Why The Undertaker Once Legitimately Beat Up Jonathan Coachman

Jonathan Coachman had been part of the WWE family during the height of the Ruthless Aggression era but it didn’t necessarily go the way he would have liked. In fact, Coachman has now revealed why The Undertaker once legitimately beat him up.

While speaking on Wrestling Then and Now, Jonathan Coachman shared a story about why The Undertaker once really beat him up. Coachman noted that he joined the Tribute to the Troops event in 2005 and had a great time.

However, the next year he got married. By the following Tribute to the Troops event, his wife was pregnant with their daughter, who was due in June. Since she was only three months pregnant at the time, she was worried about him traveling to a dangerous place and asked him not to go. Coachman respected her wishes and told WWE he wouldn’t be going.

“I never said no to him—except for once. And I got beat up for it. So, there you go. Figuratively? Literally? No, literally. Literally, literally. In 2005, we were doing Tribute to the Troops overseas and it was very cool.

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The next year, I got married. And the year after that, my wife at the time was pregnant with our daughter, who’s now 16. This was December, and my daughter was due in June—so my wife was about three months pregnant. She told me, ‘I don’t want to go through the anxiety of knowing you’re going into a war zone. I’d prefer if you didn’t go.’ And that was completely fair. So, I told them, ‘Hey, I’m not going.’”

Because he had never said no before, WWE thought he was joking. On the day of the trip, staff were collecting luggage for security checks and asked where his bags were. When he reminded them he wasn’t going, they were shocked. They had assumed he was joking because he had always done what they asked. WWE wasn’t happy about it and had to find a last-minute replacement. Chris Masters ended up taking his spot.

“Because I had never said no before, they thought I was joking. Literally. That morning, we had a guy out back who would take our bags, go through all the security checks, and have them ready for the flight. They asked me, ‘Where are your bags?’ I said, ‘I told you, I’m not going.’ They responded, ‘We thought you were kidding. You never say no.’ And I said, ‘At what point did you think this face was kidding about going to Afghanistan?’ They didn’t like that very much. And I didn’t go. They had to scramble to fill my spot, and I believe Chris Masters ended up going at the last minute.”

The backlash came the following week when Coachman was removed from commentary. Later, during a show, The Undertaker was in the ring, and referee Earl Hebner approached Coachman with instructions to attack him. Although much of the situation was hazy due to how long ago it happened, Coachman immediately recognized it as Vince McMahon’s way of punishing him for skipping the Tribute to the Troops event.

“The following week, I was off commentary. Then, at the end of the show, Undertaker was in the ring, and Earl Hebner, one of the referees, came over to me. A lot of it is hazy—it was over 17 years ago—but I remember him saying, ‘Go attack The Undertaker.’ And I knew exactly what was going on. It was Vince’s way of punishing me. Which was complete b*******.”

The attack didn’t make sense in the storyline, but Coachman did what he was told. Since the show was already off the air, WWE usually liked to send fans home happy. Instead, The Undertaker started beating him up as punishment.

While hitting him, The Undertaker even apologized. After taking more finishing moves from other wrestlers, Coachman realized WWE didn’t appreciate his loyalty. He had worked there for seven years and always did what they wanted, but now he saw things differently. At that moment, he knew he couldn’t stay in WWE anymore.

“At that point, I had given seven years of blind loyalty. But I did what I was told—I ran in and hit The Undertaker, which made absolutely no sense. We were already off the air, and you always want to send the crowd home happy. I was kind of a heel at the time, so Vince could hide behind the excuse of, ‘Oh, I was just trying to get heat on him.’ But the truth was, he was just pissed and wanted to make me pay.

Even Undertaker apologized to me as he was beating me up. A lot of the guys were really good about communicating in the ring, talking out of the side of their mouth. But I took it. I took a couple of other finishes from different guys, too. That was the moment I knew—I can’t be here anymore.”

Coachman also confirmed that he has no intention of returning to WWE again and fans can understand why considering how things turned out for him during his last couple of stints in WWE. Regardless, many fans feel Coachman shouldn’t have been punished in this instance but it was ultimately Vince McMahon’s call.

Do you think WWE was justified in punishing Coachman for prioritizing his family, or was this an unnecessary show of force? Let me know your thoughts!

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.