Since debuting with WWE in 1990, The Undertaker has always been someone who has been hard to get a read on publicly. For the most part, he’s stayed away from the media and given very few interviews. However, with The Last Ride documentary currently airing on the WWE Network, Taker has been doing more interviews than typical. Recently he appear on the Bill Simmons podcast and made some surprising revelations about his career during what was really a must-hear show with the WWE legend.
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One of the items that The Undertaker discussed was when he really became a locker room leader. Many wrestlers over the years have mentioned that Taker was the leader in the WWE locker room.
“I would have to say around ’95, ’96,” Undertaker said. “That time period is when it became a talking point. Believe me, I had plenty of good times but nothing came before business. I don’t care how late you stayed out the night before or what you did, at bell time it’s go time and you’re not going to be hungover or drag ass because you had a pretty good night the night before. That’s how it started and then people just trusted me.
“I had this connection with Vince and normally when a talent is tight with somebody in the office then there is a stooge, well I never got that. Everybody knew I was able to go and talk to Vince and talk to our talent and give them my perspective and what I had seen. I think they appreciated the fact I didn’t play one side against the other and I was a pretty good spot to start when guys had issues. I handled things in the locker room before they ever had to go to management.”
As the leader of the locker room, Simmons asked Taker if he ever had to get in a fight.
“Never had to go that far,” Taker admitted. “I never presented myself as a bully, I’ve gotten in people’s faces but normally I take somebody away from the group.
“Back in the day, you always knew something bad was going to happen if somebody said ‘Hey can I talk to you in the shower?’ You always had to look over your shoulder if you were walking into the shower because you didn’t know if you were going to get sucker punched or whatever. A lot of times if there was a case where somebody really screwed up, I’d pull them aside and say ‘Look, this isn’t going to fly’.”
[H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcript]
