The Undertaker Character

Some fans want the Undertaker to revert back to something close to his old self (early 1990s): silent, slow, emotionless, old attire, dead, letting Paul Bearer speak, and with the urn. But, the question is, is it possible to go back to the "old school" type of character?

Personally, I think it would be hard (and nearly impossible), because the character has evolved. With each passing year, he's become more human. And, I think the extremity of this human qualities came a few months before he left and are very prominent now. In a way, the "Man From the Darkside" has reverted back to some of Mean Mark's qualities, and he's now referred to the "American Badass", instead of "The Lord of Darkness."

Plus, it would take one hell of an attempt by the "creative committee" to explain how he goes from human to dead guy again. I don't think it's possible. You would have to pretty much disregard everything for about 6 years or so. And, the fact that this newer incarnation of wrestling relies on characters that are more realistic would also make it difficult. While I didn't mind all the supernatural stuff (the lightning, caskets, hearses, and the like), it really didn't fit in with what was going on in the rest of the federation. You had Undertaker and Kane shooting at flames at or burning effigies of each other and, in the next segment, then you'd have someone like Steve Blackman coming out to wrestle.

I think that they were running out of ideas to keep the supernatural element alive, which has been one of the UT's trademarks, so the Ministry was born. The Minstry angle will never be one of the UT's brighter career highlights, for various reasons. First, the sacrificing stuff, then the "kidnapping" deal, which led to this very brief angle where they started calling Taker by his given name, Mark, and saying that Mark was so twisted that he lived his character 24/7. Plus, they had him walking around with a merkin (the scraggly goatee that, for special occasions, he would shape into devil horns), and his ring wear consisted of either the big bathrobe or wearing the Batman cape. And, the pinnacle of this shitty angle occurred when the "Higher Power" was revealed, which dashed everyone's hopes that it was actually someone cool. Another thing that added to this angle being one of my least favorites is the fact that the goofy SOB was injured the whole time, and kept trying to suck it up, while practically having to crawl to the ring.

And, it seemed that they definitely realized this wholly supernatrual stuff ran its course when they started the frustrated teacher/ terrible student angle with Big Show, which let Taker border on the biker stuff. It also meant that he didn't need to wrestle as much, which was another blessing. Even though they should have grabbed the mic out of his big mitts the minute he curled his lip to talk (mic work ain't one of his strong points, folks), it was cool seeing this new side of the UT.

Yet, some think that the Ministry was so much better than the "American Badass" deal. Why is that? Is it because Taker still had this very morbid and evil side to him? And, another reason I'm so glad to see this change is because he's loving it- you can tell he's much more at ease because I'm guessing this is probably as close as he's been to his real self since Mean Mark. Plus, what I'm about to say will probably not settle well with people, but I feel this is his last ride, which I'm praying holds out long enough for me to finally see him. He's gone full circle with the character: from dead mortician to a human biker. And, if this makes him happy and he thinks he's doing justice to his wrestling character, I say the fans should be happy and hold on for the ride. And, even in a way, he's not completely lost the roots to the original. As you have observed, the bell toll is back, just like old-school UT. And, that duster he wears now brings back memories of the early 90's and one integral part to the UT's wardrobe.

And, if this is the only new thing they could do to keep the character fresh, well I'm very glad for this new incarnation. I do welcome change. Change, after all, is one of the reasons the Calaway has been able to stay at the top for nearly a decade. He has this dynamic ability to change a character, yet retaining a basis to make it work.

 

 

Date Written: (6-15-00)