The Undertaker went through a lot of gimmick changes over the course of his long career that lasted for three decades. No other character in the world of sports entertainment has continued wrestling for such a long time and hence some changes to his character were needed. Otherwise, fans could feel tired of seeing his dark character.
Additionally, The Undertaker had one more reason to introduce a revamped persona of him, The American Badass. Years later of the debut, that persona was back in his WrestleMania program with AJ Styles. That return of The Deadman riding on a motorcycle gave goosebumps to a lot of fans. Additionally, it also brought back nostalgia for some of them.
The Undertaker: Michelle McCool On Favorite Match Of Her Husband In WWE
The Undertaker Claimed To Be Shackled In WWE By Deadman Character
While speaking to Extraaa Dhamaal, The Undertaker discussed his initial transition to the American Badass character. He was “shackled” by The Deadman persona as he could not cut promos with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. He needed that new edge where he could verbally battle them. But the transition of stepping down from the mythical character was nerve-wracking for him.
“It was extremely nerve-racking because I didn’t know how the audience would accept it. I felt like I needed to make that change for a little while. One, just to freshen myself up a little bit. Two, when I made this move you had guys like The Rock and you had Stone Cold and all these guys that cut these promos. There was, I think the word I used best was, I was kinda shackled with what I could do,” The Undertaker added.
“I couldn’t compete on the mic without being able to lift some of the vale off the character a little bit always knowing that I wanted to go back but I needed to step out of it, kinda exhale and it shows some different things that the original undertaker couldn’t really do that made sense to the characters. So it kind of took all those chains off of me and freed me up to do all the things I wanted to do athletically and some of the promos I wanted to cut and kind of be that American Bad Ass guy.” (Transcription by Ringside News)
After enjoying The American Badass persona, The Undertaker eventually transitioned back to the Deadman character. But some of the aspects of the biker gimmick were kept intact. Thus, he continued to evolve in the eyes of the fans so that his character remains fresh for them.
During the same conversation, The Undertaker talked about having a close relationship with Vince McMahon. He is slated to give his Final Farewell at Survivor Series by attending the show, live-in-person. When The Phenome attends WWE ThunderDome for the thirtieth anniversary of his career, he wants to give a tight hug to the WWE Chairman as they share a warm relation. It might also insist that McMahon could barely resist calling his old friend on bigger occasions even after his final farewell.
