The Undertaker

Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority of his career wrestling for WWE and in 2022 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

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 graduated in 1983 and began studying on a basketball scholarship at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.

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.

PWInsider's Mike Johnson stated, "Undertaker using some of Jardine's style eventually morphed into this story that he was trained by Jardine."

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.

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.

Calaway began his career in 1987, working under various gimmicks for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and other affiliate promotions.

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.

He wrestled in Durban, South Africa on August 22, 1987, as "Texas Red Jack", losing to Tiger Singh.

In 1988, Calaway joined the Continental Wrestling Association, wrestling under several gimmicks.

He signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1989 for a brief stint, and then he joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, turned WWE) in 1990.

Calaway was rebranded as "The Undertaker" once joining the WWF.

As one of WWE's most high-profile and enduring characters, The Undertaker is famed for his undead, funereal, macabre "Deadman" persona, which gained significant mainstream popularity and won him the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Best Gimmick a record-setting 5 years in a row.

He is the longest-tenured wrestler in company history at 30 years.

On February 2, 1989, managed by Dutch Mantel, he was reintroduced as The Master of Pain, a former murderer.

On April 1, The Master of Pain won his first professional wrestling championship by defeating Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion.

Just over three weeks had passed when Lawler became the first man to pin him, giving it back to him.

While performing as The Punisher, Calaway won the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship on October 5, 1989, when Eric Embry forfeited the title.

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 sinister force, wearing 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 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.

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).

Calaway later 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.

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 wrestling 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.

In 2000, Calaway expanded on The Undertaker, fleshing out the gimmick with a human side, biker identity, dubbed "The American Badass".

Calaway later resurrected 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 also won the Royal Rumble match in 2007.

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.