During his Patreon podcast Six Feet Under, The Undertaker reflected on a canceled meeting with Vince McMahon prior to his signing with WWE in 1990. The meeting was scheduled to take place soon after Undertaker’s match at WCW WrestleWar 1990, when he was still known as Mean Mark Callous.
“I think there was a meeting scheduled for me and Vince. I just found this out recently, within the last couple of years. The meeting got canceled. Originally, I was told, I think it was Bruce [Prichard] that told me this, the meeting with Vince got canceled because of the parasailing accident that Brutus Beefcake had. He was in Clearwater Beach, someone was parasailing off the beach, and he ended up getting hit in the face by somebody. Crushed his face, he had to have his face rebuilt and all this. That is the reason my meeting got canceled, Vince had to go. All these years, I always thought that meeting got canceled because of Beefcake’s accident. What it truly was is Vince watched the pay-per-view and wasn’t impressed at all. ‘He’s just a big red-headed kid. I got a million of those.’ Had no interest whatsoever.”
Undertaker eventually got his meeting with Vince later in the year:
“We start talking, Bruce is putting me over, I’m telling my life story. I feel like it’s going pretty good. He asks me, ‘Do you have any other talents? Do you sing? Do you dance?’ I say, ‘Only in the shower.’ As soon as I said it, I was like, ‘Ohh, I shouldn’t have said that.’ It was the time of outlandish gimmicks. Now I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to be singing in the shower guy.’ As soon as I said ‘I sing in the shower,’ Vince is like, ‘Really??!?!’ Oh no, I’ve screwed up. I was just trying to be funny. This meeting goes on and it feels like it’s been two hours. We get to the end of the meeting. ‘Well, we don’t have anything for you. Maybe after WrestleMania we’ll have something for you then.’ I thanked him for his time. The only reason I got a shot is because, at that meeting, I don’t think he thought I was a draw or would be a draw, but he liked the person. He liked who he was talking to and that is why I think he gave me a chance.”
(quotes courtesy of Jeremy Lambert)
