10 Compensations Wrestlers Accepted As Payback
2. Undertaker - Rest & Recovery
Perhaps down to the topic being misconstrued as sounding disrespectful, the various breaks The Undertaker took during his career aren't often spoken about when discussing his longevity. They should be - this is a rare case of trust and tenure going a long way to forging a functional relationship between performer and promoter.
After a mammoth stretch on the road between 1990 and 1993, he was placed in a casket at the Royal Rumble 1994 and didn't return until SummerSlam later that year. In 1996, he was given a break to reinvent himself as the leather-clad bat that returned to crush Mankind at the Survivor Series. He took some personal time to sell being burned alive by Kane in 1998, took a substantial sabbatical to deal with injuries and prepare his American Bad Ass gimmick between 1999 and 2000, took a pause between Survivor Series 2003 and WrestleMania XX to reverse that shift, and finally switched to a lighter schedule as the 2010s brought about the end of his remarkable latter day super-worker run.
Undertaker took breaks, but breaks are good! They won't guarantee the rank-and-file a run like 'The Deadman's, but they might elongate it enough to give them a fighting chance.