13 Things We Learned From The Undertaker On Joe Rogan Experience

10. He Got His Big Break Due To Resembling David Von Erich

The Undertaker Joe Rogan
WWE.com/WWE.com

The Von Erich family is one steeped in so much tragedy, with five of Fritz Von Erich’s six sons having passed away at a jarringly young age.

For the future Undertaker, Mark Calaway’s big break in the wrestling business came due to his resemblance to David Von Erich, who passed away in 1984 at the age of just 25.

Having spent eight months hanging out at the WCCW offices in the hopes of getting booked, it was a chance meeting with Fritz that finally led to Calaway getting his first booking in World Class.

As Mark explained to Joe Rogan:

"The Von Erichs ran Dallas, that was their hub, World Class Championship Wrestling, and I knew they were in the office on Wednesday. They would come in there and book the cards, the guys would come in and get their paychecks and sh*t on Wednesday. So every Wednesday for about eight months, I’d go down there and I would sit in the lobby. F**king guys would come walk right by me, not even acknowledge my presence. Every Wednesday for eight months I went and just sat there.
There was a referee back then - his name was Bronko Lubich - he was the only one who would speak to me. It would be kinda like, 'You’re here again, huh kid?’ I was like, ‘Yes sir, Mr Lubich. I was hoping maybe I’d get a chance to talk to somebody today’. ‘Alright, well good luck’. I would sit there. As somebody would come through, I’d kinda start to stand. F**k, [they] never stopped, just f**king blew right by me.
One day, I was right at the end of my rope. I was like, ‘F**k this, I’m not getting anywhere here’, and Fritz Von Erich, the patriarch of the family, the guy that owned the company, came in. He walked in and he stopped, and he looked at me. Once again, I started to get up and introduce myself, and he turned around and went into Bronko’s office. He had a deep gravelly voice and I could hear him, he’s like, ‘Who’s that kid out there?’ ‘Ah, he’s been coming here for months, he’s just trying to get booked’. I heard Fritz go, ‘Book him, book him Friday night. I want to see what he can do, he looks just like David’ – one of his sons that he’d just lost. I looked a lot like David, and that’s how I got my first break, because I was in the right place at the right time."
Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.