How The Undertaker Judged His Opponents
The history of The Undertaker mirrors the history of the McMahon family wrestling empire, including times before and after he featured prominently in it.
From a booking standpoint, it's their oldest model refreshed over and over again, somehow without noticeably diminished returns. Vince McMahon Sr went with Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund as long-standing World Heavyweight Champions in the 60s, 70s and early-1980s, cycling in new heels to strike the fear into fans that paid to see their heroes vanquish them. This would often be achieved by said villain scoring a non-title victory or the first contest being thrown out to cast doubt on the babyface. Sales that were strong for the first meeting were enhanced for the second (or third or fourth if the programme really had legs), where the babyface would ultimately prosper before moving on to the next challenger.
Vince McMahon Jr put Sports Entertainment sheen on the concept with Hulk Hogan in the 1980s with a bunch of baddies permanently in his employ rather than cycled in and out of the territory, but the fundamentals didn't change. Roddy Piper, Kamala, Killer Khan, King Kong Bundy, Paul Orndorff, Andre The Giant, Ted Dibiase, Harley Race, Randy Savage, Earthquake, Sgt Slaughter and countless others made "Hogan money" working shows against the golden goose, as did those on the undercards for the sold out shows. It was formula, but fiscally fruitful for the company and well-paying for the talent. Television provided entertaining angles that aimed to sell tickets to these shows, to the point where everything taking place in YOUR LOCAL ARENA felt like a title fight you were lucky enough to get to see for yourself.
The Undertaker, following his 1992 babyface turn, was under pressure to provide that important function almost immediately. With one of the aforementioned lesser Hogan rivals, no less.
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