– Taker was marking out in his mind when he threw Dusty Rhodes out of the ring at Survivor Series 1990 as he was excited to work with one of the greatest of all time. He thanked Dusty backstage after his WWF debut.
– Taker said wrestlers weren’t happy that he ‘no sold’ moves from other wrestlers as that was a part of his gimmick.
– Taker said he used to take advice from Jake Roberts:
“There was one guy – Jake. Not so much my delivery or what I said, but he had such insight into character.
Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, man — brilliant mind. Unbelievable insight on how to put that character together and he would tell me like he would listen to Pink Floyd or he would listen to Black Sabbath which, you know that got me, ‘Okay I’m gonna get some heat for this’ I would look in the Bible for different verses. Back then it didn’t bother me as much to alter it around a little bit, you know who am I to tell?
So I started looking outside the box on how to put this character together and he would — he didn’t even tell me this, but I heard him tell ‘Once the music starts you are that person,’ you know I probably took it a step further because I stayed that person for the first 5 or 6 years, but he had so many good innovative ways to put things together and to look at different aspects of the business that no one got.
Jake never was a screamer and that was something I knew I wasn’t gonna be. I knew it was gonna be a slow, methodical promo and then when Paul Bearer came along it was easy because he had that high-pitched creepy thing that got people and then I would come in with ‘Rest In Peace’.
You had people screaming and hollering, but unless the message is good they’re not really listening, you know? But someone starts talking low, what the hell is he saying? He’s gonna put you in the ground and the worms are gonna eat your rotting flesh? Just stuff that people hadn’t heard in the wrestling world.
Thank goodness they became enthralled in the morbid stuff we’re doing and it just really gelled well.”
– The small changes, the breaks at the right time kept him from getting stale.
– Taker said “The Undertaker” gimmick wouldn’t have lasted through the Attitude Era without the American Badass. He said he was too handcuffed for their content at the time.
– Taker said his debut as the American Badass was nerve-wracking. Says it was the right move at the right time.
– Respect for Taker among the boys increased exponentially when Taker won a drinking contest with some rockstars.
– Taker said the above picture is very significant. Nash & Hall were about to go to WCW.
– RAW vs. Nitro: Taker said when WCW began beating WWF in ratings, they were still doing some lame stuff where the content was for a younger demographic. Taker was frustrated with it.
– On why he never left WWF for WCW: He never forgot the “no one would pay to see you wrestle” line and never forgot who gave him his first major opportunity – Vince McMahon. It was probably not the most sound business decision, but it was all about the big picture.
– Vince trusted Taker and gave him a lot of creative liberty with the gimmick.
– Taker never thought of himself as a locker room leader, but everyone saw him that way because he was there for everything.
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