RARE: Glimpse of The Undertaker Dominating on the Basketball Court Before WWE Debut

The Undertaker is a legendary WWE Superstar and an outstanding athlete. He graced the WWE ring for decades and always gave a stellar performance. It was almost a guarantee that The Deadman’s match would be incredible. His character was so strong that it sometimes stole focus from his skills in the ring. But without a doubt, The Phenom is an incredible professional wrestler.

His resume in the WWE ring speaks for itself. The Undertaker holds perhaps the greatest winning streak in wrestling history. With his 21 consecutive wins at WrestleMania, he has achieved immortality. But The Undertaker played basketball before he became The Deadman of WWE. He looks almost unrecognizable in this old picture from one of his matches.

Before captivating the WWE Universe with his incredible persona as The Deadman, The Undertaker used to play basketball for Texas Wesleyan University. He played in their team for one year.

The Phenom was definitely excellent at basketball, as he got an offer to play professionally in France, by a European scout. Instead, The Undertaker pursued a career in pro wrestling. It is no debate that the Undertaker is a phenomenal athlete but he often could not display his athleticism in the ring because of his persona because he made sure his moves matched his character.

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The Undertaker does not like the current wrestling style

The Undertaker recently appeared on Corey Graves’ “After the Bell” podcast and said that he does not like the way wrestlers these days rely on athleticism.

“It’s great being able to be as athletic as all these guys are. But really at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything because when you rely on all the athleticism, and you rely solely on your athleticism, you continually push the envelope to our audience,” said The Undertaker.

“And I think the guys right now are relying too much on athleticism, and not enough on storytelling,” added the Undertaker.

It is true that in the modern era, storytelling has taken a backseat for athleticism. Supernatural characters like The Undertaker were really all about the story. Taking nothing away from The Deadman as he is a superb athlete, he made sure that his audience always got what they wanted. But WWE has always changed with time.

They have adapted to the needs of different generations of fans. However, when it comes to the greatest superstars of all time in WWE, The Phenom stays on the top of the list.

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