The Undertaker was not pleased with the conduct of one tag team during their short run in WWE.
Known for their time in WCW and ECW, Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock were collectively known as Public Enemy and won the Tag Team Championships in both promotions.
In 1999, Public Enemy signed with WWE but only lasted for a couple of months due to backstage issues with some of the veterans.
On an episode of Sunday Night Heat in March 1999, Public Enemy were booked into a match against Bradshaw and Farooq of The Acolytes. Following 2 minutes of brawling including a vicious chair shot and stiff table bump, the referee finally called for the bell to have the match end in DQ. However, Bradshaw and Farooq continued the assault for another 2 minutes with more stiff shots and weapon strikes. According to Bradshaw, the brawl was due to what happened earlier that day.
Recalling Public Enemy’s time in the company on the Something to Wrestle podcast, JBL recalled the tag team rocking up more than 4 hours late to the taping and how The Deadman was not pleased with the disrespect shown for poor timekeeping:
“Undertaker just looks at them,” JBL said. “Me and Ron are sitting there, and he goes, ‘I will be damned.’ He said, ‘There’s lunch, boys.’ You could tell he was hot. I mean hot. The disrespect those guys show to come to a new company and come in late like that.”
JBL continued, adding that Undertaker was not impressed by Public Enemy showing no remorse for being so late:
“They walked in like they owned the place. They walked in like, ‘Hey, we’re above everything.’ And they just walked in through everybody, and most guys when you come in late would sneak in. They walked in like they were on a parade, and ‘Taker, it did not sit well with The Deadman!”
JBL then recounted the story behind the infamous encounter. The match was set to see the APA put one of Public Enemy through a table, but the ECW tag team protested the spot. JBL recalled telling Farooq about the protest, to which Farooq responded that they would go through the table whether they wanted to or not and turned the match into a one sided fight. JBL also noted that while he was not sure of the time limit, he knew that the APA was going over and that the match was “100% a shoot.”
Bradshaw ended the story by noting that Vince McMahon was happy with the match and that Public Enemy were fired shortly afterwards.
The Undertaker Clarifies Rumours
Despite the fact that he has retired from professional wrestling, there were rumours that Undertaker had heat with multiple legends following comments that were made earlier in the year. Aware of the speculation, The Undertaker clarified his stance on the matter.
Recently a WWE tag team was listed as babyfaces on the company’s internal roster.
H/t to Sportskeeda.