10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About The Undertaker

9. He Was Mean Mark

Very few wrestlers show up in WWE without having to learn their craft elsewhere. That means Steve Austin wasn’t always Stone Cold, The Million Dollar Man didn’t always have those millions and The Bushwhackers weren’t always...whackin' bushes? Much the same way, The Undertaker wasn’t always embalming people for a living, as he was first on the national scene in WCW as Mark Callous. Though people didn't just call him Mark, because he was apparently quite “mean.”

Taker’s real name is Mark Calaway, but someone in WCW’s creative team probably thought "Callous" sounded more like a tough guy wrestling name. However, with “mean” and “callous” kind of meaning the same thing, it felt a bit redundant. They probably should have kept the name before that, which was “The Punisher”...as long as Marvel was cool with it that is.

Mean Mark had a decent amount of success in WCW as part of the Skycrapers tag team after taking over for Sid Vicious who was out with an injury. When Mark broke out on his own, he got a bit of a singles push, and even took on Lex Luger at The Great American Bash in July of 1990. He seemed to be doing all right for himself, but then, he asked for his release and entered the World Wrestling Federation a few months later.

While wrestling with the name “The Undertaker” is a bit silly, it’s nearly impossible to think of him competing as anything else, even though he has. Since Mark didn’t dress up like an undertaker in WCW, and instead wore chaps, WWE would probably like everyone to agree this part of his career didn’t happen.