The Undertaker worked alongside Paul Bearer for the better part of ‘Taker’s early career in WWE. The legendary manager died in March 2013 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the following year.
In a recent interview with Peter Rosenberg for A&E, ‘Taker described what it was like first being managed by Bearer and working with Bruiser Brody.
The Undertaker on working with Bruiser Brody: “When you’re green, I was always a very respectful person. But you get caught up sometimes in the moment. Bruiser Brody has always had that bigger-than-life personality. Everybody knows him for the wars he had in Japan and everything else. I’m just excited, this is my chance, this is my opportunity. Well, I get into the ring with him, and my dumb 21 or 22 year old self is looking at him and I’m going, ‘I’m bigger than Bruiser Brody.’ That’s the beginning of it going downhill, right? Then, just being nervous. He really did educate me really fast on where my place was at the time. I tell you what, I’ve never been hit harder than I was with that chair shot he hit me with. That chair just kind of exploded across my back, and that’s where I learned how to swing a chair. If you’re gonna swing a chair, you swing a chair. Two, I learned exactly where my place was at the time. He actually stood up for me after that match and was trying to convey to Gary Hart, who was the booker at the time, that you should keep this kid and get rid of some of these other guys around here. That’s not the way it worked out, but it meant the world to me that somebody the stature of Bruiser Brody was impressed with what I did.”
On the first time he was managed by Paul Bearer: “I was Texas Red, they’ve got me under the hood and tell me to go to the ring. At that point, I had no clue that Percy was gonna come out with me. This is my first match. I know what my job is, I’m out there to get Brody a win and get him ready for Abdullah and all that, so it’s gonna be a pretty quick deal. I’m walking down to the ring, and all of a sudden, I turn around and here comes Percy Pringle. He gets up there and goes, ‘Yeah, Gary [Hart] told me to come out and be your manager.’ I joked afterwards, I said I think they set you out there, because Brody beat me up so bad, to make sure I didn’t find my way back to the dressing room [laughs].”
Taker was the subject of the first episode of Biography: WWE Legends on A&E, which premiered last weekend. The Phenom has stated that he’s retired from wrestling but teased during his Hall of Fame speech that a return to the ring is always possible.
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