WWE: 10 Lasting Legacies Of The Undertaker (Other Than The Streak)

6. A Respected Locker Room Leader

The Undertaker is the longest tenured on screen employee in WWE. He first showed up at Survivor Series 1990 as a 25 year old redhead who looked like he didn't belong. Over the years, he became more comfortable in the role and the matches started to get a lot better too. With that comes respect from his peers. It's been said by many people in the business that he was the most respected guy in the history of WWE. Several years ago, WWE released a "This Is My Yard" DVD about Undertaker that featured quotes from many WWE stars past and present. Here's a quote from Chris Jericho, who started in WWE in 1999, talking about Undertaker. "He€™s got that rare attribute for a sports entertainer which is the legendary status. And a lot of guys when they achieve that legendary status, they can float along and rest on their laurels, but Taker doesn€™t do that. When he hits the ropes, he jumps straight over the top rope, big swan dive over the top rope onto the guys. I mean, he didn€™t have to do that, but he did €“ why? Because he works his ass off every night. And when he grabs that hand, gets ready to climb the top rope and yells out 'old school' €“ that€™s what he is €“ Old School. And that€™s not bad, because he has the respect for the business, he understands the business, and he€™s passed the torch time and time again but he€™s still got many more torches to pass on, and he has no problem doing that if the time is right and if the guys are right." There are other stories about Undertaker over the years where he threatened people that didn't want to do the right thing (like Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14) or various stories about "wrestler's court" where people had issues backstage that he would resolve as a leader. It's hard to earn the respect of everybody in the locker room, but Undertaker's one of the few that did over the course of his 24 years in WWE. That's why he's on a level higher than everybody else and you get stories like Vince McMahon leaving WrestleMania to go to the hospital with Taker. There's nobody that Vince respects more.