The Undertaker Reveals How Far He Went Not to Break Kayfabe

The Undertaker is opening up like never before—and he’s proving that the mystique of “The Deadman” wasn’t just a WWE gimmick. It was his entire life for three decades.

Speaking on 2 Bears, 1 Cave, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed just how far he went to protect the aura of his legendary character, even outside the ring. According to Taker, once he stepped into the role, there was no turning it off.

“It paid off, I guess, but once I started being The Undertaker, everything was focused around that character. I always wanted people — even if they knew I wasn’t really dead — to look at me and think, ‘Yeah, I’m not messing with that guy.’ There’s something different about him. So, I didn’t do a lot of media or interactions. I lived that character.”

His commitment wasn’t just backstage either. The Undertaker said he kept the act going at airports, fan encounters, and everyday life—always dressed in black, never out of character.

“People always ask how I lived it, and yeah, I really did. Like now, I’ve got yellow tennis shoes on and jeans, but back then, if you saw me at the airport without my wrestling gear, there’d still be no doubt who I was. I was always dressed in black. I kept it going, and I lived it. That’s the way I approached it because the character is so unique and so different. I didn’t want people to see me on TV and think, ‘Whoa, that’s death,’ and then run into me in public wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a fedora and go, ‘Huh? That’s bulls**’”*

Now that he’s stepped away from the ring, Taker says he’s enjoying life with a bit more personality—and even pokes fun at himself for showing up so often despite being retired.

“Yeah, I’m able now to obviously have a little more personality and not be so deadpan with the character, so that’s fun. You know, I think sometimes I get a little overexposed for not being able to actually go and have a match. It just becomes difficult. You’ll get your naysayers like, ‘Oh, well, you got the old man out there doing stuff.’ You know, it’s like, well, there must be a reason they keep asking, right?”

One of his favorite post-retirement outlets has been the One Deadman Show, where fans hear his personal stories in an exclusive setting with no cameras allowed.

“But yeah, I like my role. For years, I didn’t interact at all with the fans, and now I’ll do signings every once in a while. I don’t do a lot of them, but I do enough to get out there. I also do my One Deadman Show, which is a really cool experience for a wrestling fan and an Undertaker fan, because you actually get to hear a lot of the stories — even things that I don’t say on my podcast or someone else’s podcast. In the One Deadman Show, we take the phones and don’t allow recording, so you really get an uncensored experience. That’s pretty rad for a fan.”

For The Undertaker, protecting the illusion was everything—and fans now have even more appreciation for how far he went to preserve it. That level of commitment isn’t just rare in today’s wrestling world, it’s practically extinct.

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