Shawn Michaels First retirement and WWF Commissioner (1998-2000) What is one of the awards he got? I don't know. Did he help create a DVD? causing him to herniate two discs and crush one completely.
Did he wrestle the undertaker?
Did Shawn Michaels wrestle the undertaker?
At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Michaels received a serious back injury in a casket match against The Undertaker. Michaels would still go on to win the match and successfully retain his WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Michaels took a back body drop to the outside of the ring and hit his lower back on the casket, causing him to herniate two discs and crush one completely. This rendered Michaels unable to compete in the main event of the following month's No Way Out of Texas: In Your House as advertised, and forced him into retirement a night after losing the WWF World Heavyweight Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV as special guest enforcer Mike Tyson turned on DX and Michaels which allowed Austin to gain the victory.  After being away for nearly four months, Michaels would make a surprise return to the WWF as a guest commentator on the July 13 episode of Raw Is War. Michaels would continue to make non-wrestling appearances on WWF programming and on November 23 he replaced Sgt. Slaughter as the WWF Commissioner, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, eventually joining Vince McMahon's group of wrestlers called The Corporation as a villain. Throughout late 1998 and early 1999, Michaels made regular television appearances on Raw, in which he scheduled matches, throwing around his authority, and sometimes even deciding the outcome of matches. On the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw Is War, Michaels re-joined DX as a fan favorite, but disappeared from WWF television for a few weeks to have back surgery and by the time he returned DX was on the way of dissolving within the next couple of months.  Michaels made occasional appearances as the WWF Commissioner during the spring and summer of 1999, but remained absent from television after August until May 15, 2000, when he returned on Raw Is War to declare himself the special guest referee for The Rock and Triple H's Iron Man match at Judgment Day. One month later, Michaels briefly reappeared on Raw Is War to hand over the role of Commissioner to Mick Foley and after another appearance in October he did not make any in-ring appearances until mid-2002, although he appeared briefly on television to make a speech at WWF New York during Armageddon in December 2000. Michaels also had no part at all in the Invasion storyline. CANNOTANSWER
Michaels received a serious back injury in a casket match against The Undertaker.
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "Heartbreak Kid", "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania".

Michaels wrestled consistently for WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1988 until a back injury forced his first retirement in 1998. He performed in non-wrestling roles for the next two years and returned to the ring for a match in his own Texas Wrestling Academy (TWA) in 2000. Michaels resumed his wrestling career with WWE in 2002 and retired ceremoniously in 2010, before being assigned as a trainer in 2016. He returned for a final match in 2018.

In the WWF/WWE, Michaels headlined pay-per-view events between 1989 and 2018, main-eventing the company's flagship annual event, WrestleMania, five times. He was the co-founder and original leader of the successful stable, D-Generation X. Michaels also wrestled in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), where he founded The Midnight Rockers with Marty Jannetty in 1985. After winning the AWA World Tag Team Championship twice, the team continued to the WWF as The Rockers and had a high-profile breakup in January 1992. Within the year, Michaels twice challenged for the WWF Championship and won his first Intercontinental Championship, heralding his arrival as one of the industry's premier singles stars.

Michaels is a four-time world champion, having held the WWF Championship three times and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship once. He is also a two-time Royal Rumble winner (and the first man to win the match as the number one entrant), the first WWF Grand Slam Champion and the fourth WWF Triple Crown Champion, as well as a two time WWE Hall of Fame inductee (2011 as singles wrestler and 2019 as part of D-Generation X). Michaels won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated "Match of the Year" reader vote a record eleven times, and his match against John Cena on April 23, 2007, was ranked by WWE as the best match ever aired on the company's flagship Raw program.

Early life 
Hickenbottom was born on July 22, 1965, in Chandler, Arizona. The last of four children – Randy, Scott, and Shari are his older siblings – he was raised in a military family and spent a brief part of his early years in Reading, Berkshire, England, but grew up in San Antonio, Texas. As a child, Hickenbottom disliked the name Michael, so his family and friends just called him Shawn. Ever since, he has been referred to as Shawn. Additionally, Hickenbottom moved around frequently since his father was in the military.

He knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler at the age of 12 and said he performed a wrestling routine in his high school's talent show, complete with fake blood. Hickenbottom was already an athlete; his career began at the age of six when he started playing football. He was a stand-out linebacker at Randolph High School on Randolph Air Force Base and eventually became captain of the football team. After graduating, Hickenbottom attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, but soon realized that college life was not for him. He then began pursuing a career in professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

National Wrestling Alliance (1984–1985) 
Hickenbottom began to train under Mexican professional wrestler Jose Lothario. During his training, Hickenbottom adopted the ring name, "Shawn Michaels". After his training with Lothario, he debuted as Shawn Michaels with the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Mid-South Wrestling territory on October 16, 1984, against Art Crews, losing to Crews via swinging neckbreaker. Michaels's performance in his debut match impressed many veterans, including Terry Taylor.

In January 1985, he debuted for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), the NWA territory in Dallas, Texas. In April 1985, Michaels went to work for another NWA territory in Kansas City called Central States Wrestling. There, he and tag team partner Marty Jannetty defeated The Batten Twins for the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship, later losing it back to the Battens.

Texas All-Star Wrestling (1985–1986) 
After leaving Kansas City, he returned to Texas to wrestle for Texas All-Star Wrestling (TASW). During his time with TASW, Michaels replaced Nick Kiniski in the American Breed tag team, teaming with Paul Diamond. Michaels and Diamond were awarded the TASW Tag Team Championship by Chavo Guerrero Sr. The team was later renamed American Force. While in TASW, Michaels and Diamond feuded with Japanese Force.

American Wrestling Association (1986–1987) 
Michaels made his national-level debut, as Sean Michaels, at the age of 20 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in a victory over Buddhakhan on ESPN. He was once again teamed with Marty Jannetty, billed as The Midnight Rockers. The Midnight Rockers won the AWA World Tag Team Championship, defeating Doug Somers and Buddy Rose.

World Wrestling Federation and return to AWA (1987–1988) 
In 1987, The Rockers were signed by a competing promotion: the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They were fired from WWF two weeks later, for a bar incident (a misunderstanding, according to Michaels's autobiography). They then returned to AWA, where they won the AWA tag team titles for a second time, but were re-signed by WWF a year later.

Return to the WWF/E

The Rockers (1988–1992) 

The Rockers redebuted at a WWF live event on July 7, 1988. Due to WWF chairman Vince McMahon's desire to have his performers carry WWF-exclusive ring names, Michaels and Jannetty were renamed, as simply The Rockers. The team proved popular with both children and women and was a mid-card stalwart of television and pay-per-view shows for the next two years. During this time, Michaels headlined his first pay-per-view for the WWF when The Rockers were involved in the 4-on-4 Survivor Series match main event of the 1989 Survivor Series.

On October 30, 1990, The Rockers unofficially won the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), as Neidhart, half of the championship team, was in the process of negotiating his release from the company. The match was taped with The Rockers winning the title, but soon after Neidhart came to an agreement with management and was rehired. The championship was returned to the Hart Foundation, while the title change was never broadcast or even acknowledged on television (though The Rockers did have a successful title defense on November 3, 1990, against Power and Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma) before the title was returned to the Hart Foundation). When news spread, WWF explained that the original result was void due to a collapsed turnbuckle in the ring during the bout. A buckle had indeed broken, but not to a noticeable or dangerous extent during the match. The Rockers continued their partnership, eventually splitting on December 2, 1991, aired January 11, 1992, on Wrestling Challenge, during an incident on Brutus Beefcake's televised Barber Shop talk show promotional segment. Michaels superkicked Jannetty and threw him through a glass window on the set of Beefcake's talk show. Jannetty returned to the WWF the following year and enjoyed moderate success before leaving the company in 1994, while Michaels became a prominent villain of the early to mid-1990s as "The Boy Toy".

Heartbreak Kid (1992–1995) 

At the suggestion of Curt Hennig, Michaels adopted the nickname "The Heartbreak Kid". Along with his new name came a new gimmick as a vain, cocky villain. He was put together with mirror-carrying manager, Sensational Sherri, who according to the storyline had become infatuated with him. Sherri even sang the first version of his new theme music, "Sexy Boy". During that period, after Michaels had wrestled his scheduled match at live events, his departure was announced with "Shawn Michaels has left the building", alluding to the phrase "Elvis has left the building".

At WrestleMania VIII, Michaels defeated Tito Santana in his first pay-per-view singles match after both men had simultaneously eliminated each other from that year's Royal Rumble. Michaels subsequently became a contender to the promotion's singles titles and failed to win the WWF Championship from champion Randy Savage in his first opportunity to compete for that title at British event UK Rampage, held on April 19 at the Sheffield Arena and broadcast on Sky Movies Plus (the match later aired in the US on the edition of June 15 of Prime Time Wrestling). Michaels was also unable to win the Intercontinental Championship from Bret Hart in the WWF's first ladder match at a Wrestling Challenge taping on July 21, which was subsequently made available on multiple Coliseum/WWE Home Video releases. However, he won the title from The British Bulldog on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXI, which aired on November 14. Shortly thereafter, he faced Hart for the WWF Championship in the main event of the Survivor Series, but lost the match. Originally the secondary main event, Michaels and Hart became the primary main event after The Ultimate Warrior was unable to compete and was replaced by Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig) in the tag team match that involved Randy Savage against the team of Ric Flair and Razor Ramon. During this time, Michaels and Sherri split and he engaged himself in a feud with former tag team partner Marty Jannetty. Michaels lost the Intercontinental Championship to Jannetty on the May 17, 1993 episode of Raw, but regained it on June 6 with the help of his debuting "bodyguard" (and off-air friend) Diesel.

In September 1993, Michaels was suspended for testing positive for steroid – a charge he never admitted. On WWF programs, his suspension was explained by his having neglected to defend the title often enough. After turning down World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s advances, Michaels returned to the WWF and made several appearances in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) during a WWF/USWA cross-promotion. He returned to WWF television in November at the Survivor Series substituting for Jerry Lawler, who was dealing with legal issues, in a match pitting himself and three of Lawler's "Knights" against the Hart brothers, Bret, Bruce, Keith and Owen.

In 1994, Michaels entered a rivalry with Razor Ramon, who had won the Intercontinental Championship, which had been vacated during Michaels's absence. Since Michaels had never been defeated in the ring for the title, he claimed to be the rightful champion and even carried around his old title belt. This feud culminated in a ladder match between the two at WrestleMania X. Michaels lost the match, which featured both his and Ramon's championship belts suspended above a ladder in the ring. This match was voted by fans as "Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. It also received a five-star rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer, the first of nine WWF/E matches to do so. Over the next few months, Michaels battled various injuries and launched the Heartbreak Hotel television talk show segment, mainly shown on Superstars.

On August 28, Michaels and Diesel captured the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). The next day at SummerSlam, Diesel lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ramon when Michaels accidentally superkicked Diesel. This triggered a split between Michaels and Diesel, a storyline that was drawn out until Survivor Series that November. Michaels went on to win the Royal Rumble in 1995, which set up a championship grudge match at WrestleMania XI against Diesel (who had gone on to win the WWF Championship from Bob Backlund). As part of the storyline, Michaels recruited Sid as his bodyguard for the build-up, lost the match and was attacked by Sid the following night. After this, Michaels took time off because Vince McMahon wanted Michaels to become a fan favorite.

Formation of the Kliq (1995–1996) 

Michaels returned to the ring as a fan favorite in May 1995 and he went on to defeat Jeff Jarrett to win his third Intercontinental Championship in July at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks. This led to a title defense against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam in a ladder match, which Michaels won. Around this time, Michaels became the leader of a backstage group known as The Kliq. Critics perceive the group to have sufficient clout with WWF owner Vince McMahon, becoming dominant wrestling figures in the WWF for several years in the mid-1990s, causing friction with other wrestlers. Michaels disputes the perception, saying that McMahon pushed only deserving wrestlers. Michaels's fan base was later nicknamed "The Kliq" as an inside reference to the real "Kliq". In October 1995, Michaels was the victim of a legit assault outside a bar in Syracuse, New York. Due to not being able to compete, Michaels was forced to forfeit the Intercontinental Championship to his original opponent Dean Douglas at In Your House: Great White North, who in turn Douglas lost the championship to Razor Ramon, another member of the Kliq. This event has been cited as an example of the Kliq holding others down. During a match with Owen Hart on a November episode of Raw, Hart performed an enzuigiri that struck the back of Michaels's head. They continued the match, but Michaels collapsed in the ring, supposedly because he had suffered a concussion. The concussion was scripted, which was kept from most fans at the time. A retirement angle was written so that Michaels could take some time off after he came back from an injury too soon.

WWF Champion (1996–1998) 

After teasing a retirement, Michaels returned to the WWF at the Royal Rumble match in 1996, which he wound up winning for the second year in a row, to receive a WWF Championship match in the main event at WrestleMania XII. Around this time, Jose Lothario became Michaels's on-screen manager. At WrestleMania XII, Michaels defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart in the overtime of their sixty-minute Iron Man match, which had ended in a scoreless tie. On May 19, Michaels and his fellow Kliq members were involved in the incident known as "Curtain Call". Diesel and Razor Ramon were about to leave WWF to company rival WCW. After Michaels won a match against Diesel, Ramon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley came to the ring and joined Michaels and Diesel in a group-hug. As Diesel and Helmsley were seen as villains at the time, in contrast to Michaels and Ramon, this constituted a breach of "kayfabe", as acting out of character, which was rare and controversial at the time. As WCW gained momentum due to the signings of Hall and Nash, Michaels held the championship for most of the year. Michaels's championship reign ended at the Survivor Series event, where he lost to Sycho Sid, his former bodyguard. Michaels recaptured the championship from Sid in January 1997 at the Royal Rumble.

On a special episode of Raw dubbed Thursday Raw Thursday, Michaels vacated the WWF Championship. He explained to fans that he was informed by doctors that he had conjured a knee injury and that he had to retire. His speech was regarded as controversial, as Michaels was allegedly unwilling to lose to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 (since it was noted that he was going to have a rematch with Hart at WrestleMania). Michaels contemplated thoughts of retirement and stated that he "had to find his smile again", which he had "lost" somewhere down the line. After knee surgery by Dr. James Andrews, Michaels returned a few months later, briefly teaming with Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. In his autobiography, Michaels reveals about his real-life feud with Bret Hart, claiming that Hart did interviews on live television claiming that he [Michaels] was faking his whole injury.

By the spring of 1997, the real-life backstage conflict between Michaels and Hart was reaching its height. Both men were going out on television and frequently making personal, true to heart remarks about one another. Michaels briefly left the WWF in June of that year after a real backstage fight with Hart, just hours before a Raw Is War show, which allegedly resulted from Michaels making an on-air remark, known as the "Sunny Days" comment, implying that Hart (who was married at the time) was having an affair with Tammy Sytch, a manager and valet who was signed to the WWF as Sunny. Michaels and Austin were still WWF Tag Team Champions at the time during an ongoing feud with the Hart Foundation and a tournament was made to decide new tag team champions. Michaels eventually returned that summer in July. At SummerSlam, Michaels officiated the WWF Championship match between WWF Champion The Undertaker and Bret Hart. The match ended controversially, with Michaels hitting Undertaker with a chair (unintentionally, as he was aiming for Hart after he spat in his face). Michaels was then forced to award the championship to his nemesis, Bret Hart. The next night on Raw Is War, signs of a heel turn started to show as Michaels told the WWF fans what happened at SummerSlam was an accident and that he dealt with the Undertaker when the time came. At WWF One Night Only, held in Birmingham, England in September, Michaels defeated The British Bulldog to capture the WWF European Championship. The fans at the event were so appalled at the result of the match they booed Michaels out of the building to the extent that they littered the ring with garbage, cementing his second heel turn. With this win, Michaels became the first Grand Slam Champion. At In Your House: Badd Blood, Michaels defeated Undertaker in the first Hell in a Cell match, during which Michaels fell off the side of the  high structure through a table. The match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.

In the fall, Michaels joined forces with real-life friend Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H), Helmsley's then real-life girlfriend Chyna, and Rick Rude to form the stable D-Generation X (DX). Michaels continued his rivalry with Bret Hart and his reformed Hart Foundation, which was now a pro-Canada stable. Michaels taunted the group and Canada by engaging in acts such as blowing his nose with and humping the Canadian Flag. Michaels later claimed the flag desecration was Hart's idea. Michaels's feud with the Hart Foundation culminated in a championship match at Survivor Series in November 1997 against Hart. Michaels came out of this match, dubbed by fans the "Montreal Screwjob", as the WWF Champion. Michaels now held both the WWF and European championships at the same time. Michaels dropped the European Championship to D-Generation X member Hunter Hearst Hemsley in a farcical match.

First retirement and hiatus (1998–2002) 

At the 1998 Royal Rumble, in a casket match against The Undertaker, Michaels took a back body drop to the outside of the ring and hit his lower back on the casket, causing him to herniate two discs and crush one completely. Michaels went on to win the match but the injury rendered him unable to compete on the following month's No Way Out of Texas: In Your House as advertised, and forced him into retirement a night after losing the WWF Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV.

After being away for nearly four months, Michaels made a surprise return to the WWF as a guest commentator on the July 13 episode of Raw Is War. Michaels continued to make non-wrestling appearances on WWF programming and on November 23 he replaced Sgt. Slaughter as the WWF Commissioner, eventually joining Vince McMahon's group of wrestlers called The Corporation. Throughout late 1998 and early 1999, Michaels made regular television appearances on Raw, in which he scheduled matches, throwing around his authority, and sometimes even deciding the outcome of matches. On the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw Is War, Michaels re-joined D-X as a face, but disappeared from WWF television for a few weeks to have back surgery and by the time he returned DX was on the way of dissolving within the next couple of months.

On November 23, 1999, Michaels made a special appearance for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling at the 10th Anniversary Show at the Yokohama Arena, serving as the guest referee for the H vs fake Hayabusa (Mr. Gannosuke) main event. He got himself involved in the match when Gannosuke delivered a low blow on him and he responded later on with Sweet Chin Music.

Michaels made occasional appearances as the WWF Commissioner during the spring and summer of 1999, but remained absent from television after August until May 15, 2000, when he returned on Raw Is War to declare himself the special guest referee for The Rock and Triple H's Iron Man match at Judgment Day. One month later, Michaels briefly reappeared on Raw Is War to hand over the role of Commissioner to Mick Foley, and after another appearance in October did not make any in-arena appearances until mid-2002. He appeared briefly on television to make a speech at WWF New York during Armageddon in December 2000.

Believing that his wrestling career was over, Michaels was interested in training individuals who wanted to become professional wrestlers. He saw potential in using his name and opened the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy (later the Texas Wrestling Academy) in 1999, after his lawyer Skip McCormick suggested the idea. During his time as a teacher at the academy, he had his first match since 1998 on April 4, 2000, where he defeated Venom in a Hardcore Street Fight. Michaels left the academy in 2002, giving co-founder Rudy Boy Gonzalez sole responsibility due to Michaels's new contract with WWE. Michaels was also a sportscaster for San Antonio's local news for a short period during his retirement.

Feud with Triple H (2002–2004) 
On the June 3 episode of Raw, Michaels returned to WWE television after an absence of 18 months when Kevin Nash announced him as a new member of the recently reformed New World Order (nWo). Michaels was the only nWo member to have never worked in WCW. After the nWo had disbanded, Triple H appeared to make amends with Michaels. This was solidified when Michaels pleaded Triple H to return to Raw. Later on, they came down to the ring sporting their DX music and attire. When the pair was about to perform their trademark "Suck It" taunt, Triple H turned on Michaels by performing a Pedigree on him. Continuing the angle, a week later, Triple H attacked Michaels from behind in a parking lot and put his head through a car window, in storyline. In response, Michaels challenged Triple H to "a fight" (a non-sanctioned match) at SummerSlam, which Triple H accepted, laying the foundation for a rivalry that lasted for several years. In his first WWE match since WrestleMania XIV, Michaels defeated Triple H at SummerSlam, but was attacked by Triple H with a sledgehammer after the match. At Survivor Series, Michaels won the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H in the first Elimination Chamber match. Michaels's reign as champion came to an end a month later when he lost the championship to Triple H in a Three Stages of Hell match, a series of three matches in which wrestlers attempt to win the majority of matches, at Armageddon.

Michaels then began a rivalry with Chris Jericho, after Jericho claimed that he was the next Shawn Michaels. On January 13, 2003, after Jericho won a battle royal to select his entry number for the Royal Rumble, choosing number two in order to start the match with Michaels, who had already been named number one. At the Royal Rumble, Jericho, with the help of Christian, eliminated Michaels. Michaels later interfered in the match, causing Jericho to be eliminated. Michaels defeated Jericho at WrestleMania XIX. Despite this, Michaels was low-blowed after hugging Jericho. On the December 29, 2003 episode of Raw, Michaels seemingly defeated Triple H after a Sweet Chin Music for the World Heavyweight Championship in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas with Eric Bischoff as the special guest referee (Earl Hebner originally refereed the match, only to be knocked out by Triple H in the middle of the match). However, Bischoff reversed the decision and declared the match a draw due to both men's shoulders being on the mat. Angered by this, Michaels attacked Ric Flair and Bischoff. He was subsequently fired by Bischoff but rehired by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

As a part of an ongoing feud with Triple H, the two competed alongside Chris Benoit in the main event at WrestleMania XX for the World Heavyweight Championship. The former DX partners both came up short in the match, however, as Benoit won the championship. The night before this, Michaels inducted Tito Santana in the WWE Hall of Fame. A triple threat WrestleMania rematch for the title took place in April at Backlash in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton, where Benoit successfully retained it, forcing Michaels to submit to a Sharpshooter. Due to the "Montreal Screwjob" incident, the Edmonton crowd booed Michaels, with chants of "You screwed Bret!" being heard during his match at Backlash. At Bad Blood in June, Michaels lost to Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match. Four months later, he lost a World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H, after Edge interfered at Taboo Tuesday, when the fans voted for him ahead of Edge and Chris Benoit to face Triple H one more time. Following this, Michaels was out of action for a few months with a legit torn meniscus.

D-Generation X reunion (2005–2007) 

At the Royal Rumble in 2005, Michaels competed in the Rumble match and eliminated Kurt Angle. In seeking revenge, Angle re-entered the ring and eliminated Michaels, and thus placed him in an ankle lock submission hold, outside the ring. Michaels issued a challenge to Angle for a match at WrestleMania 21, which Angle accepted when he appeared on Raw to attack Michaels. The following week on Raw, Marty Jannetty and Michaels had a one time reunion as The Rockers and defeated La Résistance (Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier). Three days later on SmackDown!, Angle defeated Jannetty, after Angle made Jannetty submit to the ankle lock. To send a "message" to Michaels, Angle also humiliated Michaels's former manager, Sensational Sherri, when he applied the ankle lock hold on her. At WrestleMania in April, Angle defeated Michaels by submission, again with an ankle lock.

Following the events of WrestleMania 21, the next night on Raw, Muhammad Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault Michaels. On the April 11 episode of Raw, Michaels approached General Manager Eric Bischoff, in which he demanded a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused to schedule such a match and instead told Michaels to find a partner. Michaels then made a plea for Hulk Hogan to come back and team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared to save Michaels and accept his offer. At Backlash, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels when Daivari was pinned. Later, in a WrestleMania rematch, Michaels defeated Kurt Angle (who was drafted to Raw in the draft lottery) at Vengeance. On the July 4 episode of Raw, Michaels and Hulk Hogan had a tag team match against Carlito and Kurt Angle, which they won. During the post-match pose, Michaels hit Hogan with his Sweet Chin Music, knocking Hogan to the ground and turning heel for the first time since 1998. The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit where he superkicked Roddy Piper and then challenged Hogan to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan accepted the following week. Hogan defeated Michaels at SummerSlam, and after the match Michaels extended his hand to him, saying "I needed to know, and I found out" and he and Hogan shook hands. Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd, turning face once again.

Michaels followed this up with a short feud with Chris Masters, becoming the first person to cleanly defeat him at Unforgiven with Sweet Chin Music. On the October 3 WWE Homecoming episode of Raw, he wrestled old rival Kurt Angle to a 2–2 draw in a 30-Minute Iron Man match. Afterwards, he challenged Angle to sudden-death overtime, but Angle refused and walked out. He was part of Team Raw at Survivor Series in a losing effort.

On the December 26, 2005, episode of Raw, Vince McMahon lauded Michaels for his part in the "Montreal Screwjob". Michaels said he was only being loyal to his company, he had moved on, and McMahon should move on as well. McMahon then began setting unusual stipulations for Michaels's matches and interfering on behalf of Michaels's opponents. During the Royal Rumble, McMahon made his way to the ring, and as Michaels stared at McMahon, Shane McMahon made a surprising appearance, eliminating Michaels from the match. On the February 13 episode of Raw, McMahon tried unsuccessfully to force Michaels to sign retirement papers. The following week, Michaels won a handicap match against the Spirit Squad (Kenny, Johnny, Mitch, Nicky and Mikey) and after the match, Michaels's former partner, Marty Jannetty, came down to help Michaels from the assault by the Spirit Squad. After the two reunited, McMahon offered Jannetty a contract if he "kissed his ass." The following week, Jannetty refused McMahon's offer and instead took Chris Masters's "Masterlock challenge." Michaels tried to help Jannetty, which ultimately resulted in Shane attacking Michaels and forcing him to kiss his father's behind. At Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII, Shane defeated Michaels in a Street Fight after he applied a sharpshooter on Michaels, which led to McMahon immediately ordering for the bell to be rung, even though Michaels did not submit, which was an allusion to the "Montreal Screwjob". Despite interference from the Spirit Squad and Shane, Michaels defeated McMahon at WrestleMania 22 in a No Holds Barred match. At Backlash, The McMahons (Vince and Shane) defeated Michaels and "God" in a tag team match, with help from the Spirit Squad in a no disqualification match. On the May 22 episode of Raw, the Spirit Squad was scripted to injure Michaels's knee. This angle was written so that Michaels could have surgery on his knee, which had been legitimately injured for some time.

In 2006, a series of events took place which suggested a reunion of Michaels and Triple H as D-X. They began at WrestleMania 22, where both Michaels and Triple H performed the crotch chop, during their matches. On Raw, the two continued to deliver chops, as Michaels feuded with Vince McMahon and Triple H went to challenge John Cena for the WWE Championship, repeatedly butting heads with Vince McMahon in the process. On the June 12 episode of Raw, D-X officially reunited. During Triple H's gauntlet match, which had him compete against the Spirit Squad. Michaels came in to help Triple H, and the two did the D-X "crotch chops." At Vengeance, D-X defeated the Spirit Squad in a 5–on–2 handicap match. They also defeated the Spirit Squad at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII in a 5-on-2 elimination match and defeated The McMahons at SummerSlam. At Unforgiven, D-X once again defeated the McMahons and ECW World Champion The Big Show in a Hell in a Cell match, finally ending the nine-month long feud.

At Cyber Sunday, D-X took on Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton). The fan-selected referee Eric Bischoff allowed the illegal use of a steel chair to give Rated-RKO the ill-gotten win and the plaudit of being the first tag team to defeat D-X in a tag team match since their reformation in June 2006. At Survivor Series, however, Team D-X emerged victorious against Team Rated-RKO in a clean sweep victory. At New Year's Revolution, Triple H suffered a legit torn right quadriceps during their match with Rated-RKO. Rated-RKO claimed victory over D-X, citing Triple H's injury, as the "end" of D-X. On the January 15 episode of Raw, Michaels lived up to his word of "dealing" with Rated-RKO, from his comments the previous week before, when he took out Randy Orton with a con-chair-to after a handicap match against Edge and Orton. At the Royal Rumble, Michaels was the last man eliminated in the contest by the Winner of the match, The Undertaker.

Various feuds and championship pursuits (2007–2009) 

On the January 29 episode of Raw, Michaels captured the World Tag Team Championship with WWE Champion John Cena after defeating Rated-RKO. He then defeated both Edge and Orton in a triple threat number one contender's match on the February 5 episode of Raw to earn a shot at the WWE Championship. At WrestleMania 23, Cena retained the championship, after he made Michaels submit to the STFU. The next night on Raw, Michaels and Cena competed in two back-to-back ten team battle royals, winning the first and losing the World Tag Team Championship in the second to The Hardys (Matt and Jeff) when Michaels threw Cena over the top rope. Michaels's feud with Cena continued and he faced off with Cena, Edge and Randy Orton in a fatal four-way Match at Backlash for the WWE Championship. Cena retained the championship when Michaels performed Sweet Chin Music on Cena, causing him to fall on Orton for the pinfall.

Michaels then entered a feud with Randy Orton when Orton claimed that he could beat Michaels. The week before their scheduled match at Judgment Day, after Michaels won a match against then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge, Orton attacked him, punting Michaels in the head. Orton assaulted Michaels again prior to their match at Judgment Day, interrupting Michaels's interview segment. Michaels collapsed during their match, causing Orton to win by referee stoppage. Afterwards, Orton continued the beating, when he performed an RKO to a fallen Michaels. Michaels was then removed out of the ring in a stretcher. During the feud, Michaels suffered a storyline concussion. This injury was used to keep Michaels out of action, as he required surgery for his knee. Michaels made his return on the October 8 episode of Raw, performing Sweet Chin Music to newly crowned WWE Champion, Randy Orton, during his title ceremony at the end of the show and then celebrating over the knocked-out champion as Vince McMahon watched. At Cyber Sunday, Michaels was voted by the fans to face Orton for the WWE Championship, though he won via disqualification when Orton hit Michaels with a low blow, which resulted in Orton retaining the championship. Michaels got another opportunity at the WWE Championship, when he was granted his rematch against Orton at Survivor Series. In their match, Michaels was banned from using Sweet Chin Music upon request by Orton, referring to as Michaels superkicking Orton week after week. Michaels lost the match, when Orton performed an RKO for the win, which ended their feud.

As part of the storyline involving Ric Flair, Michaels faced Flair in a Career Threatening match at WrestleMania XXIV, in which he won by performing Sweet Chin Music and thus ending Flair's career. Afterwards, Batista confronted Michaels about his actions at WrestleMania, calling him selfish and egotistical. The two faced off at Backlash with Chris Jericho as the guest referee. Michaels won after faking a knee injury and performing Sweet Chin Music. Jericho then confronted Michaels on this matter, in which Michaels admitted to faking the injury in order to defeat Batista. Michaels then defeated Jericho at Judgment Day. At One Night Stand, Michaels lost to Batista in a stretcher match, thus ending their feud. On the June 9 episode of Raw, Michaels was attacked by Chris Jericho during his talk show segment, The Highlight Reel, being thrown directly through a television screen. The following week, it was revealed that, within the context of the storyline, Michaels had suffered a detached retina. At The Great American Bash, a match between Michaels and Jericho was scheduled, in which Jericho assaulted Michaels's eye, which caused Jericho to win by referee stoppage.

A month later at SummerSlam, Michaels announced his retirement from professional wrestling. That night, Jericho punched Michaels's wife in the face. On the August 25 episode of Raw, Michaels renounced his retirement and challenged Jericho to an unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, which Jericho accepted. The next week, they had an in-ring contract signing for the unsanctioned match. During this, they started to fight, causing a legit small triceps tear for Michaels. He was medically cleared to compete at Unforgiven, and beat Jericho so severely that the referee called the match, making Michaels the winner. Later that night, Jericho replaced CM Punk in the World Heavyweight Championship scramble match, and won the title. The next month, at No Mercy, Michaels lost a ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship to Jericho.

In December 2008, Michaels was written in a storyline where he lost his family's savings due to the global recession and reluctantly accepted a one-year general employment contract from John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) at Armageddon. After failing to help JBL win the World Heavyweight Championship from John Cena at the Royal Rumble, and being derided for it, Michaels agreed to face JBL in "All or Nothing" match at No Way Out in February. Michaels defeated JBL at No Way Out, letting him out of his contract early, while still receiving full payment.

On the March 2 Raw, Michaels became the first person to defeat Vladimir Kozlov, and so earned a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 in April. Michaels then began a second chapter to his unresolved feud with The Undertaker from the late 1990s, over a decade prior to this point when all their matches resulted in interference. This renewed feud was two dimensional, in part focusing on the wonder of The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania Streak in relation to, however, the fact that he had never before defeated Michaels in a singles match, only vice versa. Michaels also made the buildup to their WrestleMania encounter personal, repeatedly demonstrating his Christian objections to the demonic dark side nature of the Undertaker's Deadman gimmick, even briefly abandoning his "Heartbreak Kid" gimmick to portray a heaven-esque, bright side anti-Deadman Undertaker variant (Michaels is a real-life born again Christian). The feud culminated in a WrestleMania 25 singles match between the two in which Michaels made a heaven-sent entrance from high in the air portraying his bright side anti-Deadman, while The Undertaker made a grave-risen entrance emerging from the ground. After a suspenseful, competitive wrestling match, Shawn Michaels was defeated, thus extending The Undertaker's WrestleMania winning streak to 17–0. Their match was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. After WrestleMania, Michaels took a hiatus from WWE.

Final matches and second retirement (2009–2010) 

Michaels returned to WWE programming in a series of segments that aired on the August 10, 2009 episode of Raw, where he had, in storyline, left the WWE. Triple H met with Michaels at an office cafeteria in Texas where he was working as a chef; throughout the segments, Triple H tried to convince Michaels to return to WWE and reform D-X. After several incidents during the segments, Michaels agreed to team with Triple H to face The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, D-X defeated Legacy. The two teams exchanged victories, with their feud concluding in October. Two months later, at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, D-X defeated Chris Jericho and Big Show to win the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (TLC). On the January 4, 2010 episode of Raw, Michaels buried the hatchet with long-time rival Bret Hart, as they shook hands and hugged in the ring. In contrast to the storylines featured on the show, this was in fact a real-life reconciliation which laid to rest animosities surrounding the Montreal Screwjob. While some cast doubts on its sincerity, both men have confirmed that it was indeed genuine. D-X lost the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship in a Triple Threat match to the team of The Miz and Big Show on the February 8 episode of Raw; the match also included The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows). At the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Michaels cost The Undertaker the World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. At WrestleMania XXVI, Michaels lost to The Undertaker and, as a result, he was forced to retire due to the match stipulation, the same way Michaels ended Ric Flair's career. The following night, on the March 29 episode of Raw, Michaels gave an emotional farewell speech, departing with the familiar sentence, "Shawn Michaels has left the building."

In an interview with Bill Simmons of ESPN.com shortly after his retirement, Michaels stated that his decision to retire came a month before WrestleMania 25, when a backstage employee asked about his son Cameron, and, in response to Shawn telling the employee that he'd just turned nine, the employee said that he was "halfway gone"; meaning that he was halfway to his eighteenth birthday, and after that, he'd be "gone". The statement affected Michaels deeply; he did not want to be absent when his son left home, so he decided that year would be his last year as an active wrestler.

WWE Hall of Famer and sporadic appearances (2010–2018) 

On the December 14, 2010 episode of Raw, Michaels won the Slammy Award for Moment of the Year for his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI. Michaels accepted the award via satellite. Three days later, he announced a long-term deal with WWE, where he would serve in an ambassadorial role. Michaels made his in-person television return at the December 11 Tribute to the Troops taping, where he and Triple H had a one-night only DX reunion.

Michaels appeared on the January 10, 2011 episode of Raw, where he was announced as a WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011 inductee. After being ridiculed by Alberto Del Rio later that night, Michaels hit Del Rio with Sweet Chin Music. On the March 28 episode of Raw, Michaels addressed Triple H and The Undertaker about their match at WrestleMania XXVII. Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2 by Triple H. They were also joined by fellow Kliq members Kevin Nash (who had returned to WWE for the Royal Rumble) and Sean Waltman. He returned on the June 27 episode of Raw, where he was confronted by CM Punk, and superkicked David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. Later that night, when Diamond Dallas Page's special appearance was interrupted by Drew McIntyre, he superkicked McIntyre.

In June 2011, Jim Ross, Michaels and Hart announced that the three were working on a DVD chronicling the careers of Hart and Michaels that the WWE was planning to release in October 2011. The subject of the DVD was their on-screen rivalry and real-life conflicts, with a particular focus on the Montreal Screwjob. In his tweet, Hart described working on the DVD as a "cathartic" experience, and Ross asserted that both Hart and Michaels had been very honest and emotional in their interviews. The DVD, Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart: WWE's Greatest Rivalries, was released in November 2011.

On the February 13, 2012 episode of Raw, Michaels confronted Triple H about accepting The Undertaker's challenge for a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XXVIII, and announced he would be the special guest referee for it. Despite interference on Triple H's behalf from Michaels, The Undertaker defeated Triple H at WrestleMania. After Michaels and The Undertaker assisted Triple H out of the ring and up the ramp, the three embraced. Michaels appeared at Raw 1000 on July 23 alongside fellow D-Generation X alumni Triple H, X-Pac, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. The group were interrupted by Damien Sandow before Michaels struck him with Sweet Chin Music and Triple H delivered a Pedigree. The group then performed their signature poses before departing.

Michaels appeared on the August 6 episode of Raw. He was confronted by Brock Lesnar (who was scheduled to face Triple H at SummerSlam) and Paul Heyman. Michaels announced he would be in Triple H's corner for the match. After the show ended, many WWE Superstars (including John Cena and The Undertaker) celebrated Michaels's career. The live audience festivities were titled "Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night", as the show took place in Michaels's hometown of San Antonio, Texas. On the following week's episode of Raw, Lesnar (kayfabe) broke Michaels's arm after putting Michaels in a Kimura Lock. As a result, Michaels was unable to appear; Lesnar defeated Triple H at SummerSlam.

On the January 24, 2013 episode of NXT, Michaels announced a tournament to crown the inaugural NXT Tag Team Champions. On the April 1, 2013 Raw, Michaels returned to offer to corner Triple H in his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 29. During that match, Michaels superkicked an interfering Paul Heyman, helping Triple H win and keep his job. He returned on the May 27 Raw in a backstage segment with John Cena, and again on the SummerSlam pre-show.

In October 2013, Michaels won a fan poll to become special guest referee for the Hell in a Cell match between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship. He performed Sweet Chin Music on Bryan, allowing Orton to win. The next night on Raw, he explained that he was upset with Bryan for attacking Triple H during the match. He degraded Bryan for not showing him respect, turning heel for the first time since 2005. Bryan applied the "Yes!" Lock on Michaels to end the segment. On December 9, he presented Bryan with the Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year. Later that night, Bryan attacked Michaels with a running knee after Michaels attacked CM Punk with Sweet Chin Music. All three legends then became involved in an altercation with Big Show. Michaels appeared at WrestleMania 31, interfering as a member of DX in the Sting-Triple H match, performing Sweet Chin Music to Sting. Michaels appeared on the October 19, 2015, episode of Raw, confronting Seth Rollins who was cutting a promo on relieving Kane of his duties as Director of Operations.

At WrestleMania 32, Michaels made an appearance during the event in his in-ring attire, confronting The League of Nations alongside Mick Foley and Stone Cold Steve Austin where Michaels delivered Sweet Chin Music to Alberto Del Rio and King Barrett before celebrating with Foley, Austin and The New Day.

In late 2016, Michaels became a trainer at the WWE Performance Center.

On the January 9, 2017 episode of Raw, Michaels returned to WWE, promoting his new film. Michaels was then confronted by Rusev, Lana and Jinder Mahal, before Enzo Amore and Big Cass came to Michaels's side, leading to a match between Big Cass and Mahal, with Michaels being in Big Cass's corner. Big Cass won the match after Michaels superkicked Rusev at ringside, distracting Mahal. On the March 13 episode of Raw, Michaels gave Roman Reigns advice about The Undertaker for their match at WrestleMania 33, before Braun Strowman attacked Reigns on the entrance ramp.

According to Pro Wrestling Torch in 2017, Michaels along with Terry Taylor teach the finishing class at the WWE Performance Center, the last of four levels of classes.

Michaels and numerous other WWE legends appeared on the January 22, 2018 episode of Raw 25 Years.

One match return and NXT backstage work (2018–present) 
On the September 3, 2018, episode of Raw, Michaels made a special appearance to promote the match between Triple H and The Undertaker at Super Show-Down, during which he was confronted by The Undertaker himself. At Super Show-Down, Michaels assisted Triple H in defeating The Undertaker, after which, he was attacked by Undertaker and Kane. On the October 8 edition of Raw, Michaels appeared with Triple H and announced that he was coming out of retirement to reform D-Generation X. On the October 29 edition of Raw, Michaels delivered Sweet Chin Music to the Undertaker. At Crown Jewel, D-Generation X defeated The Brothers of Destruction. The match was poorly received by fans and critics alike, winning the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's "Worst Match of the Year" award. Afterwards, Michaels confirmed that he would be going back into retirement. On November 27, 2018, it was announced that Michaels was officially working as a writer and producer on WWE's NXT brand and show. On the February 25, 2019 episode of WWE Raw, Michaels along with special guests Ricky Steamboat, Kurt Angle and Sting appeared during the main event segment to celebrate the 70th birthday of Ric Flair. However, Flair would be attacked by Batista instead of appearing on-screen. In April 2019, Michaels was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for the second time as a member of D-Generation X as part of the 2019 class.

On November 22, 2020, he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony.

Legacy 
Michaels is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

He received praises for several matches, including 15 Match of the Year awards between Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Also, his match at WrestleMania 24 against Ric Flair was named Match of the Decade by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer gave him two 5 stars matches (the Ladder match against Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X and the first Hell in a Cell against The Undertaker at Bad Blood 1997).

After several acclaimed matches at WrestleMania, Michaels has been known as Mr. WrestleMania.

Sumit Rehal of Independent UK in his top 10 WrestleMania matches listed Michels 3 times (vs Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X, vs Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII and vs The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV).

In 2016, Dave Richard of CBS Sports ranked his match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV as the best main event in WrestleMania history.

His rivalry with Bret Hart has been named one of the best rivalries in WWE history.

Michaels is cited as an inspiration for many wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and more.

After 8 years retired from in-ring competition, Michaels made his return at Crown Jewel, receiving criticism from the fans and media. PWTorch's Wade Keller said "Michaels shows glimpses and didn't embarrass himself".

Personal life 
Hickenbottom's first marriage, to Theresa Wood, soon ended in an amicably settled divorce. He married Rebecca Curci, a former WCW Nitro Girl known as Whisper, on March 31, 1999, at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Only the couple and an Elvis impersonator were present. Their son, Cameron Kade, was born on January 15, 2000, and a daughter, Cheyenne, born on August 19, 2004, followed. His cousin Matt Bentley is also a professional wrestler, having wrestled in TNA and WWE.

In 1996, Hickenbottom posed for a non-nude layout in Playgirl magazine. Only after he posed did he discover Playgirl has a mostly homosexual readership, for which some of his fellow wrestlers teased him.

He is ambidextrous, and had trouble differentiating between right and left, which affected his football games as a boy. He uses his right hand to draw and color and his left hand to write. He typically kicks with his right leg in Sweet Chin Music, but uses either arm for his signature elbow drop, depending on the position.

In 1987, Hickenbottom developed a pattern of "heavy" substance abuse, which eventually alienated some of his closest friends. He contemplated suicide in the late 1980s, and suggested that psychological intervention was "probably sorely needed" by the late 1990s. His wife Rebecca observed: "There was something in him that he despised, and he was self-destructing." Hickenbottom's fear that he was going to negatively influence his young son, prompted him to abandon his previous lifestyle.

Hickenbottom became a born-again Christian on April 24, 2002. He was raised a Catholic, but became a non-denominational Christian because of his wife. His later ring attire often incorporated cross symbols and he made a praying gesture on his knees during ring entrances. Hickenbottom was in the audience for a televised service of John Hagee's Cornerstone Church in his hometown, San Antonio, where he is also a Bible teacher. In 2008, he appeared on a Trinity Broadcasting Network program with fellow professional wrestler Sting.

Other media

Shawn Michaels' MacMillan River Adventures 
Michaels is the host of the outdoor television show, Shawn Michaels' MacMillan River Adventures. Michaels joins his hunting partner and longtime friend, Keith Mark, owner and operator of the original MacMillan River Adventures camp in Yukon, Canada, as they hunt big-game animals around the world. This series airs on CarbonTV.

Filmography

Film

Television

HBK Line 
During their 2015–16 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League named a line, consisting of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel, the "HBK Line" due to the fact that the trio's first initials, of their last names, recall Michaels's "Heartbreak Kid" moniker. Pens' game-day staff would regularly play Michaels's theme "Sexy Boy" over the Consol Energy Center PA system after goals or excellent shifts by line members.

After weeks of having fun with Penguins fans on Twitter, the team officially invited Michaels for their Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning (whose fanbase contains a sizable number of pro wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan and Titus O'Neil, due to Tampa long being a home base for many wrestlers), upon which Michaels accepted. Michaels met with Penguins' owner Mario Lemieux and sat with former Pittsburgh Steelers's defensive lineman Brett Keisel during the game. Keisel also gave Michaels a tour of the city including at the Steelers headquarters and having lunch at Primanti Brothers in the city's Strip District. The Penguins lost the game in overtime 4–3 but went on to defeat the Lightning in the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually defeating the San Jose Sharks for the Stanley Cup. Michaels eventually befriended Keisel and attended his annual "Shear Da Beard" event in 2017.

Outside of his numerous appearances with WWE, it was not Michaels first visit to Pittsburgh. In 2013, he appeared at the opening of the first Field & Stream store in suburban Cranberry Township.

While the Penguins successfully defended their Stanley Cup championship the following year, the HBK Line was broken up when Kessel was moved to the 2nd line with Evgeni Malkin and Bonino left the team in free agency.

Book 
On February 10, 2015, Hickenbottom published an autobiography entitled Wrestling for My Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar. It was co-written by David Thomas.

Championships and accomplishments 

 American Wrestling Association
 AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Marty Jannetty
 The Baltimore Sun
 Feud of the Year (2008) 
 Match of the Year (2007) 
 Match of the Year (2008) 
 Match of the Year (2009) 
 Match of the Year (2010) 
 Wrestler of the Year (2008)
 Cauliflower Alley Club
 Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement/Lou Thesz Award (2018)
 CBS Sports
 Worst Angle of the Year (2018) 
 Central States Wrestling
 NWA Central States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Marty Jannetty
 Continental Wrestling Association
 AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Marty Jannetty
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Feud of the Decade (2000–2009) vs. Chris Jericho
 Feud of the Year (2008) vs. Chris Jericho
 Match of the Decade (2000–2009) vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV
Match of the Decade (2010-2019) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI
 Match of the Year (1993) vs. Marty Jannetty on Monday Night Raw on May 17
 Match of the Year (1994) vs. Razor Ramon in a ladder match at WrestleMania X
 Match of the Year (1995) vs. Diesel at WrestleMania XI
 Match of the Year (1996) vs. Bret Hart in an Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII
 Match of the Year (2004) vs. Chris Benoit and Triple H at WrestleMania XX
 Match of the Year (2005) vs. Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 21
 Match of the Year (2006) vs. Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match at WrestleMania 22
 Match of the Year (2007) vs. John Cena on Raw on April 23
 Match of the Year (2008) vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV
 Match of the Year (2009) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV
 Match of the Year (2010)  vs. The Undertaker in a career vs. streak match at WrestleMania XXVI
 Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Decade (2000–2009)
 Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2010)
 Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1995, 1996)
 Ranked No. 1 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1996
 Ranked No. 10 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
 Ranked No. 33 and No. 55 of the top 100 tag teams of the PWI Years with Marty Jannetty and Diesel, respectively, in 2003
 Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 Class of 2017
 Texas All-Star Wrestling
 TASW Texas Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Paul Diamond
TASW Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul Diamond & DJ Peterson
 Texas Wrestling Alliance
 TWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
 WWF World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
 World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times)
 WWF European Championship (1 time)
 WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Triple H
 WWF/World Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Diesel (2), Stone Cold Steve Austin (1), John Cena (1), Triple H (1)
 Royal Rumble (1995, 1996)
 First Grand Slam Champion
 Fourth Triple Crown Champion
 Slammy Award (15 times)
 Best Finisher (1997)
 Best Slammin' Jammin' Entrance (1996)
 Best Tag Team (1994) –  with Diesel
 Best Threads (1996)
 Double-Cross of the Year (2013) – For turning on Daniel Bryan and costing him the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell.
 Leader of the New Generation (1996)
 Master of Mat Mechanics (1996)
 Match of the Year (1994, 1996, 1997, 2008, 2009) – vs. Razor Ramon in a ladder match at WrestleMania X; vs. Razor Ramon in a ladder match at SummerSlam; vs Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII; vs The Undertaker at Badd Blood: In Your House; vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV; vs The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV
 Moment of the Year (2010) – vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI
 Squared Circle Shocker (1996) – Won for collapsing; Owen Hart accepts the award for making Michaels collapse
 Worst Tag Team (1994) –  with Diesel
 WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
Class of 2011 – individually
Class of 2019 – as a member of D-Generation X
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Best Babyface (1996)
 Feud of the Year (2004) vs. Chris Benoit and Triple H
 Feud of the Year (2008) vs. Chris Jericho
 Match of the Year (1994) vs. Razor Ramon in a ladder match at WrestleMania X
 Match of the Year (2008) vs. Chris Jericho in a ladder match at No Mercy
 Match of the Year (2009) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXV
 Match of the Year (2010) vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI
 Worst Match of the Year (2018) with Triple H vs. The Undertaker and Kane at Crown Jewel
Best Pro Wrestling DVD (2011) Greatest Rivalries: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart
 Most Charismatic (1995, 1996)
 Tag Team of the Year (1989) with Marty Jannetty as The Rockers
 Worst Feud of the Year (2006) with Triple H vs. Shane and Vince McMahon
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2003)

References

Further reading

External links 

 
 
 
 

1965 births
American football linebackers
American male professional wrestlers
American male television actors
American people of English descent
D-Generation X members
Living people
Professional wrestlers from Arizona
Professional wrestling authority figures
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Professional wrestling trainers
Sportspeople from Chandler, Arizona
Texas State University alumni
The Kliq members
The New World Order (professional wrestling) members
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Hall of Fame inductees
WWF European Champions
WWF/WWE Intercontinental Champions
WWE Champions
WWE Grand Slam champions
Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Best known for his professional wrestling career in WWF/E from 1990 to 2020, Calaway spent the vast majority of that time performing his critically acclaimed "Deadman" Undertaker gimmick. Although retired from professional wrestling, Calaway remains employed for WWE through a 15-year contract signed in 2019.

Calaway began his career in 1987, working under various gimmicks for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and other affiliate promotions. He became USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion and WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion during this time. After signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1989, he had a brief stint in the mid-card as "Mean" Mark Callous, before joining the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1990.

Calaway was rebranded into a horror-themed Deadman gimmick with the name, "The Undertaker", once joining the WWF. Portraying an undead, funereal, macabre character, he gained significant mainstream popularity and won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards for Best Gimmick a record-setting 5 years in a row. A textbook example of WWE's Golden Age of freakish gimmicks, The Undertaker was intent on disrupting the confidence of his rivals while feuding with and combating them, done through varied alarmist tactics: delivering caskets, corpse-like effigies, theatrically chilling entrances, funeral tolling, etc. The longest-tenured wrestler in company history at 30 years, The Undertaker is one of the most prominent figures of the Attitude Era–a high ratings, envelope-pushing generation of the WWF/E in the latter 1990s. Desiring to perform under a gimmick truer to himself, Calaway expanded on The Undertaker gimmick by assuming a biker identity, dubbed "American Badass", in 2000. Calaway resurrected The Deadman Undertaker in 2004, with residual elements of American Badass Undertaker remaining.

For the better part of his career, The Undertaker was observed as a focal point of WWE's flagship annual event, WrestleMania, where he became esteemed for The Streak—a series of 21 straight victories. He is also known for pairing with his in-storyline half-brother Kane, with whom he had alternatively feuded and teamed off and on with as The Brothers of Destruction from 1997 through 2020. During his active career under The Undertaker gimmick, Calaway won the WWF/E Championship four times, the World Heavyweight Championship three times, the Hardcore Championship once and the World Tag Team Championship six times. He also won the Royal Rumble match in 2007. He is one of WWE's most prolific pay-per-view performers, headlining several pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania on five occasions.

The Undertaker retired from professional wrestling in 2020 and made a farewell appearance at that year's Survivor Series, 30 years to the day from his on-screen debut for the company at the same pay-per-view brand. On February 18, 2022, The Undertaker was confirmed as the first inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2022, and vastly praised by WWE fans, the professional wrestling community and media outlets alike following the announcement.

Early life 
Mark William Calaway was born in Houston, Texas, on March 24, 1965, the son of Frank Compton Calaway (died July 2003) and Betty Catherine Truby. He has four older brothers named David, Michael, Paul, and Timothy (died March 2020, age 63). He attended Waltrip High School, where he was a member of the football and basketball teams. He graduated in 1983 and began studying on a basketball scholarship at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas. In 1985, he enrolled in Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas, where he majored in sport management and played as a center for the Rams in the 1985–1986 season. In 1986, Calaway dropped out of university to focus on a career in sports and briefly considered playing professional basketball in Europe, before deciding to focus on professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1987–1990) 
Calaway began training under Buzz Sawyer in late 1986; he disliked Sawyer, who reportedly lacked commitment and provided a limited education. Calaway learned "on the job" thereafter. Performing under a mask as Texas Red, Calaway wrestled his first match on June 26, 1987, for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), losing to Bruiser Brody at the Dallas Sportatorium. He was accompanied to the ring by Percival "Percy" Pringle III, who would later serve as his manager in the WWF (as Paul Bearer). Two myths have circulated regarding Calaway's beginnings in the industry, the first being that he made his in-ring debut in 1984, and the second being that he was trained by former WCCW colleague Don Jardine (aka The Spoiler). While never trained by Jardine, Calaway was an admirer of his work and would emulate Jardine's top rope walk. PWInsiders Mike Johnson stated, "Undertaker using some of Jardine's style eventually morphed into this story that he was trained by Jardine."

In 1988, Calaway joined the Continental Wrestling Association (which became part of the United States Wrestling Association (USWA) after Jerry Jarrett bought WCCW and merged the two organizations into one), wrestling under several gimmicks. On February 2, 1989, managed by Dutch Mantel, he was reintroduced as The Master of Pain, a character fresh out of the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta after serving five years (much in solitary confinement) for killing two men in a fight. After his second match the next week, he stayed in the ring by challenging USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler to an impromptu match. The Master of Pain easily dominated Lawler until Mantel entered the ring and called him off. Lawler agreed to a title match and on April 1, The Master of Pain won his first professional wrestling championship. He held it for just over three weeks before Lawler became the first man to pin him, winning it back. While performing as The Punisher, Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on October 5, 1989, when Eric Embry forfeited the title.

World Championship Wrestling (1989–1990) 

In 1989, Calaway joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a villain and adopted the ring name "Mean Mark" Callous, a name devised for him by Terry Funk. He was portrayed as a morbid character; he wore predominantly black ring attire and was described by announcer Jim Ross as having a fondness for pet snakes and the music of Ozzy Osbourne. Callous was promptly drafted into The Skyscrapers tag team to replace a legitimately injured Sid Vicious and he made his debut on January 3, 1990, in a match later televised against Agent Steel and Randy Harris. The new team gained some notoriety at Clash of the Champions X when they beat down The Road Warriors after their match (the Road Warriors were actually very impressed by this). However, Callous's partner Dan Spivey left WCW days before their Chicago Street Fight against The Road Warriors at WrestleWar. Callous and a replacement masked Skyscraper were defeated in the street fight and the team broke up soon afterwards. Now a singles wrestler, Callous took on the guidance of Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) and defeated Johnny Ace at Capital Combat and Brian Pillman at Clash of the Champions XI: Coastal Crush.

Calaway began to question his future in WCW after being told by company booker, Ole Anderson, during contract renewal discussions, that nobody would ever pay money to watch him perform. It was during this time that Calaway sought to achieve noteworthy success in professional wrestling by making numerous efforts to join the World Wrestling Federation, going to many lengths to land a meeting with Vince McMahon. However, accessing and securing an interview with McMahon was described by Calaway as a despairing task. Among routes Calaway took to land a meeting with McMahon, he convinced individuals acquainted with McMahon or already existing WWF talent to recommend him into WWF, including Hulk Hogan, Paul Heyman, Bruce Prichard, etc. While linking up with Hogan in a small role as "Hutch" during the making of the movie Suburban Commando, Calaway was able to get a recommendation sent to McMahon from him. Hogan's effectiveness is questioned because he was reportedly on bad terms with McMahon at this particular point.

Callous wrestled Lex Luger for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash, but was pinned. According to WWF/E executive Bruce Prichard, "feelers" had already been sent out to the WWF by Heyman: Calaway wrestled the match with a dislocated hip knowing that he was being watched by McMahon. McMahon initially wasn't expressing any interest, but Prichard managed to encourage him to speak with Calaway when WCW traveled to New Jersey for a house show in the Meadowlands on August 24. The meeting between the two went well and Calaway gave notice to WCW on August 27. His final match was on September 7 at a WorldWide taping in Amarillo, Texas in which he defeated Dave Johnson.

During his time in WCW, Calaway briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as "Punisher" Dice Morgan. After leaving WCW, he briefly returned to the USWA to participate in a tournament to determine the new USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion; he defeated Bill Dundee in the first round, but lost to Jerry Lawler in the quarterfinals.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE

WWF debut and early feuds, Old West Mortician Deadman (1990–1991) 
In October 1990, Calaway signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), set to portray a gimmick that was originally entitled Kane The Undertaker—a menacing derivative of the Wild West undertakers depicted in television westerns. Resulting from that, this very first edition of The Undertaker's series of Deadman incarnations has been distinguished by external media as "The Old West Mortician". The gimmick was created and assigned to him by Vince McMahon. Despite Calaway's perplexed, pessimistic feelings about the gimmick, he readily accepted the role. He made his debut as Kane The Undertaker for a taping of WWF Superstars on November 19, 1990, quickly defeating his very first WWF opponent, Mario Mancini (although this match was filmed three days prior to The Undertaker’s November 22 Survivor Series elimination tag match, it did not air on television until the December 15, 1990, edition of WWF Superstars, thus not commonly recognized as his debut).

Calaway's official televised debut was the Survivor Series event in which he was presented as the heel mystery partner of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Team. Approximately one minute into the match, The Undertaker eliminated Koko B. Ware with his finisher, the Tombstone Piledriver. He also eliminated Dusty Rhodes before being counted out; however, his team won the match with DiBiase being the sole survivor.  During the match, Calaway was referred to as simply The Undertaker, omitting the portion "Kane", which was dropped shortly after the event (and seven years later, given to another wrestler once he took on the role of The Undertaker's younger brother). Throughout the end of 1990, The Undertaker mostly picked up squash victories against jobbers on Superstars of Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge tapings. He was a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble match which was won by Hulk Hogan. 

In February 1991, Brother Love delegated his short-lived management role of The Undertaker over to Paul Bearer (real-life funeral director), Love communicating the need for someone who better aligned with The Undertaker's deadman themes. Histrionic, wailing and ghostly in character, Bearer complemented The Undertaker and was almost always seen bearing an urn which he raised in the air to transmit supernatural healing powers to The Undertaker; this typically resulting in The Undertaker recovering from attacks and counterattacking his adversaries. During his early years, The Undertaker took to a post-match routine of placing his defeated opponents (almost always jobbers) in a body bag and carrying them off to the back. He continued picking up victories in squash matches leading up to his first feud in the WWF with "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.

WWF Champion (1991–1994) 
The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VII on March 24, 1991, quickly defeating "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. He began his first major feud with The Ultimate Warrior when he attacked Warrior and locked him in an airtight casket on the set of Paul Bearer's Funeral Parlor interview segment. Resulting from this, the Warrior enlisted the assistance of Jake "The Snake" Roberts to get him mentally prepared for The Undertaker's morbid alarmist tactics: Roberts would drill the Warrior with "know your enemy" training, setting up the Warrior in a series of creepy, terrorizing circumstances, such as by locking him in caskets and in rooms with snakes. This culminated in a final stage of Roberts's training in which Roberts proved to be stringing Warrior along the entire time by assisting The Undertaker in an ambush. The Undertaker would later suffer his first losses in the WWF to The Ultimate Warrior, including in a first ever body bag challenge, a casket match, and (at house show) standard pin-fall match. The feud was, however, cut short after the Warrior's suspension and ongoing issues with Vince McMahon. In the 1991 King of the Ring, Undertaker defeated Animal in a qualifying match before fighting Sid Vicious to a double disqualification in the semifinal, which saw both men eliminated from the King of the Ring tournament.
The Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to win his first WWF Championship at Survivor Series with the help of Ric Flair and thus became the youngest WWF Champion in history to that point, later having this record broken by Yokozuna in April 1993 at WrestleMania IX. WWF President Jack Tunney ordered a rematch for This Tuesday in Texas six days later, where he lost the title back to Hogan. However, due to the controversial endings of the two title matches between The Undertaker and Hogan, the title was vacated from Hogan the next night by Tunney. The company was without a WWF Champion until Ric Flair earned it by winning 1992 Royal Rumble match.

In February 1992, The Undertaker's ally Jake "The Snake" Roberts tried to attack "Macho Man" Randy Savage's manager/wife Miss Elizabeth with a steel chair when Undertaker stopped him, turning face for the first time. The turn was solidified on the February 29 episode of Superstars, when Roberts confronted The Undertaker on the Funeral Parlor set over that incident (aired on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX). After demanding to know whose side The Undertaker was on and getting the reply, "Not yours", Roberts attacked both Bearer and The Undertaker, only for The Undertaker to stand his ground and run Roberts off. The Undertaker defeated Roberts at WrestleMania VIII. He then feuded extensively with wrestlers managed by Harvey Wippleman throughout 1992 and 1993, such as Kamala and Giant González. Also during this time, The Undertaker headlined the first ever episode of Monday Night Raw on January 11, 1993, with a victory over Damien Demento. According to Calaway, working with González "...was survival every night trying to figure out what he could do" and "took years off my career".  He faced González at WrestleMania IX, which is notable as The Undertaker's only disqualification win at WrestleMania after the use of chloroform. The Undertaker's next rivalry initiated at the 1993 Survivor Series with Yokozuna when a clash between the two lost control, causing them to be counted out in an elimination tag match. In the weeks following, The Undertaker and Bearer spooked Yokozuna with multiple segments from their wintery and remote rural area workshop. There, Bearer presented The Undertaker hard at work carpentering Yokozuna what would eventually become a "double wide, double deep casket" custom-built for Yokozuna's immensely overweight size. The feud culminated in a WWF Championship casket match at the Royal Rumble in January 1994. During the match, Yokozuna sealed The Undertaker in the casket with the assistance of a multitude of antagonist wrestlers, some of them Wippleman-managed. After being trapped inside the casket by the pack, green vapor emitted from the casket and the arena lights went out. Undertaker then appeared from inside the casket on the video screen, representing the spirit of his dead corpse, warning that he would produce a future rebirth of himself, explaining to his antagonists that he cannot and will not Rest in Peace. The Undertaker did not appear in the WWF for seven months after his loss to Yokozuna. In reality, he was given time off to allow a back injury to heal.

The Real Deadman and feuding (1994–1996) 

Following the death angle at the Royal Rumble during The Undertaker's absence, the WWF promoted reported sightings of him through video clips of random people who claimed to have seen him. After WrestleMania X, Ted DiBiase introduced an Undertaker back to the WWF. This Undertaker, however, played by Calaway's real-life cousin, Brian Lee, was an impostor Undertaker (dubbed "The Underfaker" by fans) rejuvenated by Dibiase's money rather than Bearer's urn. His actions led to the return of the real Undertaker at SummerSlam, defeating the impostor and appearing as a reincarnation of his Deadman gimmick, one of a more shadowy, mysterious and secret presence. Represented now by cool colors, The Undertaker replaced details of his wrestling gear that were previously colored gray with purple, and effected scenes with blue/purple semidarkness. Many details that would become associated with The Undertaker for the remainder of his career were produced during this incarnation, such as the addition of sleeve tattoos and Godlike elements (thunder, lightening and windy weather-like effects used to indicate The Undertaker's presence and wrath).

Seeking retribution, The Undertaker revisited his feud with Yokozuna and eventually faced him in a casket rematch at the 1994 Survivor Series. Chuck Norris (portraying his Walker, Texas Ranger persona) was involved in this match as special guest/ringside security guard. In this manner, he prevented interference from WWF athletes that Yokozuna, Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji had again enlisted for help. Unable to rely on interference this time around, Yokozuna was defeated by The Undertaker and sealed in the casket. Throughout most of 1995, Undertaker feuded with members of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation. The chain of athletes DiBiase enlisted to do away with The Undertaker started with Irwin R. Schyster at the Royal Rumble for which The Undertaker was victorious, but assaulted by another member of the Million Dollar Team, King Kong Bundy. At WrestleMania XI, The Undertaker made short work of Bundy in a singles match. This edition of WrestleMania is noteworthy in that it produced the first mention of The Undertaker's historic WrestleMania-winning Streak, acknowledged by Vince McMahon as Undertaker made his entrance: "The Undertaker, on his way to the ring—a man who's never lost at WrestleMania." During The Undertaker's WrestleMania encounter, DiBiase issued him with yet another antagonist in "The Supreme Fighting Machine" Kama, who had stolen the urn from Bearer during the match. Kama followed this up with a series of malicious acts, including destroying the stolen urn and recycling it into bling. While sporting the flashy bling around his neck, he repeatedly cost The Undertaker matches and attacked The Undertaker's fans, dubbed "creatures of the night". In August, Undertaker settled the score with Kama, defeating him in a casket match at SummerSlam. Several weeks later, Undertaker suffered a serious orbital bone injury when King Mabel unintentionally struck him in the eye with his fist during a house show, forcing The Undertaker to a period of absence for surgery. Due to the incident happening at a house show, Vince McMahon had it presented to the audience as though it had occurred from Mabel and Yokozuna's exchange of leg drops and splashes on The Undertaker on the Monday Night Raw that had aired 2 days prior. The Undertaker returned a couple months later at Survivor Series, in which he single-handedly eliminated an entire team of athletes led by King Mabel, The Undertaker leading his own team to victory. It was at that Survivor Series return in which he began wearing a Phantom of the Opera-like, gray upper-face mask to safeguard his orbital injury while it healed. The following month in December, The Undertaker defeated Mabel in a casket match at In Your House. 

In the main event of the Royal Rumble in January 1996, The Undertaker was unmasked of his Phantom of the Opera-like facial covering in a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart. The Undertaker was eventually able to hit the Tombstone Piledriver on Hart, but Diesel interfered, costing The Undertaker the championship. A rematch for the title on the February 5 episode of Raw saw similar interference. At that month's In Your House: Rage in the Cage, while Diesel was facing Hart in a steel cage match for the WWF Championship, The Undertaker delivered a surprise attack, emerging from a hole he had ripped through the ring canvas and dragging Diesel with him down under, allowing Hart the victory. After several weeks of more tit for tat between Diesel and The Undertaker, the feud culminated in a singles match between the two at WrestleMania XII, where Undertaker was victorious.

The Undertaker's next feud started the next night on Raw, when Mankind made his debut and interfered in Undertaker's match against Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. For the next few months, Mankind ambushed and cost The Undertaker several matches. Mankind cost The Undertaker the WWF Intercontinental Championship by interfering in his casket match against Goldust at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog, Mankind appearing from inside the casket and sealing The Undertaker inside; The Undertaker, however, disappeared once the casket lid was opened. As a result of the interference and repeated ambushes from Mankind on The Undertaker throughout the ensuing weeks, The Undertaker and Mankind competed in their very first on-screen bout at the 1996 King of the Ring. During the match, Bearer inadvertently hit The Undertaker with the urn, allowing Mankind to incapacitate The Undertaker with his finisher, the Mandible Claw, and score the win. With Mankind continuing to interfere on The Undertaker's matches even following the King of the Ring encounter, The Undertaker began to rage and the feud intensified. The two took to battling at random moments outside of arranged matches, the chaos spilling into audiences, backstage areas, and the boiler rooms of varying arenas, all of this unprecedented at the time. As a result, the first ever Boiler Room Brawl (Mankind's specialty match) was booked between the two at SummerSlam. After more than 20 minutes of brawling with Mankind in the Cleveland Gund Arena's boiler room, the arena corridors and the entrance ramp, The Undertaker reached for Paul Bearer's urn to take the win, but Bearer hit him with it, betraying The Undertaker and allowing Mankind to incapacitate him with the Mandible Claw, giving him the win. After Bearer's betrayal The Undertaker took his rivalry with Mankind to a new level, a specialty match of his own, and at that time unprecedented Buried Alive match to take place in the main event of In Your House 11: Buried Alive. The Undertaker won the match after chokeslamming Mankind into the open grave and subsequently shoveling enough dirt on him so that he was covered. However, after interference from The Executioner, as well as the help of several other heel wrestlers, Mankind escaped the grave and together the mob all shoveled dirt onto The Undertaker to the point that the grave was completely filled, ultimately resulting in The Undertaker fully buried alive. Not without a parting message, however, The Undertaker's hand emerged from the ground amid a bolt of lightening.

The Lord of Darkness Deadman (1996–1998) 

After being buried alive and a following month-long hiatus, The Undertaker returned at the Survivor Series again pitting him against Mankind, but with a unique stipulation; hanging  above the ring was Paul Bearer, enclosed in a steel cage. If Undertaker won the match, he would be able to get his hands on Bearer. Even though The Undertaker won the match, interference from The Executioner enabled Bearer to escape Undertaker's clutches. It was also at this event that The Undertaker had developed a comparatively more informal, more humanized yet still superhuman "Deadman" incarnation. In this then new form, he took on a Goth appearance and persona, with a brash, rebelling, Championship-driven mean streak (perhaps to better fit in with the then-budding, more adult-oriented Attitude Era). This delivering, dubbed "The Lord of Darkness", was the 3rd incarnation of his Deadman persona. Following Survivor Series, The Undertaker briefly turned his attention to The Executioner, who had been interfering in his matches since his arrival. At In Your House 12: It's Time, The Undertaker defeated The Executioner in an Armageddon Rules match even with Mankind heavily involved throughout the entire encounter. The Undertaker then moved on to feud with Vader, whom he faced in January 1997 at the Royal Rumble in a singles match, which The Undertaker lost after Bearer interfered on behalf of his new protégé. The two then clashed in the Royal Rumble match itself as they made it to the final moments of the match, but both were eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had crept back into the match after his elimination was unseen. He faced both Vader and Austin in a four-corners elimination match for the vacant WWF Championship at In Your House 13: Final Four, but Bret Hart won. However, the following month, The Undertaker managed to win the WWF Championship for the second time by defeating Sycho Sid at WrestleMania 13. Reviving his first Deadman incarnation for that night only, The Undertaker appeared as the "Old West Mortician", donning the trademarked gray wrestling gear accessories (boot spats, tie, stetson hat ribbon and gloves), along with a pitch-black entrance with only a white spotlight shined over him, contrasted from the purple/blue semidarkness associated with the rest of his Deadman incarnations.

Following his WWF Championship win at WrestleMania 13, Paul Bearer attempted to rejoin The Undertaker as his manager. After The Undertaker refused and attacked Bearer, Bearer had Mankind set a fireball to the Undertaker's face, leading up to a match at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, for which The Undertaker was victorious. Evening the score at "Revenge of the 'Taker", The Undertaker set a fireball to Bearer's face directly following the match. Following the event, Bearer bandaged up from fire burns, likened The Undertaker's assault to a past incident he described as The Undertaker's "deepest, darkest secret". Through giving The Undertaker the ultimatum of revealing his deepest, darkest secret to the world, Bearer was able to reunite with him as manager and protégé. After only a few months of abrasive behaviors from Bearer, however, The Undertaker lost his patience and rejected Bearer as his manager. In retaliation, Bearer disclosed that The Undertaker had intentionally killed his family by burning down his parents' family funeral home for which they raised him and his younger brother. (Note that the younger brother, Kane, was not revealed to be The Undertaker's half-brother until the following year, April 1998, when Bearer disclosed to the world that he is Kane's father, The Undertaker's mother having had an affair with him. Bearer later verified this with DNA test results). At this point in his career, The Undertaker denied the charges of committing the arson murder that killed his family; however, Bearer claimed to have proof in the form of The Undertaker's alive and well younger brother, Kane, who had survived though scarred and burned. Bearer raised Kane after the fire, having him institutionalized from the date of the fire into adulthood. Ever since the fire, Kane had been awaiting to exact vengeance on his older half-brother. In defense, Undertaker responded that Kane, a "pyromaniac", had been the one to set the fire and, as a result, could not have possibly even survived. (Note that it would not be until a year later from this point in which The Undertaker shamelessly confessed to intentional acts of arson to the funeral home that killed his parents and scarred his brother).

In spite of Bearer projecting himself as a constant source of distress to The Undertaker during his Championship  title reign, The Undertaker managed to secure successful title defenses against Stone Cold Steve Austin (A Cold Day In Hell: In Your House), Faarooq (King of the Ring) and Vader (Canadian Stampede: In Your House, revisiting and settling their Royal Rumble feud from earlier on in the year), respectively. Concurrent to the "deep, dark secret" storyline directed by Bearer, Undertaker began a new rivalry at SummerSlam when special guest referee Shawn Michaels accidentally hit The Undertaker with a steel chair shot meant for Bret Hart, costing Undertaker the WWF Championship. The accidental chair shot led to a violent feud, one revolving around intentional chair shots by Michaels on The Undertaker, Michaels taunting The Undertaker throughout. After the duo's very first match, which was a chaotic and uncontrolled encounter that resulted in a double count-out draw at Ground Zero: In Your House, Undertaker challenged Michaels to the first ever Hell in a Cell match to take place at Badd Blood: In Your House. Despite the inclusion of the cell for more order and to prevent Michaels escape, the encounter ended up even more uncontrolled and savage than their first and is considered among one of The Undertaker's best matches of his career. Seemingly about to emerge the victor after striking Michaels with a chair shot of his own, The Undertaker was interrupted by his storyline half-brother Kane, finally making his debut. Under the control of Paul Bearer, Kane stormed the arena, ripped off the cell door, and laid out The Undertaker with his own trademarked finisher, The Tombstone Piledriver, allowing Michaels to pin him for the victory. As the storyline progressed through Bearer having Kane mow down much of the WWF roster, Kane repeatedly challenged The Undertaker, going to lengths of tormenting and humiliating him. However, The Undertaker consistently refused to fight his half-brother, claiming he had made a vow to his parents never to do harm to his own "flesh and blood". The Undertaker's final encounter with Michaels during this chapter of his career was in a casket match for the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble. The week before on Raw, Kane had seemingly allied with his brother against Michaels's D-Generation X; however, at the Royal Rumble, Kane trapped The Undertaker in the coffin, padlocked the lid shut, and set the casket ablaze, allowing Michaels another victory. After a two-month hiatus, The Undertaker returned on the March 2, 1998, edition of Raw in a most notable resurrection after his druids interrupted Kane and Bearer by presenting them with a coffin on the entrance stage amid repeated bell tolls. The coffin was struck and dismantled by a lightening bolt, revealing a lied out Undertaker who sat up in fury and challenged Kane to do battle with him. At WrestleMania XIV in their first match, The Undertaker defeated Kane. Kane challenged Undertaker to a rematch—Kane's specialty and first ever Inferno match—that occurred one month later at Unforgiven: In Your House. The Undertaker won the encounter by setting Kane's right arm on fire.

The Undertaker and Mankind's violent, outlandish feud was revived over the next months, ultimately taken to a new graphic height and decisively resolved when they faced each other in a Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring. The match became one of the most famous matches in professional wrestling history. During the match, The Undertaker threw Mankind off the roof of the  cell onto a broadcast table below, in what was a preplanned move. He later performed a chokeslam on Mankind through the roof of the cell into the ring, which was not preplanned and legitimately knocked Mankind unconscious. In jumping from the top of the cell to the ring canvas, The Undertaker suffered a broken ankle. Escalating as things progressed, Mankind introduced multitudes of thumbtacks scattered across the ring canvas, but was back body dropped on them, and subsequently chokeslammed onto them before The Undertaker won the match with the Tombstone Piledriver. At Fully Loaded: In Your House, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane and Mankind to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The Undertaker and Austin's reign as tag team champions lasted only two weeks, as Kane and Mankind regained the titles from them in a fatal four-way tag-team match on the August 10 edition of RAW. The Undertaker then became the number one contender for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam, now held by Austin. Shortly before SummerSlam, however, The Undertaker revealed that he and Kane were working together as brothers. Despite this revelation, The Undertaker told Kane that he did not want him to interfere in the match with Austin and even though The Undertaker lost the match at SummerSlam, he handed Austin his championship belt back after the match in a show of respect. In September, the storyline continued and The Undertaker began to show some heel characteristics when he and Kane revealed the fact that they were in cahoots to rid Austin of his title for Mr. McMahon. At Breakdown: In Your House, The Undertaker and Kane were booked in a triple threat match with Austin for the WWF Championship, in which McMahon stated that the brothers were not allowed to pin each other. The Undertaker and Kane pinned Austin simultaneously after a double chokeslam, ending the match in a no contest, so the title was vacated by McMahon. This event led to a match at Judgment Day: In Your House between The Undertaker and Kane for the title, with Austin as the special guest referee. Near the end of the match, Paul Bearer seemed about to assist Kane by handing him a steel chair to hit The Undertaker with, but as Kane had his back turned, both Bearer and The Undertaker hit Kane with the chair. The Undertaker went for the pin, but Austin refused to count the fall, attacked The Undertaker and counted out both of them. Finally, The Undertaker turned heel the next night on Raw for the first time since 1992, reconciling with Bearer and claiming that he and Bearer would unleash their "Ministry of Darkness" on the WWF. As part of the then new storyline angle, The Undertaker admitted that he had indeed intentionally set the fire that killed his parents and scarred Kane, for which he had previously blamed on Kane.

The Ministry of Darkness Deadman (1998–1999) 

After Survivor Series, The Undertaker returned his attention to his previous feud with Austin for costing him the title at Judgment Day, hitting Austin in the head with a shovel during a title match with The Rock on the November 16 episode of Raw, returning the favor for what happened a month earlier. With this twist in the storyline, Mr. McMahon scheduled a Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House. In the weeks leading up to Rock Bottom, The Undertaker attempted to embalm Austin alive, tried to have Kane committed to a mental asylum, and had his druids chain Austin to an immense structure of The Undertaker logo before having the structure lifted up high into the air. However, The Undertaker lost the Buried Alive match to Austin at Rock Bottom after Kane interfered.

After the buildup to his second heel run in the latter part of 1998, The Undertaker introduced an updated version of his Deadman identity by January 1999—a dark priest-like character who in the initial period of this persona reigned over a stable known as The Ministry of Darkness. In this form, he took on a wicked, demonic presence, much more so than ever before. He often claimed to be invoking and taking orders from a "Higher Power". Moreover, he often appeared in a hooded black robe and sat on a throne that was specially designed into his Undertaker logo. With the help of his minions, he often performed sacrifices on select WWF wrestlers, using various incantations and magic words with intent to extract out the dark side of the wrestlers in question to recruit them into his Ministry. The completed Ministry of Darkness consisted of The Brood (Christian, Edge and Gangrel), The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq), Mideon and Viscera. Calaway himself did not wrestle for a period, having undergone a hip replacement. As part of the angle, Undertaker expressed a desire to take control of the World Wrestling Federation, displacing its owner, Mr. McMahon. These ambitions culminated into a rivalry between The Ministry and The Corporation, ultimately resulting in a match between Undertaker and Corporation enforcer, Big Boss Man. The two faced off in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XV, which Undertaker won. At Backlash: In Your House, Undertaker defeated Corporation member Ken Shamrock after interference from Ministry member Bradshaw.

Thereafter, The Undertaker kidnapped Stephanie McMahon, forcing Mr. McMahon to enter into a reluctant alliance with his longtime nemesis Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Undertaker attempted to marry Stephanie before sacrificing her in an eldritch ceremony conducted by Paul Bearer, but Austin was able to rescue her. At the Over the Edge pay-per-view, The Undertaker defeated Austin for his third WWF Championship with help from Shane McMahon, the special guest referee. The Ministry eventually merged with Shane McMahon's Corporation alliance to form The Corporate Ministry. The Undertaker later revealed that Mr. McMahon had been his "Higher Power" all along. After The Undertaker lost the WWF Championship back to Austin on the Raw following King of the Ring and lost to him in a First Blood match at Fully Loaded, his relationship with the McMahons dissolved and The Corporate Ministry disbanded.

The Undertaker then began a storyline where he teamed with Big Show in a tag team known as "The Unholy Alliance", which held the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. After their victory at SummerSlam, The Undertaker suffered a groin tear and was seen limping in several matches. He avoided competing in wrestling matches in the following weeks, instead tyrannically ordering Big Show to fight all his battles and oblige all his many wishes. Developing a smart mouth and thus horror comedy traits, The Undertaker began a subtle transition into his biker identity that he would introduce in 2000. According to an interview with Kevin Nash, this was a move to allow Calaway to enter World Championship Wrestling with a non-trademarked persona. Had he entered WCW, it would have been as Mark Calaway. Although negotiations were described as close, Calaway ultimately re-signed with the WWF.

To compensate for his lack of physical activity, Undertaker became more vocal on the mic, often making smart-aleck remarks and performing commentary. On the September 23, 1999 episode of SmackDown!, Mr. McMahon threatened that he would remove Undertaker from the Unforgiven main event if he refused to participate in a casket match against Triple H. Undertaker retorted that he did not care and maybe he would not be participating in anything, thus walking out of the WWF. In reality, Calaway went on a hiatus from the WWF in order to treat his groin injury. He made his return to action on December 14, teaming with Viscera in a losing effort against Kane and The Godfather at a house show in Coamo, Puerto Rico. The Undertaker was advertised on the Armageddon promotional poster to return, but meanwhile also tore his pectoral muscle, making him take almost eight months out of action.

American Badass Undertaker (2000–2001) 

In May 2000, Calaway expanded on The Undertaker gimmick, returning under a redneck, biker identity, dubbed "The American Badass", known for motorcycle-riding, tobacco chewing, and donning a sporty appearance and manner. In stark contrast to his horror-themed and fully fictional Deadman persona, Calaway's Badass persona was only semifictional with traits and features adopted from who he is out of character—hence, why he desired to transform The Undertaker. When The Undertaker returned near the end of the Iron Man match for the WWF Championship between Triple H and The Rock at Judgment Day, he took out all the members of the McMahon-Helmsley Faction, which caused him to turn face. He also targeted their leader, then WWF Champion Triple H. At the King of the Ring pay-per-view, The Undertaker teamed with The Rock and Kane to defeat the team of Triple H, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon. Afterward, he was booked to team with Kane to contend for the WWF Tag Team Championship. They defeated Edge and Christian, earning the right to face them the following week for the championship, which Edge and Christian retained. During a August 14 Raw bout against Chris Benoit, Kane became involved and betrayed The Undertaker by hitting him with two chokeslams, the second one causing the ring apron to cave in underneath The Undertaker. This incident led to another match between the two at SummerSlam, which ended in a no contest as Kane ran from the ring area after The Undertaker removed Kane's mask.

The Undertaker then challenged Kurt Angle for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series. Angle, however, defeated The Undertaker after he switched places with his real-life brother, Eric Angle. The Undertaker demanded and was awarded a spot in the six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship at Armageddon. The Undertaker promised to make someone famous and did so when he performed a chokeslam on Rikishi from the roof of the cell.

In 2001, The Undertaker reunited with Kane as The Brothers of Destruction, challenging for the WWF Tag Team Championship once again. They received a title shot at No Way Out, facing Edge and Christian and then-champions The Dudley Boyz in a tables match, but they were not successful. The Undertaker then went on to defeat Triple H at WrestleMania X-Seven. He and Kane continued a storyline that focused on Triple H, who formed a "surprise alliance" with then WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Brothers of Destruction were granted an opportunity to face Triple H and Austin for their titles (Triple H was the WWF Intercontinental Champion). After The Undertaker and Kane won the WWF Tag Team Championship from Edge and Christian on the April 19 episode of SmackDown!, Triple H pinned Kane after attacking him with a sledgehammer at Backlash, where The Brothers of Destruction lost their championships. With Kane injured, The Undertaker feuded briefly with Austin for his WWF Championship, but he failed to win the title at Judgment Day.

As part of "The Invasion" storyline, The Undertaker's next nemesis was Diamond Dallas Page, who was obsessively following The Undertaker's wife, Sara. At SummerSlam, WCW Tag Team Champions The Undertaker and Kane defeated Page and his partner Kanyon in a steel cage match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. At Survivor Series, The Undertaker teamed with Kane, The Rock, Chris Jericho and Big Show to take on The Alliance's Stone Cold Steve Austin, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Shane McMahon and Kurt Angle (this was the last time The Undertaker and Kane teamed until 2006). Angle pinned The Undertaker due to interference by Austin. Despite this, Team WWF won the match.

Big Evil American Badass (2001–2003) 
After The Alliance was defeated, The Undertaker turned heel by inducting commentator Jim Ross into Mr. McMahon: Kiss My Ass Club, which involved The Undertaker planting the lips of Ross against McMahon's exposed buttocks. In transitioning his "American Badass" biker identity into a heel, The Undertaker eventually cut his long hair short and went by the nickname "Big Evil". At Vengeance, The Undertaker defeated Rob Van Dam to win the WWF Hardcore Championship.

The Undertaker's next storyline began at the Royal Rumble in January 2002, when Maven eliminated him by hitting him with a dropkick from behind. Subsequently, The Undertaker eliminated Maven in return and brutally assaulted him backstage. On an episode of SmackDown!, The Rock mentioned The Undertaker's elimination at the Royal Rumble, angering Undertaker, who responded by costing The Rock the number one contendership for the Undisputed WWF Championship. The storyline continued when The Rock cost The Undertaker his match with Maven for the Hardcore Championship. The two faced off at No Way Out, where The Undertaker lost due to interference from Ric Flair. This interference began a storyline with Flair, who declined a challenge to wrestle Undertaker at WrestleMania X8. As a result, Undertaker assaulted his son David Flair. Flair eventually accepted the match after The Undertaker threatened to inflict the same punishment on Flair's daughter. A no disqualification stipulation was added to the match and The Undertaker defeated Flair at WrestleMania.

After the storyline with Flair, The Undertaker was drafted to the Raw brand after the WWF split its roster into two brands and defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at Backlash to become the number one contender to the Undisputed WWF Championship. Later that night, he helped Hollywood Hulk Hogan win the title against then-champion Triple H. The Undertaker then defeated Hogan for the renamed WWE Undisputed Championship at Judgment Day. The next night on Raw, The Undertaker lost to Rob Van Dam for the WWE Undisputed Championship; however, Raw owner Ric Flair restarted the match (Van Dam pinned The Undertaker when his foot was on the rope, thus invalidating the pin attempt) and The Undertaker retained the championship. On the July 1 episode of Raw, The Undertaker turned face once again after defeating Jeff Hardy in a ladder match to retain the WWE Undisputed Championship and raising Hardy's hand as a show of respect. The Undertaker, however, lost the title at Vengeance to The Rock in a triple threat match that also involved Kurt Angle. On the August 29 episode of SmackDown!, Undertaker was moved to the SmackDown! brand (where he remained until the first brand extension ended in 2011), alongside former Raw talent Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero. Undertaker defeated Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match to become the #1 contender for the renamed WWE Championship and challenged Brock Lesnar for the title at Unforgiven that ended in a double disqualification. Their feud carried over to No Mercy in a Hell in a Cell match, which The Undertaker performed in the match with a legitimately broken hand and eventually lost to Lesnar.

The Undertaker took a break after Big Show threw him off the stage on the October 24 episode of SmackDown!, sparking a feud. The Undertaker returned at the Royal Rumble in January 2003. He immediately continued his feud with Big Show and defeated him by submission at No Way Out with a triangle choke. A-Train entered the storyline by attempting to attack The Undertaker after the match, but Nathan Jones came to his aid. The storyline resumed as The Undertaker began to train Jones to wrestle and the two were scheduled to fight Big Show and A-Train in a tag team match at WrestleMania XIX. However, Jones was removed before the match, making it a handicap match, which The Undertaker won with the help of Jones.

Over the remainder of the year, The Undertaker entered a brief feud with John Cena (defeating him at Vengeance) and was booked to have two WWE Championship opportunities. The first, on the September 4 SmackDown!, against Kurt Angle, ended in a no contest, due to interference from Brock Lesnar. The second, at No Mercy, was a Biker Chain match between The Undertaker and Lesnar, which Lesnar won with the help of Vince McMahon. This match resulted in a feud with McMahon, culminating at Survivor Series where The Undertaker lost a Buried Alive match against McMahon when Kane interfered. The Undertaker disappeared for some time following the match, with Kane claiming that he was "dead and buried forever".

Half-Badass Hybrid Deadman reincarnation (2004–2005) 

In the storyline leading up to WrestleMania XX, Kane was tormented by paranormal activities, haunted-like tactics and vignettes proclaiming The Undertaker's Deadman return. The first was during the Royal Rumble when The Undertaker's bells tolled, distracting Kane and allowing Booker T to eliminate him. Accompanied by Paul Bearer at WrestleMania XX, The Undertaker returned his Deadman identity, defeating Kane in a singles match. Introduced was a more dramatic, theatrical and supernatural Deadman than in years past, his presence, mannerisms, and entrances significantly elaborated on as well, such as with special effects and rising and falling flames. Combined with this, The Undertaker maintained elements of his American Badass identity, thus a composite character more humanized than all of his previous Deadman incarnations (Undertaker would present in this particular hybrid Deadman form until No Mercy 2005 when Randy Orton sealed him in a casket and set it on fire). At Judgment Day, The Undertaker defeated Booker T. One week later, Paul Heyman ordered The Dudley Boyz to kidnap Bearer. Thus, Heyman "took control" of Undertaker. At The Great American Bash, Undertaker fought a handicap match against The Dudley Boyz, with the stipulation that if he did not lay down and purposely lose, Heyman would bury Paul Bearer in cement. The Undertaker won and stopped Heyman from burying Bearer, but after claiming Bearer was merely a liability he had no use for, buried him himself.

The Undertaker began a feud with then WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) by challenging him to a title match at SummerSlam, which The Undertaker lost by disqualification. At No Mercy, The Undertaker and JBL competed in the first-ever Last Ride match, although The Undertaker lost after Heidenreich interfered. After defeating Heidenreich in a match at Survivor Series, The Undertaker turned his focus to the WWE Championship once again. Along with Eddie Guerrero and Booker T, he challenged JBL to a championship rematch at Armageddon in a fatal four-way match, in which The Undertaker was unsuccessful, again due to Heidenreich's interference. The feud culminated in a casket match between The Undertaker and Heidenreich at the Royal Rumble, where Undertaker sealed Heidenreich in a casket for the victory.

Soon after, Randy Orton challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 21 and claimed that he would end his WrestleMania winning Streak. Even with help from his father, Orton lost and The Undertaker improved his WrestleMania record to 13–0. After a two-month hiatus, Undertaker returned on the June 16 edition of SmackDown!, but lost to JBL due to interference from Randy Orton, revealed as a new draft switch to SmakhDown!. Despite his interference, the Randy Orton/Undertaker feud was put on the back burner until late summer of that year, resulting from Orton on the injured list.

In one of the most controversial moments in WWE history, on the episode of SmackDown! taped on July 4, 2005 (aired July 7), the SmackDown! General Manager Theodore "Teddy" Long put Muhammad Hassan in a match against Undertaker at The Great American Bash and placed Daivari in a match that night against The Undertaker, who quickly defeated Daivari. After the match, Hassan began to "pray" on the ramp, summoning five masked men, dressed in black shirts, ski-masks and camouflage pants. Armed with clubs and a piano wire, the masked men beat and choked The Undertaker and Hassan put The Undertaker in a camel clutch. Afterward, the masked men lifted Daivari above their heads and carried him away. Three days later, the London bombings took place. The footage aired unedited on UPN in the United States and on The Score in Canada with an advisory warning shown several times during the broadcast. It was removed from the Australian and European (including in the United Kingdom) broadcasts.

The angle elicited national attention in the New York Post, TV Guide, Variety and other major media outlets. In response to the criticism, UPN decided that it would monitor the storyline closely and that it did not want the Hassan character on its network that week. Hassan later delivered a promo to the live crowd for the July 14, 2005, episode of SmackDown!, but when UPN announced that the segment would be edited, WWE decided to host the video of the segment on its official website. In the segment, Hassan reiterated that he was an Arab-American and that the American people automatically and unfairly assumed that he was a terrorist. Despite being in character, he referred to the real-world media coverage of the storyline, singling out the New York Post's Don Kaplan by name and denouncing his description of the events on SmackDown!, such as Kaplan's comment of the masked men being "Arabs in ski masks". On the July 14, 2005, episode of SmackDown!, Hassan's absence was explained by a statement delivered by his attorney Thomas Whitney, Esquire which said that Hassan refused to appear on the show until The Great American Bash due to the way he had been treated by the media and WWE fans.

It was revealed in late July 2005 that UPN had pressured WWE to keep Hassan off their network, effectively removing him from SmackDown!. Undertaker defeated Hassan at The Great American Bash to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. After the match, The Undertaker delivered a Last Ride through an open stage ramp onto a concrete floor to Hassan. It was reported that Hassan sustained serious injuries and had to be rushed to a nearby medical facility, writing Hassan off television. Several days later, WWE.com hosted a video of a kayfabe announcement from Theodore Long, where he reiterated the stipulation that Hassan would no longer appear on SmackDown!. It was revealed years later that Hassan was about to receive a major push by winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista at SummerSlam and thus breaking Randy Orton's record for being the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history.

On the following episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker lost to JBL in a number-one contender's match, once again due to interference from Orton, reviving their feud that was put on hiatus. At SummerSlam, Orton defeated The Undertaker in a WrestleMania rematch. The storyline intensified as the two taunted each other with caskets, leading to a handicap casket match at No Mercy, in which The Undertaker lost to Randy and his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton. After the match, the Ortons poured gasoline on the casket and set it on fire. When the charred casket was opened, however, The Undertaker had once again vanished.

Dark Side Hybrid Deadman (2004–2005) 
The Undertaker resurrected at the Survivor Series when the druids delivered a casket that was struck by lightening and went up in flames. The Undertaker then burst from the flaming casket in rage, battering and brutalizing an entire ring full of athletes as a message to Orton. Here, he reappeared as a less two-dimensional Deadman/Badass incarnation, eliminating many elements associated with his biker identity that previously made for a full hybrid, such as replacing loose-fitting athletic pants with spandex tights, less use of the last ride as his finisher, etc. (The dark side slant hybrid form would later become a central storyline when The Undertaker revisited the feud with Shawn Michaels, who was represented conversely as the celestial bright side). The Undertaker returned on SmackDown! in early December to haunt Orton and set up a Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon. After The Undertaker won the Hell in a Cell encounter, in effect, settling their 9 month long feud, Calaway took a brief hiatus from professional wrestling.

In January 2006 at the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker returned during Kurt Angle's celebration of his World Heavyweight Championship defense against Mark Henry on a horse-drawn cart; in the appearance, The Undertaker signaled for a title shot by using his supernatural powers to collapse the wrestling ring that Angle stood in as a means to spook him. As part of their storyline feud, The Undertaker lost his match with Angle at No Way Out after a 30-minute match—described as underrated and among The Undertaker's top matches, in which The Undertaker versatilely took to a more ground-based submission style to combat Angle's trademarked freestyle wrestling. The Undertaker cornered Angle after the match and told him he was not finished with him. In a rematch with Angle (similarly described as underrated and among The Undertaker's top matches that utilized the wrestling styles of their previous encounter) on the March 3 edition of SmackDown!, Henry attacked The Undertaker from behind, costing him the title. This led to The Undertaker challenging Henry to a casket match at WrestleMania 22 and Henry vowing to end The Undertaker's WrestleMania winning Streak. The match resulted in The Undertaker sealing Henry in the casket, winning the match and extending his streak to 14–0 at WrestleMania. During a rematch on the next episode of SmackDown!, The Great Khali made his debut and assaulted The Undertaker to transition into a new storyline.

The Undertaker was not heard from until the May 5 episode of SmackDown!, as Theodore Long delivered a challenge from The Undertaker to Khali for a match at Judgment Day.The Undertaker lost to Khali at Judgment Day  and he did not appear again until the July 7 episode of SmackDown!, when he accepted Khali's challenge to a Punjabi Prison match at The Great American Bash. However, Khali was removed from the match and was not medically fit and was replaced by then ECW World Champion Big Show, over whom The Undertaker gained the victory. In the storyline, Theodore Long replaced Khali with Big Show as punishment for an attack on The Undertaker shortly before the match. Khali was then challenged by The Undertaker to a Last Man Standing Match at SummerSlam after interfering in The Undertaker's match with then World Heavyweight Champion King Booker. Khali refused a challenge against The Undertaker for SummerSlam, however, Long announced the Last Man Standing Match ahead of time, for the August 18 edition of SmackDown! instead. In The Undertaker won the match by striking Khali with the steel stairs, delivering several chair shots and finishing him with a chokeslam. It was Khali's first defeat and effectively ended his feud with The Undertaker.

The Undertaker's next match was with then United States Champion Mr. Kennedy at No Mercy, but was disqualified in the match after he hit Kennedy with the championship belt. On the November 3 edition of SmackDown!, The Undertaker reunited with Kane to reform The Brothers of Destruction for the first time in five years, defeating the reluctant opposition team of Mr. Kennedy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), with whom Kane was feuding with at the time. As part of the storyline, Kennedy defeated The Undertaker in a First Blood match at Survivor Series after interference from MVP, but finally defeated Kennedy in a Last Ride match at Armageddon. The two continued to feud into 2007 as Kennedy cost The Undertaker two World Heavyweight Championship opportunities for a championship match at the Royal Rumble. However, The Undertaker eventually qualified for the 2007 Royal Rumble match, by winning a battle royal on the January 26 episode of SmackDown!.

World Heavyweight Champion (2007–2010) 
The Undertaker won his first Royal Rumble match, on January 28, 2007, in doing so becoming the first man to enter the Rumble at number 30 and win the match, after lastly eliminating Shawn Michaels. On the February 5 episode of Raw, Undertaker elected to face World Heavyweight Champion Batista at WrestleMania 23, before attacking him with the chokeslam. At No Way Out, Undertaker and Batista reluctantly teamed together to challenge John Cena and Shawn Michaels for the World Tag Team Championship, but failed to win after Batista gained revenge on Undertaker by hitting him with a spinebuster, allowing Cena to pin him. At WrestleMania 23 on April 1, Undertaker defeated Batista to win his first World Heavyweight Championship and extend his Streak to 15–0. Undertaker faced Batista in a rematch at Backlash, this time in a Last Man Standing match. The match ended in a draw after neither man got to their feet by the referee's count of ten, meaning The Undertaker retained the championship. The Undertaker and Batista then fought once again in a steel cage match on the May 11 episode of SmackDown! that also ended in a draw when both men's feet touched the floor at the same time. After the match, Mark Henry made his return and assaulted an already exhausted Undertaker, after which Edge ran to the ring and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, forcing Undertaker into a second title defense. Although he kicked out of two quick pin attempts, Undertaker was pinned by Edge after two spears and lost the World Heavyweight Championship. After this match, Undertaker took time off due to a torn right biceps.

During his rehabilitation, Henry bragged about his assault on Undertaker, until vignettes began playing promoting The Undertaker's return. The Undertaker returned at Unforgiven on September 16, defeating Henry. Batista and The Undertaker reignited their feud at Cyber Sunday with the fans choosing the special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Batista retained the World Heavyweight Championship. They battled again inside Hell in a Cell at Survivor Series, where Edge returned and interfered to help Batista retain the World Heavyweight Championship. In response to this, The Undertaker delivered a Tombstone Piledriver to General Manager Vickie Guerrero on the November 23 episode of SmackDown!, sending her to the hospital. Returning assistant-General Manager Theodore Long declared a triple threat match for the title between the three men at Armageddon, which Edge won after interference from The Major Brothers.

At the Royal Rumble, Undertaker competed in the Royal Rumble match on January 27, 2008, entering at number 1, but was eliminated by Shawn Michaels. At No Way Out, The Undertaker defeated Batista, Finlay, The Great Khali, MVP and Big Daddy V in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match to become the number one contender for Edge's World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV, where he defeated Edge with the Hell's Gate submission hold, to win his second World Heavyweight Championship in his 16th WrestleMania win. In a WrestleMania rematch, The Undertaker defeated Edge once again at Backlash to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Vickie Guerrero then banned The Undertaker's Hell's Gate submission hold and stripped him of the title on the May 2 episode of SmackDown. The Undertaker battled Edge for the vacant title at Judgment Day, which he won by countout. Guerrero ordered that the title remain vacant, because titles could not change hands in this way. Edge and The Undertaker faced each other again for the vacant championship at One Night Stand in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, which The Undertaker lost after interference from La Familia. As a result of the stipulation, Undertaker was forced to leave WWE.

On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Vickie Guerrero reinstated The Undertaker and scheduled Edge to face him at SummerSlam inside Hell in a Cell, which The Undertaker won. After the match, The Undertaker chokeslammed Edge from the top of a ladder and through the ring canvas. Following this match, Guerrero tried making a peace offering with The Undertaker on SmackDown by apologizing, but The Undertaker told her that he was not the forgiving kind. At Unforgiven, as The Undertaker approached the ring to "take Guerrero's soul" and take her in a casket, Big Show, who appeared at first to aid The Undertaker, betrayed and assaulted him. As a result of this altercation, The Undertaker and Big Show faced each other in a match at No Mercy, where Big Show won by knockout. At Cyber Sunday, The Undertaker defeated Big Show in a Last Man Standing match after choking him out with Hell's Gate. At the same time, The Undertaker was engaged in a short feud with Jeff Hardy, who interfered during his match with Vladimir Kozlov on the November 7 episode of SmackDown. Hardy defeated The Undertaker in an Extreme Rules match the following week on SmackDown due to interference from Big Show. The Undertaker then went on to defeat Big Show in a casket match at Survivor Series and again in a steel cage match by submission on the December 5 episode of SmackDown to end the feud. At No Way Out, The Undertaker was part of the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match along with Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, Vladimir Kozlov and Edge; however, he was unsuccessful at winning the match as he was the runner-up behind Triple H. 

The Undertaker then began a second chapter to his unresolved feud with Shawn Michaels from the late 1990s, over a decade prior to this point. This renewed feud was two-dimensional, in part focusing on the wonder of The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania Streak in relation to, however, the fact that he had never before defeated Michaels in a singles match, only vice versa. Michaels also made the buildup to their WrestleMania encounter personal, repeatedly demonstrating his Christian objections to the demonic dark side nature of the Undertaker's Deadman gimmick, even creating his own heaven-esque bright side anti-Deadman variant of the gimmick (Michaels is a real-life born again Christian). The feud culminated in a WrestleMania 25 singles match between the two in which Michaels made a heaven-sent entrance from high in the air portraying his bright side anti-Deadman, while The Undertaker made a grave-risen entrance emerging from the ground. After a suspenseful, competitive wrestling match, The Undertaker defeated Michaels, thus extending his WrestleMania winning streak to 17–0. Their match was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. On the April 24 episode of SmackDown, after losing a match against Big Show by knockout with Big Show taking advantage of The Undertaker's battered neck state from his previous WrestleMania encounter, The Undertaker attacked Big Show. Following this, Undertaker took another hiatus from the WWE.

After a four-month hiatus, The Undertaker returned at SummerSlam in August by attacking CM Punk, who had just won the World Heavyweight Championship from Jeff Hardy in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. At Breaking Point, The Undertaker faced Punk in a submission match. The Undertaker had originally won the match with his Hell's Gate submission hold, but the match was restarted by SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, who ruled that the ban placed on the move by Vickie Guerrero was still in effect. Punk went on to win the match with his anaconda vise when referee Scott Armstrong called for the bell, despite Undertaker never submitting in a recreation of the Montreal Screwjob, which took place in the same venue in 1997. On the September 25 episode of SmackDown, Theodore Long officially lifted the ban, after being released from a casket The Undertaker had placed him in. The feud between the two continued and at Hell in a Cell, The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship from Punk in a Hell in a Cell match. The Undertaker successfully defended the title against CM Punk on the October 23 episode of SmackDown, in a fatal four-way match at Bragging Rights against Punk, Batista and Rey Mysterio and in a triple threat match against Chris Jericho and Big Show at Survivor Series. He faced Batista at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in a chairs match for the championship and won when the match was restarted by Long, after Batista had originally won after utilizing a low blow. The next night on Raw, Undertaker competed in a tournament to crown the 2009 Superstar of the Year, losing to Randy Orton by countout in the first round after a distraction by Orton's protegès Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.

After successfully defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble, The Undertaker lost the championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, where a pyrotechnics malfunction momentarily engulfed The Undertaker in flames on three occasions during his ring entrance, but he was able to continue with his scheduled match, with first and second-degree burns on his chest and neck that, according to a WWE spokesman, "looked like a bad sunburn". The Undertaker lost the title to Chris Jericho after interference from Shawn Michaels; Jericho has said on multiple occasions that the pyrotechnician responsible for the accident was immediately escorted from the arena and relieved of his employment with WWE, following a threat of violence from Calaway. Calaway himself explained that he had previously expressed concerns to the technician regarding the pyro arrangement, but was ignored. He feels he was saved from severe injury by applying water to his hair, and altering his attire from a sleeveless to a sleeved jacket, just minutes before the accident.

The Undertaker then accepted Michaels' rematch offer, after initially declining, at WrestleMania XXVI in a Streak vs. Career match, where Undertaker was victorious and Shawn Michaels was forced to retire. This match also made both The Undertaker and Michaels the first men in WWE history to main event WrestleMania in three different decades (Undertaker main evented WrestleMania 13 and XXIV in 1997 and 2008 and Michaels main evented WrestleMania XII and XIV in 1996 and 1998 and XX and 23 in 2004 and 2007 respectively). After a hiatus (which included wrestling two matches on Raw), he returned to SmackDown on May 28, defeating Rey Mysterio to qualify for a spot at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view to compete for the World Heavyweight title. During the match, The Undertaker suffered a concussion, broken orbital bone and broken nose; he was visibly bleeding profusely on camera by the end of the match. To cover for the injury, Kane revealed that Undertaker had been found in a vegetative state; Mysterio took his place in the match and won the World Heavyweight Championship. While attempting to learn which wrestler had attacked The Undertaker, Kane defeated Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Kane and Mysterio continued to clash as they accused one another of being the assailant behind the attack.

At SummerSlam, The Undertaker returned to confront Kane and Rey Mysterio, only to be attacked with a Tombstone Piledriver by Kane. With Kane revealed as his attacker, the two feuded for the next few months over the World Heavyweight Championship. After losing to Kane in a No Holds Barred match at Night of Champions, Paul Bearer returned as Undertaker's manager on the September 24 episode of SmackDown. However, Bearer turned on him at Hell in a Cell to help Kane win once again in a Hell in a Cell match. The feud ended at Bragging Rights when The Nexus helped Kane defeat Undertaker in a Buried Alive match. Undertaker needed surgery for a torn rotator cuff, causing him to be written off.

Final years of The Streak (2011–2014) 

After the 2011 Royal Rumble, promotional videos began airing, showing The Undertaker entering and standing within a Western-style old house on a rainy desert. Each promo ended with the date 2–21–11 being "burned into" the screen. On the February 21 episode of Raw, The Undertaker returned, but before he could speak, Triple H also returned and confronted him. The two challenged each other to a match at WrestleMania XXVII, which was later made a No Holds Barred match and which The Undertaker won by submission. However, he had to be carried away from the ring on a stretcher. Following WrestleMania XXVII in 2011, The Undertaker would take on a more part-time role within the company; he would not have another match on Raw or SmackDown until 2013.

On the January 30, 2012, episode of Raw, The Undertaker returned after a nine-month hiatus to confront Triple H. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Triple H refused The Undertaker's challenge for a WrestleMania rematch. After The Undertaker accused Triple H of living in the shadow of Shawn Michaels on the February 20 episode of Raw, Triple H accepted the challenge on the condition that it would be a Hell in a Cell match; Michaels was later inserted as special guest referee in the match. At WrestleMania XXVIII, The Undertaker, while debuting his new look, a mohawk, defeated Triple H to extend his Streak to 20–0. After the match, Undertaker and Michaels carried Triple H to the entrance stage, where the three embraced. Later in 2012, The Undertaker appeared on the 1000th episode of Raw on July 23 to help Kane, who had been confronted by Jinder Mahal, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Hunico, Camacho and Drew McIntyre. The Brothers of Destruction overcame and dominated the six other wrestlers.

The Undertaker's next television appearance was on Old School Raw on March 4, 2013, where he opened the show by performing his signature entrance. CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show and Sheamus fought in a fatal four-way match to determine who would face him at WrestleMania 29, which Punk won. After the real-life death of Paul Bearer on March 5, 2013, a storyline involving Punk regularly spiting The Undertaker through displays of flippancy and disrespect towards Bearer's death began. Punk interrupted The Undertaker's ceremony to honor Bearer on Raw, stealing the trademark urn and later using it to attack Kane, humiliate The Brothers of Destruction and mock Bearer. Undertaker defeated Punk at WrestleMania 29 to extend his Streak to 21–0 and then took back the urn. The following night on Raw, Undertaker came out to pay his respects to Bearer, but was interrupted by The Shield, who attempted to attack Undertaker before Kane and Daniel Bryan made the save. Undertaker would wrestle his final Raw match (his first since 2010) on the April 22 episode, teaming with Kane and Bryan against The Shield in a losing effort. Four days later, he wrestled his final SmackDown match (also his first since 2010), defeating Shield member Dean Ambrose by submission. Afterward, Undertaker was attacked by Ambrose and the rest of The Shield, who performed a triple powerbomb through the broadcast table on him.

On the February 24, 2014, episode of Raw, The Undertaker returned to confront Brock Lesnar and accepted his challenge for a match at WrestleMania XXX. After 25 minutes and three F-5s, Lesnar won the match at WrestleMania by pinfall, ending The Undertaker's Streak in what was described as "the most shocking result in WWE history". Following the match, Undertaker was hospitalized with a severe concussion which he suffered in the first minutes of the match. In a December 2014 interview, Vince McMahon confirmed that it was his final decision to have Lesnar end The Streak and that The Undertaker was initially shocked at the decision. McMahon justified his decision that it would significantly enhance Lesnar's formidability to set up the next WrestleMania event and that there were no other viable candidates to fill Lesnar's role.

Later career (2015–2020) 

In February 2015, Bray Wyatt began a series of cryptic promos which led to Fastlane, where Wyatt challenged Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 31, which Undertaker accepted. At WrestleMania on March 29, Undertaker defeated Wyatt after two Tombstone Piledrivers.

At Battleground in July, Undertaker made his return by attacking Brock Lesnar as Lesnar was on the verge of defeating Seth Rollins during his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match, which caused the match to end in a disqualification win for Lesnar. The next night on Raw, Undertaker explained his actions as revenge – not for Lesnar breaking The Streak, but rather the constant taunting he allowed Paul Heyman to engage in. Later that night, after Undertaker and Lesnar brawled throughout the arena and had to be separated, a rematch was scheduled for SummerSlam in August, where Undertaker controversially defeated Lesnar. Lesnar put Undertaker in a kimura lock and the timekeeper rang the bell after seeing The Undertaker supposedly indicating submission, but since the referee had not seen a submission and never stopped the match, the match continued. The confusion allowed Undertaker to surprise Lesnar with a low blow and apply Hell's Gate, in which Lesnar passed out. At Hell in a Cell, The Undertaker was defeated by Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell match after Lesnar hit him with a low blow and executed the third F-5 of the match.

While the crowd gave Undertaker an ovation after his loss to Lesnar, he was attacked and captured by The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman), who carried him away from the ring. After ambushing and capturing Kane the next night on Raw, Wyatt explained that he had claimed their souls and stole their demonic powers. The Brothers of Destruction returned on the November 9 episode of Raw and attacked The Wyatt Family, setting up a tag team match at Survivor Series, which honored Undertaker's 25 years in WWE. At Survivor Series on November 22, The Brothers of Destruction defeated Wyatt and Harper.

On the February 22, 2016, episode of Raw, Vince McMahon placed his son Shane McMahon, who returned to WWE for the first time since 2009, in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker with the stipulation that if Shane won, he would gain control of Raw. Vince later decided that should The Undertaker lose the match against Shane, it would be his final match at WrestleMania. After weeks of mind games and physical confrontations between the pair, Undertaker defeated Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 32 on April 3. The Undertaker made his return on the 900th episode of SmackDown on November 15, issuing a threat to Team SmackDown if they failed to defeat Team Raw at the upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view.

The Undertaker then appeared on the January 9, 2017, episode of Raw, where he announced his participation in the Royal Rumble match and said he was a free agent. The Undertaker appeared on the January 23 episode of Raw, confronting Brock Lesnar and Goldberg. During the Royal Rumble on January 29, The Undertaker entered at number 29, eliminating Goldberg, The Miz, Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn, before being eliminated by the number 30 entrant, Roman Reigns. Undertaker returned on the March 6 episode of Raw and performed a chokeslam on Reigns. This led to a No Holds Barred match between Undertaker and Reigns at WrestleMania 33 on April 2, where Undertaker lost to Reigns after five spears in his fourth WrestleMania main event. After the match, Undertaker left his gloves, coat and hat in the center of the ring before slowly making his exit.

Undertaker took part in the Raw 25 Years episode of Raw on January 22, 2018, his first post-WrestleMania 33 appearance. In the months prior to WrestleMania 34, John Cena challenged The Undertaker to a match. At WrestleMania in April, after Elias confronted Cena and was beaten down, Undertaker's hat and coat appeared in the middle of the ring, where he had left them the previous year and were struck by lightning. The Undertaker then appeared and beat Cena in an impromptu three-minute squash match. Three weeks later, The Undertaker defeated Rusev at WWE's Greatest Royal Rumble event in a casket match.

At Super Show-Down in Australia on October 6, The Undertaker faced Triple H in a no disqualification match billed as the "Last Time Ever"; they were accompanied by Kane and Shawn Michaels, respectively. The Undertaker lost the match after interference from Michaels. After the match, the four men shook hands as a sign of respect, however, Undertaker and Kane would attack them. As a result, the duos reunited their respective tag teams – The Brothers of Destruction and D-Generation X – and faced each other at Crown Jewel on November 2, where The Undertaker and Kane lost.

On April 8, 2019, episode of Raw, the night after WrestleMania 35 – the first WrestleMania in 19 years without his involvement – The Undertaker made his next appearance, interrupting and attacking Elias during one of his musical performances. The Undertaker made his return to the ring to face Goldberg at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia on June 7, defeating him in the main event of the night in what was their first match against each other. On the June 24, 2019, episode of Raw, during a handicap match in which Roman Reigns was dominated by Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre, The Undertaker suddenly appeared and attacked McMahon and McIntyre. It was later announced that Undertaker and Reigns would face McMahon and McIntyre in a No Holds Barred tag team match at Extreme Rules. At Extreme Rules, Undertaker and Reigns won.

The Undertaker returned at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia on February 27, 2020, as a surprise replacement in a gauntlet match. He entered the match last replacing Rey Mysterio and he then defeated AJ Styles to win the Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy. On the March 2, 2020, episode of Raw, Styles taunted The Undertaker during a match with Aleister Black and at Elimination Chamber, Undertaker made another surprise appearance by attacking Styles during a rematch with Black in a no disqualification match. The following night on Raw, Styles challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 36. Over the following weeks, Styles would continue to provoke The Undertaker by departing from bashing his Deadman gimmick, instead bashing The Undertaker's true self as Mark Calaway. The feud saw Styles refer to The Undertaker by his real name, Mark Calaway, and level zingers and criticisms at him in relation to Calaway's wife, Michelle McCool. In response, The Undertaker would cut promos of ominous warnings in which for the first time in years, he broke from the Deadman gimmick, speaking as Mark Calaway. Taking on some American Badass elements, Calaway made appearances in leather jackets, bandanas, etc. At WrestleMania 36, The Undertaker presented his 3rd and final identity, "The Unholy Trinity," a combination of The Deadman, American Badass, and himself as Mark Calaway. He and Styles fought in a secluded rural locale, in a cinematic narrative-heavy brawl, the encounter dubbed a "Boneyard match". Despite the assistance of Gallows and Anderson, The Undertaker would bury Styles in an empty grave to win the match and record the 25th WrestleMania victory of his career. This retirement match was later lauded in the media as "campy, corny and yet somehow incredibly entertaining. In an absolutely incredible match, which can be best described as a truly cinematic experience, it was Taker who claimed yet another soul at the grandest stage of them all."

Retirement and Hall of Fame (2020–present) 
On June 21, 2020, during the final episode of the Undertaker: The Last Ride documentary, The Undertaker retired from the industry; in a November interview he confirmed that he was "officially retired". Many wrestlers and other public figures also paid tribute to him on their own social media pages. Madison Square Garden, regarded as the most important venue in professional wrestling, also paid tribute to him.

The Undertaker, wearing his trademark mortician trench coat and stetson hat, made an appearance at the conclusion of the Survivor Series event on November 22, which commemorated thirty years since his WWE debut, where he reiterated that his career was over, giving an emotional farewell speech which ended in typical Undertaker fashion: "My time has come to let The Undertaker Rest in Peace." A ten-bell salute was also given for The Undertaker character as he did his traditional kneeling pose, and a holographic image of Paul Bearer, the Undertaker's former manager, was projected in the ring.

On February 18, 2022, it was announced that The Undertaker would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2022. The news was responded to with extensive praise from WWE fans, the professional wrestling community and media outlets alike. In the week following the announcement, media outlets observed that many WWE fans have advocated for the idea of a one-man show Hall of Fame dedicated to The Undertaker alone, reasoning that his legend status in the company would warrant such an honor.

Undertaker gimmick, identities and character evolution

The Deadman identity

Under his undead, funereal, and macabre horror-themed gimmick, in which The Undertaker is subtitled "The Deadman", he routinely took to alarmist tactics to disrupt the focus and confidence of his rivals. Often, these alarmist tactics were morbid and applied the use of props to reflect his opponent's demise: caskets (sometimes personalizing casket designs to represent his opponents), body bags, corspe-like effigies, cemeteries,  hearses, and the like. To that end, the gimmick evoked funerals and death down to subtle details, such as in the character's birthplace of Death Valley, catch phrase of "Rest in Peace", signature maneuver of the Tombstone Piledriver, a wrestling pin that had the opponent resemble a corpse with their arms crossed over their chest, etc. In addition, The Undertaker frequently served a list of specialized matches that were personalized to his Deadman gimmick: Casket Match, Body Bag Match, Buried Alive Match, Last Ride Match, Hell in a Cell, etc.

Filled with bells and whistles, The Undertaker's presence and indignation were signaled by funeral tolls, settings of pitch-black darkness turned blue/purple half-light, hazy fog, thunder, lightning strikes, and other bone-chilling scenes and sound activity. Portrayed as miraculously resilient to destruction, The Undertaker yielded numerous resurrections, which sometimes gave way to reincarnations of his Deadman gimmick. While maintaining his general character premise as death personified with accompanying alarmist tactics throughout all sagas of the Deadman, each incarnation took on its own distinct appearance and characterization. For example, some Deadman incarnations were unearthly and zombie-like while others were Goth and more humanized.

The earliest of The Undertaker's Deadman incarnations (nicknamed in external media as "The Old West Mortician" to distinguish from his other Deadman incarnations) depicted him as a menacing derivative of the Wild West undertakers depicted in television westerns. In his own rendition, he was garbed in a black trench coat; gray-striped tie; gray-ribboned, black stetson hat; gray boot spats; and gray gloves (black gloves for first few appearances before gray). However, most of The Undertaker's Deadman character development (sleeve tattoos, longer/straightened/black hair, purple/blue color representation, elements of thunder and lightening, etc.) would not surface until his first reincarnation into what was his Real Deadman variation, lasting from SummerSlam 94' (rebirthed from a death angle with Yokozuna with updated character features to contrast from the fake, impostor Deadman character played by Brian Lee) through Buried Alive: In Your House (The Undertaker buried alive by Mankind and numerous other WWF wrestlers). In these initial zombie-like incarnations of his gimmick, he was portrayed as impervious to pain, something accomplished by Calaway not selling his opponents' attacks. Among the ways this was showcased was in The Undertaker's maneuver of raising up from a taken down supine position into a high Fowler's position, dubbed "the sit-up."

Beginning early on, The Undertaker's persona was complemented with histrionically spooky manager Paul Bearer, introduced to represent and guide The Deadman. Playing a key role, Bearer used an urn to transmit mysterious powers to The Undertaker that had invigoratingly healing effects on him during combat. Also linked to The Undertaker's Deadman gimmick were the druids–a team of mysterious, incognito cult-like members, completely disguised in black hooded clergy robes. A mysterious choir chanting sounded whenever the druids presented. The druids typically appeared for the purposes of removing The Undertaker where he had seemingly been extinguished by his enemies (as opposed to EMTs or medical personnel used for the rest of WWF/E talent). The druids were also seen reproducing The Undertaker in recovered, wrathful states to those same enemies who were thought to have extinguished him.

The Undertaker took to many trademarked idiosyncrasies and themes, including a stylized throat-slashing gesture, grimacing facial expressions fit with eyeballs rolled back so that only the whites of his eyes displayed, backwards hair-whips so as to expose his ominous facial expressions, fixed stares on adversaries, protruding tongue displays, sonorous vocalizations, jolting of his head with a fury so that it faced the direction of his antagonists, his celebratory take-the-knee pose, etc. A main attraction of the Deadman gimmick, The Undertaker mesmerized his opponents and viewers alike through elaborately "bone-chilling" entrances. His magic powers were put on display in these moments, triggering lights back to the arena from raised arms before entering the ring. During most of his appearances as the Deadman, The Undertaker used an extended remix of Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March as his theme music. WWF Composer Jim Johnston embellished on the Chopin march, using the historic melody as a pre- and post-chorus to a main chorus of bell tolls, along with an original transition section to the song of a slow, lugubrious instrumental feel. According to Johnston, the funereal music helped project "tragedy and sadness and all these different elements that touch on the mysterious backstory of The Undertaker’s character".

Alternate identities of The Undertaker gimmick
After a hiatus, Calaway made a return in 2000 in which he expanded on The Undertaker gimmick with a semifictional redneck biker identity, thoroughly abandoning his fully fictional Deadman identity. In performing this alternate identity, he rode to the ring on motorcycles, chewed tobacco, donned leather garments and/or denim, printed shirts, and sporty fashion accessories (sunglasses, necklaces, bandanas). His entrance music was replaced with popular rock songs of the time, initially Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass" (from which The Undertaker's subtitle used to refer to this second identity derived), and eventually Limp Bizkit's "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)". According to Bruce Prichard, Calaway requested this metamorphosis of character since he wanted to be "the biker–he wanted to be the guy that he is in everyday life". This transition lasted 3 and a half years until 2004 when The Undertaker resurrected his Deadman identity in hybrid form—residual features of his American Badass identity remaining. Among subtle details left over from his biker identity were his penchant to unstrap and lower his tank top, as well as celebrating victories with an arm-raised fist. For The Undertaker's final encounter, a Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, he introduced a three-dimensional identity that brought all of his identities into one, dubbed "The Unholy Trinity:" a mix of his Deadman identity, American Badass identity, and his natural and genuine identity as Mark Calaway.

Gimmick reflective nicknames
The Undertaker generated many nicknames from commentators and spectators alike throughout the course of his active wrestling career, some of those names more associated with his Deadman Undertaker identity, including "The Grim Reaper" (variants of this used were "The Reaper" and "The Reaper of Wayward Souls"), "The Demon of Death Valley", "The Man from the Dark Side", "The Prince of Darkness", "The Lord of Darkness", etc. He also generated nicknames associated with his American Badass Undertaker identity, including "Big Evil" (used in reference to his American Badass heel side), "Booger Red", etc. Some of his nicknames were not identity specific but used for The Undertaker gimmick in general, such as "Taker", "The Phenom", etc.

Domestic backstory, parents and brother
The Undertaker gimmick has a dark and disturbed family backstory which involves him intentionally burning down his family funeral home as a teenager, thus killing his parents and purportedly a brother of his as well. The Undertaker initially denied his then ex-manager Paul Bearer's charges of him committing the arson murder of his family (The Undertaker would not confess to these intentional acts of arson until a year later from his initial denials, in latter 1998). The Undertaker, instead, laid the charges against his younger brother of whom he thought long dead from the incident, describing him as a "pyromaniac". This led to Bearer's shocking warnings to proof in the form of the brother, "Kane", as alive and well. In late 1997 at In Your House Badd Blood, Bearer unleashed a vengeful Kane: the fire-personified, juggernaut half-brother of The Undertaker, who was fit with a mask to conceal the scarring from The Undertaker's arson. In what became a fickle sibling relationship with Bearer (later revealed to be Kane's father) only adding to the pendulum and complexities, The Undertaker and Kane went back and forth from one extreme to the other, feuding barbarically at points and yet teaming as The Brothers of Destruction at other points. In the duo's final feud in late 2009 through 2010, Kane emerged victorious in all of their matches.

Gimmick fused with wrestling move set and style
The Undertaker's wrestling performance and move set were carried out with significant amounts of character-driven physical theatre and kinesics. In keeping with his Deadman routine for example, The Undertaker was forbiddingly slow and measured in much of his maneuvering and offense. Taking his opponents and audience by surprise, however, he combined his slow, measured physicality with wrestling moves and action uncharacteristic of a wrestler of his vast height and weight. Not limited to just ground offense and power moves, The Undertaker was conspicuously aerial, swift, agile, loose-limbed and animated in the other half of his wrestling style and move set: flying clotheslines, guillotine leg drops, running DDTs, ability to land on his feet poised and motionless if thrown from the ring, over-the-top-rope suicide dives (on one occasion, over the top rope and combined active flames during an Inferno match at In Your House Unforgiven), etc. During matches, The Undertaker would also pay homage to Don Jardine by performing an arm twist ropewalk chop, dubbed "Old School."

Calaway's performance of The Deadman
Most famed for his Deadman Undertaker identity in particular, the role won Calaway the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards for Best Gimmick a record-setting 5 years in a row (1990–1994). Calaway was highly protective of his Deadman public image: for the vast majority of his career while performing the gimmick, he was so private that he wasn't seen outside of character in the media. Calaway's approach of presenting only in character publicly was done in order to maintain the mystique of the Deadman and facilitate disbelief suspension. However, during the last few years of his wrestling career, he allowed himself to be seen out of character, giving interviews as Mark Calaway and filming a documentary called The Last Ride.

Legacy and reception 
The Undertaker has been named one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. The Undertaker was voted the greatest WWE wrestler ever in a 2013 Digital Spy poll. In naming him the second greatest wrestler ever, IGN described The Undertaker as, "one of the most respected wrestlers, and characters, in the business; treated with actual reverence. Like a cherished, invaluable artifact". Luis Paez-Pumar of Complex wrote that The Undertaker character is "easily the best gimmick in the history of professional wrestling". Luke Winkie of Sports Illustrated listed The Undertaker as the fifth greatest wrestler of all time. His consecutive matches with Shawn Michaels at WrestleManias XXV and XXVI were met with critical acclaim, with both matches winning the Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards for Match of the Year in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Wrestler Big Show named The Undertaker as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, while Mark Henry and WWE chairman Vince McMahon have called him their favorite. WWE Hall of Famer and former company executive, Jim Ross, said: "Without question, The Undertaker is the greatest big man in the history of wrestling... There is no greater WWE star ever than The Undertaker".

Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition recognized Undertaker as having the most consecutive victories at WrestleMania in 2016. In November 2015, Telegraph journalist Tom Fordy called The Undertaker "the world's greatest sportsman".

Undertaker's Deadman character in particular has been praised as one of the best in professional wrestling. He received the Wrestling Observer Newsletters Best Gimmick award from 1990 to 1994. Tim Friorvant of ESPN named The Undertaker "a character that has been a cornerstone of the WWE for more than three decades". Shawn Valentino of Pro Wrestling Torch said "The Undertaker may have been the greatest character in the history of professional wrestling".

A 12-minute match between The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin drew a 9.5 rating on June 28, 1999. It stands as the highest-rated segment in Raw history.

 Reception to later career 

In contrary to the high praise he received during the vast majority of his career, Undertaker was criticized for continuing to wrestle through the latter part of his career, particularly after his first defeat at WrestleMania. Calaway would state that, after suffering a severe concussion in his match against Lesnar, he lost his confidence. At WrestleMania 33, after his second defeat against Roman Reigns, Luis Paez-Pumar of Rolling Stone said that The Undertaker "should have retired when The Streak was broken", but "lived on to pass the rub on to Reigns in the sloppiest, saddest manner possible". The Undertaker himself said he was disappointed by his performance against Reigns. After his match against John Cena at WrestleMania 34, IGN posted an article titled "Undertaker's return was awesome, but now he needs to retire". After his match at Crown Jewel in November 2018, Pro Wrestling Torchs Wade Keller wrote that Undertaker looked "brittle" and Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net said "they [Undertaker, Kane, Michaels and Triple H] need to accept their limitations, stop pretending they belong in main events, and stop acting like being in these main events isn't stealing the spotlight". His subsequent match with Goldberg at Super ShowDown in June 2019 was also widely pilloried, with Bryan Rose of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter calling it "sad more than anything". In reviewing the show, Dave Meltzer of the same publication wrote that Goldberg "has juice left, while Undertaker doesn't". The Undertaker himself called the match "a disaster" in 2020.

Despite this criticism, two of Undertaker's later matches, teaming with Roman Reigns against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon at Extreme Rules 2019, as well as his cinematic Boneyard match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 were both widely praised, with many fans and critics alike citing both matches as his best performances in recent years. The former would be ranked #25 on WWE.com's 25 best matches of 2019, and the latter was ranked #1 on WWE.com's 25 best matches of 2020. The Boneyard match would also win WWE's Half-Year Award for best Cinematic Match, as well as winning the Slammy Award for 2020's Match of the Year.

 Personal life 
Calaway was married to his first wife Jodi Lynn between 1989 and 1999; they have a son, Gunner Vincent Calaway, born in 1993. Calaway married his second wife, Sara Frank, in 2000. In 2001, she made televised appearances with the WWE (then known as the WWF) as part of a feud between Calaway and Diamond Dallas Page, in which she was acknowledged as Calaway's wife. They had two daughters together, Chasey and Gracie Calaway, before divorcing in 2007. In 2010, he married former wrestler Michelle McCool. Their first child together, a daughter named Kaia Faith Calaway, was born in 2012.

In the 1990s, Calaway started a "posse" called the Bone Street Krew that consisted of fellow wrestlers Yokozuna, Savio Vega, Charles Wright, The Godwinns, and Rikishi. Each member had the initials "BSK" tattooed onto themselves, with Undertaker's being prominently shown across his stomach.

Calaway invests in real estate with his business partner, Scott Everhart. The two finished construction on a $2.7 million building in Loveland, Colorado, called "The Calahart" (a portmanteau of their last names), in 2007. A dog lover, Calaway and his ex-wife Sara established The Zeus Compton Calaway Save the Animals Fund at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences to help pay for lifesaving treatments for large-breed dogs.

Calaway is a fan of boxing and mixed martial arts. He has practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu and earned a black belt in 2011. In mid-2020, Calaway was slammed by some of his WWE fans for tacit support of Blue Lives Matter (a countermovement against Black Lives Matter) in which he donned a T-shirt that displayed the Blue Lives Matter logo in televised editions of his tell-all professional wrestling biography. According to comments in 2020 by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Calaway and Chris Jericho are active Trump supporters, the two making the largest donations of all professional wrestling athletes to the 2020 Trump reelection campaign. In February 2021, Calaway shared that he would endorse fellow WWE alumna, The Rock, if he were to run for president. Referencing the acute United States political divide of the present, Calaway expressed that he felt that The Rock could be the great "uniter".

Appearances and references in external media forms
Television programming and cinema
Calaway made his film debut as Hutch in the 1991 film Suburban Commando. He had guest roles on Poltergeist: The Legacy and Celebrity Deathmatch. In 2002, Calaway appeared out of character on the Canadian sports show Off the Record with Michael Landsberg.Filmography{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Role
!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|1991 || Suburban Commando || Hutch ||
|-
|1999 || Beyond the Mat || Himself || Documentary
|-
|2015 || The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! || rowspan="3" | The Undertaker (voice) ||
|-
|2016 || Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon ||
|-
|2017 || Surf's Up 2: WaveMania ||
|-
|2021 || Escape the Undertaker || The Undertaker ||Interactive
|-
|}Television{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Role
!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
|1999 || Poltergeist: The Legacy || Soul Chaser Demon || 2 episodes
|-
|1999 || Downtown || rowspan="2" | The Undertaker (voice) || Episode: "The Con"
|-
|1999 || Celebrity Deathmatch || Episode: "Halloween Episode I"
|-
|2001 
| America's Most Wanted 
| The Undertaker 
|
|}

WWE-related media
Calaway's WWE character has been included in numerous WWE video games, beginning with WWF Super WrestleMania (1992). A special Undertaker-themed version of WWE 2K14 was released in 2013. Undertaker has also made the most appearances out of any wrestler, having appeared in every game in the franchise.WWE Video games{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year
!Title
! class="unsortable" |Notes
|-
| rowspan="3" |1992
|WWF Super WrestleMania
| 
|-
|WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWF Superstars 2
|Cover athlete
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1993
|WWF Royal Rumble
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWF King of the Ring
|      
|-
|WWF Rage in the Cage
|Cover athlete
|-
| 1994
|WWF RAW
|Cover athlete
|-
| 1995
|WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game
|
|-	
| 1996
|WWF In Your House
|
|-
| 1998
|WWF War Zone
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1999
|WWF Attitude
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWF WrestleMania 2000
|Cover athlete
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2000
|WWF SmackDown!
|
|-
|WWF Royal Rumble
|
|-
|WWF No Mercy
|
|-
|WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role
|Cover athlete
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2001
|WWF Betrayal
|
|-
|With Authority!
|
|-
|WWF Road to WrestleMania
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2002
|WWF Raw
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWE WrestleMania X8
| 
|-
|WWE Road to WrestleMania X8
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2003
|WWE Crush Hour
| 
|-
|WWE WrestleMania XIX
| 
|-
|WWE Raw 2
| 
|-
|WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain
| Cover athlete
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2004
|WWE Day of Reckoning
|
|-
|WWE Survivor Series
| Cover athlete
|-
|WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw
|
|-	
| rowspan="4" | 2005
|WWE WrestleMania 21
| 
|-
|WWE Aftershock
|Cover athlete
|-
|WWE Day of Reckoning 2
|
|-
|WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006
| 
|-	
| 2006
|WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007
|
|-	
| 2007
|WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008
|Cover athlete
|-
| 2008
|WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2009
|Legends of WrestleMania
|
|-
|WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010
| Cover athlete
|-
| 2010
|WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2011
|WWE All Stars
|
|-
|WWE '12
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2012
| WWE WrestleFest (WWF WrestleFest remake) 
|
|-
|WWE '13
|
|-
|2013
|WWE 2K14
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2014
|WWE SuperCard
|
|-
|WWE 2K15
| Motion capture (Next-gen & PC)
|-
| rowspan="3" |2015
|WWE Immortals
|
|-
| WWE 2K
| 
|-
|WWE 2K16
| Motion capture (Next-gen & PC)
|-
| 2016
|WWE 2K17
| Motion capture (Next-gen & PC)
|-
| rowspan="4" |2017
| WWE Champions
|
|-
|Tap Mania 
|
|-
|WWE 2K18| Motion capture
|-
|WWE Mayhem|
|-
|2018
|WWE 2K19| Motion capture
|-
| rowspan="2" |2019
|WWE Universe|
|-
|WWE 2K20|
|-
| rowspan="3" |2020
|The King of Fighters All Star|
|-
| WWE 2K Battlegrounds| Cover athlete 
|-
| WWE Undefeated|
|-
| 2022
| WWE 2K22|
|}

Attack ad against Joe Biden by Donald Trump
On January 15, 2022, 45th and former United States President Donald Trump used The Undertaker's theme music as part of his "Save America" rally held in Florence, Arizona. The song that was played, entitled "The Graveyard Symphony", incorporates funeral bell tolls and was created by WWE composer Jim Johnston as an embellished remix of Frédéric Chopin's "Funeral March". During the rally, the song was accompanied with a music video playing on big-screen monitors, advancing through multitudes of scenes intended to alarm the public of looming danger resulting from the presidency of Joe Biden (46th and current President of the United States). The song continued to play out for 30 seconds following the attack ad against Biden, ending just short of Trump making his entrance. Other than his music being played, The Undertaker was not reported to have any association with the affair.

 Championships and accomplishments 

 The Baltimore Sun Feud of the Year (2007) 
 Best Match of the Decade (2000s) 
 Match of the Year (2009) 
 Match of the Year (2010) 
 CBS Sports Worst Angle of the Year (2018) 
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Comeback of the Year (2015)
 Feud of the Year (1991) 
 Feud of the Year (2015) 
 Match of the Year (1998) 
 Match of the Year (2009) 
 Match of the Year (2010) 
 Match of the Year (2012) 
 Ranked No. 2 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2002
 Ranked No. 21 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
 United States Wrestling Association USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Class Wrestling Association WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE WWF/WWE Championship (4 times)
 World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
 WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
 WWF World Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Stone Cold Steve Austin (1), Big Show (2), The Rock (1), and Kane (2)
 WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kane
 Royal Rumble (2007)
 WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2022)
Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy (2020) 
Undisputed WWF Championship #1 contender’s Tournament (April 2002)
 Slammy Award (15 times)
 Best Entrance Music (1997)
 Best Tattoo (1997)
 Match of the Year (2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2020) , , , , .
 Moment of the Year (2010) 
 Most Intimidating (1994)
 OMG Moment of the Year (2011) 
 Rivalry of the Year (2015) 
 Star of the Highest Magnitude (1997)
 WWF's Greatest Hit (1996) 
 Moment of the Year (2020) 
 WWE Network Documentary of the Year (2020) 
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter'''
 Best Gimmick (1990–1994)
 Best Heel (1991)
 Feud of the Year (2007) 
 Match of the Year (2009) 
 Match of the Year (2010) 
 Worst Worked Match of the Year (2001) 
 Worst Match of the Year (2018) 
 Most Overrated (2001)
 Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler (2001)
 Worst Feud of the Year (1993) 
 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic (2005) 
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)

Other awards and honors 
 Eyegore Award (2000)

WrestleMania record

Notes

References

External links 

 
 
 
 

1965 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male professional wrestlers
American men's basketball players
American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Angelina Roadrunners men's basketball players
Articles containing video clips
Basketball players from Texas
California State University, Long Beach alumni
Centers (basketball)
Fictional cult leaders
Fictional undead
Fictional undertakers
Living people
Male actors from Houston
Masked wrestlers
People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Professional wrestlers from Texas
Sportspeople from Austin, Texas
Sportspeople from Houston
Texas Wesleyan Rams men's basketball players
 
University of St. Thomas (Texas) alumni
USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champions
World Heavyweight Champions (WWE)
WWE Champions
WWF/WWE Hardcore Champions
WWE Hall of Fame inductees WWF The Music, Volume 2 is the second compilation album by the World Wrestling Federation (now known as the World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE) on November 18, 1997. It primarily features contemporary theme songs of wrestlers on the roster at the time.

Track listing

Hits of the World Wrestling Federation: We Gotta Wrestle

Earlier in 1997, a similar album was released outside the United States titled Hits of the World Wrestling Federation: We Gotta Wrestle. The album, which included a Sunny poster and a sticker sheet, was missing two tracks from Volume 2, Ken Shamrock and Dude Love's themes, but added Jake "The Snake" Roberts' and Faarooq's themes which were not included on Volume 2. It also differed in six tracks:
track 2 (Marc Mero & Sable - "Wild Cat") this is the first theme and is on "Volume 2", the  "We Gotta Wrestle" version  is shorter at 2:51, "We Gotta Wrestle" version was re-released on Volume 2
track 3 (Ahmed Johnson - "Pearl River Rip") length is shorter at 2:45 vs. Volume 2 at 3:15; the theme debuted on "Volume 2"
track 9 (Faarooq - " We Are The Nation") includes rapping by PG-13; this is the first version the second version is on "We Gotta Wrestle" version and included an early instrumental of the theme in early 1997
track 11 (Rocky Maivia - "Destiny") was The Rock's first theme, his second theme is "Blue Chipper" from WWE: Uncaged VIII and is on We Gotta Wrestle as a bonus track, while his third is on Volume 2;  
track 12 (Flash Funk - Can't Get Enough) does not have the Volume 2 version's starting quote; On "We Gotta Wrestle" Version it is a dance track 
track 13 (Sunny - "I Know You Want Me") does not feature the extra quotes of the Volume 2 version, the actual theme debuted at Survivor Series 1996
track 14 (Shawn Michaels - "Bad Attitude") is a new song, used for advertising in 1997.
Tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10 are the same as on WWF The Music, Volume 2.

Track listing
 The Undertaker - "Darkside" (3:52)
 Stone Cold Steve Austin - "Hell Frozen Over" (2:57)
 Ahmed Johnson - "Pearl River Rip" (2:45)
 Marc Mero & Sable - "Wild Cat" (2:51)
 Jake "The Snake" Roberts - "Snake" (2:44)
 Bret Hart - "You Start the Fire" (3:10)
 Vader - "Mastodon" (3:09)
 Mankind - "Ode to Freud" (3:02)
 Faarooq - "Nation of Domination" (3:01)
 Sycho Sid - "Snap" (3:18)
 Rocky Maivia - "Destiny" (2:36)
 Flash Funk - "Can't Get Enough" (3:20)
 Sunny - "I Know You Want Me" (2:46)
 Shawn Michaels - "Bad Attitude" (2:44)

See also

Music in professional wrestling

References

WWE albums
1997 compilation albums
E1 Music compilation albums