The Undertaker is a legend in the business and he truly loves his fans and respects them as well. However, there is a specific section of fans that The Deadman can’t stand and they are the ones who hound pro wrestlers at airports for autographs.
The issue of fans showing up at airports to meet pro wrestlers has become a recurring problem for several stars. While chance encounters are usually welcomed, a particular group of people now deliberately plan to be at the airport with a ton of merchandise, hoping to get the stars to sign them. These items are then later sold on eBay for a profit, causing frustration for the wrestlers.
Last year, a video of an unmasked Rey Mysterio found its way to social media. In the clip, Rey is seen rejecting fan’s request for an autograph at an airport. Of course, this fan was obviously trying to sell Mysterio’s autograph for a profit. He wasn’t the only WWE Superstar to deal with this either as Rhea Ripley was hounded at an airport last year and she lashed out at such disrespectful fans.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry recounted a story involving The Undertaker and a fan encounter at an airport. Henry mentioned how he urged Undertaker to share the incident on the show.
Undertaker began by discussing how Pittsburgh was particularly challenging due to fans carrying large binders filled with numerous photos of the same wrestler. He expressed his frustration at fans exploiting these encounters for profit, especially during early morning flights when tensions are high. He especially mentioned Rhea Ripley having to deal with such fans last year.
“Pittsburgh was the worst for the marks coming out with the huge binders of 50 pictures of the same guy. If I’m by myself traveling, minus my family, I try to be as accommodating as I possibly can to my fans. It’s part of it. I have never ever considered those people to be fans. They’re trying to make a buck. It drives me absolutely crazy. I saw something online where Rhea Ripley gets caught at the check-in counter and this guy is just handing her picture after picture after picture after picture. I’m talking to Rhea through the thing that I’m watching and I’m like just turn around. That pisses me off. Everybody knows what it feels like at 6 AM trying to catch a flight. That sh*t drives me absolutely crazy.”
The Undertaker recounted an incident where a fan approached him at the airport, asking for an autograph. Despite declining, Undertaker observed the same fan instructing a young girl on what to say and do to get an autograph. Feeling manipulated, Undertaker decided to sign the photo but added a message expressing his frustration with the situation.
”The guy comes down and they’re all huddled together and I see them. They’re flipping through their pictures to get to The Undertaker pictures and the guy comes up to me. He goes, ‘Will you sign?’ I’m like nah man, I can’t do that…We go sit down and we’re waiting on our luggage and I’m watching this guy from 2 or 3 luggage racks over and I can see him talking to this little girl. He is giving her verbatim what to do. She’s maybe 6 years old.
Here she comes and I’m like, this sonofabitch. This dog, right? … She went to somebody on either side of me. She went to the wrong person first. I could hear her say ‘Mr. Undertaker, will you sign?’ [I say] I’m him, what can I do for you honey? She goes ‘Oh, I’m a big fan, will you sign this for me?’ I’m thinking this son of a gun sends this poor girl over here who doesn’t even know who I am. I say, you know what of course I’ll sign that for you. I think I wrote on there, ‘Hey you can go F off’ on the picture. I put the picture face down in her hand and I said you hold this picture just like this and you take it back over there and hand it to your dad…she walked all the way back over to him and hands him the picture. He pulled that picture up and he read what I wrote. He was freakin’ pissed. Don’t use a kid to try — it rubs me wrong man.”
Wrestlers are not obliged to entertain fan requests, and it entirely depends on the wrestler in question whether they want to sign anything. Regardless, there will always be a section of fans who feel entitled to get autographs and that’s unlikely to ever change.
Do you feel some fans are simply too entitled and care only about themselves? Let us know in the comments!