The Undertaker Reveals Origin Of Gargling Whiskey Backstage In WWE

The tradition of gargling whiskey backstage has been a thing for years in WWE, and The Undertaker recently revealed how it really came about. The habit has been considered a sort of rite of passage in WWE, and was strongly associated with the Dead Man. John Cena recalled last month how he asked Taker why they drank bourbon, to which he claimed Taker said, “because it’s hard.”

Taker was a guest on What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes. The first question that Rhodes asked was about drinking whiskey and gargling it. The WWE Hall of Famer revealed a more pragmatic answer, noting that it was because some guys would try to act like they were drinking but toss shots. You can see the highlights below:

On Being Invited To Drink With Him:

“So you may be a little disappointed in all this. And I’m not one to make someone gargle. That’s not my deal. I take the shot, I drink the shot… You’re invited over. It is a welcome. But you know, that’s a big misnomer. Like ‘Oh, man, Taker told me to come over and drink, I had to drink.’ No, it’s not that. I don’t ever make anybody do anything they didn’t want to do. But it was kind of a, ‘Hey kid, come on in here. You’re proving yourself and if you want to drink with us? That’s fine. If you don’t, you know, you don’t have to.”

On Where the Gargling Came From:

“So we go back to when business wasn’t quite so good, all right? I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. And so for me, gargling happened because the guys on top, when you go to the bar. Those guys were making a little bit more money than everybody else was, right? And there was a struggle. So a lot of times, like — you wanna be part of it, but you don’t wanna drink all that whiskey. Because whiskey is tough, right? So what would end up happening is a lot of people would quick shot or they’d throw it, pour it on the floor and then act like they’re drinking, right?

“And you know, that’s money, right? That’s people’s money. You had to choose whether or not like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna go to the bar and have drinks tonight,’ knowing that it’s gonna affect your everyday life, really. So there was a lot of people that were tossing shots and they got busted for it. So then it kind of became a deal where, ‘Alright, you gotta gargle so that you know that you’ve had the shot.’ That was the original origins of it. And then I think it just carried on through the years as like, you know. So then it kind of became a machismo thing too, where you know, [makes gargling sound]. So I never gargled, and I never made anybody gargle.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit What Do You Wanna Talk About? with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.