For the primary time in his 30-year profession, the Phenom is pulling the curtain again on his heavily-guarded persona. The Undertaker: The Final Journey, a five-part docuseries premiering Sunday, Could 10 on the WWE Network, affords up an intimate take a look at the person behind the legendary character as he battles lingering accidents and psychological roadblocks. It is an unprecedented transfer for a man who’s principally saved the cameras away from his private life. However, based on the Undertaker, whose actual identify is Mark Calaway, documenting what could possibly be the ultimate moments of his in-ring profession was an necessary alternative he simply could not cross up.
“I knew after we began this that I used to be getting near the top and I needed individuals to get slightly glimpse of what they have been asking for,” Calaway informed TV Information. “But additionally, I needed them to see what it took on a day-to-day foundation for me to get out and be the Undertaker.”
As you will see in The Final Journey, being the Undertaker is lots more durable today. As a result of he is now not that spry 25-year-old who can leap excessive rope to sort out his opponent to the bottom, residing as much as followers’ expectations right this moment is a tall order that will get more and more tougher as he continues to age and endure extra accidents. Now 55, the Undertaker is offered a special, extra susceptible gentle within the docuseries, which particulars the bodily and emotional work that goes into getting ready for every match. However for somebody who’s used to upholding the mystique of his iconic character, permitting entry to the person beneath that well-known persona did not come straightforward.
“It was not a pure factor for me. It took slightly little bit of time earlier than I used to be snug as a result of I’m, to a fault, I am a dinosaur and I nonetheless firmly imagine within the previous methods of our enterprise,” Calaway mentioned. “I’ve moved alongside as our enterprise has progressed however I carry a variety of the values of the old fashioned. Opening this character up after which seeing the particular person behind the character, it actually went towards the whole lot that I’ve achieved my complete profession. However I simply felt prefer it was time and I felt like I might remorse it if I did not as a result of as soon as the factor’s over, I am not going to have a second probability to do it.”
Mark Calaway, The Undertaker: The Final Journey
“Chapter 1” will deal with his solely WrestleMania losses up to now: WrestleMania 30, which noticed Brock Lesnar break his 21-year undefeated streak, and WrestleMania 33, by which he confronted Roman Reigns in what was believed to be the ultimate bout of his profession. The latter match felt like a passing of the torch as Reigns walked out victorious and Undertaker took what was alleged to be a ultimate curtain name. Ceremoniously leaving his hat, coat and gloves within the ring, he stopped midway up the ramp to lift his fist one final time –as if signaling that this was it — earlier than disappearing behind the black curtains. However that may not be the top for the Undertaker, who has since competed in quite a few matches and remains to be looking for the proper technique to finish his Corridor of Fame profession. The query is, how does one say goodbye to a personality they’ve performed for greater than half their life? Not even Calaway himself is aware of the reply to that proper now.
“I by no means noticed the character getting within the ring and having a retirement speech,” Calaway mentioned, though he’s in search of an “exclamation level” on his profession that may function a becoming finish cap. “I have been in search of that one match that I can say, ‘Yeah, that is it. That is the exclamation level on a profession. Increase. I can stroll away.’ And so, I am struggling. I do know what my limitations are, bodily, and I am having to weigh that towards the long-term results of continuous to wrestle. So all this stuff are intertwined, they usually get in the best way of one another. You begin considering a method, after which this different a part of you thinks, ‘Possibly there’s slightly bit extra fuel than you suppose.’ And then you definitely exit and also you do it and one thing goes terrible and it is like, ‘Oh man, what am I doing?’ So it is this fixed battle of when to say, ‘When.’
By all accounts, the Undertaker has had one of many biggest careers in wrestling historical past. He is held virtually each main title within the firm, is thought to be essentially the most revered man within the enterprise, and is principally a shoo-in for the Corridor of Fame each time he does resolve to formally retire. Given the whole lot he is completed and his declining well being, many query why he would proceed to place his physique on the road when there’s nothing left to show.
“It is easy to take a seat on the surface and [say], ‘Is he grasping? Does he need the cash? Does he need the celebrity?’ However these issues are the farthest factor from my pursuits. I’ve by no means loved being a celeb. It is the love of what I do,” Calaway defined.
That stalwart love of the enterprise is what has saved the Undertaker going regardless of the toll it takes on his physique, together with quite a few concussions, hip alternative surgical procedure and the sort of ache that may flip your knuckles white. However in 2019, when he was left off the WrestleMania card for the primary time in 19 years, it appeared just like the Undertaker was lastly prepared to hold up his boots for good. After which AJ Kinds occurred.
“At that time, I used to be fairly content material,” Calaway mentioned. “I might already sort of come to grips with the truth that my days, particularly with WrestleMania, it was time to maneuver on. After which, the match with A.J. presents itself. We have each been within the enterprise for some time and our paths had by no means crossed. That is very uncommon to by no means have a match with [someone of that stature] and I actually maintain him in very excessive regard as an in-ring performer and as a human being.”
Their on-air feud culminated at WrestleMania 36 in probably the most distinctive matches so far. On account of the COVID-19 outbreak, which noticed the WWE transfer its stay area exhibits to a closed set on the firm’s efficiency heart in Orlando, Florida, the pair’s conventional bout was modified to a Bone Yard match at an undisclosed location. The pre-taped battle took on a cinematic tone because the Undertaker and Kinds went toe-to-toe round an open grave. In the long run, the Undertaker “buried” Kinds alive earlier than hopping on his motorbike and using off. For a lot of, this might have been a becoming technique to shut the guide his storied profession. Whether or not or not that was the Undertaker’s final trip, nonetheless, nonetheless stays to be seen.
“I simply do not know,” Calaway mentioned. “I need individuals to observe [The Final Journey] and sort of come away with their very own conclusions of the place I am at. However I’ve to enter each match taking a look at it that manner at this level.”
And whereas we do not but know when or how he’ll really finish his profession, what’s clear is that Calaway is profiting from each alternative he has left.
The Undertaker: The Final Journey premieres Sunday, Could 10 at 10/9c on the WWE Community.
The Undertaker, WrestleMania 33