During a recent guest spot on the “Something To Wrestle” podcast, JBL voiced his opinion that the enduring popularity and success of The Undertaker’s character is due to its continuous evolution in terms of appearance and depiction.
Here are some key takeaways from the podcast:
Discussing The Undertaker’s persona, JBL said, “The Undertaker character was incredibly powerful. Throughout his career, it kept evolving. Consider how much change he underwent. It’s rare for someone to maintain the same character for three decades and achieve the level of success that Taker has. Taker has been at the top from his first moment in the company up to his last match. It’s one of the most remarkable runs in the history of pro wrestling. One reason he accomplished this was due to the various versions of The Undertaker character, even at one point almost completely shedding the persona before becoming the American Badass.”
He continued, “At this point, he began transitioning to a more sinister Undertaker. This is arguably the most implausible character ever. He knew it when it was first proposed to him: you will play a not really deceased but ‘dead’ persona who doesn’t react to pain and can perform bizarre supernatural feats. Only The Undertaker could have made this character so compelling. Looking at it on paper, it seems absolutely ridiculous. It was originally given to a guy known as Texas Red, an impressive athlete and smart individual who had been a preseason all-American basketball player. It initially seemed like one of the worst character concepts ever. But once The Undertaker got hold of it, it became a legendary, Hall of Fame-worthy character. It reminds me of something Gary Hart used to tell me and others. He’d say, ‘If they want you to be a clown, then be the best clown you can be. Take what you’re given and run with it.’ Taker took a not-so-great character and made it one of the greatest.”
When asked if anyone else could recreate this success, JBL responded, “Absolutely not. The concept itself – the caskets, the ‘sitting up’ move, the supernatural elements, the ‘he’s dead, he’s not dead’ – no one would have consumed this. We’ve seen other WWE characters fail. We’ve seen them fail in the WCW as well. The Undertaker’s character could have easily been one of them. But Mark Callaway brought it to life.”
For those interested, the full episode of “Something To Wrestle: The Undertaker” is available to watch below: [embedded content]