25 Years of The Undertaker: The Rise

Being that this upcoming Thanksgiving marks the 25^th anniversary of Mark Calaway’s  tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment with the debut of his character The Undertaker and that he is by far my favorite Wrestler and one of my heroes from childhood to now and I have to honor him in this series of blogs that are to follow the different eras of “The Phenom”.  

I was first familiar with Mark Calaway due to his time as Texas Red in World Class Championship Wrestling and his time in WCW as Mean Mark Callous with the Sky Scrapers with his soon departure “Up North”.

In the 1990 4^th annual Survivor Series featuring the 4 on 4 Team elimination matches as always one of the top villains was The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Team facing off against The American Dream Dusty Rhoades, Koko B Ware, and Bret “The Hitman” Hart and his tag team partner Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. The rest of the Million Dollar team consisted of The Honky Tonk Man, and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and a mystery partner.

There was much speculation of the identity of the Mystery Partner ranging from Macho Man Randy Savage to Virgil and there was in fact a giant egg that was in arenas at the time and many speculated that the mystery partner was inside the egg.

DiBiase soon announced the identity of his 4^th competitor “led to the ring by his manager Brother Love, Weighing in at 320lbs From Death Valley, I Give You…The Undertaker”

A Somber funeral march began to play as announcers Roddy Piper and Gorilla Monsoon reacted to a 6ft 10in man in black that grimly strode to the ring and started off the match against the Future Champion and Hall of Famer Bret Hart. 

Soon Koko was tagged into the ring and flew off the ropes at his opponent who was soon caught in midair by the pale destroyer who quickly turned him upside down and dropped him on his head in what Monsoon instantly labeled “A Tombstone” and Koko was pinned and rolled out of the ring.

The Undertaker would also eliminate Dusty Rhoades who would then attack Brother Love resulting in Taker coming to his aid being counted out and therefor eliminated from the match. For the brief time that he was in the match he left a large impression on the crowd and the millions watching at home.

Soon it was announced that Brother Love would soon relinquish his managerial duties of the Undertaker and his new manager was announced to be William Moody aka Percy Pringle III but to WWE fans he would always be Paul Bearer.

Paul would lead The Undertaker to the ring carrying a mysterious Urn that The Undertaker would draw his power from and would make quick work of the Jobbers in squash matches before placing them in a Body Bag.

I have to admit that there was a slight fear that I had of The man and I can tell you that I had been ringside during this time and The Undertaker had a presence and when he would walkout it was all silence. 

It was announced that at Wrestlemania VII that The Undertaker would face Superfly Jimmy Snuka and at the event the crowd was amazed during the match at the short work that The Taker made of the future Hall of Famer and legendary wrestler.  

This was the beginning of the Streak at 1-0.

The Undertaker continued his dominance of the WWF Superstars leading to a feud with former Champion The Ultimate Warrior after locking him in an airtight coffin.

Warrior seeking to learn the secrets of death turned to Jake Roberts to get over his fear of the Deadman only to be betrayed by “The Snake” who was revealed to be in with The man in Black all along.

This storyline was quickly dropped after The Warrior left the WWF in 1991 and Jake the Snake was soon locked in a feud with Macho Man Randy Savage after Taker and Jake destroyed his wedding reception.

However The Undertaker was soon announced in the Main Event of the 1991 Survivor Series as Hulk Hogan’s “Gravest Challenge” for the WWF title.

The feud leading up to the event found Hogan facing off against The Undertaker and soon Ric Flair found himself involved in the storyline and interfered in the match with a steel chair costing Hogan the match and giving The Undertaker his first WWF title.

This reign was short lived as Hogan won the title back at the Tuesday in Texas event 7 days later using controversial methods to defeat the Deadman resulting in the vacating of the title.

It was soon after the 1992 Royal Rumble on Saturday Night’s Main Event that while Jake The Snake was about to attack Randy Savage and Elizabeth with a Steel Chair that The Undertaker turned face by stopping the assault.

 Facing off against The Snake at Wrestlemania VIII making his streak 2-0.

It was after Wrestlemania that The Undertaker and Paul Bearer began to feud with the Monsters of the WWF such as the Berserker, Papa Shango, and The Ugandan Giant Kamala. It was the feud with Kamala that came to an end of the 1992 Survivor Series that was the world’s first introduction to The Casket Match.

The purpose of the Casket Match is simple and that is to place your opponent into a casket and close the lid. This was the beginning of many of these matches to come.

At the 1993 Royal Rumble was attacked and eliminated by a The Giant Gonzalez  who gave the undertaker his first real “beat down” resulting in a match at Wrestlemania IX in Las Vegas.

Coming to the ring with a funeral chariot with a large vulture the undertaker took what Gonzalez had to dish out and then gave it back to him and Gonzalez then chloroformed The Taker getting himself disqualified and Taker was soon carried to the back of a stretcher leaving Gonzales celebrating for “Killing The Undertaker”…That is until the bell tolled again and the Undertaker emerged from the back rejuvenated and beating the Giant back to the Back and with the DQ making the Streak 3-0.

While The Undertaker was continuing to feud with Gonzales and Curtis Hughes to Summerslam with Yokozuna dominating the WWF as the champion stating that there was no competition, a feud was inevitable.

While Lex Luger was Captaining the American team with the Steiner Brothers against Yoko’s Fanatics of Ludwig Borga and the Quebeckers  and after teammate Tatanka was put out of action following a beating from the team it was announced that The Undertaker would join Team USA.

The Feud with Yoko resulted in yet another Casket Match and with the advantage in the Undertaker’s corner The champion had some tricks to his advantage.

With the match won and the champion soon being placed in a Double Wide Double Deep Casket The Undertaker soon found himself being attacked by a large amount of heels from the locker room area and after Yoko Smashed Paul Bearer’s urn Taker was placed in the Casket and was wheeled to the back Broken and defeated.

Again the Lights went down and The Undertaker appeared on the screen declaring that he will return and all mankind will witness his Rebirth and that he would not “Rest in Piece”.

Soon the Undertaker would be seen rising to the sky with all wondering if he would ever be seen again.

He would Rise again

In our next Chapter. 

In Memory of Paul Bearer

I have been a wrestling fan since I was small and my all-time favorite wrestler is by far Mark Callaway better known to mat watchers as The Undertaker.

In the past 23 years Taker has become one of the most loved and respected wrestlers in the business and hopefully will remain undefeated at Wrestlemania to continue his legacy with 21-0 in what has become known as the Streak.

Along with Taker is his “Half Brother” Kane portrayed by Glen Jacobs who has also gone on to have a highly successful time in the WWE for well over a decade.

Known together as the Brothers of Destruction both of these men may not be where they are today without the help of one man. That man was William Moody aka Paul Bearer.

As many of you know Moody passed on this past week leaving behind a legendary career as well as a stable of wrestlers that he led to the top as well as worked as the mouth piece till many of them were able to find a voice of their own.

William Moody was born April 10, 1954 in Mobile, Alabama. As a teenager Moody entered the wrestling business as a ringside photographer. Joining the Air Force after High School Moody remained in the Business while obtaining his degree in mortuary sciences.

Starting his career as Percy Pringle III Moody worked in the territories and the WCCW while working as a mortician and most famously managed the late Rick Rude before Rude went to the WWF. Pringle also managed Mark Callaway at this time.

Callaway made his WWE debut in 1990 at the Survivor Series as part of the Million Dollar team as the Undertaker, The character was a wild west mortician that was of supernatural origin. His manager at the time was Bruce Prichard playing the character of Brother Love the character was that of a corrupt evangelist.

In February 1991 Brother Love passed the reigns of The Undertaker on to Paul Bearer.

William Moody was hired by the WWE after Rick Rude recommended him to Vince McMahon and they based the character off the fact that Moody was a real mortician.

For the character of Paul Bearer, Moody dyed his hair jet black and painted his face a pale white with the dark circles under his eyes. He also dressed in a black suite and carried a golden urn that was eventually revealed to be the source of the Undertaker’s powers. Bearer’s catch phrase was "Ohhh yyyes!"

Paul Bearer was The Undertaker’s mouthpiece for 6 years with his high pitch voice and he would refer to the Undertaker as “My Undertaker” and he would even host his own interview segment on WWF Superstars titled the Funeral Parlor where he would interview heel wrestlers and on occasion he would interview wrestlers only to have them attacked by The Undertaker. The most memorable time was when The Undertaker attacks the Ultimate Warrior and locked him inside an airtight coffin.

 

In matches The Undertaker would be led to the ring by Paul Bearer holding the urn and would help him in taking off his overcoat and tie and taker would take off his hat. After The Undertaker defeated his opponent Bearer would bring a body bag inside the ring and they would place the opponent inside the bag, and then they would stomp on the bag.

When other wrestlers would fight off The Undertaker he would pursue only to be held back by the hair by Bearer.

 It was not long after joining Paul Bearer that the Undertaker would defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWE Title that November at the Survivor Series. Taker would then loose the title three days later at the Tuesday in Texas Pay Per View after Hogan dumped out the contents of the urn and threw ashes into the face of The Undertaker.

 

Shortly before Wrestlemania VIII in 1992 the Undertaker became a face and began a feud with Jake the Snake Roberts also turning Moody into a face as well. Over the next few years Undertaker would become “The Slayer of the Dragons” feuding with giants in the industry with the opponents or their managers rarely attacking Paul Bearer out of fear of reaction of the Undertaker.

In 1994 the Undertaker was defeated by Yokozuna in a casket match with the help of 12 other heel wrestlers who also attacked Bearer and destroyed the urn. After this match Calloway took time off to heal from a back injury however Bearer remained on television.

Ted DiBiase announced that summer that The Undertaker was back and was working for him. Paul Bearer tried to intervene and announced that DiBiase’s Undertaker was not real and that the Real Undertaker would face the fake Undertaker at Summerslam.

 

Calloway returned at Summerslam and after defeating the fake Undertaker he would continue to be managed by Paul Bearer until the summer of 1996 where in a move that shocked the world Paul Bearer turned on him and began to manage Taker’s nemesis Mankind (Mick Foley).

Bearer also began managing The Executioner and Vader at that time.

After The Undertaker won the WWE title at Wrestlemania 13 Bearer wanted to manage the champion and demanded that he return to his stable.

Not only did Taker refuse but he set Bearer’s face on fire. After this Bearer dropped the make-up and began keeping his hair in its natural red color.

Paul Bearer then told the Undertaker that if he didn’t return that he would reveal his deepest darkest secret to which Taker reluctantly returned to him. However after being abused verbally by Paul Bearer the Undertaker left  and Paul revealed the dreaded secret.

The Secret was that Paul Bearer knew The Undertaker when he was a child and that he lived with Taker’s Parents as well as his younger brother Kane.

Bearer then went on to accuse the Undertaker of setting fire to the funeral home killing his family.

The Undertaker then told his side of the story saying that Kane was the one that set the fire that killed the family as well as him in the accident. Later that night Taker attacked Paul Bearer demanding that he tell the truth Bearer then revealed that Kane was alive and that he was looking for revenge against his brother.

That October after months of teasing Kane appeared at the In Your House Badd Blood attacking the Undertaker. 

Kane’s character at the time was a masked mute and again Paul Bearer did the speaking for the character. Bearer would use Kane to attack many different wrestlers before their matches until the Undertaker would face Kane.

Eventually The Undertaker and Kane did fight and Paul Bearer devised a match for the Unforgiven Pay Per View. That match was the Inferno Match.

After Taker won the match by setting Kane on fire Paul Bearer revealed that Kane was in fact his son.

On Monday night Raw Paul Bearer revealed in great detail not realizing that the conversation was being broadcast that The Undertaker’s mother seduced him and Kane was conceived in the affair. After the great detailed broadcast Paul Bearer was viciously attacked by The Undertaker in his own home.

Paul Bearer would be with Kane at the 1998 King of the Ring where he defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWE Championship.

After Kane lost the title the next night on Raw Bearer managed Kane and Mankind while they were the tag team champions until it was revealed that Kane was working with the Undertaker to form the first run of The Brothers of Destruction. On the night that it was revealed that they were working together Kane turned his back to Paul Bearer and The Undertaker proceeded to beat him down.

Paul Bearer was not seen on television until the In Your House: Judgment Day Pay Per View where he walked out while Undertaker and Kane were fighting in a match for the title and officially turned on his son rejoining The Undertaker.

Paul Bearer and The Undertaker then created the Ministry of Darkness which was a Satanic Cult that tried to take over the WWE leading to a feud with Vince McMahon. The Undertaker again won the WWE title during this time.

After the Ministry disbanded in the summer of 1999 The Undertaker began a tag team with the Big Show taking him on as his new apprentice.

On an episode of Raw the Big Show was subjected to a verbal lashing by Paul Bearer ending with him being attacked and carried out of the arena.

Also in 1999 Chaos Comics signed a deal with the WWE to publish comics based on their wrestlers. The first comic published was The Undertaker Comic. The comic contains stories of the adventures of the Undertaker while he battles the evil Embalmer while also contending with Kane and Paul Bearer’s daughter and Kane’s half-sister and he even has to face Paul Bearer himself.

In reality William Moody’s weight had gotten out of control after almost a decade of fattening foods and living on the road moody needed time off to lose weight. Also in this time both The Undertaker and Kane had also taken time off to recover from numerous injuries.

At Reunion Arena in January of 2000 DX was beating up Cactus Jack and the Rock when the lights went down. The last time that Kane was seen he was beat down by DX and wrestling fans knew that Kane was about to make his return to gain revenge.

I was in the audience that night with my friends and none of us or the crowd was expecting a slimmer Paul Bearer to walk out of the curtain to announce the return of his son Kane.

Paul Bearer would manage Kane until after Wrestlemania 2000 when Glen Jacobs needed to take time off to heal a broken hand Kane and Paul Bearer were written out by being thrown into the luggage compartment of the DX Express. That was the last time Paul Bearer was seen for 4 years.

In 2000 The Undertaker returned and debuted his American Badass character and Kane was also given a new angle that required him to speak for himself without the help of a manager.

All of the managers at the time were attractive women in the corners and there was no real need for male managers at the time and it was decided that Paul Bearer was no longer needed.

On January 23, 2001 Paul Bearer made one final appearance after the cameras stoped rolling at a Smackdown TV Taping the Brothers of Destruction brought Paul Bearer into the ring to pay tribute to him in his hometown.

William Moody took a backstage role as a road agent and a talent scout for the WWE until his contract expired in 2002.

 

After his contract expired Moody began his own website www.percypringle.com and was always happy to correspond with his fans and he even entertained with his blog telling stories of his time on the road working with various wrestling icons. He also began to appear at other promotions in his original character as Percy Pringle.

In October of 2003 it was decided that The Undertaker would return to his Dead man character and Jim Ross approached Moody about returning as Paul Bearer.

Moody was suffering health problems and depression from his morbid obesity and turned down the original offer to return. Jim Ross then offered him the signing bonus of paying for him to have gastric bypass surgery.

At Wrestlemania XX fans awaited the return of The Undertaker after months of marketing and advertisements as he faced his Half Brother Kane.  Kane was introduced and the lights went down and the Undertaker’s familiar “Druids” emerged carrying torches and lining up on the entrance way and then the fans heard the infamous high pitched "Ohhh yyyes!" and out walked Paul Bearer holding his famous Urn.

Moody however suffered complications from the gastric bypass and his return was sadly short-lived.

Paul Bearer was kidnapped by the Dudley Boys and their manager Paul Heyman threatened that if The Undertaker didn’t throw his match against them then they would bury him in cement.

Not only did The Undertaker not throw the match he defeated the Dudley Boys and attacked Heyman appearing to save Paul Bearer. However The Undertaker seeing that Paul Bearer was a weakness pulled the Lever burying Paul Bearer in cement.

Fans reacted angrally that the WWE seemingly killed Paul Bearer and it was revealed that Paul Bearer survived the burial but suffered severe injuries and may not be seen again.

WWE terminated Moody’s contract in 2005 and Moody signed a new contract making him an official WWE Legend where he could work independent events however still making appearances at WWE Events as Paul Bearer.    

Also in 2005 WWE Published Journey into Darkness a novel that told the story of Kane and Paul Bearer was a central figure featured in the novel, The character was heavily implied to be keeping both Kane and The Undertaker under his control using “Chemicals” that he is spiking their drinks giving a new darker dimension to the character.

Paul Bearer is also featured as an unlockable playable character in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011

In 2010 Moody appeared in the wrestling documentary Card Subject to Change that same year the rivalry between Kane and The Undertaker started again and Paul Bearer returned to the WWE to aid Taker against his brother. However at WWE Hell in a Cell 2010 Bearer again turned on The Undertaker and again allying himself with his half son Kane who at the time was the World Heavyweight Champion.

Mark Callaway suffered injuries in late 2010 and the angle storyline was wrapped earlier than expected where the undertaker was buried alive in a match against Kane with the help of Paul Bearer and the Nexus stable.

Kane then went on to fued with Edge who kidnapped Paul Bearer and went through a series of events where he had Bearer tied to a wheelchair and was tormenting him.

This was a rare event as Edge was a face and Paul Bearer and Kane were heels and the roles were reversed.

 

Edge continued to torment Paul Bearer and Kane by tricking Kane into believing that Paul Bearer was being killed using a dummy tied to a wheelchair. Kane tired of being tricked pushed the last dummy over a balcony however it was then revealed to Kane that it was in fact the real Paul Bearer that was thrown to the floor below.

Paul Bearer would not be seen again until 2012 when Kane was in a feud with Randy Orton. After Kane attacked Orton’s father Randy then revealed that he had kidnapped Paul Bearer and locked him inside a walk in freezer.

Kane later saved Paul Bearer and then proceeded to lock him inside the freezer himself claiming that he was saving Paul Bearer from him.

Sadly this was the last time that the WWE Universe was able to see Paul Bearer.

William Moody passed away on March 5^th 2013 from upper respiratory infection On March 2, he attended a Cauliflower Alley Club reunion. According to club board member "Cowboy" Bob Kelly, Moody was having breathing difficulties at the event, was coughing, and told friends he was going to seek treatment for respiratory problems. He was 58 Years old.

Moody’s wife Dianna had previously passed away on January 31, 2009 due to complications resulting from breast cancer and chemotherapy.

Moody is survived by his two children Michael and Daniel as well as his grandchildren.

Paul Bearer is survives by his Kayfabe son Kane as well as The Undertaker.

William Moody leaves behind a Legacy and a character that can be seen on many different Medias.

The character that Moody helped create has been featured at many WWE Live events, Television Shows, Comic Books and Video Games. In this way Bill Moody may never pass on as Paul Bearer will live on as a True WWE Legend.

On the March 11^th  2013 Edition of Monday Night Raw the WWE as well as the Undertaker paid him tribute only to have it interrupted by the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania XXIX opponent CM Punk. After Punk disrespected Paul Bearer he was promptly attacked by Kane.

Using Moody’s in the storyline is a greater tribute that would have made him proud.

As William Moody’s website said regarding his passing, Go Rest High on that Mountain Son. Your Work here is done.

Thank you William Moody. Goodbye and May you now and forever “Rest in Peace”.