X-Pac thought he was signing up to watch wrestling tapes for a few hours each week. Instead, the WWE Hall of Famer has found himself coaching, mentoring and helping shape the company’s next generation. That wasn’t the original plan.
Speaking on Six Feet Under, X-Pac revealed he was the one who approached Paul “Triple H” Levesque about getting involved with WWE’s ID program. Triple H agreed, but the role initially sounded much smaller than what it eventually became.
“Yeah. Coaching, mentoring. Because, you know, the original gig was, ‘Hey, you know, I’m like, hey, can I help out with the ID?’ And Paul’s like, ‘Yeah.’ Like, the original thing was, ‘Yeah, you can, like, review tapes for six hours a week,’ and, you know, it ended up not being just that. ‘Cause, like, they need way more than just, you know, school sessions.”
The Undertaker immediately agreed, explaining that watching tape is only one part of becoming a better wrestler.
“Yeah, man. Like, they need… you gotta, I think you have to, you have to watch film, you have to dissect it, and then you have to go and apply it.”
That naturally led X-Pac into explaining what his job has really become. Beyond breaking down matches, he now spends time helping younger wrestlers navigate situations that come up during their careers, using his own experiences to help them avoid making the same mistakes.
“Yeah. And also there’s just things that they, that come up and, you know, that they have to deal with, and they’re just… you know, and the mistakes that I made, I can help them learn, you know, learn from those.”
That philosophy also shapes how X-Pac studies wrestling himself. He isn’t watching his old matches to relive the highlights or remind himself how good he was. He’s looking for everything he wishes he had done differently.
“And you know what I do? I go back and watch my old matches and I look at all the mistakes I made, and that’s what I use to help teach them.”
Undertaker immediately related to that approach: “Yeah. Because I made plenty. Well, we all do that.” X-Pac said that’s exactly why he can watch matches fans still love and come away seeing something completely different.
“Yeah. And, like, you go back and watch, right? And, like, everyone thinks… are great, and I’m not gonna argue with you, but I see the things that I didn’t do. Yeah. Or I failed to do. Missed opportunities.”
Undertaker admitted he developed the same habit during his career. He preferred watching his matches by himself because hearing people compliment the good parts wasn’t helping him improve.
“Oh, yeah. You know, that’s the key. Yeah. That was always… I always watched myself or watched my stuff back by myself so I could dissect it.”
“Like, I didn’t want somebody next to me going, ‘Oh, that was great, man, the way you did that.’ The guy was like, okay, I know what I did, right? Like, I wanna sit down. And a lot of times with young guys, they don’t understand what they did. They think they did something that was really good, and you’re over there scratching your head like, ‘Oh, that was the s****.’”
By the end of the conversation, it was obvious the job had become far more than a few hours of reviewing footage every week: “But I love doing… I love this. Working with all them. I mean, it’s so fulfilling.” X-Pac said life was already in a great place, but helping develop WWE’s next generation has given him something he didn’t realize he was looking for.
“Life was already great, ’cause I go hiking with my dog in the mountains, like, almost every day during the week. But now having that, it’s important to have purpose in life.”
Back in March 2025, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that X-Pac was reviewing footage and providing feedback to WWE ID prospects behind the scenes. More than a year later, X-Pac has revealed that what started as a six-hour-a-week tape review role quietly grew into something much bigger, with coaching and mentoring becoming just as important as breaking down matches.
What do you think about X-Pac’s expanded role helping develop WWE’s next generation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
