In Sylvester Stallone’s Netflix documentary, Sly, he talks about how, early in his acting career, he would get typecast as a thug. And his approach there was– instead of saying “no way, I’m not a thug”, he said, “that’s true, I am. But I’m also nice. I’m kind of a soft touch. If you could put that together, that would be a really great character.” That was arguably a huge part of what made Rocky such a resounding success. We got to see the heart underneath the tough guy exterior, and we really rooted for him.

I’ve had an interest in pro-wrestling since I was a kid. I remember it would be shown on the local TV station, Channel 5…

I look to other creatives for inspiration. I was watching some WWE videos on youtube, and found myself reflecting on Mark ‘The Undertaker’ Calaway. Before he was The Undertaker, Mark experimented with many different gimmicks or personas, such as Commando, Punisher, Master of Pain. They all look strangely comical in hindsight once you know what he subsequently evolved to become.

Throughout the 90s The Undertaker had a distinctive and macabre Deadman persona– he’d be followed around by a guy named Paul Bearer (pallbearer) who carried an urn, that seemed to give him supernatural abilities… it’s always funny trying to explain pro-wrestling if you haven’t witnessed it, because the whole thing is basically theatre and it doesn’t need to make actual sense. If you aren’t familiar with it I recommend checking out Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling, a 24-minute “somewhat-mostly-accurate educational parody film” by Max Landis. It’s an excellent video even if you have no interest in ever checking out the WWE. Though I think if you’re interested in my writing you’d at least be curious like me to understand why pro wrestling is such a powerful force in culture as a whole. After that it’s worth checking out How Politics Became Pro Wrestling.

Why am I talking about The Undertaker? I just think it’s interesting to study the shifting aesthetics of the most popular character in one of the greatest spectacles in entertainment, and personally I find inspiration in studying how the greats do it. So– for the bulk of the Undertaker’s career, he was basically variations of The Deadman, this spooky guy with the spooky clothes and hair and music. But in 1999 he was out of commission for several months due to injury, and when he returned in 2000 he made an abrupt shift into his American Badass gimmick/persona, aka the BikerTaker.

The pictures selected here are tonally similar to the others– all black– but during that time he also wore denim, and a red bandana. He would ride out on a motorcycle, first to American Bad Ass by Kid Rock, and then to Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit. It was a strange tonal leap– and these days when you ask Undertaker fans about it, most of them say they weren’t too crazy about it.

But I do think it was an interesting risk to take at the time, and it was pretty well received at the time, too. The early 2000s were the “Attitude Era” for the WWE. Think more broadly about all of the things that were changing at the time. The Undertaker started out wrestling with Hulk Hogan, Jake The Snake (who would bring an actual python to the ring), Macho Man Randy Savage, Rowdy Roddy Piper in his kilt, The Ultimate Warrior with facepaint and streamers, Doink The Clown, Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow, Lex Luger with his star-spangled… it was all comical, over-the-top… everybody played larger-than-life caricatures. The Attitude Era felt like a turn towards something grittier– lagging behind grunge music…

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i’m geting tired and i’m going to bed but this is interesting juicy stuff. talk about the pizza hut logo maybe? lol. something about exile?

thesis, anthethisis, synthesis? as the American Badass or BikerTaker, he picked up a new finishing move called The Last Ride

other characters? HBK, Triple H? The Rock’s theme?

music? Bowie, Taylor Swift?