In late 1990, annoyed after being told during contract negotiations that no one would ever pay to see him wrestle, The Undertaker left WCW and headed for the WWF.
This switch started one of the most incredible runs the industry has ever seen, but his career with the sports entertainment giant was far from plain sailing.
During 1995 and into 1996 the company struggled badly, and to make matters worse, WCW was about to create one of the most famous factions in history in the nWo. The revolution started on May 27th, 1996 when Scott Hall jumped the barrier on Nitro and declared that while fans knew who he was, they didn’t know why he was there.
Unbeknownst to many fans at the time, Hall had left the WWF and was now under contract with WCW, and would soon be joined by Kevin Nash. The pair famously took part in the “curtain call” during their last night in the WWF just days earlier at Madison Square Garden.
To many in the WWF, their departure felt like a betrayal and those feelings only intensified as the “war” between the two companies began to escalate. Just prior to Bash at the Beach when Hall and Nash were joined by Hulk Hogan and the nWo was born, WCW beat Monday Night Raw in the ratings for the first of 83 consecutive weeks.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Something to Wrestle podcast, looking back at WrestleMania 12, Bruce Prichard discussed the departures of Hall and Nash.
The WWE executive said that he wishes they would have stayed, although he wasn’t involved in the process.
“I wish they would’ve stayed,” Prichard explained, “I personally didn’t talk to them… that was between them and Vince at that point.”
He added that Undertaker, who faced Nash at WrestleMania 12, also “didn’t like it.”
“Taker didn’t like it, Taker wished they would’ve stayed,” Prichard recalled, “But then again, Mark had been there longer and Mark is loyal. He wasn’t looking to go anywhere, he felt Vince had done right by him, and he didn’t want to leave.”
The Undertaker Thought About Leaving WWE
During an interview back in March, The Undertaker was asked about this period and whether he ever considered returning to WCW. Interestingly, he revealed that Kevin Nash approached him about making the jump and he did consider it. However, those comments made by Ole Anderson in 1990 were still ringing in his ears.
H/t to Wrestling Inc