The Undertaker — who just came back to WWE television, of course — is one of the most beloved WWE wrestlers and characters in history. Certainly one of the most tenured. He has long commanded the respect of the locker room and has been one of the favorites of the powers-that-be in WWE for almost as long as he has been around. One of the things you may not know, however, is that without some pushing, Vince McMahon may not have ever brought the guy to his company in the first place.
In an interview with Wrestling Inc., Prichard talked about how he came up with the idea of The Undertaker as being a polar opposite to his Brother Love character. But it took a lot of convincing to get McMahon on board, because the WWE owner was anything but a fan.
“I was a big fan of his when he broke in in Dallas because he wrestled, and he moved, and he walked the ropes like the original Spoilers Dawn Gardine,” Prichard said. “I just was a big fan of his, and I watched him from the time he broke in in Dallas all the way to WCW, and Paul Heyman called me when he was available and said ‘hey this guys is looking to get out’ and I said ‘I’d love to have him.’ And then came up with the Taker idea.
“He [Vince] wasn’t high on Mark in WCW,” Prichard admitted. “He didn’t watch a lot of the WCW product unless we prodded him ‘hey take a look at this guy.’ And I asked him to watch a pay-per-view, take a look at him, and we had a meeting set up, he was meeting Mean Mark working with Lex Luger. And Mark had dislocated his hip and he still worked the match because I said ‘hey listen, Vince is watching. Time to put your working boots on.’ And it wasn’t like you were gonna get a great match out of Luger. Add to that a dislocated hip and it wasn’t the greatest match in the world. And Vince just saw a tall, redheaded basketball player. So there wasn’t a lot of interest but then finally when we got the two of them together were they could meet, hard not to fall in love with him.”
Yep, that’s right: Prichard had to arrange a blind date between the Undertaker and Vince McMahon. It’s your classic meet-cute: Weird old wrestling genius maniac promoter/commentator meets enormous creepy ginger brawler. How could Vince NOT dress that guy like an old west mortician? That’s like the exact plot of Notting Hill. It’s uncanny.
