WWE: The Undertaker's Career Highlights (Part 1)

This is the first part in what will be a four part series of slideshows. Each Slideshow will detail 20 moments from the Undertaker's career in chronological order.

The Undertaker is one of those wrestlers who transcends to sport of wrestling. People who have never been fans of wrestling know who the Undertaker is.

The man behind the character is named Mark Calaway. He began his career in the '80s in some of the smaller promotions before making his way to Ted Turner's WCW.

There, he became one of the Skyscrapers and had a short run with the company before leaving for WWE. which would remain his home ever since.

The Undertaker was said by many to be a gimmick with a shelf life of five years at the most, but Calaway's dedication to the character and his top notch performances propelled him to having one of the best careers of any wrestler in the history of the business.

He has fought with just about everybody who is anybody in the wrestling business, and he has sent almost all of them running with their tail between their legs.

This slideshow was originally gong to cover 25 moments from his career, but trying to narrow his amazing run down to only 25 moments became impossible. So, I let it grow until it reached the amount I felt was right. I decided to split it up into four articles each detailing 20 moments.

The first series details his debut through the first Boiler Room Brawl with Mankind.

Sit back and enjoy.

First Career Championship

Before he was The Undertaker, Calaway went by many different gimmicks. His first title came to him while he was using the name "The Master of Pain."

He won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from Jerry "The King" Lawler on April 1, 1989.

22 years later, these two men are still working for the same company, albeit a different company than when they first met.

This was the first of many titles for the Undertaker in his long career.

Beating Down the Legion of Doom

Calaway joined WCW in 1989 and soon after his signing he replaced Sid Vicious in the tag team the Skyscrapers.

At Clash of the Champions 10, Calaway along with is partner, beat down the Legion after their match that evening. This led to a feud with the legendary tag team that would end up with LOD beating the Skyscrapers in a Chicago street fight.

This was the first time Calaway had engaged in a major angle on television and it allowed him to gain some notoriety.

His time with WCW would be short, as he ended up leaving the company in 1990 after a short feud with Lex Luger over the NWA United States Championship.

Cain the Undertaker Makes His Debut

Before he was Ted Dibiase's mystery team mate at Survivor Series, The Undertaker used the name Cain the Undertaker for one night.

His debut was on Superstars of Wrestling. You can see the video above of his first match in WWE, just three days before he would make his debut as simply The Undertaker.

Survivor Series 1990

At the 1990 Survivor Series Ted Dibiase brought out the Undertaker as his mystery team mate for his million dollar team.

Undertaker made an immediate impression by eliminating Koko B Ware in less than a minute using his signature tombstone piledriver.

This would mark one of the most impactful PPV debuts of all time.

Joining Forces with Paul Bearer

When The Undertaker first debuted he was managed by Brother Love, but it was a short lived union as the managerial services for The Undertaker were soon taken over by Paul Bearer.

William Moody's real life experience in a funeral home is what made Vince McMahon give him the Paul Bearer gimmick in the first place. It seemed logical to pair him with The Undertaker.

The Undertaker used Paul Bearer's urn as a source of his power, and many storylines over the years utilized the urn.

Check out this early clip of Bearer and Taker on Regis's talk show.

First Win at WrestleMania

WrestleMania VII would mark the first in a 19-match winning streak at the annual event for the dead man.

His first victim was Superfly Jimmy Snuka. The two men fought in what would end up being one of Undertaker's shortest Mania matches.

Snuka is no slouch, but the idea at the time was to push Undertaker as the next big thing. So, Snuka went down to the Undertaker and the beginning of the streak was in the record books.

Burrying the Ultimate Warrior

The Undertaker's first major feud was with The Ultimate Warrior. The feud began during an interview segment with Paul Bearer.

During the funeral parlor, Undertaker attacked Warrior and forced him into a casket which then released smoke. Officials tried to get warrior out but only after using a crowbar could they pry the casket open.

CPR had to be given to the Warrior after he had passed out in the casket. Check out the video of the incident.

Youngest WWF Champion in History

The Undertaker passed right over the midcard and got his first taste of gold in the WWF by winning the WWF World Championship from Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series.

With the help of Ric Flair, The Undertaker became the youngest WWF Champion in history and would remain so until Yokozuna broke his record in 1993.

Check out the conclusion of the match in the video.

Babyface Turn

For a time, The Undertaker was aligned with Jake Roberts, but that all changed during another classic funeral parlor segment.

Roberts attacked Macho Man's wife, Miss Elizabeth, and Undertaker made the save, turning him into a babyface in the process.

This encounter led to a match at WrestleMania VIII between the two.

WrestleMania VIII

Jake Roberts and Undertaker were once allies, but after Roberts attacked Miss Elizabeth during an episode of the funeral parlor, The Undertaker turned babyface and saved her.

This led to the two legends facing off at the grandest stage of them all. It was the eighth edition of WrestleMania and it marked the Undertaker's second win in a row at the yearly event.

Check out the match from WM8 in the video.

3-0 at WrestleMania

The Undertaker's third victim at WrestleMania was Giant Gonzalez. The man was over 7 feet tall, but he was still no match for The Undertaker.

Despite not gaining the win by pinfall or submission, this still marks the dead man's third win at the yearly extravaganza.

Giant Gonzalez had a short career with WWF and this was probably the highlight of the entire time he spent there.

First Casket Match

The Undertaker was embroiled in a feud with the stable led by Harvey Whippleman throughout 1993, which ended with a casket match between Undertaker and Yokozuna at the 1994 Royal Rumble.

Yokozuna would go on to defeat The Undertaker by having several other superstars help seal him in the casket.

Taker appeared on the video screen and warned everyone he would return. This was the first of many times The Undertaker was written of TV for a short time before returning to wreak havoc.

Check out the entire match from Royal Rumble 94 in the video.

UnderFaker

After WrestleMania X Ted Dibiase brought The Undertaker back to the WWF, but this one was noticeably different.

This version was played by wrestler Brian Lee and he was an impostor of The Undertaker. Paul Bearer soon brought the real Undertaker back to face the impostor in a match from Summerslam.

The original Undertaker changed his attire from Grey gloves to purple so people could tell the two apart.

The original Undertaker ended up vanquishing the impostor and forever remained the only Undertaker.

The Undertaker Goes Bollywood

Did you know The Undertaker appeared in a 1996 Bollywood film? If you said no, that is probably because he didn't.

The man who played The Underfaker during the Summerslam 1994 angle played The Undertaker again in 1996 for a Bollywood movie called Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi.

I found this video while doing research for this slideshow and had to include it out of sheer humor.

Enjoy.

King Kong Ain't Got Nothin' on the Undertaker

At WrestleMania XI, The Undertaker added another win to his streak by defeating King Kong Bundy.

Bundy was another of Ted Dibiase's henchmen who tried unsuccessfully to dispatch the dead man.

During the match, Kama would steal The Undertaker's urn and melt it into a necklace, causing the two to enter into a feud that ended in a casket match, which The Undertaker won.

Phantom of the Opera?

After an injury put him on the shelf for several months, The Undertaker returned at the 1995 Survivor Series wearing a mask resembling the Phantom of the Opera mask.

His team of Darksiders defeated Mabel's team of Royals.

This match marked Undertaker's second return to TV after having been absent for months.

Check out the second half of the match in the video.

Dragging Diesel to Hell.

During a match between Bret Hart and Diesel for the WWF title, The Undertaker did something that would go down in history.

He came from underneath the ring during a cage match and pulled Diesel back down under the ring, thereby giving Hart the title and the win.

This is the first time something like this had been done in WWF, and the reaction to it was huge. Fans loved the angle so much that WWF continued having Undertaker do things like this from time to time.

WrestleMania XII Going 5-0

After costing Diesel the title against Bret Hart, The Undertaker faced Big Daddy Cool at WrestleMania XII.

This was The Undertaker's fifth match on the grandest stage of them all, and it was against his most dangerous opponent.

Diesel had been ushered in as the leader of the new generation, and his size and athleticism made him an even match for The Undertaker.

In the end the dead man walked out with another win under his belt.

The Dead Man vs. Mankind

The next night after WrestleMania XII, a man made his debut who would leave a lasting impression on both the WWF and fans alike.

Mankind was Mick Foley's deranged persona. He attacked The Undertaker in several of his matches following his debut, which led to the two facing off in many matches.

This video shows Mankind costing Undertaker the IC title against Golddust at In Your House Beware of the Dog.

First Boiler Room Brawl

Mankind and Undertaker's feud escalated to a match which took place in the bowels of the arena.

The first "Boiler Room Brawl" was a match designed to keep Mankind and Undertaker away from fans as their recent encounters had spilled over in to the audience.

It was one of the more brutal looking matches in WWF at the time.

Please check back for Part 2 of this series.