Dead man walking, is what they refer to as The Undertaker; the phenom of World Wrestling Entertainment, and the only wrestler to hold an undefeated winning streak of 16-0 at Wrestlemania. A fierce competitor in the ring, a well respected wrestler over the years, and one of the most popular names in the business by far. The Undertaker; Mark William Calaway, began his wrestling career back in 1984 with World Class Championship Wrestling. He then went on to join one of the former popular brands of wrestling, World Championship Wrestling; better known as WCW. After realizing that his contract wasn’t renewed by WCW back in the early 1990s, The Undertaker went on to sign with the WWF; now known as WWE. He is one of only two active wrestlers in the business today, to have performed on the very first episode of “Monday Night Raw”; the other wrestler being Shawn Michaels.

Over the years with the WWE, The Undertaker has fought and defeated plenty of wrestlers and superstars that have come his way, but at the same time, many superstars have interfered in his famous matches since his debut; for example his WWF Championship Casket match against Yokozuna, which was at the Royal Rumble in November of 1993. Calaway has always been known to “resurrect” or come back from the dead, after losing an important match or after being attacked, like he did at the Royal Rumble in November 1993. Yokozuna sealed the Undertaker into the casket, with the help of other wrestlers; giving him the win. Moments after that happened, the Undertaker’s “spirit” appeared on the video screen, sending a warning to his enemies that he would return. This is what began Undertaker’s first hiatus. The true situation that Calaway was facing, was a back injury that was getting worse over time, and needed some time off.

The Lord of Darkness, came into the picture in 1996, where The Undertaker made his return wearing a Grey upper face mask. In 1996 he battled Bret hart at the Royal Rumble, where he was then unmasked in the match. Diesel; now known as Kevin Nash, interfered in the match, costing The Undertaker the WWF Championship belt. He then feuded with Diesel, which went on for a while to only see The Undertaker come out victorious. In the following years, Calaway went on to feud with well know wrestlers such as, Mankind, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and his brother on the show, Kane.

Being successful in majority of his battles against rival wrestlers, was one of the things that most of the wrestlers in the locker room didn’t like about him. Calaway was always “screwed”, in his eyes; making him a very dangerous opponent. He wanted to prove a point and with his alliance with Paul Bearer, they let everyone know that they were introducing the Ministry of Darkness to the World Wrestling Federation. The Ministry later formed an alliance with Shane McMahon’s Corporation; creating the Corporate Ministry. This saw Undertaker take orders from the McMahons, and also have some favors returned to him, such as being helped by Shane McMahon; the special guest referee, to win his third WWF Championship at Over The Edge. He then dropped the title back off to Austin, after realizing that Vince McMahon had claimed to be the Undertaker character’s “Higher Power” all along.

At Unforgiven in 1999, Undertaker was scheduled to perform, contending for the WWF Championship. Due to a groin injury, he was not in any condition to wrestle and was sidelined. In the storyline, it appeared to show The Undertaker quitting. In the year 2000, the phenom was back, but this time as the “American Bad Ass”, sporting a bandanna and a jean vest; his gimmick being that of an intimidating biker. The fans loved this new Undertaker and were excited to see what he would bring to the ring. He began using an elevated form of a power bomb, known as “The Last Ride” as his finisher. Kane and Undertaker formed a tag team, challenging Edge and Christian for the WWF Tag Team Championship belts. They were successful in the process, but Kane turned his back on the Undertaker by choke slamming him twice on an episode of Raw. This then led to another match between the two at SummerSlam, which resulted in a no-contest, due to the fact that The Undertaker had removed Kane’s mask. Kane had ran out of the ring and out of the area to avoid being seen. The Undertaker then left the ring for another short period of time; only to come back and haunt Kane with black outs and intimidating music. The Undertaker return in 2004 as the Dead man once again.

Overall, The Undertaker is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, and will continue to be. Where his legacy goes from here on? Who knows. The bottom line is, he is and will always be remembered for his Dark Sided character who never backed down from any fight or opponent. He is a future Hall of Famer indeed and he will be remembered by many as one of the most powerful competitors in the history of the WWE. The Undertaker will always be walking; even when he’s dead.

written by Christian Rios