

and then without all the water that I had on me. I mean, my eyebrows were all singed up. My face was a burnt. And then, you know, I had a big burn right around my singlet. So I'm in the pod. Now, I know that I'm okay, but now I have the burnt flesh and burnt hair smell. And I'm looking down and I'm watching the skin on my chest bubble up. up. Like, it's just blistering up. And I'm getting madder and matter and matter. They've got a couple

of ring crew guys underneath. And back then, the floor of the pods were greats. So they're handing me bottles of water up from the bottom and I'm taking the water and I'm pouring them on myself. I still got to go, you know, they're asking me, you know, do you want to stop? You know, you want to get out? And I was like, no, man, we got a, we got business to do. I said, I I've got to drop this belt to Jericho. So everybody, they work, they work, they work. Finally, I'm the last one in. And then I end up going another 20 minutes with Jericho.

And that jackass puts me in the walls of Jericho. My burnt chest is on the mat. And I'm thinking, you've got to be kidding. So finally, Sean comes up through the ring, gives me the super kick. and then I get out of there. And I'd already told him, I said, look, that dude's backstage. When I get back, I said, I'm on killing. And I totally meant it.

So when I came out, it was all over with, man, I blew through gorilla. Backstage looked like a ghost town. There was nobody anywhere. And, you know, everybody's kind of behind me, chasing me because they want to take care of my wounds and everything. But I was like, man, if there's any chance, this dude's here, he's dead. because I was pissed. But yeah, so I had severe burns on my chest and end up having to go to the burn center the next day and ended up, yeah. Oh, man.

Went into a little bit of a shock. Like later that night, like once I started trying to shower and get, you know, get cleaned up. Like, I came out of the shower and I was just like, I was shaking. Like I was just So yeah That was That was that was pretty scary And it could

I mean that one could have been avoided That was just Yeah But yeah It's just you know Was your scariest The jacket that wouldn't come off Oh gosh

Oh man Oh man You've done your homework Oh my lord That might have been my toughest opponent for sure, man. So I had that coat made for WrestleMania, and that thing weighed damn near 30 pounds, that coat.

And at mania, thank goodness, at mania, like, it was so heavy, like I couldn't take it off, like I'd take my normal coat off. I had to get it off my shoulders and then let the weight of it fall off of me. And at mania, it worked perfectly. Thank goodness. So it's a few months down the road. I think it's like the 700th episode of Raw. And they say,

hey, you want to come do a squash match with Kane for this show? I think it was high in tie or something like that. It's who we were working with or somebody. Anyway, I said, yeah, man, sure.

So I said, well, crap, man, I had this coat made. I only wore it once. I said, I'm going to wear that coat. Yeah.

and I go to drop the coat off my shoulders. Well, instead of falling like it did, it mania, it folded. And it's like I'm handcuffed. It's behind me. And I'm trying to reach behind me, like to grab a sleeve. And I can only barely get my fingers on. I can't get enough traction to pull. And the more I'm messing with it, the tighter it's getting.

It's like Houdini and a straight jacket. It was exactly like that. right and so now they've realized that I'm having a wardrobe malfunction so now they're shooting this is live raw now they're shooting crowd shots they're shooting they're shooting my opponents they're shooting cane they're shooting everything and I cannot this coat is getting tighter and tighter and tighter to the point I finally now I'm looking over for cane like for some help or something he's in the he's in the so hard camera is there. in the front right corner and he's kind of he's kind of three quarters in the corner looking back at me

and i'm and i'm looking at him like with panic in my eyes and all he goes is oh shit i'm like thanks thanks little brother that's all they so finally one of the ring crew guys has to jump up and i back up to the ropes the ring crew guy is like having to struggle get it back up on my shoulders and then grabs it by the sleeves and it comes off. But my gosh, you're talking about embarrassing. So that was bad enough, right? Yeah. So a few, so it's a few months later, I think this is, this is following the second Sean Michaels match. This happened in San Antonio, right up the road here. They call me.

They said, hey, we're having Sean Michael's appreciation night. Would you want to be part of it? I said, of course I want to be part of it. He said, okay, when you get to the building, we've got a bus for you. We want you to stay on the bus. We want it to be a surprise. Cool. It'll be great.

It'll be good. So I get there. They're waiting on me, put me right on the bus. So I'm sitting there on the bus. I'm on the bus maybe two and a half hours. And Michael Hayes comes out on the bus. Hey, Vince wants to go over this. What are you talking about?

I can't go out there. I said, he's going to see me. It's going to ruin the whole surprise. I said, no, I'm not getting off the bus. He goes, no, no, Vince really wants to rehearse this. He wants this to be right. I'm like, Michael, I said, if I go out there, he's going to see me. There ain't going to be a surprise.

It's going to be horrible. Hey, I'm just telling you what he wants. So I said, well, do you go tell him I'm not coming off the bus? So Mike leaves. He comes back. Comes back about 10 minutes later. He wants to go over it. I'm like, mother, God.

That's how I storm off the bus, right? And so I'm pissed off and I'm cussing to myself all the way. And I go up and I go through guerrilla position. and I walk out on the stage and the whole entire roster, everybody that's, every talent that is in the building is all sitting up in the, in the seats, all in a big group.

And Vince is at ringside. And I walk, and I'm power walk because I'm mad, right? And I walk out up on the stage and I see them and I see him. And I just hung my head because I knew I'd been had. soon as I walk out, lights in the arena go out. The Tron lights up for so, I don't know how many years it was. For so, like, 25 years, he's fought every man that's ever come, you know, this is,

this is like, the streak was still intact at this point. He's fought this, he's bought big, he's fought him, he's fought him. No one has ever been able to conquer. the Undertaker until this year. Then they do a big WrestleMania Ballyhoo until this year's opponent. The coat.

So they got half the screen is me. The other half is the coat. And then they start, then they start the film that they had a hand held on me the whole entire time that I was struggling to get the coat off. So they're playing that. Like, it's a vignette of them getting heat on, the coat getting heat on me.

And, oh, my gosh, everybody is just busting out laughing. I'm pissed because now I got, I got caught, right? I can't, I can't, like, I don't know how much, this vignette, I'm curious to how much money it cost to put that together. And Vince just did it just to bust my balls. Just to bust my balls about it. And I'm like, and I knew it was good. It was, I mean, he got me good.

It was, it was a great rib. And I'm thinking, oh, it's funny, huh? So now I start running, I start running down the ramp. Like, I'm going to tackle him, right? So he jumps the barricade and we're like two little kids chasing each other through the arena, right? And all the talent's laughing and ha-ha and everything else. But that was just, yeah, that was something, that coat, man. It was awesome. It was that coat had the spines on it. It had like the big spines. It came out of the back of it and down the sleeves.

It's a badass coat. It was a badass coat. Yeah. That coat was not to be messed with because that coat did not do jobs. Do people still think that you and Kane are brothers to this day? I get ass all the time. All the time. Hey, where's your brother? He's a mayor now. What? Shut up. Really? I was, I don't know your brother. I was like, yeah, Kane, yeah, he's the mayor in Knox County. No way. Yeah. Y'all really brothers, right?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, half-brothers. Always clarified. We're half-brothers. Do you have a great Paul Bearer's story? Oh, my gosh. How long you got? Man, I got to think about that.

I don't want to get heat, but Paul is evil. I swear. He was a good man, loving death. I'm missing. But he was evil. He was a, boy, he was a practical Joker. Hmm. Gosh, damn.

I don't know if I can tell that story. You can tell me later. Yeah, remind me and say that story later. It's awful. It really is awful. I'm ashamed to even say that I was associated with that man. So you may or my mind. may not know this, but I don't care for cucumbers really that much, right?

Yes. I'm not scared. Everybody knows this. Yeah. I'm not scared of them. I just don't like them. What don't you like about cucumbers? They're the devil's, there's devil spawn.

They're just awful. Okay. When I was, when I was, I don't know, I think I was in kindergarten, maybe first grade. I come home from school. And my mom had cut up a bunch of fresh cucumbers and had them soaking in. vinegar, right? And my mom, I don't remember where she was at, but she wasn't in the kitchen with that voice that says, no, that's enough. You've ate enough, right? So I end up eating this bowl. I'm one of five or six years old. I eat this bowl of cucumbers in vinegar, and I get so sick.

I puked my guts out. And from that moment on for years and I couldn't, if I even smelled cucumber, I would get nauseous. So, and even to this day, I can, like, every once in a while, I'll be in a sushi restaurant and they'll screw up. Like, sometimes I can move them aside and pick them out, but I just, who? Anyway, have you seen those Moripovich episodes where people are scared of, like, tinfoil or olives? Yes, yeah. I'm not that bad.

I mean, I can, I can, like, you can put one on the table and I'm going to be all right. but I just don't want to like to smell it. I sure as hell don't want to taste one. Has someone ever made you try to autograph one? Yes, actually. Yeah. Did you autograph? No, I threw it.

They were pissed, too. I don't care. You'd be a smart ass with somebody else. I ain't signing that shit. But so this is going back for cell phones. Anyway, we had pagers. Okay. Yeah.

So anyway, I get a page. And it's actually, it was from the office, right? 203 number. And I go, I said, man, I said, we had ordered food. We're sitting in a restaurant. Brian Adams, Paul Bear, and myself. Brian Adams is just as bad as Paul Bear when it comes to ribs, by the way. And so I go to find me a pay phone so I can call and see what's going on.

So I come back and both of them are just, look like two little. angels sitting there, right? And I'm like, all right, what'd y'all do? You know, because Brian and Paul were the only people that would rid me. Nobody else rid me. I was like, what'd y'all do? And then I'm looking around and Paul's eating salad. I'm thinking salad. He's put a cucumber on something because the food came while I was gone. So I had they got to order the burger. So I'm going through the burger and looking at everything, moving the fries and everything around. and they're like, what are you doing?

I'm like, I know you did something. One of you two did something. And Brian's like, what would I do? What would I do? I'm like, just shut up. Eat your food. What if you did something? I don't know what it is.

So, I mean, I go through all my food. I lift it up. I make sure I'm not setting on anything. I'm thoroughly convinced, okay, all right, maybe I'm just being a little bit paranoid. So I take a bite of burger. great burger dip my fries and ketchup eat it

that's good grab my my iced tea get it go to wash it down Paul had put cucumber in the bottom of my

glass perfectly flat so I couldn't see it until I and when I it was like one of those and I see it and I get a spit

pop from him Paul spits out his food Brian always he was like, what the hell? Call the manager. I'm like, shut up, you know, you MFer. And I'm like, which one of you did it? Brian said, I would never, right?

And Paul was like, what? I don't know what you're talking about. Finally I figured out it was Paul. Brian had soup and he had a salad. So I knew it came out of his salad. I said, okay, all right. You want to play ha ha? We'll play ha.

So normally It goes I don't know Two or three weeks I let it slide Nothing nothing else happens I don't do any I don't retaliate

Normally Um Normally um Normally normally Paul would would drive During the day I drive during the night

Like when we had to go from city to city If we weren't staying over For some reason it got We got twisted up We were in Seattle And And we were driving from like Spokane or somewhere.

It was a pretty healthy drive. And we would normally, like, if we needed gas or whatever, we would fill up before we went to the arena. So all we had to do was get on the road and go. And that was our plan. So anyway, we're about, I don't know, we're about 20, 30 miles outside of Seattle. Paul goes, hey, where you stop? I need no pee. I was like, okay, yeah, as soon as I see one, I'll pull over.

So I'm driving along. I'm messing with the radio because I know there's an exit here. He goes, hey, there's a one right. Oh, man, I'm sorry. I missed that one. And he was like, well, hurry up, I got to pee bad, right? So I'm driving along. And coming up on another side, he says, you know, bathrooms and restaurants.

He goes, pull here, right here. I was like, where, which one? Over here. So I'm looking over here at this point, right? God damn you. You better pull over. I got to pay. right so now we end up and he is absolutely like withering in his he is just can't hold himself

and now we're down downtown Seattle and now I'm looking for a gas station I'm looking for a gas station next one I see I'm pulling over he's not even talking now at this point he can't if he talks he's going to piss himself and so we're we're driving and I can see I can see like three blocks down I could see like Exxon or something like that. And he was like, and I'm moving through the traffic and everything. And he was right up there, damn it. And as soon as he said that, man, I make a hard right turn. And that was all it took, man. So go up like two more blocks and pull into this gas station. He had pissed himself. He had jeans on about this color. They're actually a little bit lighter in this. And it just did a huge

Pistain. And he had to oh, he was so mad. So I fill the car up. And he's got to, he's looking for a jacket or something to wrap around him. And I,

I can't hold, my ribs are starting to hurt laughing so hard at him. And finally he gets in and he is, he's blown up like a puffer fit. He is so mad at me. And I was like, I was like, uh,

Paul. Well, yeah, yeah, oh, he's just, he's just so pissy now, right? I said, I don't like cucumbers.

And he just looks at me like Paul Bearer would look at me, right? And he was like, damn, you the hell. He had to, we pulled up. And this is like, you know, the old school arena is like, we had to pull up and there's fans everywhere. He's got this huge piss stain in his pants. I never felt more proud. I was like, that's a lot. That's retaliation to unfold right there.

I've never felt more proud. I never felt more proud than getting that rib back. That's what happens sometimes. You got to, you know, you mess with fire, you get burned. I've learned that several times in my life. What was the first tattoo you ever got? The first one was this guy on the outside here. It's kind of a little bit of Undertaker-esque kind of demon-y, dead man kind of thing.

That damn Godfather, man. I didn't have a tattoo on me until I met him. And I remember he was, this was before he was, came in as Papa Shango. He was living in, he was living in Vegas. And I said, hey, man, I said, talk to your guy, smiling pause. After the show, I said, I'm going to get a tattoo. And he goes, you sure? And I said, yeah, I'm going to start a sleeve.

And actually, no, I didn't even, it wasn't even going to be a sleeve then. So this is back still in the, in the era where I had the big, the big gloves. And I knew Vince hated tattoos, right? So I had the, my, that guy was supposed to be this big. Eight hours later, it's, it's the full length of my, my forearm, right? So, so, yeah, we went, he picked me up at the, at the back of the, Thomas and Mac. We went straight to the tattoo parlor. And he tattooed me for like eight hours straight.

And then by the time he would finish this place, I got, man, there's a little tiny place. There's pictures of it on the internet now, me sitting there with Paul Bears there. And there's like hell's angels and shit running through in and out. Everybody's wanting to see me get my first tattoos, see if I'm going to sell it or not. But yeah, he tattooed, he was like old school. Like so he would, he would, you know, he would draw a little bit of line and he would rub it down. I mean, it was, my arm was just so inflamed. So by the time he finished, like I had just enough time to go to my hotel room and grab my back.

That hotel, I never used the, it was like baggage storage. Wow. So I picked up my bag and I went back, and went back to the airport. Had a double shot the next day. I was working with, I was working with Warrior. And so we flew from, from Vegas to somewhere in, probably Indianapolis, somewhere like that. And in between that time, my arm has now just, it's puffed up, it's blown up. And I'm being, oh, crap.

So I get to the building, this is the double shot. So this is the first one. This is, so we get to the building around noon. And I said, hey, Jim, I said, hey, man, I got this tattoo last night. And he was like, oh, it's cool, man. And I said, hey, let's, don't grab this arm. It's the right arm. Don't grab, don't grab my arm, okay?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure thing. I mean, we weren't in the match, 25 seconds. Like, everybody grabs the left arm. Why would you grab my right arm? He grabs my right arm. Just grab, I'm like, holy crap. It's just like raw, raw flesh. and I'm just like, oh, God, here we go.

So we get through that match, get in the car, drive to the next town, same thing, second show. Why are you grabbing my right arm? And now it's even more puffed up and red. When we get to TV, and that's what Vince saw it for the first time. Oh, he cussed me. He cussed me like a dog. what the hell are you doing?

You can't do shit like that without asking me for, what about your gimmick? What about your character? It's like, well, it's fine. What is, you know, little anyone know that would end up being part of it through the years. But, oh, man, he was pissed. See my turkey way out there? Oh, yeah, big turkey right there.

Wow. That's why. He's got two buddies that he usually travels with. He's all puffed up. He's trying to. Yeah, look at that. He's trying to impress someone. man might I digress there about my tattoo story but yeah he cussed me out don't get any more tattoos so I had to be really nonchalant about it did the inside and then eventually just worked my way around he and not a lot of canvas left no yeah you know what I honestly I just for a while there I had the bug and I was like man I was like I wanted to so the guy that did this arm and this arm are brothers

I said, these are only two guys that are, I'm going to let work on me. And then after a while, like, I don't go to Vegas forever. So I think, well, there's this guy down the street. So I got some crap over here on this arm that I'm not real happy with. But it is what it is. I think one of the best things about the Undertaker character is how it transcended into pop culture. Like LeBron wearing your shirt. Yeah.

Yeah. That was, I mean, could have been Jordan, but. I mean, could have been. It could have been. Yeah. Jordan's jersey is not hanging on the walls here. Those aren't easy to come by, sign. Yeah, those aren't real easy.

But if I get one, I'll take a picture of it. Who gets taken down to put Jordan? Or maybe... I got a space. Yeah, there's some space here. I got room for Jordan. But it was, I mean, just as a wrestling fan, like, seeing that, like, oh, LeBron's an Undertaker fan?

Well, you know, I forget. I don't, like, on a day-to-day, basis, like, I don't think of myself as the undertaker or this celebrity person. I don't look at myself like that. I don't think like that in the most part. So I forget, like, people, like, just like I'm a fan of George Strait or, you know, different music people or movie star, whatever, I forget that, yeah, you know, there's people that really enjoy wrestling that are pretty.

you know, high up in their fields too. So it's always kind of a, it's always a little bit of a disconnect for me. And then you see that. You're like, somebody give him that shirt? What the hell? You know, you don't think, I just don't think of, of people like in other genres of entertainment as being fans. It's just not my thought process on a day-to-day basis until you see something like that. And then you're like, oh, okay, I guess you probably watched me as a kid, I bet, or something, you know. And then you went in full gimmick, right? And hung out with the calves.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, Chris. That's cool. Yeah, it was cool. Yeah. Yeah, it was so cool. He didn't come out.

Everybody else did. Yeah. Everybody else came out. Everybody else was excited. Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, all that. I was in Cleveland at that time. I would have come out. Oh, yeah.

I was like, and I didn't want to do it. I mean, I wanted to go. Yeah. I didn't want to go in gimmick. Hmm. And I was like, another one was how he insisted

I was like I don't know people don't do things like this anymore we used to back in the day in the 90s we didn't do anything

I went to the I went to the mayor's ball in New York City and full Undertaker regalia everybody else is in Armani

Tux's I'm in Undertaker Garb you want to talk about uncomfortable I mean, you got, as I think, I think this goes back, Giuliani was the district attorney at the time. You got all of the Kennedys up here.

And you got me, you got Sergeant Slaughter, Paul Bear, Bobby the Brain Heenan, Paterson. And we're just sitting there like, and everybody's just looking at us like, what? Are these freak shows doing here? But, yeah, so yeah, everybody, yeah, he was, I think he was getting a massage or something. Oh, but, yeah. Missed out.

Yeah, well, it happens. What's the longest entrance you've ever had? Wow. Wimbley Stadium was pretty long. well there was a there was one oh you know it was long but they they they were smart like the the the mania that i worked with roman uh that was a huge huge ramp but they they were smart and they brought me up halfway they had my my uh ascension from the underneath about halfway because that would have took it would have took 15 minutes for me to do my walk

to get to the ring and do all that. There were times when your WrestleMania entrance was longer than your match. Oh, yeah, for sure. Thank goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I had some stinkers back in the day, man. Yeah, and, you know, it's, you know, a few days prior you get times, right?

You know, okay, you guys got 20 minutes. Yeah, that's kind of my first. you have. I don't know. 20 minutes, that leaves about 10 minutes a match time. So you have to go back

and you have to get it, you know, 25 minutes had to be like, just like the starter. What was like the, what was your usual entrance? What did you usually build in for your entrance?

In an arena? Yeah. Three to four minutes. Okay. And then in a stadium? In a stadium, you probably make it, uh,

maybe seven or eight. Wow. Yeah. And depending, yeah, just depending on the angle or who are, I mean, just how Undertaker I wanted to be that day. Yeah. So, and a lot of it depended on, you know, the mania entrances or, I mean, some of those were pretty, pretty elaborate and needed to take time. Like, one of my favorites is, and I don't remember which one it was, but I, I, ascended from the bottom and they had all of the lights and the bright white lights and then all

the smoke and everything coming out and then they had all the souls that were reaching up out of the look like they were reaching out of hell trying to bring me back down to pull me back in I was back lit so all you saw was my silhouette yeah it was a really yeah that was so cool that was a really cool one but it but it took time to let people you have to process it like what is what's going what's going on here oh those are oh, those are souls that are trying to bring him back down into hell. Yeah. Things like that.

And then there are the times where I would come back where I'd been gone a while. Those take, because you have to take time for everybody, like to be excited and make sure that you don't rush it, especially if there's something in the entrance you want them to really see. Sure. You have to make sure they get over that initial, oh, shit, he's back kind of deal.

So that's some long ones, man. I mean, they're all epic. They're all great. But, you know, Jake taught me a long time ago that the match starts as soon as you, as soon as your music and your entrance starts, that's when your match starts. And I always took that to heart and it makes sense. Yeah. Or you're already sitting the table, you're setting the table for what's about to happen. We saw the moment in the ring with you and Bray Wyatt, but what did the conversations look like backstage with him?

Um, he always just, we talked, uh, we talked about a lot of different things, but just perspective on, on, because he, he was like me in a sense that he was doing things that was different than what everybody else was doing. Just like I was doing things that was different that was, then when, when I came up. Yeah. both of those, they were both completely really different, but the same. So he was just basically asking me a lot of times, you know, how I handled that, how I presented ideas, how I presented ideas to opponents and things like that. He was just like a sponge and wanted to learn and know more. and just how to handle things more.

So I think he had a really good grasp of what his character, what he had, his vision there was. But his questions with me and when he'd want to pick my brain, it often dealt more with the, I'll say political side of it as far as presenting ideas or approaching talent. Like, I'd like to do this. You know, if it, you know, there's certain things that some guys may go, like, you know, we're going to, hey, I'm going to stuff you in a casket for about 10 minutes.

Some guys were like, mm, I said, it'll be fine. Just trust me. You know, so trying to, trying to convey to the people that he had to work with when sometimes, you know, when things were going to be a little bit different than what they were used to. I just can't believe it's not worth us anymore. It's such a tragedy, man. He had so much to offer and not just to the wrestling business, but just as a human being. He was just a really kind soul.

It's difficult, like for me, because I met him and his brother. They were like four, six years old. And to see him grow up, see him, you know, turn into this phenomenon in the business. And then it all get kind of ripped away, one with his health, even before he passed. And then to be happy and content and have a grasp on his life and then ready to make this comeback. It was just, it's a sad story. It happens way too often in our industry, I guess. Yeah, it's one of those things.

But it was a huge, huge loss to our industry, but obviously even a bigger loss losing the human being. Oh, yeah. Look, you're the best, Mark. and we could talk all day and I could hear your stories all day. People can listen to your podcast if they want to hear more stories. Yeah, some of them are true.

Thank you for, thank you for just being who you are. Like, Mark Callaway is such a completely different person than who The Undertaker is. Oh, much different. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it's cool. It's cool kind of letting people finally peek behind the curtain

and show them that I'm kind of a somewhat of a goofball. But, you know, being the undertaker for all those years was very important to me. And I took a lot of pride in presenting that to the audiences through the years, to the decades. But I'm in a good place and I'm enjoying being Mark. Hey, we'll see what comes next. Now, thank you for this. Thank you for opening up your house to us. My pleasure, man.

allowing us to sit down and talk for as long as we have here. We did this last time, and maybe your answers have changed. I end every interview with gratitude because it's such a huge part of my life. You can focus on the things that you have rather than not focusing on things you don't have. It changes your whole perspective. Right. What are three things in your life, Mark, that you're grateful for? I'm grateful for God.

I'm grateful for my wife and I'm grateful for my children. and fortunately I finally have a chance to enjoy all three of them without a distraction I love that yeah thank you for this

hey man you are welcome here anytime and thank you for inviting me on your show that was that was a blast yeah you may save us we we had to thank you I don't know

it's one of the other we sent out a lifeline you picked it up we'll see you are the number one wrestling podcast on the planet it's a fluke dude I don't think that's true. I mean, I do carry an anchor with me.

Matt, that's a pretty big anchor. But even in spite of it. Thank you, sir. Thanks, man. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket banjov, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

You've been warned.