The Undertaker's WWE Career: 9 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Perfect Undertaker

Undertaker WrestleMania 24
WWE

The reason that the American Badass worked during his era was the same reason the Deadman wouldn't have: He was realistic. So when it came to returning him to his darker roots in 2004, changes had to be made to the original character.

A hybrid of the very best of his previous personas, 'Taker now entered the arena like the mortician, dropped out the lights like Deadman, stuck out his tongue like the Lord of Darkness and beat the living daylights out of you like the American Badass.

The fact that the version of 'The Deadman' that returned at WrestleMania XX stayed with 'Taker for literally half of his career really does speak volumes and it enabled him to excel in a more 'realistic' WWE than the early '90s while also reintroducing the company to some much-needed theatrics. Oh yeah, and it also gifted him with the absolute best period of his in-ring career...

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Michael Patterson is an experienced writer with an affinity for all things film and TV. He may or may not have spent his childhood obsessing over WWE.