The Undertaker has been in the wrestling business for 20+ years, so the WWE legend has arguably seen it all when it comes to the company. “The Deadman” made his official debut back at Survivor Series 1990, taking part of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team. He quickly showcased that he was a force to be reckoned with by eliminating Koko B. Ware and Dusty Rhodes.
The former World Heavyweight champion spoke with Fellowship Church's Senior Pastor Ed Young for an interview on getting the call from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon about The Undertaker gig:
"I got the call from Vince. The call was something like this. The phone rings. I pick it up. 'Hello?' 'Is this The Undertaker?' 'Undertaker? Yeah, this is The Undertaker.' 'Haha! Alright then. Can you be up here tomorrow?' And the next day I was on a plane. That was Vince, [he] called me. He had this character. The original character was based on an old western undertaker." Undertaker remembered, "at the time, people were just so enthralled with it because it was so different."
According to The Undertaker, his longevity in the business is due to his ability to evolve his character over the years:
"Trying to keep the character relevant for this long, you really have to keep your finger on the pulse of things because if you don't, what usually happens is before you realize you're stale, your audience [has] already moved on." Undertaker explained, "I never, like, once I got to the WWE and then, I kind of started to realize that we have something special with that character, I was never satisfied. I was like, 'we're here and we're getting a great reaction, but what's next?' I'm always looking down the road. Like, 'okay, I need something. I've got to bring something new to the table, but I have to stay true to what my fanbase and my audience, what they've accepted and this is what they want. But you have to figure out ways to keep it fresh, so you're watching what everybody else is doing and you're trying not to fall in because that happens so often in our business. Somebody will hit something and then everybody's trying to do the same thing."