10 Best Ever Reasons For Wrestling Storyline Exits

8. Paul Bearer: The Real Dead Man

Kane Paul Bearer
WWE Network

Best, as in inexplicably funny.

WWE's supernatural mythology ate itself in grand, hilarious fashion.

Paul Bearer wasn't the Undertaker. He held the urn, from which 'Taker drew his power, but he didn't command light or any daft sh*te like that: he was the manager of the dude who commanded light, but made it work, because the performer underneath the gimmick was such a genius at presenting himself as an unyielding force of nature.

Eventually, any craft or commitment to the mythology simply vanished, and we arrived at a point at which Paul Bearer, being supernatural-adjacent, was simply capable of coming back to life with no explanation.

The character was killed off by the Undertaker, at the 2004 Great American Bash, who encased him in cement. He was very much buried alive by a material that takes a while to solidify, but could, in that context, have drowned him. In any event, the Bearer character was dead. They told us he was dead. He died because the Undertaker wanted to prove that he wasn't weak, and that he didn't need Bearer to power him up, something he'd proved emphatically by winning the Undisputed WWE Title without him. He could have cited this to Paul Heyman without killing a father figure very close to his heart.

Bearer then just returned in 2010, and turned on 'Taker again, in nightmarish continuity only slightly preferable to being left to freeze to death, a fate to which Bearer was also subjected in 2012.

"I'm saving you...from me," Kane said. Translated: "I'm killing you so that I don't kill you."

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!