The Undertaker went in-depth on his historic career on Sunday night when he appeared on the Broken Skull Sessions for a sit-down interview with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Early on in the interview Taker went in detail about how he was brought into the WWF by Vince McMahon after leaving WCW, and how he mastered his in-ring persona as “The Deadman.” At one point Austin asked him if there was anybody in the business he went to in order to nail down the character, considering that it was so different compared to what everyone else was doing. Taker could only name one person — Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
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“There’s one guy — Jake. Not so much in my delivery or what I said, but he had such insight into character. Brilliant, brilliant mind. Unbelievable, the insight he gave me in how I put that gimmick together,” he said. “He would listen to Pink Floyd or he would listen to Black Sabbath, which that got me [thinking]. I would look in the Bible at different verses, back then it didn’t bother me as much if I altered it a little. I started looking outside of the box in how to put all this together and become this character.
“He didn’t even tell me this, but I heard him [say], ‘Once the music starts, you are that person.’ I probably took it a step further because I stayed that person for the first probably five, six years,” he added. “But he had so many good, innovative ways to put things together and look at different aspects of the business that no one got.”
Taker then described how he adopted his promo style from Roberts, in how they both speak slowly in a deep voice.
“Jake never was a screamer,” he said. “And that was the one thing I knew I wasn’t going to be. I knew it would always be a slow, methodical promo. And then when Paul Bearer came along it was easy, because he had the high-pitched, squeaky [voice.]”
It’s funny that Taker specifically mentioned Roberts, given that the two clashed at WrestleMania VIII in what would be the second of Undertaker’s 21-straight WrestleMania victories.
Since making his debut for the WWF in 1990, Undertaker has established himself as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time with seven reigns as world champion. His most recent match took place over the summer when he teamed with Roman Reigns to beat Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules.
