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Cracking article, especially, there's no way Hogan etc would dive onto their heads in a main event 20 years into their career.. Taker doesn't have to either. He chooses to because he's the best.

Quote: People will say the fans consider Undertaker the greatest wrestler in WWE history. He is the most popular wrestler in WWE history. But the one thing that he has, that no other wrestler has, is the respect and admiration of his peers. In other words, they – we, as WWE wrestlers, think he’s the greatest ever. That’s a bigger compliment than being the "The career of Mark Calaway began in World Wrestling Entertainment in 1990. Twenty one years later The Undertaker still reigns as The Phenom. The Legend. The Deadman. The American Badass. Or as WWE is calling him in 2011…The Last Outlaw. Call him whatever you want, but no matter the name the man has earned respect and praise as one of the best wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling. After all, how many wrestlers can say they've been main eventing for the biggest wrestling company in the history of the business for over 20 years? Just one man. The Undertaker.

It would be interesting to go back over twenty years to ask Vince McMahon if he thought the character of The Undertaker would still be a top guy in 2011. I'm sure he'd say something about how he wished it would last that long, but how can you know? It's wrestling. The business is full of characters, some of whom are successes and the majority of whom are failures in some way. Think about how many truly awful wrestling characters we've seen over the years. The Undertaker is still here. That's the most impressive thing about him to me. Why did he last so long? It's a combination of the company believing him, the ability to work at a high level, to overcome injuries and most importantly the talent he possesses.

"People will say the fans consider Undertaker the greatest wrestler in WWE history. He is the most popular wrestler in WWE history. But the one thing that he has, that no other wrestler has, is the respect and admiration of his peers. In other words, they – we, as WWE wrestlers, think he’s the greatest ever. That’s a bigger compliment than being the "greatest ever" from fans. For his size, his speed, his skill, his psychology, everything about him, his look – he has the total package which makes the WWE special because you can take a man like him and make him your top player. And obviously he’s done it for so long and this company has done so well for so long – why? Because the Undertaker’s been on top. He is without a doubt the greatest ever." - Kurt Angle

There are a lot of reasons we can look at as to why The Undertaker is as legendary as he is. Let's break it down into categories.

The Entrance
The lights go out, the gong hits, that eerie music plays, the lightning strikes up and the slowest entrance in the history of wrestling begins. It's magical. It's that entertainment part of the business that attracts a lot of fans to it. I can remember being 11 years old, going to a WWF house show in 1991 and watching The Undertaker, as a heel, walk down to the ring. I was sitting in the second row right by the ring. He walked to the ring and every kid sitting near me was just as petrified as I was. That's called owning the crowd. He demanded respect even in his first year as a 26 year old that could barely work. They gave him a manager in Paul Bearer because it added to his persona, but it also helped get the character across as a badass. He barely spoke. It added to the mystique. That's the kind of presence every wrestler wishes they had. When he entered the building you watched him. The entrance was a big part of that.

Even during the American Badass era the entrance was cool because it was Undertaker riding to the ring on a motorcycle, circling his opponent, starting at them and intimidating him. I like how even when he ditched the Deadman gimmick he still did the intimidation tactics before his matches. While I'm sure Vince McMahon played a big part in creating all of it, I'm sure Taker had a big hand it in himself too. Part of the mystique of The Undertaker is that eerie feeling you get when he makes his way down the aisle. It's all part of the gimmick. It works.

The Look
There's no wrestler in the history of wrestling that has changed his look more than The Undertaker. His contemporaries like Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Steve Austin, Kurt Angle and others all looked relatively the same throughout the majority of their careers. Not The Undertaker. While it's true that black has been the color of choice for his entire run the look has been altered many times too.

Look at what The Undertaker was at the beginning.

From there his look changed a lot. He went to the purple gloves at one point. I don't think that was a good look. Thankfully it didn't last long. Then he dumped the multiple colors and went all black, which has become his signature. He had that demonic heel run in 1999 with the Ministry of Darkness where he looked more evil than ever. The American Badass era saw him rock the bandana and he had a totally different look. Remember this?

When he returned at WrestleMania 20 in 2004 he reverted back to his more current look for the last seven years or so. I think his ability to change his look shows how smart he is. You have to do that to stay relevant. The look of The Undertaker has been an important part of his success.

"He's like the Madonna of wrestling. And what I mean by that is he's not like some blonde big-breasted girl, he's always stayed ahead of the curve, and just when things start to get a little bit stale, he changes his look, his costume, his character. He was like the biker Undertaker, but that leather trenchcoat was a connection to the old Undertaker, so people didn't see a completely new character right off the bat. They had sort of a slow transition from the guy that they knew to the guy that they were going to know." - Chris Jericho, "My Yard" DVD

The Promos
You can break up the promos into two parts. There are the majority of the promos that have taken place while he has been The Deadman and there are the promos that took place while he was more humanized as a character in 1997 and 1998 as well as when he returned from injury in 2000 through 2003 when he was the American Badass. I loved his promo work during that run. It made you realize that there was more to this guy that simply staring at people and being an indimidating monster.

It was rare for him to have a long monologue where he spoke to the audience except during the aforementioned "humanized" runs as I like to call them. The majority of his promos were usually short and sweet. That's what made them work. I can remember infamous promos like when he once said. I was afraid I was going to fail. I had never before woken up wondering whether somebody was a better wrestler than me." - Ric Flair, Ottawa Sun interview, 2002

#11 WrestleMania 19