The Complete A-Z Of The Undertaker

18. I - Inferno

The Undertaker
WWE.com

Fire existed in professional wrestling before The Undertaker, but the character and his placement within WWE's vast landscape made for some of the more impressive use of the flames.

It became an integral part of his backstory following the introduction of Kane (more on him later), encouraging liberal use of blazing infernos to provide bigger and more dangerous stakes to matches and programmes with his younger brother.

Their first 'Inferno Match' followed Kane setting a casket on fire with Undertaker presumed to be inside, but Undertaker would utilise the fire himself in a Raw rematch the following year, famously burning Stephanie McMahon's childhood teddy bear in flames to get in the head of Vince McMahon.

Similar moments would occur in years to come, as Randy Orton had a pre-Wyatt taste of arson with a casket-burning of his own, but he was nearly burned alive for real when misplacement of his pyrotechnics briefly lit him up before his February 2010 Elimination Chamber World Title defence.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett