Bruce Prichard has described advising The Undertaker never to get any tattoos – joking that they might have affected his ‘push’ in WWE.
During an episode of Something to Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, the WWE Executive Director was asked what Vince McMahon’s thoughts on tattoos were. Reports over the years have suggested that WWE Superstars have to inform the office before changing their look. Be that with a drastic new haircut, hair colour or tattoo.
Prichard had fun with his answer but did note that he had seriously cautioned the Deadman never to get a tattoo.
Bruce Prichard explained:
“Undertaker. I told him from day one. When he got that first big tattoo, ‘Oh God damn it Mark [Calaway], stop. This is gonna ruin your career. You’re gonna limit yourself. Your push has stopped right now! I’m gonna stop pushing you.’ Um no, part of that is 100 percent true.”
“The advice that I gave Taker was, ‘Don’t ever get a tattoo’. I don’t know. There have been some that he [Vince McMahon] was probably going, ‘What the hell? What the hell did you do? Why’d you do that?’ But, especially now in the 2000s where tattoos don’t have the same stigma that they had in the 70s and 80s, it’s a little different.”
The Undertaker famously has a plethora of tattoos on his body. He famously has a ‘BSK’ tattoo across his torso to commemorate his backstage group of friends the ‘Bone Street Krew.’ Along with ‘Taker, the group included Yokozuna, Savo Vega, and Henry O Godwinn.
Bruce Prichard also discussed his thoughts on another tattooed superstar, Papa Shango. Prichard noted that he wished Shango had used voodoo dolls of his opponents during his run in the early nineties.