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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Mar 13, 2012 18:18:01 GMT -5
Was it ever answered how he became the deadman?
I never really questioned it but I have always wondered how his character died.
For example who was he? What was his life like? Was he a wrestler before he died & came back to fulfill his purpose? It's as if his character just "was" & they just ran with it. Just to clear things up he is one of my favorites & someone I respected character wise long before I really took to him so don't call me a troll.
I'm sure this is going to get me loads of crap from all of you as all of my posts have considering I have a more theatrical point of view of things & can't find any info on his origin story wise. I know he was "Mean" Mark Callous & a slew of various flash in the pan gimmicks in the late 80s in WCW but I still wonder how his character came to be.
Thought I'd start the discussion since I really don't see how anyone can argue for a better finish to his truly enigmatic career.
So *Fires gunshot* And they're off!
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Post by Nivro™ on Mar 13, 2012 18:27:14 GMT -5
I dont think he was ever suppose to be considered actually dead...like a Zombie. I always took it that he was, what his name said.....An Undertaker. He just got the Deadman name because of his gimmick involvement with dead people.
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Post by Lewscher on Mar 13, 2012 18:29:33 GMT -5
every one in the 'golden era' had a gimmick, this was what he had. i cant think of many people from the 80's that wrestled as themselves and not as a character. you had guys from the mountie, to a cop, a snake handler, deadman, rich guy, the giant, clown, bushwackers. These guys played their character(i know i didnt name names, point was thats how some are known to the less than casual fan), now its just the guy wrestling and takers legacy has gone with the times, and lasted, how it origionated i guess was someone back then thought this gimmick and he played it well and it stuck.
(this being partly why i feel wwe has gone down hill since not being wwf, if you want to see people fight, you go to boxing or ufc, wrestling just isn't it anymore. gimmicks helped alot back then i feel)
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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Mar 13, 2012 19:14:51 GMT -5
Now that you mention it that makes a lot of sense but at the same time how did Paul Bearer's control over him with the urn come into play? I still like the idea of a wrestler who died & his spirit was so convicted about not fulfilling his life's purpose he made a deal with Satan to return as the deadman. Thus his brother was the devil's favorite demon, he couldn't be hurt for the most part etc etc etc. Thanks for the help guys. Forgive me I bury myself trying to do homework on it but sometimes I miss the most obvious things.
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Post by Rule 30 on Mar 13, 2012 19:17:20 GMT -5
I honestly thought he had 'officially' died storyline wise at Survivor Series 2003 when Kane buried him alive and he later came back as the Deadman for Wrestlemania.
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Post by mikey1974 on Mar 13, 2012 20:06:04 GMT -5
yeah,there was no "story" for him or anything when he debuted...he just came in as the "Mystery Partner" on Ted DiBiase's Survivor Series team in 1990 ,and they just ran with it...no mention of a previous life,or career,or anything.... the Deadman stuff just cam about because his character look was based on an old-west type of undertaker ( hence working with dead bodies). ended up with "Paul Bearer" (an obvious play on words) , had the urn, used caskets from time to time, the Funeral Parlor interview segment, finisher called the "Tombstone" Piledriver....so basically it wasn't so much about him being "dead" in the beginning,as much as it was he surrounded himself with the death motif...
and,actually, Penguin, he "died" storyline-wise for the first time at the Royal Rumble 1994 where he was destroyed by Yokozuna and like 12 other guys, the urn destroyed,placed in a casket,and wheeled away,until his "spirit" rose out of the arena and up to "heaven"...after that,the Deadman persona took on a more supernatural type of resonance,and the idea that he was resurrected at SummerSlam 1994,and therefore couldn't be killed or destroyed,was played up basically til the end of 1996,when he started to become more "human"...
but before 1994,he was basically just a tough guy who was really hard to stop or keep down,that surrounded himself and his persona in a death motif...
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Post by Rule 30 on Mar 13, 2012 20:23:31 GMT -5
yeah,there was no "story" for him or anything when he debuted...he just came in as the "Mystery Partner" on Ted DiBiase's Survivor Series team in 1990 ,and they just ran with it...no mention of a previous life,or career,or anything.... the Deadman stuff just cam about because his character look was based on an old-west type of undertaker ( hence working with dead bodies). ended up with "Paul Bearer" (an obvious play on words) , had the urn, used caskets from time to time, the Funeral Parlor interview segment, finisher called the "Tombstone" Piledriver....so basically it wasn't so much about him being "dead" in the beginning,as much as it was he surrounded himself with the death motif... and,actually, Penguin, he "died" storyline-wise for the first time at the Royal Rumble 1994 where he was destroyed by Yokozuna and like 12 other guys, the urn destroyed,placed in a casket,and wheeled away,until his "spirit" rose out of the arena and up to "heaven"...after that,the Deadman persona took on a more supernatural type of resonance,and the idea that he was resurrected at SummerSlam 1994,and therefore couldn't be killed or destroyed,was played up basically til the end of 1996,when he started to become more "human"... but before 1994,he was basically just a tough guy who was really hard to stop or keep down,that surrounded himself and his persona in a death motif... Right, Royal Rumble 94 completely slipped my mind on that one. |
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jeffro2000
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Post by jeffro2000 on Mar 13, 2012 22:12:02 GMT -5
He was a carpenter, Joe Schmitt, from Wisconsin. He was working on a home for former wrestler Ed "Strangler" Lewis in 1952 when he mysteriously died. Appeared to be a freak carpentry accident, but no one knows for sure. Lewis was blind by this time, so he didn't know what happened supposedly. How Paul Bearer found the urn which ultimately bought him back to life is a story for another day.
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Post by kazoosandstreamers on Mar 13, 2012 22:16:16 GMT -5
He was a carpenter, Joe Schmitt, from Wisconsin. He was working on a home for former wrestler Ed "Strangler" Lewis in 1952 when he mysteriously died. Appeared to be a freak carpentry accident, but no one knows for sure. Lewis was blind by this time, so he didn't know what happened supposedly. How Paul Bearer found the urn which ultimately bought him back to life is a story for another day. Pretty sure this is true. |
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koreygunz
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Post by koreygunz on Mar 14, 2012 11:08:12 GMT -5
His original manager was Brother Love, so I think the whole urn and supernatural characteristics kind of evolved from year to year. That wasnt the intention when he first debuted.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 19:32:52 GMT -5
yeah his character and the role of PB were constantly in flux.......the opo for his return at SSlam 94 was mental too.
to this day his feud with Mankind is still one of the best examples of how to get someone over.kudos to Callaway for that.
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Post by Rule 30 on Mar 14, 2012 19:59:27 GMT -5
yeah his character and the role of PB were constantly in flux.......the opo for his return at SSlam 94 was mental too. to this day his feud with Mankind is still one of the best examples of how to get someone over.kudos to Callaway for that. 'Taker has always been great at putting guys over, no question about it. Everyone from Lesnar, to Orton, to Edge, to Batista, to Mr. Kennedy. And probably someone else I'm forgetting. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 20:11:13 GMT -5
yeah his character and the role of PB were constantly in flux.......the opo for his return at SSlam 94 was mental too. to this day his feud with Mankind is still one of the best examples of how to get someone over.kudos to Callaway for that. 'Taker has always been great at putting guys over, no question about it. Everyone from Lesnar, to Orton, to Edge, to Batista, to Mr. Kennedy. And probably someone else I'm forgetting. true.his work with Lesnar was unreal. he allowed himself to be brutalised by Lesnar AND wouldnt allow Vince to finish the match early......the ref told him that Vince was worried about his excessive blood loss but Taker knowing how important this match was elected to finish.plus his hand was legit broken. that accidental steps shot that UT took was brutal. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 20:15:29 GMT -5
I just remember Paul Bearer's Raw interview with Lawler where he talks about banging Undertaker's mom.
Then Undertaker set the place on fire thus burning Kane.
I think that is about as much history as we got.
Here:
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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Mar 15, 2012 23:49:19 GMT -5
Thank you for the valuable information guys.
Seriously appreciative!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2012 6:50:28 GMT -5
no problem man-it turned out to be a great thread.
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jakksking1
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Post by jakksking1 on Mar 16, 2012 9:01:24 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure he's died like 6 times on TV. Wasn't a casket set on fire with him in it? Yokozuna killed him too. Mabel f'ed him up, don't know if he died but he wore the phantom of the opera mask.
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Post by mikey1974 on Mar 16, 2012 13:33:52 GMT -5
yeah,he officially "died" 3 times:
Royal Rumble 1994
Royal Rumble 1998 (where Kane beat him up,put him in the casket,and set it on fire)
Survivor Series 2003 ( when Kane buried him alive, though the actual match was against Vince McMahon)
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MonsoonMan
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Post by MonsoonMan on Mar 17, 2012 17:13:05 GMT -5
i used to subscribe to wwf magazine. i remember back when the taker was in his American Badass Days, there was an article at the very end of tha magazine about an exhibit opened at universal studios? it supposedly took people on a tour of undertaker's childhood home or something along those lines. i remember a picture of the undertaker in a denim outfit with his eyes rolled back-standing in a morgue with bloody skeletons on the tables and the caption read something along the lines of-the deadman relives his past in his parents mortuary. EDIT: found a link!! corporate.wwe.com/news/2000/2000_08_10.jsp |
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Post by mikey1974 on Mar 17, 2012 17:27:12 GMT -5
i always considered the " Paul Bearer screwed Taker's mother/ is Kane's father/ place burned down/parents died" storyline to be more to the benefit of setting up Kane for his grand entrance rather than the need for exposition on Taker's background...i mean,at that point Taker had been in the WWF for 6 1/2 years,and nobody cared enough to make a backstory for him til we were told Kane was alive,and on his way....
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