Even The Undertaker was not safe from backstage pranks in WWE.
While The Phenom would go on to be the leader of the WWE locker room and one of the most respected wrestlers within the company, the early 90s were a different story.
Speaking on the Six Feet Under podcast, the Hall of Famer recounted how his hat was a frequent target of 2 particular pranksters:
“When I first started with WWE, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. They were a couple little turds. That’s what they were. They were just bad. I would go out and have a match. Back then, we’d have somebody there that would bring our ring gear back. Every time I’d come back from a match, there would be my hat sitting on a case somewhere, and it would be poked. The top of it would be poked in. It’d be like sugar poured all over the top of it, flowers put in it. Just silly things that they would do to my hat.
I didn’t know who was doing it. One thing with a rib when you’re in the wrestling business is, you don’t sell it. You don’t sell the rib. You don’t let anybody know that the rib’s getting to you. Because if it’s bothering you, it’s only gonna get worse. So I’m just playing it cool and I kind of set it up like a trap one day. I had my hat sitting out on the case. My coat was lying next to it and I’m kind of hiding.”
Undertaker continued, describing how he hatched a plan to catch the perpetrator, which turned out to be Shawn Michaels:
“This is kinda juvenile in its own right. I’m kind of hiding behind the curtain backstage, watching. I set a trap [and] here comes Shawn Michaels, just be-bopping down the hallway, and he stops. He walked in, he sees my hat and he stops. I remember him looking both ways like ‘Is there anybody around?’ I remember him pushing my hat, the top of my hat, caving my hat in, and I caught him right away. I was like, ‘You son of a bitch.’ And he about pissed himself like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ That was some of the more juvenile. I’ve been fairly lucky.”
While this was a more childish prank, some tried to prank The Deadman with more elaborate ribs. Unsurprisingly, Vince McMahon was one of the names mentioned:
“There’s only been a few guys that would rib me. Paul Bearer would rib me and Brian Adams would rib me. Those are the only two. Yeah, those are the only two guys or whatever. I mean Vince. Yeah, he went out of his way to rib me. He would spend thousands and thousands of dollars just to rib me and get a kick out of it. But as far as the talent, though, the only two guys that would rib me were Paul Bearer and Bryan Adams.”
As has become folklore in wrestling, The Undertaker is scared of cucumbers. Continuing to recall the rare times when people tried to prank him, the Hall of Famer revealed that cucumbers have been involved:
“There were a couple of close calls with cucumbers, that got a little bit too close to consumption, which would have been really bad. But most of them were pretty harmless.”
The Undertaker Witnesses Vince McMahon Prank
Although the former World Champion would not detail the nature of the McMahon rib that he was a victim of, he has been present for many of the Chairman’s escapades over the years. On a previous episode of his podcast, The Undertaker told the story of another WWE Superstar who was the victim of Vince McMahon’s shenanigans.
H/t to SEScoops.