Rambling about Wrestling #7

I'm a fool to do your dirty work. Oh yes~: A retrospective analysis the dynamic and the development of The Undertaker and his... manager? Caretaker? Dad? Paul Bearer.

CHAPTER 1: The Early Years "Creature Taker" (1990-1992)

Characters: The Undertaker, Paul Bearer, Brother Love (Bruce Prichard), The Ultimate Warrior, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Berzerker, Mr.Fuji, Kamala, Harvey Whippleman, Kimchi,

Brief Mentions: Ted DiBiase, The Gobbldy-Gooker, Miss Elizabeth, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Nailz, Jimmy Hart, Vince McMahon, Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Mr.Perfect.

1990-1992 1993-1994

I'll be frank with you yet again. I have a horrible memory and actually had no memory of writing Rambling about Wrestling #2. This is briefly mentioned, but I promised to bring this into existence. So go ahead and read that first if you want.

1990

I need you to know that a lot of this is going off Peacock. It is completely out of order, and I believe that a good majority of television footage from 1991 is not on Peacock and doesn't appear to be widely available, so what I have found was skimmed from a few YouTube channels what I wouldn't give for chronological character appearances on Peacock, but anyways. The quality of all of these videos is absolutely atrocious, and it really brings out the whole what I like to call "creature" Taker of this era. Because he is constantly obscured in shadow, he solely takes commands, grumbling his lines out through the hiss of VHS static and CRT whine.

This is a weird story. It levels out with time, but it starts off strange. So The Undertaker comes in at the 1990 Survivor Series as the mystery member of Ted DiBiase's team. Please ignore the fact that this is the Survivor Series, where they have the Gobbldy-Gooker. I'm begging you.

Taker is probably the second largest guy they got after Andre The Giant. He's rocking some violet eye shadow and absolutely obliterated eyebrows. For some reason, he's managed by Brother Love, a man some of you might know as Bruce Prichard. Somehow, he maintains a neutral expression for the whole fight as he wallops these guys on the back and neck, spending a lot of his time glaring and palming, like full-on palming the way you would with a basketball, these five men on Dusty Rhode's Dream Team before he gets finagled out of the ring by the man in question, that being Dusty going after Love after Love kicked him while he was down, but because Taker's such a goon, he immediately leaves to help him, disqualifying them both.

He and Brother Love are pretty short compared to the other managing gigs at the time; I'm referencing Jimmy Hart if you're curious. But these two were short-short. Just the usual early manager character, absolutely screaming their head off, and then their guy just gets a few words in. It's kind of funny looking back because you can see the development of the character, having Love refer to him as "Kane the Undertaker." Here (11/20/90), he is also referred to as Kane.

He was more zombie than mind-controlled, as you can see here (11/12/90) and also here (12/12/90). He does what he does, but there is no mystique to it. He tombstones, old schools (technically new schools); he's slow and monstrous to a point, but it's not what we want. He glares, making the referees and jobbers back off, but here's the thing: he's not scaring them.

1991

Everybody realizes that Brother Love sucks, so Taker gets put up for adoption, which gets Paul Bearer into the picture. During Love's talk show segment, aptly titled "The Brother Love Show" (Early 1991), he brings out Taker and tells him he got him a new manager.

He's a real spring chicken; it's shocking to see how young he was up close. His eyes are darting around, and he's kneading his hands as Love rambles on about finding him a manager. Saying he's too busy to manage Taker. You would assume I said adoption as a joke, but I was dead serious.

Paul silently wanders into the funeral march with his usual weird little face; he's introduced as "Brother Bearer." The characters are buddies; Paul looks down like he's in prayer. Love asks his name, and he makes that face,

"Paul~"

Love rambles and you can tell even he's still working on the voice and the makeup as he makes a threat to The Ultimate Warrior before the bit ends and then they're together, and they're like clockwork. Here, on (04/13/91), The Ultimate Warrior enters The Funeral Parlor. Paul taunts him with a coffin covered in the Warrior's insignia, saying that he's scared of Taker. The Warrior grabs Paul by the collar, and they yell at each other,

"You're scared! And you are going to be scared!"

Paul repeats as Warrior talks over him. If you're unfamiliar with the Warrior, know that this man is completely out of his mind on cocaine in practically every appearance he makes. He responds to Paul,

"I FEAR NOT THE COLD CHILLS OF THIS PARLOR. MY WARRIORS AND MYSELF FEAR NOT EVEN DEATH."

Paul keeps talking and taunting him as Taker pops out of the coffin and jumps Warrior. Paul cackles and Taker goes to town, palming Warrior and bashing him with an urn, not the urn. They seal the Warrior away in the coffin, and with a wag of his hand, Taker and Paul leave. They start doing a body bag gimmick. I think here (04/27/91), it doesn't last that long. I think it's fun. Paul and Taker get the guy into the bag, and Taker gets a running start and punts the bag, causing it to wiggle, to Paul's absolute delight.

The two work perfectly together; Paul gives cues, and Taker is on them at the snap of his fingers. They're like bread and butter. During a job match on (06/17/91), he praises Taker,

"Ooh~ It's so easy to talk about The Undertaker. Because he's so cold and maniacal. But Ultimate Warrior, next time you meet him, you'll learn a new meaning to being down and dirty. Ah hehehe~"

A quick change to note: instead of "The Undertaker," Paul starts saying, "My Undertaker." I think it's because of how quickly they've cleaned house over that year alone without barely any issue. He's fascinating to watch, considering the stark contrast of how big this guy is and how quickly he can jump people. A great example of this is seen on SuperStars and Stripes Forever (1991) against Tugboat. He full-on jumps him, with not even a moment to breathe before Taker gets the win.

So once again, full-on spring chicken. Taker makes his first friend in Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Jake is enamored with Miss Elizabeth, the manager, and on again off again of Randy Savage. Jake enlists the services of Taker and Paul to really just mess around with the happy couple. You can see the clip here (09/09/91) on an interview involving the two. The trigger is at the wedding reception the lovely couple both get gifts. That being a snake in a box and an urn in the cranium. If you've never seen their wedding, watch SummerSlam 1991. They bury Jake like a bad bury. But the reason they started working together is because Randy gets "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Jake needs some meat on his team.

Oh, and by the way, I didn't feel like counting it as an accomplishment. In Survivor Series 91.

He gets the belt from Hulk Hogan, but honest to god, not even a week later, Hogan gets it back. Because you don't snub me on Thanksgiving Eve, dude. I'm the real monster on this show, brother.

1992

The Funeral Parlor and Wrestlemania 8: Jake "The Snake" Roberts

So remember what I said about Jake. It all fails because it was by all means not a mutual partnership; Taker just wanted a go at Sid Justice, the former semi-face title of the current "Sycho Sid," and Jake gets mad at Taker for not helping him. He interfered to help Taker in this match. They dish this out on, of course, Paul's talk show segment, "The Funeral Parlor." Anyway, Jake takes a turn, and I honestly can't tell if this is a face or heel turn. He demands an answer from Taker,

"You and I have a real problem. I'm standing here and you need to tell me something face to face. Just who in the hell do you think you are? and who's side do you think you're on? You tell me who's side are you on!"

Taker picks up the urn and looks at it. Jake heckles,

"Come on! Tell me! Tell me who's side you're on!" The camera cuts to Taker staring into the urn. Jake continues to heckle as Taker lowers the urn and looks at Paul. He grumbles.

"Not yours."

Jake nabs the urn. Paul makes a noise in shock; it's his talk show, so he's still holding the microphone to Jake.

"Is this what makes you tick? Is this what you need in life? Is this your cross that you have to have brother?*"

*I can't really hear what he's saying. This last sentence might be wrong.

He drops the urn into the prop coffin on stage. Taker goes after it.

"There it is man. Let me tell you something though big boy. I owe you one. Don't turn your back on me, I owe you one."

He slams Taker's other hand in the coffin. Paul panics,

"No!~ You've locked it! What have you done? What have you done?~"

Taker keeps trying to tug his hand out from the coffin in the background before Jake rams Paul with a DDT. Taker, completely thrown off, looks at the downed Paul.

He quickens his pace in trying to free his hand and glares at Jake when he lands a kick on Paul. Jake grabs a chair and rams him several times before he's incapacitated. He takes the mic.

"Ha-ha. So now, as you can see-" Taker rises and glares at Jake. He starts moving, pulling the coffin off of the table.

"Okay, you wanna play for a little bit huh big man? Huh?" Taker is shown to be huffing and puffing, trying to get the coffin completely off the table. "I like to play." He puts the mic down and beckons Taker, chair still in hand. He wallops him yet again, downing Taker.

"Augh, so before I was so rudely interrupted, I was about to say, as you can see-" Taker stands, walking towards him while dragging the coffin, "You're some kind of freak, huh? Yeah, you're a real freak, boy. Come on, I got somethin' else for you." Jake gets him with the chair several more times before he just looks at him. Taker is inching towards him, hand still in the coffin, entirely unaffected by the chair. Jake keeps trying to hit and punch him, yet he continues to march slowly forward before the officials usher Jake away.

Taker is still overpowered at this point, so Jake gets smoked. It's the usual: the person Taker's against moves quickly and swipes at him to no effect. Jake outmaneuvers him and gets him out of the ring, only for Taker to pull on his legs and throw him into the post by Paul's direction. It's a back-and-forth; Jake gets some advantage, but Taker's chokehold is brazen and overpowering. I felt a little sad, though, because I adore Jake Roberts and have a weird taste in men. Bobby Heenan yells on commentary,

"They were friends at one time. Not now!" Gorilla Monsoon responds,

"I don't think The Undertaker ever had a friend. Except for Paul Bearer."

Jake gets the upper hand and DDTs Taker twice. Paul is freaking out on the side, yelling at Taker to get up, which gets Jake's attention. Jake socks him once before Taker rises and tombstones him on the floor, getting the win.

Superstars Feuds: The Berzerker and Kamala

One of the first Peacock available recorded feuds I looked at is between him and The Berzerker on Superstars. (04/25/92) It's literally about a minute in 45 seconds, but it's a good sort of "I don't care, I'm coming to kill you" kind of feud because Berzerker just fully tries to stab him with his sword, which he has. Berzerker is just a guy dressed as a Viking who grunts every second and has a sword; he's with Mr. Fuji. Paul gives the urn to the ref to take off Taker's jacket and hat, but Fuji steals it. Taker mindlessly follows with his hand raised, ready to attack, and Berzerker knocks Paul out of the ring, leaving him out of the match. The Berzerker gets the upper hand and lands Taker on the floor, picking up the padded floor and knocking him to the ground with the mat itself. What a great example of the progression of intensity, by the way. He just knocks him down with the padded mat, and he's out; if that were Mankind, he would have been stomped into the cement. But it's not finished, I guess; the match doesn't really end. Taker gets a pile-driver to the floor, and Berzerker and Fuji are ushered away; the disheveled Paul beckons Taker to rise, and they give chase to the two.

He's slow and methodical. Michael Myers was a huge influence on the character, the rise, and the way he just slowly walks toward his opponents. What a delight! Anyways, Taker is quite literally being controlled by Paul Bearer through actual mind control. Like, the urn contains the ashes of his parents, and that has power over him, and yet he also gains power from it. That's why Paul has it. If Paul beckons him or tells him to do something, he does it. Paul raises the urn and guides his free hand down to motion the tombstone; if Paul beckons, he follows. It's a fascinating dynamic, comparing this with other managers like Sensational Sherri and Shawn Michaels, as well as Jimmy Hart and whoever he has at any moment.

I need you to know that Superstars is also the most jobbery of jobber-killing shows. There is no plot progression or character building whatsoever; it's really once in a blue moon because all of the profitable guys are given skinny white guys with bleached hair and dark mustaches in a bright nylon singlet to obliterate; they leave their name on name-brand wrestler fighting for the pay-per-views. There isn't a lot to work with, and it gets a little repetitive, so there will be some skipping around and working off of my interpretations of the characters. I think, through Paul, we build the current Taker. On (06/20/92), it's Taker v. a skinny white guy with bleached hair and a dark mustache in a bright nylon singlet. It's the usual total obliteration, but what I noticed is that Paul does the throat slit to trigger The Tombstone. And I'm like, "Aw!!"

It's the same deal on (07/11/92) except Berzerker and Fuji interfere, throwing salt in the eyes of Paul and Taker. And that's really where their feud ends, from what I could find, at least.

It's plain and simple. They enter the ring, Paul takes his jacket and hat, and then he points to the jobber in question, making Taker attack. But then we get to Kamala. I'm just going to briefly highlight their feud; pretty much Harvey Whippleman and Kamala's handler Kimchi just go after Taker for the sake of starting a feud. They accept, and we get a bout at Summer Slam. However, something interesting happened on (08/15/92). It's the usual jobber take down, they do scare Kamala and Kimchi because Taker's match was right after theirs.

But he stands, but he goes to do something, probably strike the jobber again or the ref, but Paul comes in and yanks his hair back, making him look at the urn. His head pivots, and he follows. They (Mr.Perfect and Vince McMahon) do not talk about this whatsoever.

Summer Slam and Survivor Series: Kamala

He's a giant man referred to as "The Ugandan Giant. In a large wooden mask and a skirt, holding a shield and a spear, he trots to the ring alongside Kimchi; Whippleman announces his entry and gives the usual praise anyone gives to their guy. It is heavily implied that he is a cannibal; he doesn't talk, nor does Kimchi, but Whippleman threatens that Kamala will cook and eat him. He is deathly afraid of the whole "BONG" of his Taker's theme and jumps the second he hears it. Kimchi attempts to wrangle Kamala, and he eventually calms down before they fight. It's the usual early Taker fight; he just palms him into a corner, and Kamala does the same to him. That was really a big factor of a big guy fighting, just plain slapping. But since Kamala has two guys in his corner, there's bound to be antics as the moment he has Kamala in the tombstone, Kimchi kicks him in the side, disqualifying Kamala. Kamala then proceeded to rail him, splashing him several times and expecting a count before he was ushered out of the ring by the other two. Taker lies motionless; Paul slaps his hand on the ring, causing him to rise immediately, his head on a pivot. He turns to face Kamala, whose eyes go wide, and they turn tail. Since it was a DQ, we're not done. They made their threat known on (09/26/92), and we continue to Survivor Series. Quick note (10/31/92): we will get more name-brand on name brand guys on each other from here on, but on Halloween, we get a very special promo. As Paul welcomes you into,

"My Undertaker's private workshop. Oh yes~ never before in the history of The Survivor Series has there ever been a match so befitting. The coffin match, where the winner is truly the survivor. And the loser, rests in eternal damnation."

Taker bangs away, sanding a piece of wood. Paul moves closer to him, pulling out a schematic drawing of a coffin with Kamala in it.

"Oh my Undertaker, yes my Undertaker has been working night and day on a custom made coffin for you Kamala~" The camera moves close to Taker's expressionless face as he grunts.

"Then on Thanksgiving Eve, My Undertaker will enjoy an early Thanksgiving dinner. While you Kamala, will be the offering to those who dwell down below! Ooh yes!~"

We get the second part on (11/07/92) the third (11/14/92) and the final on (11/21/92). One thing at the start of Survivor that I think is fun is Heenan's response to McMahon as he mentions the coffin match,

"I think Kamala is in big trouble. This is not his kind of a match- he may be taking the last ride!"

Another thing they need to bring back is cosplay. Because it is a delight spotting these people in the crowd. I wonder how these people are doing nowadays.

It's the usual, as I've mentioned before, big guy fighting in all sincerity. Drops, slaps, rises, falls, urns, etc. Taker gets knocked down after a third slam, and in an attempt to give him power, Paul gets on the apron and is knocked down by Kimchi. The urn lies in the ring, and Kimchi points at Kamala to get it. When he does, Taker rises, causing Kamala to drop it. Taker grabs the urn and returns it to Paul right before ramming Kamala in the head with it.

That's the finishing blow, and Taker gets the count; he then rolls Kamala into the coffin and nails it shut. My god, my guy misses those nails. The camera literally zooms out, so you don't see, but Kamala is sealed away. He gets one final feud of the year with the wrestler Nailz, and it is very quick. If you don't know what happens to Nailz, he literally jumps McMahon and threatens him, earning him a pink slip.

How did their characters change from 1990-1992?

Development of a monster: Taker starts with Love as a ghoul/goon. It's pretty much his same shtick, his moves, all of that. But with the simple change in appearance, that is, wearing a hat and growing out your bangs, we get a whole different character. Not to mention the eye-rolling, which has freaked me out since I was young, and I have also always wanted to be able to do it.
Partnership or Possession: These two start as the basic manager/client relationship; although they have always been strange, they get closer and closer, and Paul becomes more outwardly adoring yet also more commanding. Guiding Taker's every move and panicking the second he gets knocked down too many times. And Taker wallops anyone who goes after Paul or steals the urn. He is a full-on creature working at Paul's beck and call because Paul has the urn. And I liked what Monsoon said because it's like that for the next few years.
Staleness of the era: You slowly start to realize how stale these fights get, considering all of these jobbers and the lack of long-term storytelling. I pointed out the hair pull, yet it goes entirely unnoticed; it's a subtle thing as Taker seemingly pushes away from the power of the urn as he goes to attack either the referee or the jobber. But it's ignored, not to mention the number of jobbers in general. Where did they get these guys from? I want growth!
Development as a whole: It's interesting to look back on both of their developments. The usage of Kane the Undertaker, as well as the ever-changing makeup of both of them, is interesting to note. Not to mention, I think that Paul just used a more normal voice in 90-91 before fully absorbing the falsetto in 92.

Overall, these two clearly make a name for themselves as polarizing figures. They're completely different in contrast to the constant spew of heels based around things people don't like or heels just saying things to get reactions. These two have kids in the crowd wide-eyed, yet they're also dressed as them. They're arguably heels, but people cheered when Taker got the belt from Hogan in 91; they cheer when they hear the "BONG!" and they watch Kamala get rolled into the coffin with an audible chatter. This dude has only been working there for two years, and he already made a name for himself.