5 most fascinating backstage stories of The Undertaker

The Undertaker in undoubtedly one of the greatest professional wrestlers to step inside a wrestling ring and is arguably WWE's most celebrated Superstar today. With a career spanning over three decades, the Deadman has nothing left to achieve in the business, and even today manages to evoke a response like no other Superstar whenever he steps out in front of an audience.

Starting out as a rookie in 1990-91 in WWE, Undertaker remained loyal to Vince McMahon since day one and for this, he was given the responsibility of being the leader of the locker room. Through the years there have been some truly fascinating stories associated with the Undertaker narrated by industry veterans like Bruce Prichard, Triple H, Paul Bearer and others.

As we come close to the inevitable end of a legendary career, let us have a look at five fascinating backstage stories about The Undertaker.

Honourable mention:

For some unfathomable reason, The Undertaker is said to be mortally afraid of cucumbers! Paul Bearer and Owen Hart are known to have pulled a number of pranks on the Deadman because of his irrational fear.

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#5 Judge of Wrestlers' Court

The undisputed leader backstage

The legend of the Wrestlers' Court is one of the more interesting locker room stories in the pro wrestling business. With a locker room full of men, all fighting for the top position in a competitive company, issues are bound to come up pretty often.

Well, whenever any issue got out of hand, the boys backstage settled the matter in what has come to be known as Wrestlers' Court, with none other The Undertaker acting as the judge, since he was the undisputed leader of the locker room as long as he was around. Triple H is said to have filled in during 'Taker's absence sometimes, with JBL usually acting as the prosecution.

After hearing both parties, the punishment was meted out - the guilty party usually had to pick up the food and drinks tab of the whole locker room. Only issues that couldn't be resolved here would reach Vince McMahon.

#4 The time he choked out Kurt Angle

A misunderstanding led to Angle being rendered unconscious by the Deadman!

Now, this is a story narrated by Kurt Angle himself in his autobiography It’s True, It’s True and is said to have happened on a plane from Europe back to the US after a tour. Angle apparently liked to constantly assert himself as the toughest guy in the locker room, with good reason perhaps, since he did win an Olympic Gold Medal with a broken freakin' neck!

On the plane ride, in a conversation with Angle, Vince McMahon apparently jokingly pointed out that he had once taken Kurt Angle down, which led to Angle jumping the boss and pinning him to the ground, all in jest. While the rest of the people on the plane that whatever was happening was not serious, The Undertaker was asleep and woke up with a start due to the commotion.

As soon as he woke up, seeing his boss being pinned down by Angle, The Deadman apparently got a hold of the Olympic Gold Medallist and choked him unconscious! Once it became clear that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding, he is said to have apologised to Angle, who took the whole incident sportingly.

#3 His biker persona

The gimmick was based on 'Taker's real-life persona

In May 2000, after being out of action for around six to eight months due to injury, The Undertaker returned in a completely different avatar. Gone was the mortician gimmick and the funeral march, instead replaced by a biker persona, who rode out to the ring in a motorcycle wearing sunglasses and a bandanna. While fans are divided about this particular gimmick change, there was one person who was not a fan of the change - Vince McMahon.

But it was The Undertaker himself who insisted on portraying a character very close to his real-life persona, against the wishes of his boss. He was also of the opinion that once he debuted this gimmick, there was no going back. According to Bruce Prichard, Vince and he disagreed with 'Taker on this and thought of the new look as temporary.

While his new persona was received quite well by the fans at the time, The Phenom ended up going back to his older gimmick in 2004.

#2 Threatening Shawn Michaels without saying a word

Michaels was known for being difficult to work with during his first run

During his first run in the late 1990s in WWE, Michaels was infamous for being extremely difficult to work with. In fact, this reached such a point that there were rumblings in the air about whether Michaels would really go through with dropping his Title to Stone Cold in the main event of WrestleMania 14.

As narrated by Bruce Prichard on his podcast, it was The Undertaker who took it upon himself to make sure that Michaels does the needful. As HBK was about to make his entrance, 'Taker sat in the gorilla position, wrapping up his arms in a way that Michaels got the message he would have to answer to The Deadman if something did not go right.

This is what Prichard had to say about the incident:

"Undertaker was seated directly in front of me and he sat there and wrapped his hands as Shawn Michaels made his way to the ring. There was a subliminal message there, 'I'm going to be right here when you come back to make sure you do business'. That was the message."

#1 His advise to Triple H

HHH and Stephanie have been married for 15 years now

Triple H's relationship with Stephanie McMahon was off to a rocky start initially, with many controversies surrounding the entire affair (no pun intended). In fact, The Game is once said to have asked the Undertaker's advise regarding his relationship.

Now, HHH was worried about how the world would look at his relationship with Stephanie as she was the boss' daughter. The Undertaker is believed to have told Hunter not to worry too much about what anyone thinks, and to just continue with his relationship if that his what he truly wants, as people would always judge him for marrying the Chairman's daughter, no matter what he did or said.

It looks like the advise worked out quite well for the couple, as they are happily married to date and are at the helm of the company backstage.