My family and many of my friends know that my wrestling hero is The Undertaker, a WWE Hall of Famer and one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
For a few years, he was The American Badass, a gigantic biker who doesn’t answer to anyone, but most of his career, he was The Deadman, a powerful supernatural athlete who intimidates his opponents with mind games before the match itself. His character work and entrance were so legendary that even people who don’t watch wrestling at all are familiar with him. As for his moments and matches, most of them would be described as brutal and dark. (For example, that iconic Hell in a Cell match against Mankind at King of the Ring 1998.)
But I’m not going to talk further about the brutal, dark stuff. Today, on Taker’s 61st birthday, let me talk about some of his funny ones. They were unbelievably few.
Taker-Roonie?
On August 12, 2002, when Raw went off the air, The Undertaker (in his Big Evil era) told Booker T, with Goldust near the turnbuckle, that he needed to do the Spinaroonie (Booker’s signature breakdance). Booker danced to the delight of the crowd.
But Booker wasn’t finished. He told Taker that everyone wants to see “The Undertaker-Roonie.” Taker tried to control himself from laughing, but he refused. Why the hell would he do that? In a span of several minutes, Booker and Goldust were joined by The Rock, Triple H, and even Vince McMahon, and they all convinced a smiling Big Evil to do the Taker-Roonie. Goldust and Vince even did their versions of the roonie for good measure. But after Trips did his own roonie, Taker gave him the Chokeslam and left the ring, while Goldust and Booker T beat up the incoming Christian and Lance Storm.
Man, the lengths people go to so The Undertaker could break character, even if they ended up failing. I love it. 😂
A Shocked Taker
At the Royal Rumble match in 2002, Undertaker (still in his Big Evil era) entered at no. 8, eliminated Goldust, Al Snow, Rikishi, and Billy Gunn, then fought and threw out the next entrants, both Matt and Jeff Hardy. The two brothers came back to the ring, but Taker retaliated and threw both of them out again.
There came arguably the most shocking Royal Rumble elimination: Maven, a rookie, dropkicked Big Evil out of the ring. Everyone in the ring was shocked, including Taker himself. The next few moments were… let’s just say that Taker didn’t like being eliminated like that or at all.
That isn’t really a funny moment per se, but what made me laugh is Taker’s shocked face. It’s so funny that I could imagine him mouthing, “What the hell just happened?” It became my go-to reaction image when I’m stunned, speechless, or both.
A Laughing Taker
Now, let me talk about arguably the funniest thing The Undertaker has ever done, and unironically one of my favorite wrestling moments of all time.
During his very physical match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2015, they were both lying in the ring, then Lesnar mocked Taker by sitting up (something The Deadman usually does). Seconds after, Taker also sat up. Lesnar laughed at him, and before Taker punched back, he did the unthinkable: he mockingly laughed back.
Oh, the way he laughed during that match was unforgettable. His eyes were almost popping out, and his mouth formed a perfect letter O while cackling. It was like he was channeling Santa Claus, and it turned out creepy yet funny. Plus, the funnier thing is that he’s in a version of his Deadman persona, not the American Badass, so the mocking laugh was so unexpected from him.
Grabe. Send me a GIF or a static image of that, and I’ll laugh, guaranteed. 😂
And those were some of my favorite funny Undertaker moments. He had only a few of those, which makes them extra precious for fans, especially for me.
Happiest birthday to my favorite wrestler ever, The Undertaker! Best wishes! 🎂🎉
Header image courtesy of Max Vakhtbovych, and Undertaker screencap and photos from WWE.
Ian Pasicolan 