Bruce Prichard: ‘Undertaker Is The Greatest Creation Ever In WWE’
Bruce Prichard At Starrcast For “The Roast Of Bruce Prichard” – August 31, 2018, Schaumburg, IL (Photo: Dominic DeAngelo)
Bruce Prichard recently sat down with Sports Illustrated to discuss where he ranks The Undertaker among WWE’s greatest characters of all time along with his relationship to Vince McMahon.
The Undertaker started his journey at Survivor Series in 1990 with Prichard by his side as ‘Brother Love’. Prichard was a critical part of bringing The Undertaker character to fruition.
Initially, Prichard said McMahon was not interested in signing The Undertaker but eventually agreed to meet him in person. McMahon was mesmerized by the untapped potential and size in Undertaker. Take a look at the highlights from the interview Prichard had with ESPN below.
On the hardships of managing The Undertaker and working in the office simultaneously:
It wasn’t fair to the package of The Undertaker. I needed to choose whether I wanted to be in the office or on the road all the time, and I chose to be in the office because I thought that’s where the longevity was for me. But talk about timing. When Paul Bearer came into the office to interview, we’d always ask people to speak a little bit about themselves and their interests. His revelation was that he was a licensed mortician. Paul fell right into our lap, and it was a perfect match. They fit each other so well, and Paul, actually as Percy Pringle, was Undertaker’s first manager in Dallas.
On Paul Bearer’s importance to developing The Undertaker’s character:
Especially early on, The Undertaker wouldn’t have done as well without Paul Bearer. That’s because of the interviews and the promos. Taker has become a great promo, but he wasn’t at the time. Paul Bearer added to that mystique since he was the one telling The Undertaker’s story. There was so much more mystery surrounding The Undertaker because you only got a few words out of him. “Rest in peace,” that was about it. The audience wanted to hear more, but he wouldn’t let you in all the way. Paul Bearer was that conduit to tell The Undertaker’s story.
One of his favorite Undertaker/Vince McMahon memories:
Taker talks about this in the documentary, and it still sticks out to me, the way he would prepare for a meeting with Vince. Taker would often use me as a sounding board for whatever grievance or issue he may have had at the time, and he’d tell me he was going into Vince’s office and he was going to change this or that. He’d 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.
On Undertaker being the greatest creation the WWE has ever had:
Without a doubt, he’s the greatest creation ever in WWE. Second is Kane. They had a deep, good story behind them, and both of the men that portray those characters are those characters. Mark Callaway became The Undertaker, and Glenn Jacobs became Kane. That’s how seriously they took their craft. You’d watch them and believe them. The Undertaker and Kane, both of those were beautiful matches.
On if he was surprised that The Undertaker agreed to his new WWE Network documentary:
Yes and no. The reason I say that is, every year at WrestleMania, even when I wasn’t with the company, I would send him a good luck text and check on him after the match. Every year, I would get the same response, telling me that match was the last one. I’d send back, every year, ‘We’ll have this talk next year,’ which we did. Mark felt it was the right time for this, and it is. You want to be able to document him while he’s still feeling good and healthy. This is also the right thing to do for the fans out there that grew up with him and want to see this.
On the one thing people should take away from The Undertaker’s new documentary:
Behind that persona, there is a human being. The Undertaker is this larger-than-life character, but you get a different sense in the documentary. More than anything, you get to see Mark Callaway as a man and a family man. So you come away with a better appreciation of the man and the way he built the character.
You can read the entire interview here. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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