Since showing up at Survivor Series 1990, the Undertaker has been a major player in wrestling.
We look back at his first year in the WWE.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
By that, Charles Dickens was obviously talking aboutSurvivor Series 1990.
Airing nearly three decades ago, the PPV was a unique show.
We got to see the final WWF appearance of Demolition Ax.
Slaughter destroyed a team of four men all by himself, setting up his world title run.
Mostly, people remember the show for two debuts.
The other was turkey.
After performing there for less than a year, he left and signed with WWF.
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Calaway later admitted to be worried.
As they built upSurvivor Series, they would show a giant egg displayed near the ring.
Obviously, something big was supposed to happen with it at the PPV, but what?
Calaway didnt know, but had a strong suspicion that it was going to be him.
It was a gimmick Vince McMahon had wanted to use for a while.
An old Wild West mortician from Death Valley who would be portrayed as an unstoppable monster.
Hogan and Warrior were cartoony characters comic book superheroes and they needed someone just as over-the-top to combat them.
At least now they would be building such a character from someone with actual experience.
Theyre mainly only remembered for including his original name, Kane the Undertaker.
Well, at least they got some use out of that idea seven years later.
Anyway, the giant egg wasnt the only big mystery withSurvivor Series.
Ted Dibiase was leading the Million Dollar Team against Dusty Rhodes Dream Team.
When it came time for the match, Dibiase proudly announced his fourth member: the Undertaker.
Much like the crowd, they didnt know what to make of the guy.
Piper also put over his massive frame, memorably yelling, Look at the size of that ham hock!
Undertaker started the match against Bret Hart and shrugged off his initial attacks.
Bret tagged in Neidhart and he didnt do much better.
With the tag champions having failed to make any progress, they tagged in Koko.
Koko became the first victim, getting thrown throat-first into the top rope and then receiving a Tombstone.
Bret got some offense in, but all it did was annoy this new guy.
Not even needing to, he simply tagged out.
Honky Tonk Man and Neidhart each got eliminated and Undertaker returned to the fray.
He took on Dusty Rhodes and pinned him after a double axe-handle from the top rope.
Months earlier, he beat Randy Savage atWrestleMania.
Unfortunately, the WWF writers sort of put themselves in a corner.
For their top heels, they had to get around that or risk hurting their credibility.
Macho King Randy Savage wasnt in any of the matches.
Slaughter went too far beating down Tito Santana and was disqualified.
He got counted out, but ignored it and continued chasing Dusty to the back.
Regardless, Dibiase won and went on to lose to the face team in the main event.
So that was the end of the road for that idea.
He kept on trucking.
For the next few months, Undertaker simply bided his time.
He wrestled onSuperstarsandWrestling Challengeevery few weeks, taking on random, forgettable jobbers.
That was before they realized that caskets are creepier and have a better aesthetic.
Undertakers next big appearance came at the 1991 Royal Rumble.
This was early in the matchs history where winning it ultimately meant nothing outside of bragging rights.
It also lacked star power as only a few wrestlers were big enough to win.
Savage was one of them, but he no-showed.
They clotheslined him over the top, but he landed on his feet and didnt look worse for wear.
Not only was he good at his job, but he even worked in a funeral parlor.
Plus it made better sense.
One guy insincerely and mockingly crowed about love while the other was a blank-faced sociopath.
Their chemistry was great.
Undertakers promos rarely overstayed their welcome when he had Paul taking the brunt.
It was all part of the wonderful, unexplained mythos of the character.
He was completely mysterious.
Bobby Heenan would really make it work on commentary.
What is that urn?
WHO is inside it?
Where did the Undertaker come from?
What the hell is he?
His rants were half confusion and half terror.
On one hand, its to keep him mysterious.
On the other hand, it makes it easier to handwave basic storytelling.
Like, you know, everything involving the Wyatt Family feud.
WrestleMania VIIwas on the way and it was an unusual PPV.
Three hours of it were meaningful and wonderful for the most part.
They were there for the sake of getting as much of the roster on the air as possible.
Stuff like a one-minute Tito Santana vs. Mountie match or Texas Tornado vs. Dino Bravo.
The Undertaker was up against Superfly Jimmy Snuka.
Snuka was important years earlier, but here he was just a midcarder, coasting on yesteryear.
Regardless, Snuka was a minor victory at the time.
Undertaker needed to move on to the big leagues.
I remember watchingWrestleManiawith my friends and talking about how we needed to see Undertaker fight the Ultimate Warrior.
It was the ultimate super-power wrestling fight.
It had to happen!
Luckily, the bookers agreed.
The Brother Love Show was soon replaced by Paul Bearers interview segment, the Funeral Parlor.
The most memorable segment was in April, shortly afterWrestleMania VII.
Warrior was strong and seemingly unbeatable, but evenheneeded oxygen.
The one guy who really sold this scene was Randy Savage on commentary.
He loved that Undertaker was kicking this guys ass.
But over the next few minutes, he went from excited to skeeved out.
The next step in the Warrior/Undertaker feud is something that still blows me away to this day.
You have to remember that Warrior and Hogan were extremely well-protected.
It was rare to come out of a scenario looking more intimidating and tougher than Warrior or Hogan.
Now imagine a scenario where one man comes out looking more intimidating and tougher than WarriorandHogan!
On an episode ofSaturday Nights Main Event, Warrior had a match against Slaughter.
During it, the Warrior-themed casket was wheeled to ringside.
Not that that was in any way impressive on its own.
Hogan ran out to erase the ring of Slaughter and his goons.
Undertaker completely no-sold it and stared back.
Hogans response was essentially, Um…well, shit.
Hey, Im gonna go that way!
And off he went to go chase Slaughter some more.
Warrior got his second wind and kept blasting Undertaker with clotheslines.
None of them did anything.
The two were separated and we got a stalemate.
It was honestly the best Warrior looked during their entire televised feud.
They were really, really behind this rookie.
What you have to remember about the early 90s is that it wasnt all about ratings and PPVs.
There was noMonday Night Rawand its predecessorPrime Time Wrestlingwasnt touted as a must-watch show.
It was all about the house shows.
You wanted to see these two go at it?
Then buy a ticket because they were coming to your town!
At first, they would fight it out and Warrior would win by disqualification.
I was lucky enough to see that match at Madison Square Garden.
That knocked him out long enough for him to put him in the body bag.
After Warrior left in celebration, Undertaker came to and tore himself out, showing zero emotion.
Warrior was notorious for no-showing house shows, so Undertaker occasionally had to face replacements.
Maybe youd get to see him wrestle Roddy Piper or Big Boss Man instead.
They were never filmed and never advertised, yet they happened in front of a select, fortunate few.
The problem with the house show circuit was that it didnt translate to TV.
There was no blow-off match for the world to see.
Warrior then saw that Jake and Undertaker were in cahoots.
It was all setup for a Jake heel turn.
EXCEPT…Warrior was busy with another storyline.
He was helping Hogan against Sgt.
Slaughter, General Adnan, and Colonel Mustafa.
Rather than do anything relating to Undertaker or Jake, Warrior joined Hogan in a handicap match atSummerSlam.
Then, due to a money dispute, Warrior was fired by the end of the night.
That meant Undertaker, essentially, won their feud.
Last we saw was Undertaker getting one over on him and there was no comeuppance.
Hell, there was never any on-air comeuppance during the previous few months outside of thatMain Eventstalemate.
As forSummerSlam, Undertaker and Jake didnt have any matches.
The point of the show was that it was more of an uplifting season finale.
Other than one minor instance, it was all feel-good matches where the faces got to stand tall.
It ended with Randy Savage marrying Elizabeth.
On PPV, it went off without a hitch.
It was the post-show where things got interesting.
Savage opened up some wedding gifts and there was a snake in there.
It took a long time to realize someone was gone from the company back then.
Then again, Savage was still retired and couldnt wrestle.
Not until the plot allowed it several months later.
Then Jake had to go interrupt the sweet confrontation.
Undertaker then stepped away from his partnership with Jake for a bit and forged an alliance with Ric Flair.
Again, there was a casket designed specifically for Hogan.
Piper smashed Flair with a chair and made him tumble.
Savage smashed Undertaker with a chair and it did nothing.
Whatdidcause Undertaker to back off?
It was the coolest shit.
Hulk Hogan vs. Undertaker for the title was a big deal.
Back then, those tag matches meant something, unlike how thrown together they are now.
Also notable was that Undertakers response was a bit warmer than one would expect.
A good chunk of the audience wanted to see him go over the companys #1 hero.
Instead, they decided to build instead of destroy.
The two were portrayed as equal forces, but Flair interfered and helped Undertaker Tombstone Hogan onto a chair.
After a three-count, we had a new champion and fans…cheered for the villain?
Its almost like they took a shining to the guy.
The two never did have a proper blow-off and Undertaker never lost his much-needed mystique.
It was for the best.
Soon he would turn on Jake Roberts and rise up as one of the top faces of the company.
But it wouldnt be possible without that amazing first year.
As twelve months had passed, the Undertaker silenced one and stole the world title from the other.
Few could ask for a better rookie year in the big time.
