Source: WOOOOO! Nation with Ric Flair
On a recent episode of WOOOOO! Nation with Ric Flair, "The Nature Boy" talked with Bruce Prichard. As the original manager of the Undertaker, Prichard, also known as Brother Love, shared some insight regarding the creation of the Undertaker gimmick.
In 1990, Paul Heyman told Prichard that the Undertaker, then working for WCW as 'Mean' Mark Callous, was available; however, Vince McMahon was not interested at first, saying he looked like a basketball player. According to Prichard, the Undertaker was set to meet with McMahon the night after WCW's Great American Bash pay-per-view, where the former 'Mean' Mark Callous had a poor showing against Lex Luger.
"Mark had a dislocated hip, but worked the match anyway because he knew that he was going to be meeting with Vince the next day," Prichard recalled.
"It wasn't the best match in the world and Vince didn't want to meet with him," Prichard continued. "We finally got the two together, and, as you know Mark, man, he's magnetic in and of himself and he convinced Vince that, 'hey, I'm your guy' and he took off from there."
SEE ALSO: WWE Legend Talks CM Punk And AJ Lee, Undertaker's Greatest Rival, The Bellas Fail To Win Award
Prichard admitted that while WWE had an entire creative department at the time that designed new characters, the Undertaker gimmick only came about after getting a look at him. Apparently, the Undertaker was brought in to do the Suburban Commando movie with Hulk Hogan. The outfit he wore in the film made him look like an "old timey undertaker" and that is how the Undertaker gimmick was born. Prichard said he original idea was to bring him in as Kane, a killer inspired by Jason from Friday the 13th, but "the Undertaker evolved and he has made it all his own."
Flair called the Undertaker gimmick "the greatest gimmick in the world" and said that the Undertaker kept getting better and better up until a couple of years ago.
In addition to discussing the origins of the Undertaker, Prichard talked about TNA's struggles, WWE booking on the fly in the 1990s, and many other topics. To listen to the whole show, click here.
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