Only one man could have played The Undertaker instead of Mark Calaway, WWE legend says (Exclusive)
Mark Calaway instantly became a WWE megastar when he debuted as The Undertaker in 1990. In an exclusive interview, Jake Roberts claimed Glenn Jacobs (aka Kane) is the only other person who could potentially have succeeded in portraying The Deadman.
Jacobs performed as Fake Diesel and Isaac Yankem in WWE before being repackaged in 1997 as The Undertaker's brother Kane. The Big Red Machine adopted many of The Phenom's trademark moves, including the Chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver.
Roberts faced The Deadman several times in the early 1990s. Speaking to Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter, he addressed whether anyone else could have taken on the dark persona:
"I don't think anybody could have done it," Roberts said. "Kane would have been a close second. Other than that, forget about it." [4:56 – 5:06]
Watch the video above to hear Roberts explain the origin of his name and snake gimmick.
Jake Roberts has a lot of history with The Undertaker
In 1992, The Undertaker defeated Jake Roberts at WrestleMania 8 to record the second of his 21 consecutive wins at the annual event. The former opponents also got along well behind the scenes.
Asked if he could tell a story about his legendary on-screen rival, Roberts joked that he might have to save those tales for his podcast:
"I gotta leave that alone. Occasionally there might be a blurp out there [during podcast episodes] about it. But yeah, that's rough ground to go over!" [5:59 – 6:14]
In the same interview, Roberts reflected on how the 2022 Hall of Famer performed as a rookie during the early days of his WWE career.
Do you think anyone else could have played The Deadman? Let us know in the comments section below.
Jake Roberts tells wrestling stories every week on his podcast, The Snake Pit. Full episodes can be found here.
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