The Undertaker Comments on Fans Who Were Mad He Broke Kayfabe

In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, The Undertaker spoke about protecting his character for so long and how some fans were angry when he finally broke kayfabe. He did so once he decided to retire, as the ‘Dead Man’ persona of the Undertaker was laid to rest. This included a docuseries in which he spoke as himself for the first time on WWE TV. Here are highlights:

On his decision to break character and reaction from fans: “It’s so funny, because I was the last guy that put that kind of effort into protecting the business and protecting a character. It’s so funny the amount of hate that I’ve got, from people now, you know, they hear my normal voice, and me talk about normal things. The hate that I get because people feel like I destroyed their childhood and I’m like “me!?, me!? I was the last one. I was the last one, I’m the guy you’re gonna take you’re heat out on?”

On making the decision not to be the Dead Man anymore: “Once I gave the speech at Hall of Fame. That’s when we figured that we might have something as far as a show or the ability to connect with the audience a different way. Because I had two options, if I want to stay involved in the industry, I’ve got to evolve, what does that Undertaker character bring if you don’t get into the ring? Either I completely remove myself and let the legacy of the character move on. Or, I have 30 plus years of life experience, stories, funny stories, sad stories, insight on things that had happened to me through the years, and I wasn’t really ready to be done with the business.”

On wrestling Bret Hart and what Bret taught him: “I remember having a match against Bret Hart and Bret in the states was a heel (villain) at the time, but everywhere else he was still a face (hero). We had a match in the UK, it must have been 45 minutes and through the course of the match, one moment they’re going ‘lets go Bret’ and two minutes later it’s ‘lets go Taker’. It was so cool to have that kind of energy, it was just off the charts. Probably one of my favorite matches of all time, it was really good. Bret pushed me to be more than a character. He pushed me into figuring out how to be the character and be a wrestler too. That’s something I’m really grateful to him for pushing me in that direction, because I don’t think I would have lasted as long as I did if I didn’t evolve.”