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There actually isn't one. It was never explained. He started getting humanized in 1998/99, even as his culty Ministry character was developed. But as 1999 wore on, he started cutting more promos and wearing more casual clothing in backstage segments.
when he returned in 2000, it was just something they went with. And when he went back to The Deadman in 2004, it was just something they went with.
I distinctly remember that Taker went on a buried alive match as the American Badass and lost that one when Kane interfered. I remembered that cause watching that as a kid I really thought Taker actually died lmao. Then on his return, he was repackaged as The Deadman on Wrestlemania 20 facing Kane
The "eulogy" segment where Kane explained why he buried his brother is the closest we got to an explanation for Undertaker's character transformations.
Kane's explanation was that Undertaker used to be a monster who strikes fear in people, before he became one of the people (behaving like a human and showing compassion to people in ways he did not before). So, Kane decided to kill the Undertaker rather than let him continue making a mockery of himself.
So, when the Undertaker returned for their WrestleMania match, he gave Kane what he wanted: a return to being the monster who strikes fear in his opponent's heart.
I wonder if there was a plan to gradually transition his Ministry character into ABA as his tension with the Big Show built up during the Unholy Alliance storyline if he didn't get hurt.
Yeah, it was Taker vs Vince - Kane interfered in the match and attacked Taker and he was buried alive. Then he began to haunt Kane and returned to the Deadman persona.
The only thing that makes sense is he is mentally deranged and people around him helped make his delusional fantasies real.
Paul Bearer was an evil manipulator who made it initially possible with Brother Love's help.
Dibiase could have bankrolled the light show, putting the capital down to buy the tools.
Once he splits from Bearer, his personality shifts. Still delusional, Vince McMahon sees money in him and keeps the ruse going.
In 2000, he gets on meds and becomes his true self.
Then he goes away, Bearer comes back and twists his mind.
He murders Bearer when he figures it out.
Then, as he is guilty of murder, he keeps up the insanity charade to avoid prosecution.
They never really explained it but my theory as a kid was that the effects of the urn was wearing off as time went by and you could see it even when he was a cult leader Ministry Taker. ABA was just who he actually was when the effects wore off until he got buried and resurrected by Paul Bearer in 2004.
My take is that he started as a mindless undead reliant on the urn to keep himself together. Eventually, he outgrew the urn and became sapient. What do you do as a person with thoughts and feelings now? Ya look for power.
After that, he began regaining memories of his past life as a biker, trying to reclaim his humanity. This got him buried alive. Although burying him didn't kill him (as he's undead), it reminded him that try as he may, he'll never be "just" human again. He leans more into his supernatural aspects and apparently finds out he has cool dead man powers!
He gradually learns to accept both his human and deadman sides, merging them over time up until the Boneyard Match.
If I remember after the Ministry went under (this would be mid-late 1999 when he was tagging with Big Show), Paul Bearer fucked off with the urn, and since that was the source of Taker's supernatural powers, he was reduced to just a man once more. When he was buried at Survivor Series 2003, I reckon Bearer spawned back in and resurrected him with the urn, but this time Taker- now a little older and more experienced than he would've been in 1994 (his first "death" was in the Royal Rumble that year), is able to retain some semblance of mental control. Thus, a hybrid Deadman is born, with the memories and a smidge of the ABA persona, and all of the Deadman's powers
He was alive originally, then 'died' when he lost a casket match to Yokozuna, I think. That's when they put him in the corpse makeup and such. Then he just kind of transitioned bit by bit back to being more normal.
Not really, they always portrayed him as a deadman. As early as 1991, the commentators would talk about how Undertaker was “cold to the touch.” Taker would roll his eyes back in his head e even then, and the quick sit up he did was straight out of a zombie movie.
The whole thing with the urn (which also was introduced in 1991) was that it held some type of mystical power over this undead zombie man.
They pretty much always played at the idea that the Undertaker was dead. Taker himself said that in his first year or two on TV, people would come up to him in the airport and ask “are you *really* dead?”
I have a headcanon about how the Undertaker was able to be an undead zombie cult leader with magic powers but it’s been downvoted to hell multiple times so it’s going to remain a headcanon from now on.
As for officially? No. That would require a level of thought that has never been put into a WWE storyline.
It’s weird looking back how me and my brothers never questioned why he became the American Badass character, he just seemed so cool with the motorbike and the new costume that we never thought about what he was before.
I always felt The Undertaker was the worst mainstream gimmick in wrestling and Mark one for the weakest wrestlers. Terrific performer, though. Outstanding.
Though I always disliked the stupidity of WWE. I'm not and never have been a fan of their main line product. I grew up watching pro wrestling in the 70s. WWE isn't my thing for exactly the reason of gimmicks like the Undertaker and how silly it was.
You ever seen the Incredibles?
I think too many people complained about him having powers in the same way that people complained about superheroes. It “wasn’t fair” apparently…meanwhile nobody said anything about the drugs everybody else was on because that’s just normal.
So he was placed on a Relocation program but unfortunately the guy running the program was Eugene so he was placed in the same company he was hiding from. So as a cover story, he started claiming that the Underfaker aka Brian Lee had been the real Undertaker the entire time and he was the fake Taker aka the real Taker who was a Biker
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There actually isn't one. It was never explained. He started getting humanized in 1998/99, even as his culty Ministry character was developed. But as 1999 wore on, he started cutting more promos and wearing more casual clothing in backstage segments. when he returned in 2000, it was just something they went with. And when he went back to The Deadman in 2004, it was just something they went with.
I distinctly remember that Taker went on a buried alive match as the American Badass and lost that one when Kane interfered. I remembered that cause watching that as a kid I really thought Taker actually died lmao. Then on his return, he was repackaged as The Deadman on Wrestlemania 20 facing Kane
The "eulogy" segment where Kane explained why he buried his brother is the closest we got to an explanation for Undertaker's character transformations. Kane's explanation was that Undertaker used to be a monster who strikes fear in people, before he became one of the people (behaving like a human and showing compassion to people in ways he did not before). So, Kane decided to kill the Undertaker rather than let him continue making a mockery of himself. So, when the Undertaker returned for their WrestleMania match, he gave Kane what he wanted: a return to being the monster who strikes fear in his opponent's heart.
Well the deadman in 2004 was because he was literally buried alive, most people at the time assumed he'd return as spooky taker and not ABA.
I wonder if there was a plan to gradually transition his Ministry character into ABA as his tension with the Big Show built up during the Unholy Alliance storyline if he didn't get hurt.
Yeah, it was Taker vs Vince - Kane interfered in the match and attacked Taker and he was buried alive. Then he began to haunt Kane and returned to the Deadman persona.
even undead wizards have mid life crisises
Riding motorcycles through the desert with the big show just does something to a person
I wish my midlife crisis got me a bike, I just have meds and therapy.
Having a motorcycle IS my therapy.
There's something deeply sad about a lich getting super into limp bizkit
Idk, man. You live (or experience unlife) long enough, and you start to think that maybe everything IS fucked, and everybody DOES suck...
The only thing that makes sense is he is mentally deranged and people around him helped make his delusional fantasies real. Paul Bearer was an evil manipulator who made it initially possible with Brother Love's help. Dibiase could have bankrolled the light show, putting the capital down to buy the tools. Once he splits from Bearer, his personality shifts. Still delusional, Vince McMahon sees money in him and keeps the ruse going. In 2000, he gets on meds and becomes his true self. Then he goes away, Bearer comes back and twists his mind. He murders Bearer when he figures it out. Then, as he is guilty of murder, he keeps up the insanity charade to avoid prosecution.
explain the thunder and the fires?
Rich guys set it all up. They whispered in his ear over time he had this weird power. In reality, they used money and influence to fake it.
 What about Kurt?
I don't know but I'm now going to be referring to the post American badass Undertaker as a sorcerer so thank you
Not sure about the lore from start to ABA. But Kane buried ABA and he came back as an undead aba at wm20
[Undertaker quits here before returning later with ABA music](https://youtu.be/YMuzpO8HSd0?si=8iMTpisiB5pNYHlv)
Vince buried him. Kane just helped. That was the match where Vince bled and it was just gushing out.
They never really explained it but my theory as a kid was that the effects of the urn was wearing off as time went by and you could see it even when he was a cult leader Ministry Taker. ABA was just who he actually was when the effects wore off until he got buried and resurrected by Paul Bearer in 2004.
I like this . Paul lost control of the urn freeing Taker
The power of the urn, brother
My take is that he started as a mindless undead reliant on the urn to keep himself together. Eventually, he outgrew the urn and became sapient. What do you do as a person with thoughts and feelings now? Ya look for power. After that, he began regaining memories of his past life as a biker, trying to reclaim his humanity. This got him buried alive. Although burying him didn't kill him (as he's undead), it reminded him that try as he may, he'll never be "just" human again. He leans more into his supernatural aspects and apparently finds out he has cool dead man powers! He gradually learns to accept both his human and deadman sides, merging them over time up until the Boneyard Match.
If I remember after the Ministry went under (this would be mid-late 1999 when he was tagging with Big Show), Paul Bearer fucked off with the urn, and since that was the source of Taker's supernatural powers, he was reduced to just a man once more. When he was buried at Survivor Series 2003, I reckon Bearer spawned back in and resurrected him with the urn, but this time Taker- now a little older and more experienced than he would've been in 1994 (his first "death" was in the Royal Rumble that year), is able to retain some semblance of mental control. Thus, a hybrid Deadman is born, with the memories and a smidge of the ABA persona, and all of the Deadman's powers
Idk but I love that you can describe him as a lich. I find that hilarious.
He was alive originally, then 'died' when he lost a casket match to Yokozuna, I think. That's when they put him in the corpse makeup and such. Then he just kind of transitioned bit by bit back to being more normal.
Not really, they always portrayed him as a deadman. As early as 1991, the commentators would talk about how Undertaker was “cold to the touch.” Taker would roll his eyes back in his head e even then, and the quick sit up he did was straight out of a zombie movie. The whole thing with the urn (which also was introduced in 1991) was that it held some type of mystical power over this undead zombie man. They pretty much always played at the idea that the Undertaker was dead. Taker himself said that in his first year or two on TV, people would come up to him in the airport and ask “are you *really* dead?”
The only thing that was ever explained was that he died at Survivor Series 2003 and thus became the Deadman again.
He's the undertaker
Vibes.
Midlife crisis
I have a headcanon about how the Undertaker was able to be an undead zombie cult leader with magic powers but it’s been downvoted to hell multiple times so it’s going to remain a headcanon from now on. As for officially? No. That would require a level of thought that has never been put into a WWE storyline.
Why can't zombies ride motorbikes?
I hated Biker Taker... never understood how that became a thing and glad it died
ABA was kinda prototyped in Manchester, UK two years before he officially debuted.
It’s weird looking back how me and my brothers never questioned why he became the American Badass character, he just seemed so cool with the motorbike and the new costume that we never thought about what he was before.
That’s actually a fairly standard life progression if you begin as a zombie.
When you get stuck in the desert with Big Show, you come back a changed (dead)man.
He's a real life Pokemon who kept evolving
He just liked to have fun maggle
I always felt The Undertaker was the worst mainstream gimmick in wrestling and Mark one for the weakest wrestlers. Terrific performer, though. Outstanding. Though I always disliked the stupidity of WWE. I'm not and never have been a fan of their main line product. I grew up watching pro wrestling in the 70s. WWE isn't my thing for exactly the reason of gimmicks like the Undertaker and how silly it was.
You ever seen the Incredibles? I think too many people complained about him having powers in the same way that people complained about superheroes. It “wasn’t fair” apparently…meanwhile nobody said anything about the drugs everybody else was on because that’s just normal. So he was placed on a Relocation program but unfortunately the guy running the program was Eugene so he was placed in the same company he was hiding from. So as a cover story, he started claiming that the Underfaker aka Brian Lee had been the real Undertaker the entire time and he was the fake Taker aka the real Taker who was a Biker