Vince McMahon helped lay the groundwork for Undertaker’s WrestleMania 34 return like only he can.
The first episode of the five-part docuseries “Undertaker: The Last Ride” left us with Mark Calaway feeling as if he wrestled his last WWE match after losing to Roman Reigns and leaving his gear in the ring at WrestleMania 33. The story picks up in episode two (Sunday, 10 a.m., WWE Network) with a look at Callaway’s second hip replacement – even going inside the operating room.
At the time, he intended on staying out of the ring and we see him preparing to enjoy retirement. The second installment further peels back the layers of Undertaker and lets Mark Calaway shine through. We even learn the story of how his relationship with wife Michelle McCool started as he appears ready to leave WWE behind him.
That changes with an August 2017 meeting with McMahon. The wheels subtly get put in motion for Calaway to seek “redemption” for the Reigns match didn’t deem enough for The Undertaker to go out on. It’s as if Calaway expects a nudge from McMahon to return, just not how it happens.
Vince McMahon, UndertakerGetty Images, WWE“I gave up strategizing on meeting with Vince a long time ago,” said Callaway on his way, along with McCool, to meet with McMahon at WWE’s corporate office with his contract up and wanted to talk about his role. “I’ve been so dead set on what I was gonna do and say in a meeting, walk out, the door shuts behind me and realize I got absolutely nothing that I meant to say out.”
The Saturday meeting – “I don’t know who meets on Saturday other than Vince,” Calaway said.” – features McMahon, dressed in an orange t-shirt after he made the couple wait for him to finish his workout. When asked if he’d be ready for WrestleMania 34, Calaway said he told McMahon he was at peace if he never got in the ring again. But he agreed to train to be ready in case anyone gets hurt and he was needed. But reiterated to McMahon that “my tank’s empty.” The response he received was like no other he had gotten from McMahon as the WWE chairman and CEO reiterated that maybe the legend was at the end.
“I was a little taken back because normally Vince in full throttle, ‘You can do this forever’ kind of a deal,” Calaway said. “Wait a minute? Is this some kind of double swerve. Like he’s gonna tell me I can’t, so I will. He can sell ice to an Eskimo. He’s just that good. I had to figure out what angle he was taking. Are you challenging me? I didn’t quite know how to process right away.”
It is part of the deep dive the episode takes into the 30-year bond between the two. Calaway, unlike a number of WWE’s biggest stars, didn’t jump to WCW during the Monday Night Wars. He describes McMahon as a father figure, a brother, and a friend. Calaway named his son Gunner Vincent for a reason, McCool says.
McMahon calls Calaway “the most loyal performer” he’s ever dealt with.” He gets too emotional to answer when asked what Calaway and The Undertaker meant to WWE and to him personally, ending his interview.
“Can’t do that,” McMahon said.
McMahon has been there for Calaway as a boss and friend during their time together. Calaway describes a point where things were at a low for him in his personal life. It was McMahon who helped him to refocus, sitting him down and telling him he needed to quit feeling sorry for himself — giving him the tough love he needed.
John Cena and the Undertaker after WrestleMania 34Craig Ambrosio/WWE“There’s no other person in the world who could say that to me that I wouldn’t have got up and you know knocked the s—t out of them,” Calaway said. “But it was Vince and I knew it was true and I knew where it come from.”
After McMahon at the Royal Rumble broaches the idea of a match with John Cena at WrestleMania 34, the episode shows us how Calaway gets himself ready mentally and physically to return to the ring and his reaction after the match. It’s a journey he feels he needs to take not only to erase the subpar match against Reigns, but have a better effort in New Orleans where a concussion kept him from remembering the streak-busting match again Brock Lesnar four years earlier.
“This a clean slate,” Calaway says prior to facing Cena. “All the 27 years prior, none of that means anything at this point. This is a brand new Undertaker and I’m going out there prove to the world who I am and what I do.”
