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“Undertaker apologized to me as he was beating me up” – Former WWE Personality

The Undertaker Paul Bearer Article Pic 21 WrestleFeed App

Jonathan Coachman recently shared a story about a time Vince McMahon told The Undertaker to beat him up in the ring, explaining how it stemmed from his decision to skip WWE’s Tribute To The Troops event. Speaking on Wrestling Then and Now, Coachman recounted the events that led to the incident, which marked a turning point in his WWE career.

“I never said no to him—except for once. And I got beat up for it. So, there you go. Figuratively? Literally? No, literally. Literally, literally. In 2005, we were doing Tribute To The Troops overseas and it was very cool.

The next year, I got married. And the year after that, my wife at the time was pregnant with our daughter. This was December, and my daughter was due in June—so my wife was about three months pregnant. She told me, ‘I don’t want to go through the anxiety of knowing you’re going into a war zone. I’d prefer if you didn’t go.’ And that was completely fair. So, I told them, ‘Hey, I’m not going.’”

Coachman explained that WWE staff didn’t take his decision seriously at first. “Because I had never said no before, they thought I was joking. Literally. That morning, we had a guy out back who would take our bags, go through all the security checks, and have them ready for the flight. They asked me, ‘Where are your bags?’ I said, ‘I told you, I’m not going.’ They responded, ‘We thought you were kidding. You never say no.’ And I said, ‘At what point did you think this face was kidding about going to Afghanistan?’ They didn’t like that very much. And I didn’t go. They had to scramble to fill my spot, and I believe Chris Masters ended up going at the last minute.”

The backlash began the following week when Coachman was removed from commentary. During a show, referee Earl Hebner told him to attack The Undertaker in the ring. Coachman immediately recognized it as Vince McMahon’s way of punishing him.

“The following week, I was off commentary. Then, at the end of the show, Undertaker was in the ring, and Earl Hebner, one of the referees, came over to me. A lot of it is hazy—it was over 17 years ago—but I remember him saying, ‘Go attack The Undertaker.’ And I knew exactly what was going on. It was Vince’s way of punishing me. Which was complete bullsh*t.”

Despite the situation making no sense storyline-wise, Coachman complied. “At that point, I had given 7 years of blind loyalty. But I did what I was told—I ran in and hit The Undertaker, which made absolutely no sense. We were already off the air, and you always want to send the crowd home happy. I was kind of a heel at the time, so Vince could hide behind the excuse of, ‘Oh, I was just trying to get heat on him.’ But the truth was, he was just pi$$ed and wanted to make me pay.

Even Undertaker apologized to me as he was beating me up. A lot of the guys were really good about communicating in the ring, talking out of the side of their mouth. But I took it. I took a couple of other finishes from different guys, too. That was the moment I knew—I can’t be here anymore.”

Ultimately, the incident solidified Coachman’s decision to leave WWE, as he realized his loyalty to the company wasn’t reciprocated.

WATCH: Super Hot Video Of Michelle McCool (Undertaker’s Wife) In A Bikini:


        
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