By all conventional wisdom, The Undertaker should not exist in todays world of professional wrestling. He is an anomaly a character that could only exist in pro wrestling, but also seemingly should not exist in todays reality-based WWE. Of course, WWE is the company where leprechauns live under the ring and a little person dressed up in a bull costume thinks hes a real bull. Still, Taker is a holdover from a different era, a rare instance of the early 90s Cartoon Era enduring through the Attitude Era, right past the Ruthless Aggression Era, traversing the PG Era and continuing into the Reality Era. Remember the gimmick battle royal at WrestleMania X-7? Several of the characters in that match were created in the same era as Taker: Doink the Clown, Repo Man, the Gobbledygooker and Undertakers first manager, Brother Love. That era also gave rise to Papa Shango, so its no small feat that a character created in that era has endured consistently for nearly a quarter-century. But that doesnt mean that The Undertaker is immune from incredibly unbelievable moments and unbelievable does not mean awe-inspiring, but rather head-shaking. During his time with WWE, Taker has had several instances that could be described as cheesy, silly or flat-out ridiculous. For sake of argument, lets leave out the entire Biker Taker phenomenon. The transformation from a dead man to a biker and back is just too baffling to contemplate.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.
