The Undertaker Reveals Shocking Number of Surgeries, Injuries from Historic WWE Career

WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker divulged this week that he underwent nearly 20 surgeries during a legendary pro wrestling career that lasted from 1987 to 2020.

Appearing on 2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom Segura (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), The Undertaker listed some of the many injuries he suffered while wrestling and the amount of surgeries required to repair them:

"Well, let—how long we got? I can run them down. I've had both knees replaced at this point, partial hip replacements. That's just from the wear and tear. But like acute injuries? I've blown out both eye sockets—I've had orbital blowout fractures in both eyes. I've been set on fire. Actually, I've been set on fire twice.

"Torn muscles, concussions, numerous lacerations, broken bones… 18 surgeries total to replace and fix wrestling-related injuries."

Given that Taker's WWE career lasted 30 years alone, it comes as little surprise that the injuries piled up to such a significant degree. However, the surgery number is perhaps somewhat unexpected given how little time he missed relative to the amount of surgeries he underwent.

During his WrestleMania undefeated streak, which lasted for 21 WrestleManias from WrestleMania 7 to WrestleMania 29, the only WrestleManias The Deadman missed due to injury were WrestleMania 10 and WrestleMania 2000.

Billed at 6'10" and over 300 pounds during his career, The Undertaker was as durable and reliable as anyone, which is likely why he was called upon to be a world champion on seven different occasions.

While The Undertaker is known for largely preferring the old-school way of doing things in pro wrestling, he suggested to Segura that he has great appreciation for the way the health of wrestlers is treated now in WWE, saying, "Now we've got doctors ringside, trainers—it's treated like a major league sporting event. The athletes are very well taken care of now. Not so much in the '90s and before."

It would be easy for The Undertaker to hold some resentment toward WWE or pro wrestling as a whole because of the toll it took on his body, but the legendary performer insisted that he knew the risks, saying, "I try not to complain about it because I knew the whole time that eventually something was gonna break. You don't play the game that hard and not have residual effects."

Now 60 years of age, The Undertaker's days as an in-ring performer are behind him, but he remains heavily involved with WWE and makes periodic appearances on WWE programming.

Given that he had to be in character for three decades, he couldn't necessarily be candid about what his body went through as a wrestler, but now that he essentially speaks as Mark Calaway rather than The Undertaker, he is able to provide insight into trials and tribulations that fans may not have been aware of.