The Undertaker's 10 Most Notorious Urban Legends

8. Vince McMahon Refuses To Acknowledge The "American Badass" Version Of The Undertaker

Story: The Undertaker's character in WWE from 2000 until the end of 2003 was that of "The American Badass" that rode to the ring on a motorcycle. He didn't dress like the traditional version of The Undertaker at all. He was just a regular guy that happened to be a WWE legend. His heel run was really entertaining as the American Badass and it included a WWE Championship run too. At WrestleMania 20 in 2004 when he faced his brother Kane he was back as "The Deadman" and has been that way ever since. Former WWE writer Andrew Goldstein shared this story with PWTorch about the American Badass character: "I brought it up. I was just like, 'Oh, I love the American Badass gimmick. I loved hearing Undertaker cut actual promos and come down on the motorcycle and come down with contemporary music and be sort of human.' Bruce Prichard shot me a death look that said don't ever bring that up in front of Vince because Vince is so protective of Undertaker's character and mystique. And rightly so, it's money. As Triple H has been saying, there's equity in the mysterious mystique of Undertaker." There have been other former WWE employees that have shared similar stories. Why People Believe It: There's been no mention of The Undertaker as that character since it ended. When they show video packages of him they always try to avoid that period of time. Should We Believe It: Yes. There's plenty of evidence to back it up. There's nothing wrong with protecting Undertaker's legacy by ignoring that time in his career. As a side note, who had the last match against the American Badass version of The Undertaker? Vince McMahon at Survivor Series 2003. Funny how that works out.