WWE Survivor Series marks 30th anniversary of the Undertaker’s debut
Survivor Series 2020 will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the debut of WWE legend the Undertaker.
His career has featured many matches that were the first of their kind in the world of sports entertainment.
“Well, you know, you have to prepare mentally,” the Undertaker told Arab News.
“When you’re thinking about your match, you have to look at everything that you’ve done, that led up to that particular match, because obviously if you’re going to have a Buried Alive match, there’s had to have been some serious things happen along the way to get to the point where you want to bury somebody alive,” the WWE legend said.
Setting the tone and motivation in the lead-up to the match was key. “Because with me, it’s always about storytelling. It’s not so much about the moves and all that, it’s always about the story. So, you take that into consideration first and then you figure out.” In addition, the prop stipulations ons of the event needed to be thought ught through, he said.
“So if it’s a Casket match, you know, for preparation, how many any different ways can I use a casket sket to hurt somebody, hurt them bad enough to, you know, incapacitate tate them enough to place their body y in that casket.”
Planning was also important t to work out how the match would ould play out in front of the fans, he said.
“You know, if there’s a lot of those hose matches like Buried Alive and Hell in a Cell, and the Inferno match, tch, that one was interesting. There wasn’t any rehearsing anything on that one, believe me that was just out there doing it and hoping that I wasn’t one that got caught on fire. As morbid as that sounds, I guess it fits with what I do.”
The Undertaker made his debut on Nov. 22, 1990 at the Survivor Series, as the mystery partner for WWE Hall of Fame Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Team.
About one minute into the match, the Undertaker made the elimination for his team in a four versus four traditional Survivor Series match. Since then he has participated in every marquee match — such as Hell in a Cell, Casket, and Punjabi Prison — for the WWE and has won many of them.
During his 30-year run in the WWE, the Undertaker has become widely regarded as one of the greatest attractions in sports entertainment. Luke Winkie of Sports Illustrated listed the Undertaker as the fifth-greatest wrestler of all time.
Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition recognized the Undertaker as having the most consecutive victories at WrestleMania in 2016.
This year’s Survivor
Series, which will be broadcast live from WWE’s
T h u n d e r Dome at the Amway Center in
Orlando, Florida on Nov.
22, fittingly has the tag lines Best of the
Best, Undertaker 30, and the Undertaker’s Final
Farewell.