A classic high-elevation leg drop by the Undertaker to Heidenreich Wrestling history
Pre-professional wrestling
Mark Calaway experienced his first-ever wrestling training session in 1984. However, Calaway went on to begin his wrestling career properly by training and wrestling at the Dallas Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas, wrestling in Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). He would later go on to wrestle in the USWA, winning the USWA Heavyweight and USWA Texas Titles before signing with WCW in late 1989. During the mid to late 1980s, Calaway used a number of wrestling names, namely, The Commando, The Punisher, Texas Red, the Master of Pain and the Punisher Dice Morgan.
Early career in WCW
Mark Calaway's professional wrestling career and shot at fame began properly with a short stint from late 1989 until late 1990 in WCW. Whilst there, he would be known as "Mean" Mark Callous. He wrestled as part of the Sky Scrapers tag team along with "Dangerous" Danny Spivey and then as a singles wrestler. His most famous match in WCW was against Lex Luger for the US Title at the 1990 Great American Bash, which he lost. At the end of 1990, WCW did not renew Calaway's contract, thus he went to seek work with Vince McMahon's WWF.
Career in the WWF/WWE
 The Undertaker (American Bad Ass persona) Calaway debuted at Survivor Series 1990 as The Undertaker. In the weeks after he used the name Kane the Undertaker at house shows and on WWF television. The Kane part was dropped awhile after, and Calaway was again referred to as simply The Undertaker, the name he uses to this day.
It was also at this time that Undertaker switched managers from Brother Love to Paul Bearer. The story given on WWF television was that Paul Bearer simply bought out Undertaker's contract from Brother Love.
The Undertaker's gimmick has changed over the years. At first he appeared as a 'normal' undertaker; a silent giant who was subservient to Paul Bearer. As with many wrestlers in the cartoonish Rock and Wrestling era, he had an over-the-top gimmick—namely an undead zombie wrestler (complete with thick purple gloves) with vague occult powers, most notably being able to control darkness and light and gain extraordinary recuperative power from the ash urn that Paul Bearer carried.
In 1997, his on-screen brother, Kane, was revealed to be alive and they have feuded off and on for several years.
Deadman Undertaker's current entrance -- smoke and haze In recent years, in line with wrestling's change to a more realistic approach, his gimmick became that of an intimidating redneck biker, first referred to as the "American Bad Ass" (pictured) due to his new entrance music being the Kid Rock song of the same name. Unlike many gimmick changes, this was generally well-received by fans.
At the Wrestlemania XX pay-per-view event, he would return in the "deadman" Undertaker persona, again with Paul Bearer to defeat Kane. Currently, his gimmick could be best described as a hybrid of the classic Taker and American Bad Ass gimmicks (Biker Taker was buried alive by Kane several months prior to WrestleMania XX). Several months later, Paul Bearer was kidnapped by The Dudley Boyz at the direction of Paul Heyman, who then took "control" of Undertaker in the storyline. At the June 2004 WWE PPV The Great American Bash, Taker buried Bearer in a crypt of cement after winning a handicap match against the Dudleys as a means of removing his "weakness" so that Heyman or others could no longer control him. Fans were later told that Bearer was merely "seriously injured".
At this time, The Undertaker is feuding with Heidenreich and will face him in a Casket Match (a match generally acknowledged as being created by The Undertaker) at the 2005 Royal Rumble.
Finisher and signature maneuvers
Championships and accomplishments
USWA Heavyweight Championship Title
- April 1, 1989 - USWA Heavyweight Title (1)
- Defeated Jerry Lawler - Memphis, Tennessee
- Lost to Jerry Lawler on April 25, 1989
USWA Texas Championship Title
- October 5, 1989 - USWA Texas Title (1)
- Defeated Eric Embry - Dallas, Texas
- Lost to Kerry Von Erich on October 20, 1989
WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title
- November 11, 1991 - WWF World Heavyweight Title (1)
- Defeated Hulk Hogan - Detroit, Michigan
- Lost to Hulk Hogan on December 3, 1991
- March 23, 1997 - WWF World Heavyweight Title (2)
- Defeated Sycho Sid - Rosemont, Illinois
- Lost to Bret Hart on August 3, 1997
- May 23, 1999 - WWF World Heavyweight Title (3)
- Defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin - Kansas City, Missouri
- Lost to Stone Cold Steve Austin on June 28, 1999
- May 19, 2002 - Undisputed WWF World Heavyweight Title (4)
- Defeated Hulk Hogan - Nashville, Tennessee
- Lost to The Rock on July 21, 2002
- Note: Losing match was a three way with Kurt Angle.
WWF/WWE & WCW Tag Team Championship Titles
- July 26, 1998 - WWF World Tag Team Title (1)
- Defeated Kane and Mankind with Stone Cold Steve Austin - Fresno, California
- Lost to Kane and Mankind on August 10, 1998
- Note: Kane and Mankind defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker, Rocky Maivia & D'Lo Brown (subbing for Owen Hart), and The New Age Outlaws in a Four Corners match.
- August 22, 1999 - WWF World Tag Team Title (2)
- Defeated Kane and X-Pac with The Big Show - Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Lost to The Rock and Mankind on August 30, 1999
- September 7, 1999 - WWF World Tag Team Title (3)
- Defeated Kane and X-Pac with The Big Show - Albany, New York
- Lost to The Rock and Mankind on September 20, 1999
- Note: Defeated The Big Show, Mideon & Viscera in "The Dark Side Rules" match in which any of Undertaker's followers can be involved.
- December 18, 2000 - WWF World Tag Team Title (4)
- Defeated Edge and Christian with The Rock - Greenville, South Carolina
- Lost to Edge and Christian - December 19, 2000
- April 17, 2001 - WWF World Tag Team Title (5)
- Defeated Edge and Christian with Kane - Nashville, Tennessee
- Lost to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hunter Hearst Helmsley on April 29, 2001
- August 9, 2001 - WCW World Tag Team Title (6)
- Defeated Chuck Palumbo and Shawn O'Haire with Kane - Los Angeles, California
- Lost to Booker T and Test on September 27, 2001
- August 19, 2001 - WWF World Tag Team Title (7)
- Defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon with Kane - San Jose, California
- Lost to The Dudley Boyz on September 17, 2001
WWF/WWE Hadrcore Championship Title
- December 9, 2001 - WWF Hardcore Title (1)
- Defeated Rob Van Dam - San Diego, California
- Lost to Maven on February 5, 2002
External links
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