An appreciation of Houston’s scariest wrestler
Calaway’s character spent nearly 30 years punishing foes in the ring. Now apparently he needs a new hip
One month after what appeared to be his final match, the Undertaker — the scariest wrestler to emerge from Houston — was spotted going into the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Reports last month suggested Mark William Calaway needed hipreplacement surgery after more than three decades of wrestling.
Calaway left his character’s gloves, duster and wide-brimmed hat in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania 33 last month, after the Undertaker endured just his second WrestleMania loss to Roman Reigns.
It was a sad moment for those who have followed Calaway’s career, which started in the mid-’80s in World Class Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling before he found his way to the World Wrestling Federation in 1990.
He was, at that time, Mean Mark Callous: an imposing character sporting a mullet and chaps — the mullet was de rigueur for the era, the chaps more stylistically and functionally ill advised.
Before he was Callous, Calaway was a basketball star in Houston, playing for Waltrip High School. At 6 feet 10 inches, he was a force in the paint and continued to play hoops in college. He had an offer to play basketball professionally in France, but Calaway went in a different direction.
In 1990 he introduced Kane the Undertaker, with the trench coat and hat that would become iconic. He quickly became a fan favorite.
Calaway’s Undertaker persona would undergo all sorts of changes and stages over 27 years. As the Deadman, he seemed a natural “heel.” But with such a dark persona, he was a fascinating “face” as well.
And he was a durable performer, outlasting peers from three different decades in a field that does horrible things to a body.
My favorite memory will be his 1998 Hell in a Cell match with Mick Foley’s Mankind, which set a standard that pretty much ruined future Hell in a Cell matches.
Undertaker’s tossing Mankind off the top of the cell was just the first gasp-inducing moment. But the event had another 15 minutes of punishing wrestling to follow.
That’s entertainment, albeit the most punishing variety. Foley really took the brunt of this particular match. But you don’t stick around professional wrestling 30-plus years without taking some knocks. So hopefully Calaway’s recovery is a swift one allowing him to enjoy the action inside the ring without having to step inside it himself.