How Did Vince McMahon Find The Undertaker?

The Undertaker is one of pro wrestling’s biggest stars. For three decades, he sat at the top of the pro wrestling mountain and carved a legacy that can hardly be matched.

The ‘Phenom’ made his debut at Survivor Series 1990 and the rest is history. But how did The Undertaker get into the WWE fold? Who discovered him for the first time is a question that is asked rarely.

Who brought The Undertaker to WWE?

Bruce Prichard was the man who brought Mark Callaway to WWE, but it wasn’t an easy road. In an earlier episode of Something To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, Prichard explains who discovered and signed The Undertaker.

From Taker’s days wrestling in Texas to working in WCW as ‘Mean’ Mark Callous, Prichard had an eye on him. It was one fine day that a call from Paul Heyman ignited the initial fire to sign The Undertaker.

He said, “It just so happened one day, I get a phone call from Paul Heyman, who was managing Mark in WCW and asked me if there was any interest that his contract was coming up. WCW wanted to know if there was any interest in New York.”

The meeting that almost didn’t happen

Bruce went up to Vince McMahon and spoke to him regarding Mark. Vince saw little in him, but Prichard insisted on having a meeting.

“Mark was set to meet with Vince the day after WCW PPV [Great American Bash 1990] and Mark had worked with Lex Luger. Taker had dislocated his hip, but he worked the match because he knew Vince was watching and wanted to have a great match.”

Sadly, for the yet to be Undertaker, the match didn’t impress the WWE Chairman. Prichard recalls, “The match sucked. It all wasn’t Lex’s fault, but Taker also had a dislocated hip. Vince called me, I was in the pool at Randy Savage’s house and Vince told me he wasn’t interested in meeting with him.”

Bruce then called up Taker and informed him about the meeting being postponed, although Vince had canceled it in reality. Prichard then met with Vince and begged him to meet Taker once.

“We got Taker and Vince together and Vince fell in love with him, just personality wise. It was just timing.”

We can only imagine where WWE would be today if Vince McMahon didn’t meet Mark Callaway. After all, The Undertaker was the backbone of WWE’s product for a very long time.