The Undertaker On How Wrestling Is a ‘Different World’ Compared To His Era

On the latest episode of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T had The Undertaker on, where he talked about today’s wrestling compared to his era and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On the changes from his era to today’s era: “It is completely two different worlds. It’s crazy, because never in a million years can I imagine how athletic these guys are today. And I think because they are — I mean, they’re doing, I don’t know if it was the video games they played as kids. But they’re doing video game-type stuff in the ring. And I think it’s almost — sometimes it’s a curse. Because they’re so athletic and they rely so much on that aspect, that they forget the most important aspect of what we do which is storytell.

“And I think — you know, I’ve mentioned it to different people high up. And you know, it’s like, ‘Hey, we can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.’ But I think at some point, we’re going to have to. We have to figure out a way to get it back in there, because these guys — and I’m just thinking about their health, if nothing else. Because they, I tell people this all the time and people look at me like I’m crazy. But in any given wrestling match, any match. At some point in that match, you’re two inches away from something really catastrophic happening.”

On why that should be limited: “The stuff that these guys are doing to get reactions from the crowds — I mean, it just makes it exponentially more dangerous than than what it has to be. Because after a while, people get desensitized to the crazy moves, the double backflip off the top rope onto the floor. ‘I’ve seen it done a couple times, now what do you have for me?’ So you have to continue to push the envelope to, ‘Okay, what am I going to have to do to get a reaction?'”

On the transition in selling when he first did The Undertaker gimmick: “At first, I continued to work the same way. I was just a killer. And then I had to kind of slowly start expanding the repertoire, and figure out ways to make myself more vulnerable. And a lot of times — like, talking about working the legs, it just made sense. And I got to work with Brett a lot. And you know, Brett was really straightforward, and he was a no-nonsense kind of wrestler. Which is what I needed, because it’s what helped me expand what I could do.

“Because I was — I’ll never forget one. I was working — it was when Randy Savage and [Ric] Flair were wrestling on TV for the belt. And in the middle of the match, Vincent didn’t the way the match was going. So he stops the match right in the middle and brought both of them back. And sent the dark match, who was Razor and I, he sent the dark match to the ring. And he said, ‘Y’all just go until I tell y’all to go.’ So poor Scott, man. He just wearing me out. He’s hammering me and whack! And boom! Finally he’s so blown up, because I ain’t selling s**t, he goes, ‘Take, can I please put you in a reach chinlock?’ I was like, ‘Alright man, alright.’”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Hall of Fame with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.