The Undertaker has been in the industry for over thirty years now and has outlasted so many superstars younger than him. It makes you wonder what’s keeping him in the game for so long. The latest episode of ‘The Last Ride’ (The Undertaker’s documentary) throws light on this.

“The Deadman” gimmick has been by far the most successful character in the history of WWE. It hasn’t lost any of its charms and the audience never gets tired of it. 

For three decades The Undertaker has entered at the sound of the bell toll, and for three decades the crowd has gone wild hearing it. What makes this character so good?

At the very beginning of his career, The Undertaker decided to debut as The Deadman. Since then, he has stuck to that character. Most wrestlers these days who change character every 3-6 months and have a heel-turn every now and then.

“The Phenom” established himself as the anti-hero, sort of bad guy that everyone grew to love. However, the crucial ingredient of The Undertaker’s successful character is that he never ever broke it.

That’s right, The Undertaker has been “The Deadman” for over thirty years without breaking his character even once in front of the media or television.

They don’t make men like The Undertaker anymore

The reason why most characters or personas never last long in audience approval these days is that they break character, or in professional terms- kayfabe, too often.

Superstars that are supposed to be rivals upload selfies of themselves backstage on Instagram. The point is, it can’t be sold as well. The Undertaker, on the other hand, has never let the character slip. In every interview, he’s maintained the dark vibe and gruff voice that make up his character.

“So much professionalism,” says Vince McMahon. “So much control over his emotions and his character,” McMahon explains how The Undertaker was always in the driving seat. He never let his character escape him.

The Undertaker himself decided in the very beginning to make the character one with himself. This meant that he became The Undertaker in real life, an embodiment of his character.

Sure, there was a deviation during the “American Badass” phase, but that wasn’t much away from his original character. He still was the anti-hero, the character everyone grew to love.

Many wrestlers tried to get The Undertaker to break his character including Kurt Angle and JBL. Even Booker T tried to get The Undertaker to do the Spinaroonie.

The Undertaker’s devotion to his character and WWE is unmatched. Keeping a character in place so well for so long has to have some sort of psychological toll on a person. But he made it his own.

The amount of professionalism and control that The Undertaker has had is unbelievable. “The Deadman” will always be how we remember him because that’s truly how well he played it for us.