The Undertaker

This article is about the American professional wrestler. For other uses, see Undertaker (disambiguation).

The Undertaker
Calaway in 2019
Birth nameMark William Calaway
Born (1965-03-24) March 24, 1965 (age 59)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Spouse(s)
  • Jodi Lynn
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1989; div. 1999)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2000; div. 2007)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2010)​
Children5
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
  • Kane the Undertaker[1]
  • Commando
  • Boris Dragu[2]
  • Mark Callous
  • Mean Mark Callous
  • Mean Mark[3]
  • Dice Morgan[4]
  • The Master of Pain[4]
  • The Punisher[4]
  • Texas Red[4]
  • Texas Red Jack[4]
  • The Undertaker[4]
Billed height6 ft 10 in (208 cm)[5]
Billed weight309 lb (140 kg)[5]
Billed fromDeath Valley[5]
Houston, Texas
Trained byBuzz Sawyer[6][7]
Rick Davidson
John Davidson
DebutJune 26, 1987[4][8]
RetiredNovember 22, 2020[a]
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2023–present
GenreProfessional wrestling
Subscribers624 thousand[12]
Total views177.4 million[12]
100,000 subscribers2023
Last updated: November 23, 2024
Signature

Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time,[13] Calaway spent the vast majority of his career wrestling for WWE and in 2022 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.[14]

Calaway began his career in 1987, working under various gimmicks for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and other affiliate promotions. He signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1989 for a brief stint, and then joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1990.

Calaway rebranded himself as "The Undertaker" when he joined the WWF. As one of WWE's most high-profile and enduring characters,[15][16] The Undertaker is famed for his undead, funereal, macabre "Deadman" persona, which gained significant mainstream popularity and won him the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Best Gimmick a record-setting 5 years in a row.[17] He is the longest-tenured wrestler in company history at 30 years. In 2000, the Undertaker adopted a biker identity nicknamed "American Badass". Calaway resurrected the Deadman gimmick in 2004, with residual elements of the "American Badass" remaining.

For the better part of his career, the Undertaker was observed as a focal point of WWE's flagship annual event, WrestleMania, where he became esteemed for The Streak — a series of 21 straight victories, and headlined the event five times (13, 24, 26, 33 and 36). He is also known for pairing with his in-storyline half-brother Kane, with whom he alternatively feuded and teamed (as the Brothers of Destruction) from 1997 through 2020. During his wrestling career under the Undertaker gimmick, Calaway won the WWF/E Championship four times, the World Heavyweight Championship three times, the Hardcore Championship once and the World Tag Team Championship six times. He also won the Royal Rumble match in 2007.

  1. ^ WWF Superstars of Wrestling. November 19, 1990.
  2. ^ "The Undertaker details experience of wrestling inside a Federal prison". msn.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  3. ^ "Mean Mark Vs Road Warrior Animal". WCW/NWA Power Hour. 1989.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Undertaker". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Undertaker bio". WWE. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BSS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bearer2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference fix120119 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "The Undertaker announces retirement from WWE". Hindustan Times. June 22, 2020. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  10. ^ Maglio, Tony (November 12, 2020). "WWE's The Undertaker on Retirement, Boneyard Match and When Wrestlers' Court Gets Real". TheWrap. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020. I am officially retired.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference FarewellFriends was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b "About Six Feet Under with Mark Calaway". YouTube.
  13. ^ Otterson, Joe (November 11, 2019). "Steve Austin to Launch New WWE Network Interview Series, Sets Undertaker as First Guest". Variety. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  14. ^ Dias, Luke (December 26, 2020). "How Did The Undertaker's "Deadman" Gimmick Become the Best in WWE History?". EssentiallySports. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  15. ^ Hornbaker, Tim (January 1, 2012). "Legends of Prowrestling". Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781613213148. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  16. ^ Shekhawat, Dushyant (April 3, 2017). "Undertaker's Last Rite". Arre. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  17. ^ Shekhawat, Dushyant (April 4, 2011). "(Un)dead Wrestler Of The Week: The Undertaker". Deadspin. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2022.


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