Wrestling Lovers: Celebrate Undertaker on his birthday
Mark William Calaway (Undertaker)
Mark William Calaway (Undertaker)
Mark William Calaway (born March 24,
1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American professional wrestler currently
signed to WWE.
Regarded as one of the greatest professional
wrestlers of all time, Calaway began his wrestling career in 1984, working
under various gimmicks for World Class Championship
Wrestling (WCCW) and other affiliate promotions. After signing
for World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
in 1989, he enjoyed a brief stint as a mid-card performer named "Mean
Mark" Callous, prior to joining the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now
WWE) in 1990.
In WWE, Calaway was rebranded as "The
Undertaker", and gained significant mainstream popularity as a horror-themed, macabreentity who employed scare tactics and held links to the supernatural. The Undertaker became one of the most prominent
figures of the Attitude Era, featuring in various pivotal
storylines and matches as WWF sustained a boom period in business in the latter
1990s. His character transitioned into a biker in the early 2000s, before
returning to a refined version of his previous gimmick in 2004. The Undertaker
is known for The Streak, a series of 21
straight victories at WWE's flagship annual event, WrestleMania.
Calaway has held 17 championships.
Within WWF/E, he is a four-time WWF/E Champion, a three-time \World
Heavy Weight Champion, a six-time WWF World Tag Team Champion,
a one-time WCW Tag Team Champion and
a one-time WWF Hardcore Champion.
Outside of WWE, he is a one-time USWA Unified
World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion.
The Undertaker has headlined multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events for WWE,
including four WrestleManias (WrestleMania 13, WrestleMania XXIV, WrestleMania XXVI, and WrestleMania 33). He is also the second most prolific
pay-per-view performer in WWE history, wrestling in over 170 matches.
Early
Life
Calaway was born in Houston, Texas,
the son of Frank Compton Calaway (died July 22, 2003) and Betty Catherine
Truby. He has four older brothers: David, Michael, Paul, and Timothy. Calaway
attended Waltrip High School, where he was a member of the football and basketball teams.
He graduated in 1983 and began studying at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas on
a basketball scholarship. In 1985, he enrolled in Texas Wesleyan
University in Fort Worth, Texas,
where he majored in sport management and
played basketball for the Rams in the 1985–1986 season as a center. In 1986, Calaway dropped out of university to focus
on a career in sports, and he briefly considered playing professional
basketball in Europe before deciding to focus on professional wrestling.
Professional wrestle Career
Early career (1984–1990)
Calaway made his debut in
1984 for World Class Championship
Wrestling (WCCW) under the ring name Texas Red. His first match
was a loss against Bruiser Brody. In 1988, after four
years in the promotion, he left and joined the Continental Wrestling
Association (which became part of the United States
Wrestling Association after Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW and merged the two
organizations into one), wrestling under several gimmicks.
On February 2, 1989,
managed by Dutch Mantel, he debuted as The Master of
Pain, a character fresh out of the United States Penitentiary,
Atlanta after serving five years (much in solitary confinement) for
killing two men in a fight. After his second match the next week, he
stayed in the ring by challenging USWA Unified
World Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler to an impromptu match. The Master of Pain
easily dominated Lawler until Mantel entered the ring and called him off.
Lawler agreed to a title match, and on April 1, The Master of Pain won his
first professional
wrestling championship. He held it for just over three weeks before
Lawler became the first man to pin him,
winning it back. While performing as The Punisher, Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight
Championship on October 5, 1989, when Eric Embry forfeited the title.
World Championship Wrestling (1989–1990)
In 1989, Calaway
joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
as a villain and
adopted the ring name "Mean Mark" Callous, a name devised for him
by Terry Funk. He was portrayed as a morbid character; he
wore predominantly black ring attire and was described by announcer Jim Ross as having a fondness for pet snakes and the
music of Ozzy Osbourne. Callous was promptly drafted into The Skyscrapers tag team to replace a legitimate injured Sid Vicious, and he made his debut on January 3, 1990 in a
match later televised against Agent Steel and Randy Harris. The new team gained some notoriety at Clash of the Champions X when
they beat down The Road Warriors after
their match.However, Callous' partner Dan Spivey left WCW days before their Chicago Street Fight against
The Road Warriors at Wrestle War. Callous and a replacement masked Sky scraper were defeated in the street fight, and the team
broke up soon afterwards.
During his time in WCW,
Calaway briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)
as "Punisher" Dice Morgan. After leaving WCW, he briefly returned to
the USWA to participate in a tournament to determine the new USWA Unified World
Heavyweight Champion; he defeated Bill Dundee in the first round, but lost to Jerry Lawler
in the quarterfinals. In October 1990, he signed with the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF).
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
Debut and early feuds (1990–1991)
Calaway made his WWF debut
as Kane the Undertaker at a taping of Superstars on
November 19, 1990. The original Deadman character depicted him as a Western mortician dressed in a trench coat, gray-striped tie, and gray-ringed, black stetson hat with gray gloves and boot spats. He was portrayed as impervious to pain, something
accomplished by Calaway not selling his
opponents' attacks. Calaway made his official on-camera debut on November 22
at Survivor Series as a
villainous character when he was the mystery partner of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team.
Approximately one
minute into the match, The Undertaker eliminated Koko B. Ware with his finisher, the Tombstone
Piledriver. He also eliminated Dusty Rhodes before
being counted out; however, his
team won the match with DiBiase being the sole survivor. During the match,
Calaway was referred to as The Undertaker, omitting the name 'Kane', which was
dropped shortly after the event (and seven years later was given to another
wrestler who eventually became Undertaker's younger brother of the same name). At the same time, The
Undertaker switched managers from Brother Love to Paul Bearer – a histrionic, ghostly character,
almost always seen bearing an urn, which he used to revive The Undertaker's
strength whenever Undertaker fell victim to his antagonists. Undertaker placed
his defeated opponents (almost always jobbers) in a bodybag and carried them to the back. Throughout the end of 1990, The Undertaker
mostly picked up squash victories against jobbers on Superstars of Wrestling
and Wrestling Challenge tapings. He was a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble
match which was won by Hulk Hogan. He continued picking up
victories in squash matches leading up to his first feud in the WWF with "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.
WWF Champion (1991–1994)
He made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VII on March 24, 1991, quickly defeating
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. He began his first major feud with The Ultimate Warrior, when
he attacked Warrior and locked him in an airtight casket on the set of Paul Bearer's Funeral Parlor interview
segment. He would later lose to Warrior in the first ever body bag challenge in
WWF history.
At King of the Ring 1991, Undertaker defeated Animal in a
qualifying match before fighting Sid Vicious to a double disqualification in
the Semi-Final, which saw both men eliminated from the King of the Ring
tournament. The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to win his first WWF Championship at Survivor Series with
the help of Ric Flair, and thus became the youngest
WWF Champion in history until having this record broken by Yokozuna in April 1993
at WrestleMania IX. WWF President Jack Tunney ordered a rematch for This Tuesday in Texas six
days later, where he lost the title back to Hogan. However, due to the
controversial ends to the two title matches between The Undertaker and Hogan,
the title was vacated by
Tunney. The title was awarded to Ric Flair as the winner of the 1992 Royal Rumble match.
In February 1992, The
Undertaker's ally Jake "The Snake" Roberts tried
to attack "Macho Man" Randy Savage's
manager/wife Miss Elizabeth with a
steel chair when Undertaker stopped him, becoming a fan favorite for
the first time. The turn was solidified on the February 29 episode of Superstars, when Roberts confronted
The Undertaker on the Funeral
Parlor set over that incident (aired on Saturday Night's Main Event).
After demanding to know whose side The Undertaker was on and getting the reply
"Not yours!", Roberts attacked both Bearer and The Undertaker, only
for Undertaker to stand his ground and run Roberts off. The Undertaker defeated
Roberts at WrestleMania VIII.
He then feuded extensively
with wrestlers managed by Harvey Wippleman throughout 1992 and 1993, such as Kamala and Giant González. Also in
this time, he headlined the first episode of Monday Night Raw on January 11, 1993 with a
victory over Damien Demento. He
faced González at WrestleMania IX, which is notable as Undertaker's only disqualification win
at WrestleMania after the use of chloroform. His rivalry with Yokozuna culminated
in a WWF Championship casket match at
the Royal Rumble in
January 1994. During the match, champion Yokozuna sealed The Undertaker in the
casket with the assistance of several other villainous Wippleman-managed
wrestlers to win the match. The Undertaker appeared from inside the casket on
the video screen, representing his spirit, warning that he would
return. The Undertaker did not appear in the WWF for seven months after
his loss to Yokozuna. In reality, he was given time off to allow a back injury
to heal.
Personal Life overall
Calaway was
married to his first wife between 1989 and 1999, and they had a son, born in
1993. Calaway married his second wife, Sara, in 2000. In 2001, Sara made televised appearances with
the WWE (then known as the WWF) as part of a feud between
Calaway and Diamond Dallas Page, in
which she was acknowledged as Calaway's wife. The couple had two daughters
together before divorcing in 2007. In 2010, he married former wrestler Michelle McCool, and the couple's first child was born in
2012.
In the
1990s, Calaway started his own posse that consisted of fellow wrestlers Yokozuna, Savio Vega, Charles Wright, The Godwinns, and Rikishi. The faction was
called The Bone Street Krew and each member had the initials of the faction
tattooed onto themselves, with Undertaker's being prominently shown on his
stomach.
Calaway
invests in real estate with business partner Scott Everhart. Calaway and
Everhart finished construction on a $2.7m building in Loveland, Colorado, called
"The Calahart" (a portmanteau of their last names). Calaway and
his ex-wife Sara established The Zeus Compton Calaway Save the Animals fund at
the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences to
help pay for lifesaving treatments for large-breed dogs.
Calaway is
a fan of boxing and mixed martial arts. He has
practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu and
earned a black belt in 2011. His striking gloves and Hell's Gate submission (a
modified gogoplata) were also inspired by mixed
martial arts.
Calaway has
made several donations to politically conservative causes
and Republican candidates, and
has worn clothing stating opposition to the US national
anthem protests
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