WATCH: Rare Footage of Paul Heyman Managing WWE Legend The Undertaker

The Undertaker is synonymous with WWE. The Deadman has had a career spanning three decades in the company. To think, Undertaker ever wrestled somewhere other than WWE is hard to fathom.

However, The Undertaker did wrestle in another promotion. The promotion was none other than WWE’s soon to be arch-nemesis WCW. Undertaker was just a rookie back then, going by the name of  “Mean Mark” Callous.

He made his debut with the tag-team Skyscrapers. Eventually, Mean Mark was managed by Paul Heyman (then known as Paul E. Dangerously). However, the highlight of Mark’s career was his match against Lex Luger.

Watch the rare video below –

Callous wrestled Lex Luger for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash but was pinned. He competed with a dislocated hip. During this time, Callous began to question his wrestling career and was scheduled to meet WWE’s Chairman, Vince McMahon.

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Vince McMahon almost rejected The Undertaker

As mentioned earlier, Mark was ready to meet Vince McMahon the day after his match with Lex Luger. McMahon even watched Undertaker’s match at The Great American Bash. However, WWE’s Senior Vice President and Undertaker’s former manager, Bruce Prichard, revealed Vince was unsure about Mark.

McMahon allegedly thought Mark was just another tall basketball player with red hair. He did not see anything special in him. Bruce Prichard had to “beg” Vince to give Undertaker a chance.

“When [WWF] was doing a show in Meadowlands, I offered to bring Undertaker over there for a meeting with Vince. I told Vince, ‘Look, I’ll get this guy over. Please, just meet with him.’ I did not know Mark either, but I was a big fan of his work. Also, in my head, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with him. I was thinking, ‘this is the talent that can pull off that idea,” Prichard said.

Mark Callous eventually made his debut in WWE in 1990, and the rest is history.

Before the match at The Great American Bash, Paul Heyman proclaimed Mark as a successor of ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair and claimed that he will be a big name. The prophecy did come true, but in a different company.