Mark Calaway

Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965) is a semi-retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name The Undertaker . He is signed to WWE as a member of its SmackDown brand, and is the company's senior competitor having wrestled there for over 21 years. Mark Calaway began his wrestling career with World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in 1984. He joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Mean" Mark Callous in 1989. When WCW did not renew Calaway's contract in 1990, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation as Kane The Undertaker in November and, after tweaking his name to The Undertaker, has remained with the company since.

The Undertaker has two contrasting personas: The Deadman, an undead, occult-like figure, which has consisted of many different versions, beginning with the Western mortician character in November 1990 and ending with the Ministry of Darkness leader in September 1999 before returning to The Deadman in March 2004 as a hybrid of all his previous incarnations. His other persona is The American Bad Ass, a biker which ran from May 2000 to November 2003. Because of his gimmicks, Undertaker has a number of specialty matches associated with him: the Casket match, the Buried Alive match, the Hell in a Cell and the Last Ride match. An important part of the character is his half-brother Kane, who was introduced in October 1997 and with whom he has both feuded and teamed as the Brothers of Destruction.

The Undertaker holds an unrivaled record of being undefeated at WrestleMania, WWE's premier pay-per-view event, with a 19–0 record. Among other accolades, Calaway is an eight-time World Champion having won the WWF/E Championship four times, the World Heavyweight Championship three-times, as well as the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship one-time under the Master of Pain character. The Undertaker is also a seven-time World Tag Team champion: a six-time WWF Tag Team Champion and one-time WCW Tag Team Champion. The Undertaker was the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble and became the first man to enter the annual event last and win. Calaway is the only remaining WWE wrestler to have also appeared on the first episode of its Raw program.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1984–1990)

Calaway made his debut in 1984 in World Class Championship Wrestling under the ring name "Texas Red". He wrestled and lost his first match against Bruiser Brody. In 1988, after four years in the promotion, he left and joined the Continental Wrestling Association (which became the United States Wrestling Association after Jerry Jarrett merged CWA with WCCW), wrestling under several gimmick. On April 1, 1989, he was booked to win his first professional wrestling title, the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jerry "The King" Lawler, under the stage name "The Master of Pain". While performing as "The Punisher", Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on October 5, 1989 when Eric Embry forfeited the title.

In 1989, Calaway joined World Championship Wrestling where he was promptly drafted into the Skyscrapers tag team to replace an injured Sid Vicious. Calaway adopted the ring name Mean Mark Callous, the surname being an apparent pun on both Vicious and Calaway. 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 Warriors at WrestleWar 1990. Callous and a replacement masked Skyscraper went down to defeat in the Street Fight and the team broke up soon afterwards. As he went into singles competition, Callous took on the guidance of Paul E. Dangerously and defeated Johnny Ace at Capital Combat and defeated Brian Pillman at the Clash of the Champions. In July 1990, he wrestled against Lex Luger for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash, but lost when Luger pinned him after a clothesline. WCW declined to renew Calaway's contract.

Calaway then briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling as Punisher Dice Morgan. After leaving, 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

Debut and various feuds (1990–1994)

Calaway made his WWF debut as "Kane The Undertaker" at a taping of WWF Superstars on November 19, 1990. It should be noted, however, that the concept of The Undertaker character was not presented to Calaway until after he signed with Vince McMahon. The appearance of The Undertaker's first Deadman persona was modeled after a mortician from old Western movies, wearing a trench coat and black hat with grey gloves and boot covers. Under this Deadman persona, he was portrayed as impervious to pain, something accomplished by Calaway no-selling his opponents' attacks. Calaway made his official on-camera debut on November 22 at Survivor Series as a heel when he was the mystery partner of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar team, where he was called Kane the Undertaker. 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. The commentary team for the event referred to him as The Undertaker, neglecting the Kane name. Shortly after Survivor Series, "Kane" was dropped from his name, and he was called simply The Undertaker. It was at this time that The Undertaker switched managers from Brother Love to Paul Bearer — a histrionic, ghostly character, almost always seen bearing an urn from which The Undertaker was said to draw mystical power, reviving his strength during his matches. During his heel run, Undertaker would place his defeated opponents (almost always jobbers) in a bodybag and carry them to the back.

He made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VII, quickly defeating "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. The win was the first in his undefeated streak at the event. He began his first major feud with The Ultimate Warrior, when he attacked the Warrior and locked him in an airtight casket on the set of his manager, Paul Bearer's Funeral Parlor interview segment. After a year of battles with the Warrior, Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Sgt. Slaughter, and Hulk Hogan, he defeated 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 1993. WWF President Jack Tunney ordered a rematch for This Tuesday in Texas six days later, where The Undertaker lost the title back to Hogan.

In February 1992, The Undertaker's ally Jake "The Snake" Roberts tried to attack Randy Savage's manager/wife Miss Elizabeth with a steel chair when The Undertaker stopped him, becoming a fan favorite for the first time. Then, Undertaker defeated Roberts at WrestleMania VIII, continuing his winning streak at the event. He then feuded extensively with wrestlers managed by Harvey Wippleman throughout 1992 and 1993, such as Kamala, Giant González and Yokozuna. 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 Gonzáez 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 1994 Royal Rumble. During the match, champion Yokozuna sealed The Undertaker in the casket with the assistance of several other villainous wrestlers to win the match. The Undertaker appeared from inside the casket on the video screen, representing his spirit, warning that he would return.

Return and various storylines (1994–1997)

After WrestleMania X, Ted DiBiase introduced an Undertaker back to the WWF. This Undertaker, however, played by Brian Lee, was an impostor Undertaker (dubbed the "Under faker " by fans) and led to the return of the real Undertaker at SummerSlam, appearing as a new version of his original Deadman persona, replacing grey with purple. The Undertaker defeated the impostor after three Tombstone Piledrivers. At Survivor Series, The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a rematch, another casket match. Throughout most of 1995, The Undertaker feuded with members of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. At WrestleMania XI, while Undertaker was facing King Kong Bundy, Kama stole The Undertaker's urn, and antagonized him by melting it into a large gold necklace and attacking the Undertaker. Later, The Undertaker defeated Kama in a casket match at SummerSlam. Several weeks later, The Undertaker injured his orbital bone near his eye, forcing a period of absence for surgery, until his return at Survivor Series.

The Undertaker returned at the 1995 Survivor Series, wearing a Phantom of the Opera-like, grey upper mask. In the main event of the 1996 Royal Rumble, The Undertaker was unmasked in a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart, when Diesel interfered in the match to cost the Undertaker the championship. A rematch for the title on the February 5 edition of Raw saw similar interference. At that month's In Your House: Rage in the Cage, while Diesel was facing Hart in a steel cage match, The Undertaker burst through the ring and dragged Diesel underneath which allowed Hart to get the victory. This feud culminated in a match between Diesel and the Undertaker at WrestleMania