1-on-1 with WWE’s Undertaker: WrestleMania memories, plus a moment in Arlington he’ll never forget

It’s hard to imagine WrestleMania without picturing The Undertaker.

After all, in his 30-year career with WWE, The Deadman became a phenomenon all his own compiling a 25-2 record at the event, including his unprecedented run to 21-0, known in wrestling circles as “The Streak.”

“There were guys – every year we have the Royal Rumble, see who’s going to wrestle in WrestleMania’s main event – but there were guys that kind of were more focused on wanting to wrestle me for ‘The Streak’ than main eventing for the title,” Undertaker, known in real life as Mark Calaway, told The Dallas Morning News.

“That’s how strong that became, and how integral a part of WrestleMania ‘The Streak’ became.”

From 1991-2020, Undertaker was on the card at WrestleMania all but three times, a stretch that included a Hell in a Cell match against Shane McMahon at AT&T Stadium in 2016 at the age of 51.

Last April in Tampa, Fla. was the company’s first WrestleMania since his official retirement from in-ring competition.

“It’s just at a point where physically, I can’t perform at a level. I mean, I could go out and walk through something and I could get through a match. But I can’t give people what they expect at this point,” he said. “When you see Undertaker, you pay money to see that guy wrestle. I can’t deliver physically on what people’s expectations are.

“My time has come, my time has gone. This is the WWE and things happen, you never know. But I know that my time has passed and it’s time for these young guys to step up and take over and lead us to where we’re going.”

These days, he has taken up more of an ambassador role for the company, whether it be mingling on the sideline ahead of Cowboys games – which included another passion of his this past Sunday, giving back to U.S. veterans and first responders as part of the NFL’s “Salute to Service” weekend – or helping promote WWE’s party for WrestleMania 38 tickets going on-sale Wednesday night at AT&T Stadium.

On the road to what WWE has dubbed “WrestleMania 38 – the most stupendous two-night WrestleMania in history,” we sat down with Undertaker to talk about the mega-event taking place at Jerry World next April, as well as what life may have been like had he not become a wrestler:

As we sit here in the spot you wrestled a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 32, does the wrestling bug ever still bite you?

Undertaker: “Yeah, of course it does. I think it’s always in my head and in my heart, especially getting ready for WrestleMania here at AT&T Stadium it’s just like … man. But it’s just at a point where physically, I can’t perform at a level. I mean, I could go out and walk through something and I could get through a match. But I can’t give people what they expect at this point. When you see Undertaker, you pay money to see that guy wrestle. I can’t deliver physically on what people’s expectations are. … The passion is obviously still there. I think that will always be there. It’s just the physical side of it. … My time has come, my time has gone. This is the WWE and things happen, you never know. But I know that my time has passed and it’s time for these young guys to step up and take over and lead us to where we’re going.”

Given the scope of your entire career, what does WrestleMania mean to you?

Undertaker: “WrestleMania is synonymous with Undertaker and the streak, right? There were guys – every year we have the Royal Rumble, see who’s going to wrestle in WrestleMania’s main event – but there were guys that kind of were more focused on wanting to wrestle me for the streak than main eventing for the title. That’s how strong that became, and how integral a part of WrestleMania the streak became. You never can imagine that early on. So, incredibly blessed in that sense.

“And just to see how far WrestleMania has grown – I started at WrestleMania VII, which was at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, which was to me at that time was incredible. But now, to know that you’re about to do two nights in AT&T Stadium – you’re going to have WrestleMania April 2, April 3 – to see how much it’s grown and how it’s viewed on a world stage is just incredible. And to know that a lot of that growth happened during my tenure here, it’s pretty cool and it makes me proud to be part of that growth.

“I like going to two nights now, because WrestleMania was a long night. You’re there 6-7 hours, and it’s hard to keep and sustain that energy level as a fan. You get taken on all these emotional rides all through the course of night to the point where you’re just worn out. So, I love the fact that they are going to two nights. I think it will keep the energy levels high, the excitement high, and I’m really excited about it.

“To not be actually in a match, I’m really excited for this year’s Mania. Everybody’s kind of coming back out again after COVID and everything else. I think it’s going to be huge, I really do.”

Looking back on his WrestleMania matches in Texas (vs. Triple H at WM17 in Houston, vs. Shawn Michaels at WM 25 in Houston, vs. Shane McMahon at WM32 at AT&T Stadium)…

Undertaker: “That first one, in Houston -- growing up in Houston I’d seen the Astros play in the Astrodome, I’d seen the Oilers play, been to the Livestock Show and Rodeo, all these huge events that I attended as a kid, and now you’re center stage in that venue. What was really cool about that one is one of my own personal motorcycles that I had built I rode down on that night. And then, obviously, the opponents. I had incredible chemistry with Triple H.

“WrestleMania 25, I mean, that thing is – that’s just one of those nights. Houston, my hometown, born and raised, working against another Texan [Shawn Michaels is from San Antonio], just one of those things where everything lined up. I will take the best match that you can give me of mine, and I can watch it and I’ll dissect it and I’ll pick it apart, and say, man, I wish I would have done this there, screwed that up there. I’m just really hard on watching stuff back. There wasn’t a lot there to pick apart. I’m so proud of that match, so proud that it was against Shawn – who speaking of chemistry, there was a lot of years, and I tell people this a lot, there was a lot of years I didn’t really care for Shawn as a person. By that time, we were friends and close, and then that match kind of took us to a whole other level because we knew we had just done something really special. And in this industry, when you can still do that after as many years as both of us had been in the business – both of us were in the twilight of our careers at that point. And then to bring that out of each other. It was just so, so special. It’s amazing to be able to do that in your home state and your home city. It was meant to be.

“And then WrestleMania here [in Arlington]. Lifelong Cowboys fan, right, and then here we are wrestling in AT&T Stadium. I never take anything for granted, but through all the years that I’ve been here you get used to big crowds, especially around Mania. I’ll never forget walking out on the stage that night, and taking just a slight moment – I move pretty slow anyway – but normally, I’m so focused on being Undertaker and what’s about to happen. But I stopped that night and just for a second, you can’t really tell, but I kind of look around as I’m on the stage and it’s just an ocean of people. This building, this arena full? It is incredible. I’ve wrestled in 80-85,000 which was like, ‘Woah…’ at Wembley Stadium. It looked like that, but this was just a whole other level of humanity, and it was just full and they were out of their minds crazy. So, that was really special. Shane and I, our history goes way back, on a personal and professional level. He’s a maniac. He really is. But then Hell in a Cell, another match I’m very synonymous with. So, you’ve got Hell in a Cell, WrestleMania, AT&T Stadium, Texas – it was just really special.”

Does it ever bum you out that The Streak ended?

Undertaker: “I mean, on a selfish note it would have been nice to retire undefeated, but that’s not business. My career, like I said and I’ll say it over and over again, I’ve been incredibly blessed with what I’ve been able to do in this industry. And there comes a time where you’ve got to pay it forward.

“Although, I don’t know if Brock [Lesnar, who defeated Undertaker at WM30] was the right guy. I like Brock, me and Brock are friends. I don’t know that Brock needed that win. Brock was a bona fide superstar at that point. So, I don’t know that he needed it. Roman [Reigns defeating Undertaker at WM33] definitely, that was the right call. I just wish he may have been first. I wish I could have reversed them, you know what I’m saying? If Roman would have been able to do it, I think it would have increased the value.

“By the time I got to Roman, that WrestleMania, I was not physically healthy at all. So, he didn’t get the best of me. That bothers me. Nothing I can do about it, but Roman, he beat somebody that wasn’t at his best. I wish I could have been healthier and he would have been first because I think that would have skyrocketed him even sooner – I mean, he’s there now. So, it doesn’t matter. He waited a few years, but he’s got it figured out now. I mean, it all happens for a reason. Selfishly? Yes. Business-wise? And I’m always business first, it is what it is. I doubt that anybody will ever get to 21-0. My place in history is what it is. I can’t cry over spilt milk.”

On his alternate career paths should wrestling not have worked out…

Undertaker: “It probably would have been the military. Like I said, I’ve always been one to really know what my strengths, my weaknesses, my capabilities are and aren’t. I doubt if I would have had a very long run in European pro basketball, but I do see myself – if I had to join the armed forces I probably would have been a career guy.

“People look at my career and the things I’ve been blessed to accomplish and they ask me, ‘What did you miss?’ And I think that’s the one thing that I missed is serving our country. And people look at me kind of weird sometimes, like wait a minute, you’ve had this stellar career and everyone knows you and all that. Yeah. That’s fine, that’s great, and I wouldn’t give any of that up. I just wish that I maybe served because I deal so much and am involved in so many different veteran organizations. ...

“I just feel like in my heart – my father served in the Navy in World War II, I have two brothers that served in Vietnam, I’ve got a brother that’s a retired Houston police officer. There’s a lot of service members in my family. Everything worked out, I guess, the way it’s supposed to work out.”

On his wife, former WWE wrestler and multiple time champion, Michelle McCool, who was with him at the Cowboys game but didn’t receive nearly as much notoriety...

Undertaker: “You know what, I can get on a rant there. I think she’s probably one of the most under-recognized WWE superstars for what she did while she was there and the ground work she fought for, right, to where the women are now. The women are pretty much on the same level now as the men, they’ve headlined WrestleMania. She was one, when she was active with the WWE, was never satisfied with the role that the women were given. She fought. She went back and forth. And to her credit, never asked me once, never asked me once will you go talk to Vince [McMahon] or will you do this. She always wanted to do it herself. And I just wish people really understood how much she fought for the women and the opportunities to do the things the women are doing now. … To her credit, she did get -- there was a lot of love. Obviously, there wasn’t the big fanfare, but there was a lot of people [in the stadium] that recognized her and were very kind to her. That’s always well appreciated.”

I’m going to read these three names from Undertaker’s wrestling past [his former wrestling personas before becoming The Undertaker], and I want you to tell me what you remember about these guys. First up, Mean Mark Callous…

Undertaker: “Mean Mark Callous was a hungry, young guy that was just trying to make it to the next step.”

Punisher Dice Morgan…

Undertaker: “Punisher Dice Morgan, another guy hungry, but Punisher Dice Morgan was headed to Japan for the first time. So, again, very eager, young and ready to just test the waters of the world.”

Texas Red…

Undertaker: “Texas Red [laughs]. Texas Red was excited to finally get a break in the business. Had been plugging along for a while, just struggling, living out of his car at points in his life. To finally get booked, it was exciting and I didn’t mind the mask one bit.”

When is the last time you’ve ever gone somewhere and nobody recognized you? Or how often does that happen?

Undertaker: “It doesn’t happen very often. And then it breaks down to sometimes people recognize me and they’re afraid to approach me because they think what they see on TV might be what they get in person. I would say 95% of the time if I go somewhere, someone asks, ‘Aren’t you that guy? Grave digger?’ Yeah. Close enough.”

Sure. And not only are you famous, you’re kind of hard to miss at that height…

Undertaker: “Yeah. So, people a lot of time, even if they aren’t wrestling fans, they’ll look at you and, ‘Oh, he’s got to be something…’”

“I was almost a pro basketball player…”

Undertaker: “I was almost a European pro basketball player at one time. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. So, it doesn’t take long, even when people don’t necessarily recognize me right away, for somebody through the chain of people they’re around to be like, ‘Oh, you know who that is? It’s that wrestling guy. What’s his name? Bone keeper? Bone digger? Undertaker!’ So, it works like that sometimes. It’s funny. People think you’re in a bubble and you can’t hear. ‘Right here. It’s Undertaker. Alright, yeah, I got you.’”

More WWE 1-on-1′s

Damian Priest | The Miz | Drew McIntyre | Bobby Lashley | Kofi Kingston | Liv Morgan | The Undertaker

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