The Undertaker will never do a Takeroonie, no matter how badly Vince McMahon wants him to.
The WWE Hall of Famer was a recent guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about the state of kayfabe in professional wrestling, The Deadman said he believes there’s still room for kayfabe in the industry and that there are still a few guys out there living the gimmick and doing it well.
“I think, yeah, I think kayfabe died for sure when I came out and started talking as Mark Callaway,” The Undertaker admitted. “I shouldn’t say that, no, you know what, because there are a few guys that are out there that are living their gimmick, and doing a really, really good job at that.
“And I think, obviously, we go out of our way now to let everybody know what sports entertainment is. But I think, and we did that even while I was working, right? But the way I approach things and even with my character and my over-the-top gimmick as The Undertaker, especially the last probably 10-15 years of my career.
“I really, the way I set my matches up, I always tried to suspend that sense of reality. I wanted people when I threw a punch to go ooh, that’s different. Or the things that I did to make sense, even like before I do old school, which is a stretch for somebody to grab someone’s arm and to be able to walk [the top rope]. But so, I would take the time to work that arm over, and it hit that shoulder with the shoulder tackles and this and that.
“I tried to have things make sense, and I always tried to get people invested and to forget everything else that we’ve told them about what sports entertainment and wrestling is, and try and let them immerse themselves into what’s going on. And that’s the way I approach things, and I think there’s some of that that is still applicable if you make the effort to do so.
“I think to enlarge there’s just this okay, everybody’s in on it, and this is the way it is. But I think there is room for kayfabe still. I just know everything’s evolving, and people have different perspectives on it, but that’s mine. And I’ll be the first to admit; I’m a dinosaur.”
While The Undertaker tried his best to protect his character in WWE, several others in the company, including Vince McMahon himself, went out of their way to make The Deadman break inside the squared circle.
“I always thought that was the hokiest ever, but iconic, right? And always to get me to laugh,” The Undertaker said. “There was such a time period there where I think that the company’s goal was to see who could get me to break. I mean, it was nonstop.
“We spent an hour and a half one night after a TV event in Seattle trying to get me to the Spinaroonie. Booker T swerved me. We’ve been doing this same match after TV tapings that was our advertised dark match. We’ve been doing it for weeks, and every night I’d get on there and say, let’s have Booker do a Spinaroonie; everybody go crazy.
“Well, Booker gets the microphone one night and completely swerved me, which was all set up. Vince was in on it; everybody was in on it. He tells his sold-out crowd in Seattle that he wants to see a Takeroonie, and I was like you son of a bitch, I was p*ssed. And here they come, one after another, just I mean everybody on the roster, everybody, Rock comes down, Triple H comes down, Big Show’s down, everybody’s down and doing these absolutely awful Spinaroonies.
“And I remember seeing my spot to leave because the ring is full of people now, right? And the crowd is going nuts chanting Takeroonie and all this. And I finally saw my spot, and I jumped out of the ring, and I headed back to the back. And I looked over my shoulder, and here comes Big Show, Vince had sent Big Show to come get me right, and he came through that curtain.
“I said, you may kill me and eat me, but I’m gonna punch you in the face if you touch me. Vince never forgave me. Because I always told him, I don’t care who you are, what you do, you’ll never get me to do that. And you don’t tell Vince that you can’t or won’t do something, because it becomes his passion in life. But I can honestly say he never got me to do a Takeroonie. So, I won. That’s the one battle I won with Vince.”
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What do you make of The Undertaker’s comments? Are you disappointed we never got to see the Takeroonie? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
