Pick Your Poison (#6) Favourite Undertaker Persona

Omackeral

Western Mortician



November 1990 - January 1994
Symbolized by the original western look with a black overcoat, stetson hat with a grey ring, black leather gloves, later changed to grey leather gloves and grey boot spats. This persona was born at the Undertaker's debut at the 1990 Survivor Series. He was a quiet character, originally managed by Brother Love, until he aligned himself with Paul Bearer during a segment of the Brother Love Show. During this time he introduced the "Casket match" which not only put fear into the hearts of his opponents but also eventually led to the demise of the "Western Undertaker" when he (kayfabe) died and "ascended to the heavens" as a result of him being entombed in a casket at the 1994 Royal Rumble.


The Deadman



August 1994 - October 1996
The Undertaker returned at Summerslam 1994 with an updated attire, now utilizing the color purple for his leather gloves, boot-covers, and tie. His return saw him facing Ted DiBiase's fake "Undertaker", who was distinguishable by his grey accessories. This persona continued through to the Undertaker's revenge on Yokozuna, the man who "killed off" the previous incarnation. It was during this era that he was forced to wear a grey Phantom of the Opera-style upper-face mask after an attack by King Mabel and Yokozuna that left him injured with a fractured orbital bone.
In August 1996 he fought in a Boiler Room Brawl against Mankind at SummerSlam, being betrayed by his long time manager, Paul Bearer, at the end. Two months later they wrestled each other in the first ever Buried Alive match, at In Your House 11: Buried Alive. Although the Undertaker won the match, The Executioner interfered and with the help of several other heels, buried the Undertaker alive, signaling the end of another era.


Lord of Darkness



November 1996 - December 1998
The Undertaker was "re-born" a month later, this time descending to the ring from the rafters in black leather attire with bat-like wings. He only wore these wings once, but was dressed completely in black. In addition to a new outfit, the Undertaker would also come out with a black teardrop below his right eye, and his long hair combed back and wet, instead of infront of his face and scraggly like before. His run as the "Lord of Darkness" could be distinguished not only by his second world title and his new leather accented wrestling gear, but it was also during this era when he displayed his devastating supernatural powers such as creating lightning and starting fire by pointing his finger. It was in this persona that the Undertaker fought in the very first Inferno and Hell in a Cell matches.


Ministry of Darkness


January 1999 - September 1999

Towards the end of 1998, while feuding with his younger brother Kane and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker began speaking of the "dark days" and a "Ministry of Evil" that would soon be taking over the WWF. This was the first sign of the Undertaker becoming more demonic than ever before and soon he would put together his Ministry of Darkness stable. During his time with "The Ministry" he began using his "symbol" more and more, not only wearing it on his tights but attempting to "crucify" his enemies on it.
After being Buried Alive at the December 1998 Rock Bottom pay-per-view and missing a month, 'Taker returned shortly before the 1999 Royal Rumble draped in a black hooded robe with a "Satan-like" goatee. He continued with The Ministry and this look and was portrayed as a super-heel.


American Bad Ass



May 2000 - December 2001

After eight months time-off due to real-life injuries, the Undertaker made his long-awaited return at Judgment Day in May 2000. However, the days of pitch black, blue fog and church organ music entrances were gone. The Undertaker was now The "American Bad Ass" (termed by the Kid Rock song which was his entrance music during the early months of the persona, later to be changed to "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit) biker complete with sunglasses, bandana, leather trench coat and motorcycle.
The Badass allowed everyone to see a new side of the Undertaker. While still one of the most dominant forces in the WWF, he appeared human, introducing the world to his wife Sara and speaking as a normal human being.



Big Evil


January 2002- November 2003


In probably the most shocking of his heel turns, Undertaker attacked Jim Ross on an episode of RAW IS WAR. The Undertaker now had a new partially shaved haircut, dyed jet black, accompanied by a new brawling, "do-what-I-want" bullying attitude, arguably more aggressive than ever before. He had now assumed the Big Evil persona, defeating Rob Van Dam for the WWE Hardcore Championship.


The Phenom (Original Deadman)




March 2004 - March 2009

When Undertaker returned at WrestleMania XX facing Kane in an Interpromotional Match, once again accompanied by Paul Bearer, he returned to his death oriented character, The Deadman. This Undertaker was a culmination of all his previous personas; dressed in his Big Evil attire accompanied by a long leather trench coat and hat. His updated "old school" attire included tights as part of a full body suit with big evil pain-syndicate devil symbols on his legs which were white and now red and sometimes (such as at Wrestlemania 23) gray. His supernatural powers and mind games returned, as did his long hair (later on), and his invulnerability and signature 'sit-up' (though reduced in intensity from his previous dark side personas).


Striker Taker



March 2009-Present

Sporting a mohawk and a few other classic traits, this version of Taker is what we see on a yearly basis. His move set features some borrowed MMA strikes and holds such as the gogoplata and Hell's Gate. Has fought Shawn Michaels and HHH at Wrestlemania in what are considered to be match of the year contenders always.

beakerjoe

I have to say Ive always liked Taker no matter what persona he has.

I went for Phenom taker myself, I was always hoping he would return to this gimmick and he did with style. He looked like something out of a horror film with some of his attire. He as a wrestler was on top form during this phase and with some great feuds v Kane, Randy Orton and Batista.

Hard to pick though as I enjoyed him in all his other personas alot. Loved his return as the American Bad Ass at JD 2000 and The Ministry gimmick was great til the Vince reveal.

SimonQuinlank

Deadman Taker because he used to freak me out as a kid,the purple gloves especially for some reason.

gerrybbadd

Another class thread omackeral, fair play to ya.

A very hard one to pick, cos I loved many of his personas. However, for me, I settled on the Purple Attired Phenom. Many wonderful memories of this period of time in the then WWF, with Taker being my joint favourite wrestler

JP Liz V1

I really liked biker Taker but could be for his theme tune then :P

briany

The Phenom - but by a shade. It was the perfect balance of being a real person and the character, and of course the character coincided with Calaway's peak as a wrestler. It also featured his best entrances. That 'BONG' always came across as deafening, even on TV and the arena being sent into total darkness with a galaxy of lighters held aloft.

Ministry Taker started off pretty cool but got old really fast, especially the lame faction he was saddled with and crappy entrance music.

Western Mortician is probably the second best one. His movement always amazes me when I watch old clips. It's oddly stiff-yet-fluid, and his no selling and seeming imperviousness to punishment really tied the whole thing together. It's only a pity that Hogan and Warrior were beginning their wane at that time because they could have done so much more with that.

LOTD

My favourite one has to be the Lord of Darkness, the character and the matches he was having were perfect together, plus his feuds with Michaels, Mankind and Kane at this time are big, iconic moments in WWE history.

Second one would have to be Big Evil, I liked the whole this is my yard thing he was doing. The matches he was having with the younger talent at this time was great, I liked his feud with Brock Lesnar and his Ladder match with Jeff Hardy was great.

The most impressive thing for me about Taker is his ability to have a great match regardless, not many big men can claim that, for a guy his size to be doing dives and walking the ropes is incredible, plus he is 30 years in the business!

Also his Rest in Peace theme, when the lights go down and then the bong, greatest entrance of all time.

brianregan09

Ministry for me loved that

GTR63

Big Evil=Knacker lookalike Taker

briany

I always associated phenom with the 96-99 'Taker, not the 04-09 'Taker. I think the latter should be called 'New Deadman'. 'Taker was called phenom lots of times during his 96-98 run and that's where I think the term stuck.

briany

brianregan09 wrote: »

Ministry for me loved that

You knew you were a weird child when one of the things you liked to was roll your eyes back and go, "Noge-nay dian-may"... :cool:

JJayoo

Undertaker used to be Emo

Omackeral

briany wrote: »

I always associated phenom with the 96-99 'Taker, not the 04-09 'Taker. I think the latter should be called 'New Deadman'. 'Taker was called phenom lots of times during his 96-98 run and that's where I think the term stuck.

Sorry yeah it's more of nod/tribute to the original deadman as stated in the brackets. Totally take your point. I often leave out a few bits on these pick ur poison threads!!!

ShagNastii

With his mania cameos of late you'd almost forget how much of a solid run Phenom 1.2 was.

He had some long long programmes against Angle, Kennedy, Batista, Edge and many more.

Furious-Red

I always like Big Evil Taker after he turned face

briany

I'm surprised that ministry Taker has gotten the most votes so far. It started out as a good concept but the faction that formed smacked of a bunch of mid carders that needed a direction from creative. The best bit of ministry 'Taker was probably between Judgement Day 98 and Rock Bottom where he feuded with Stone Cold, hit him with a shovel, sacrificed him and tried to embalm him alive!

Omackeral

Ministry Taker is just about beating the American Bad Ass. Ministry Taker was so damn believable in that evil role! American Bad Ass was just absolutely unreal to see, a whole new side to the character. Taker has always reinvented himself, what a hero.

Lithium93_

The Undertaker's BIG EVIL phase was the first thing that ever got me hooked on pro wrestling,

briany

Lithium93_ wrote: »

The Undertaker's BIG EVIL phase was the first thing that ever got me hooked on pro wrestling,

I always saw Big Evil as being a continuation of the American Bad Ass persona, rather than a separate one.

briany

ShagNastii wrote: »

With his mania cameos of late you'd almost forget how much of a solid run Phenom 1.2 was.

He had some long long programmes against Angle, Kennedy, Batista, Edge and many more.

I loved when he came back to WM 20 in the updated deadman look but I think the phase ended up wearing a bit too long. If you look back over his career up to that point, he was changing every 2 years or so, staying fresh, whereas that period lasted a good 5 years. He had some great matches during that period. Maybe the greatest match of his career was against Kurt Angle at No Way Out 2006. The psychology of that match was unreal with the constant threat of Angle slapping on his ankle lock and the fact that Taker had never tapped out in his career. Edge of the seat stuff and a time when you totally forgot about the scripted nature of the spectacle.

Omackeral

briany wrote: »

I always saw Big Evil as being a continuation of the American Bad Ass persona, rather than a separate one.

I was thinking that myself but the whole heel bully persona was very different. Plus it was the first time we ever saw a short haired Undertaker.

Garseys

Has to be Phenom taker for me. Perfect balance of all the previous incarnations and the Aura that the persona oozed was incredible. Experiencing Undertakers entrance in person is spine tingling. The slow march, the deafening organ and gongs. The in ring run was very good aswell. The Orton, Batista, and feuds with Edge were very good.

2nd place is the ABA taker. Just cool as ****. The Bike, the stiff offense, (The Introduction of the Last Ride).

LOTD

This thread is making a great case for why The Undertaker is probably the greatest WWE superstar/wrestler. All his guises were great, the feuds and matches throughout his career have always been of a high standard. Plus 23 years at the top and the reaction he gets, I don't think fans have ever become jaded or bored by The Undertaker. Plus you hear all the backstage stories he seems to be a cool and well respected guy, you never anything negative about him and plus he seemed to become the locker room leader in the WWE very quickly. When Jericho had Austin on his podcast, they were both unanimous in their praise for him.

briany

LOTD wrote: »

This thread is making a great case for why The Undertaker is probably the greatest WWE superstar/wrestler. All his guises were great, the feuds and matches throughout his career have always been of a high standard. Plus 23 years at the top and the reaction he gets, I don't think fans have ever become jaded or bored by The Undertaker. Plus you hear all the backstage stories he seems to be a cool and well respected guy, you never anything negative about him and plus he seemed to become the locker room leader in the WWE very quickly. When Jericho had Austin on his podcast, they were both unanimous in their praise for him.

Yeah, absolutely. I do have to say, though, that he has had some sub par feuds with wrestlers, not through much fault of his own but being stuck with some 400 pound plus and/or ungainly 7 footer.

The only thing I want to see out of his career is a big 3 hour long RF type shoot interview where he talks candidly about his whole career. However, wrestlers who do usually A) Need the money, Like talking smack about others or C) Are not in any kind of contract to the WWE (if they ever were to begin with). Under those criteria, we may never see such an interview. Maybe in the long run it's better. Keeps the mystique, y'know?

LOTD

briany wrote: »

Yeah, absolutely. I do have to say, though, that he has had some sub par feuds with wrestlers, not through much fault of his own but being stuck with some 400 pound plus and/or ungainly 7 footer.

The only thing I want to see out of his career is a big 3 hour long RF type shoot interview where he talks candidly about his whole career. However, wrestlers who do usually A) Need the money, Like talking smack about others or C) Are not in any kind of contract to the WWE (if they ever were to begin with). Under those criteria, we may never see such an interview. Maybe in the long run it's better. Keeps the mystique, y'know?

Yeah not all his feuds were classic, as you said he got stuck with terrible stuff, Giant Gonzalez being a shining example.

Can't see Undertaker ever doing a shoot interview that's not within the bounds of WWE. He is a true company guy. I can imagine some in-depth DVD being released after his career has finished. He has a dvd that was released ten years ago, it's woeful though.

McMahon is very protective of The Undertaker character, I remember Court Bauer saying he was in a creative meeting and that he mentioned he liked the American Badass Taker cause he was cutting great promos that were more human and he had more freedom in the character. McMahon threw him the daggers, McMahon prefers The Undertaker having a mystique and considers The Undertaker character as his greatest creative achievement.

briany

LOTD wrote: »

Yeah not all his feuds were classic, as you said he got stuck with terrible stuff, Giant Gonzalez being a shining example.

Can't see Undertaker ever doing a shoot interview that's not within the bounds of WWE. He is a true company guy. I can imagine some in-depth DVD being released after his career has finished. He has a dvd that was released ten years ago, it's woeful though.

McMahon is very protective of The Undertaker character, I remember Court Bauer saying he was in a creative meeting and that he mentioned he liked the American Badass Taker cause he was cutting great promos that were more human and he had more freedom in the character. McMahon threw him the daggers, McMahon prefers The Undertaker having a mystique and considers The Undertaker character as his greatest creative achievement.

He absolutely is. No superstar has been more loyal to WWF/E over the years. You could say someone like Cena but Cena wasn't around during the Monday Night Wars when the temptation to jump ship to WCW must have been so strong. Taker's been there through thick and thin. I'm sure he's had heat with people, definitely had disagreements with McMahon, but he's kept that stuff private and you have to respect that.

I was just watching that Gonzalez match at WM 9 on Youtube. Gonzalez was horrible and had no business being in a ring, let alone a WM ring. But Taker's entrance was awesome, with the funeral chariot and the vulture on the perch.