10 Disturbing Backstories Behind WWE Gimmicks

8. The Undertaker

The Undertaker is the most successful supernatural persona WWE’s ever produced. Since his debut at Survivor Series 1990 he’s been portrayed as a supernatural soulless zombie-like figure, being able to survive death over and over again because he is dead (he’s been set on fire and buried alive throughout his career).

Initially his backstory was vague and unclear. He appeared simply as an eerie dominant force accompanied by his manager Paul Bearer to the ring, who would go on to dethrone Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship and bury The Ultimate Warrior. Undertaker has previously said in interviews on his portrayal of The Deadman: “There needs to be some sense of mystery, some mystique, some kind of something that’s not given."

Cut to 1997 and details regarding ‘Taker’s origin story emerged. After turning his back on The Undertaker at SummerSlam, Paul Bearer aligned himself with Mankind and Vader to take him out. When that didn’t work, Bearer threatened to reveal a deep dark sickening secret about The Undertaker, where he repeatedly used the line "The fires of hell!" Bearer revealed The Undertaker’s mother, father and brother died when he was young in a house fire and accused The Undertaker of being the one who started it. This leads us right into our next entry with...