Written by
Alex Hunt• Published 21st November 2024
The Undertaker has looked back on his experiences filming on-site vignettes in the earlier stages of his WWE career.
Known as one of the greatest characters in the history of professional wrestling, The Deadman lived the gimmick throughout his 3-decade career and would regularly strike fear into his opponents and the fans with spooky vignettes.
After losing to Yokozuna in a casket match at Royal Rumble 1994, Undertaker filmed a vignette in a cemetery filled with snow. Recalling his experiences filming the video on his Six Feet Under podcast, Undertaker admitted he wanted to get it right first time given the sub-zero temperatures:
“The one that we shot, it was the Royal Rumble I think, [1994], when I wrestled Yokozuna, I may be wrong. I think it was the Rumble, where all the guys came down and they attacked me, and I fought ten guys, and they finally get me down, and they put me in the casket that I was supposed to be put Yokozuna in. That’s when my spirit ascended out of the building.
It was really ahead of its time. That night, after the show, it’s January, and we’re somewhere in the northeast, I don’t remember where it was. I do remember it’s January, and we’re in the cemetery, and there’s snow, and it’s like a flesh-freezing chill factor in the air. Again, there’s no trailer for me, there’s no anything. There’s no fire. I’m basically walking through the cemetery, two feet of snow, maybe, and trying to do these scenes and walk through the snow and then deliver my lines, and just praying that I did it right the first time so I can go sit back in the car and thaw out.”
Continuing, Undertaker stated that while he was pleased with the end product, the making of the vignette “sucked”:
“We went, I bet, until two, three in the morning. Maybe even later than that because I didn’t get out of the arena until late, and then we went right to the cemetery to film, and those are legit cemeteries. They would find people that were fans, and they would let us come in, and we would dig a hole somewhere. It was crazy, man. I mean, some really big, old cemeteries up in the northeast and just crammed full of dead people.
But those conditions in the early years, like I said, you always were in character, you’re always in gimmick, and believe me, spandex is not the material to be walking around a cemetery in January in Connecticut or the northeast. Holy crap, what I’d give for a thermal pair of bibs or something. But it was so cold and miserable. When you see it months later, you see the final product, you’re proud, like dang, that’s really good stuff. But in the process, forget about it, man. It sucked.”
Recalling an additional problem with the videos, the Hall of Famer stated that as his hair was always wet as part of the character it would regularly freeze, adding to the misery and believability:
“A little tidbit that I forgot too, my hair was always wet. It was part of the look, right? So you’d have to start breaking ice and crap out of my hair. It was so cold. Vital part of the character development were those vignettes. The vignettes really set the table for who that character was. Those vignettes is what give the roots to the character. The stuff that we were doing was creepy.
Not only is it nighttime, there’s snow on the ground, there’s fog everywhere, and then any time you delivered a line, the fog of your breath made it that much more scary and ominous, and the fact that you’re physically miserable, seriously, it helps with the mindset. You’re physically miserable, so it was easy to tap into that character even more. I wouldn’t change a thing, but those vignettes, they were miserable to do, but they were so rewarding.”
The Undertaker Backs WWE Star
Still keeping up with the modern-day WWE product, Undertaker has a lot of praise for one member of the roster who is underutilised. During a previous episode of his podcast, The Undertaker hailed one WWE star as a modern-day Andre The Giant.
The Undertaker also explained which WrestleMania moment was WWE’s greatest decision.
