“They Were the Ones Making the Mistake”: The Undertaker Reacts After He Got Turned Down by His Childhood Hero

Today’s wrestling would be nothing without The Undertaker. The level of wrestling ability, charisma, and dedication to his character that he brought to the table was uncontested in those days and even today. We see many superstars replicate the aura of The Phenom but most fail and the ones that end up achieving that level never reach the same height.

But what about before that transformation? Mark Calaway was a wrestler long before Vince McMahon booked him to become the man to bury souls. And he was a great one at that. A 6’10” giant performing a top rope elbow was spectacular and the ability to be one with the audience was charismatic.

But the promotion before WWE failed to recognize his talent, and that company would suffer the consequences forever. And that company was WCW.

The Undertaker talks about failing to impress his role model, Ole Anderson

In the new documentary series, WWE Legends, The Undertaker sits down to talk about his time before WWE. About his stint in WCW, The Undertaker said, “I had been with WCW for about 8 or 9 months and it was time to start re-negotiating my contract. I was happy there, I liked being in WCW. So, I called in and Ole Anderson was there, who was booking territory at the time.”

“They basically offered me the same deal that I had just worked on. I was like hoping for a little bit of a bump. Ole looks right at me and he goes, ‘Mark, you’re a great athlete, but no one’s ever gonna pay money to watch you wrestle. Woah, I mean, how do you react to that? I mean, this was the passion of my life.”

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“Here’s someone who you look up to and basically telling you that you ain’t got it. That ended up fueling me that much more because then I had a chip over my shoulder. It took my determination to even a higher level, and I knew within me that I had something to offer. And they were the ones making the mistake.”

And this mistake would cost the company heavy, as The Undertaker would soon debut on Survivor Series and the audiences were left mesmerized by the man no one could keep down. In an alternate universe where The Undertaker was part of WCW, in addition to having the undefeatable Goldberg and the enigmatic Sting, WCW would be unstoppable.

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This way we would have seen prime Undertaker versus prime Goldberg as well as the infamous Sting versus Undertaker match. Tell us what you think of The Undertaker being a WCW Legend instead of WWE? Let us know in the comments below.