3 Ideas The Undertaker pitched and 3 he initially rejected
In 2020, more details have been revealed about the man behind The Undertaker character, Mark Calaway, than in the previous 29 years put together.
The Undertaker’s Last Ride docuseries on the WWE Network gave fans a fascinating insight into the difficult decisions that The Deadman has had to make in the latter stages of his career.
The series also focused on The Undertaker’s real-life friendship with Vince McMahon, as well as his own personal opinion on some of his WWE storylines.
Regarding McMahon’s creative ideas for The Undertaker’s character, WWE director Bruce Prichard told an amusing story about what used to happen when ‘Taker went into the WWE Chairman’s office to try to change a certain segment or storyline.
“He [The Undertaker] would walk in all fired up, then walk out shaking his head. You could tell that, as soon as Vince started to speak, he’d cast a spell over 'Taker. Mark would end up walking out of the meeting with Vince, loving whatever idea he hated walking in.”
Over the years, The Undertaker has had plenty of his own ideas approved by McMahon and the rest of WWE’s higher-ups. However, in some cases, he has also had to go through with ideas that he was not particularly fond of.
In this article, let’s take a look at three ideas that The Undertaker pitched, as well as three that he initially rejected.
#6 The Undertaker initially rejected Mick Foley’s Hell in a Cell fall
After The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels’ epic Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood 1997, Mick Foley wanted to create his own Hell in a Cell moment by getting thrown off the top of the structure at King of the Ring 1998.
Speaking on the Something to Wrestle With podcast, Bruce Prichard’s co-host Conrad Thompson recalled that Foley wrote in his book that Terry Funk jokingly suggested that the match should start on top of Hell in a Cell.
Foley took the idea seriously and decided to pitch it to The Undertaker.
“He spends the next week or two trying to pitch The Undertaker on starting up top, and The Undertaker shoots it down every time. Eventually, he says to Cactus [Mick Foley], ‘Why are you so intent on killing yourself up there?’ And Foley wrote that he answered, ‘Because I’m afraid the match is gonna stink.’”
Foley also had concerns about the condition of his opponent – The Undertaker had a broken foot heading into the match – while he admitted that his own character did not have any heat at the time.
Needless to say, The Undertaker decided to go ahead with the risky Hell in a Cell spot in the end.