Ex-WWE star on The Undertaker hazing his tag team partner
Tank Toland, aka James D*ck, recently recalled how The Undertaker was one of many superstars who hazed Chad Wicks in WWE.
Wicks, aka Chad D*ck, was a member of The D*cks tag team alongside Toland. He allegedly cried once after several WWE stars questioned his masculinity and forced him to exercise as part of a hazing incident. According to Toland, JBL and The Undertaker were among those involved.
In an interview on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, the 49-year-old explained why he did not lose respect for The Deadman that day:
"There's the expression, 'Never meet your heroes,'" Toland said. "I have respect for The Undertaker, I always will. He was never directly a d**k to me. He was always actually, 'Hey, Tank, how are you?' He didn't have to say s**t to me, so he would always say hi to me, even though he was there and he was the judge, jury, executioner when you're in Wrestlers' Court, but he's very much from the old school way and he wants to test these new guys to see if they have the balls, the testicular fortitude, as they say." [1:03:52 – 1:04:34]
As Toland referenced, The Undertaker played the role of judge whenever WWE stars were deemed to have misbehaved in real life. The alleged culprit would be summoned to a mock courtroom, known as Wrestlers' Court, where The Phenom listened to their explanation before handing out punishments.
Why The Undertaker and others hazed WWE newcomers
On one occasion, several WWE stars wanted Chad Wicks to prove his toughness by punching Tank Toland. Wicks agreed to do so, resulting in a real-life fight between the tag team partners.
Toland believes the likes of The Undertaker encouraged the hazing tradition due to their own introduction to the wrestling business:
"I don't not have respect for them. I think that they were just products of their environment and the way they were brought up, and they just thought, 'This is what we do, this is the way we carry it on, and now it's our turn to be the ones that step up and do the hazing and do all the pranking and bulls**t.'" [1:04:40 – 1:04:56]
Toland added that he disagreed with his co-workers' treatment of Wicks. He believes the locker room should consist of "brothers, all on the same page."
What do you make of Tank Toland's remarks? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.