The Undertaker Reveals Slow & Stiff Walk To The Ring Was Due To Nervous Tension

The Undertaker is set to give his Final Farewell at WWE’s Survivor Series event on November 22nd. That gimmick, originally conceived by Vince McMahon, entertained millions around the world. It wasn’t always easy stepping into that morbid mystique.

The National News recently spoke to The Undertaker about his character’s beginning. He said it was all Vince McMahon, and Taker took that vision and ran with it. He also revealed something very interesting about the Deadman’s iconic walk. That stiffness wasn’t all intentional because he was legitimately nervous about the entire experience.

“The character, the likeness, the name, Vince had all that,” Calaway says. “It was all his brainchild. He was just waiting for somebody to come along that he felt would fill that gimmick. I think he needed a big guy with no personality and here I come knocking on the door. I gravitated to the character immediately.”

“That stiff, slow walk, that was more nerves than it was character at that time. I was extremely nervous. I knew waiting in the ring were the likes of Bret Hart, Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart, Dusty Rhodes, Koko B Ware, all these guys and I’m about to go out there and annihilate all of them,” he says. “Needless to say, I was extremely nervous, thinking ‘don’t trip, don’t fall’ – it could have been all over before it got started.”

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The Undertaker will make his way to the ring inside the ThunderDome at Survivor Series. It’s unclear exactly what WWE has in store for his “final farewell,” but after digging holes and burying souls for 30 years he’s much better at making that long walk to the ring.