During the mid-nineties, WWE experienced a loss of talent as many stars left for the greener pastures and reduced schedule of WCW. Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ted DiBiase, Sean Waltman, and Roddy Piper were among those who made the move with varying degrees of success. When asked by Ariel Helwani for BT Sport if he ever considered joining the exodus, The Undertaker admitted that he did think about it due to the “ridiculous characters” that were being showcased in WWE at the time. He said,
“Yeah, kind of through Kevin Nash. We were in this period of time where we had, and this kind of funny for me to say, but we had all these ridiculous characters. WCW was doing all this cutting-edge stuff, but I think, to answer in the short, no. But did I think about it? Yeah. Did I have an opportunity to? Yeah.”
“My deal would have been coming up, but it was more frustration with what we were currently doing, and just feeling like we were stale and behind the times, and we were so kid-driven. Our demographic was nine-to-twelve-year-olds, and their demographic down in WCW was 18-34, 18-36 demographic, doing so much more cutting-edge stuff.”
However, The Undertaker ultimately decided not to leave WWE. He revealed that the words of former WCW booker Ole Anderson played a role in his decision to stay. Anderson had told The Deadman that he would never draw money in wrestling as long as he was with WCW. This stuck with The Undertaker and fueled his determination to prove Anderson wrong.
“That was appealing, but there was never… even though it was completely different people, it was WCW that told me that I’d never draw a dime in this business. As much as I used that for fuel, as open-minded as I think I am and as I’ve matured, you would think like, ‘Okay, don’t be stupid. Take the money.’ But that always hung out there. ‘You’re a great athlete. No one will ever pay money to see you wrestle.’
“Thank goodness [they were wrong]. That was fuel, man. That was fuel for me to give everything I had to what I probably thought was my last real go at something. I’ve had a few doors slammed in my face, but that one really stung because that’s where I wanted to be. I wanted to be in WCW when I went there as Mean Mark, and then to be told, ‘Nah.’ Okay. Next step.’”
