Bruce Prichard talks Undertaker’s debut & creating Kane

I thought the streak should have ended with Giant Gonzalez. Oh, shucks. Yeah. You are a visionary. I almost ended with Giant Gonzalez. Yeah. Hello, everyone. get your shovels out. It's time to go six feet under again. This is a Fanatics and WWE original production. I am the OD, the original dead man, and this, my beautiful and talented co-host, Michelle Money McCool. Wow. I'm throwing that in there every time now. I like that. Our guest today, he knows where all the bodies are buried. He's got all the secrets And most importantly to me, if it wasn't for this gentleman, and I use the term lightly, there probably would not be an undertaker in the world of professional wrestling. Our guest today is the amazing, right? The amazing Bruce Pritchard. You too. Yes. Wow. It's early. I got to be nice. You have changed. I have changed. You've changed. I've changed. Wow, look at you. You got your best flannel on. Yep. Look at that. It was like one time Mick Foley could fit in that. Oh, golly. I mean, not anymore. Wow, man. Well, no. Why you got to? I put you over. I put you over. I put you over. It's a nice looking flannel shirt. You look good today. Thank you, man. Not as good as Michelle, but you look good. Thank you. You always look good. Thank you. Okay. You look good. You look so good. Yeah. Don't turn on me right away. It's a nice flannel. You look good. How are you, man? I'm great. How are you? I'm good right now. All right. It's early. I'm excited about this one. So I heard a little pop there when I said he knows where all the bodies are buried. I buried most of them. Well, you did. You did. You helped. Oh, buddy. Easy, easy. Wait. You know, when I heard you finally agreed to come on the show. Wow. Oh, I was finally asked to come on the show. Oh, wait a minute. No, come on now. That's how I get it twisted. I begged to come on the show. No, no, no. Every time I talked to Craig. You don't have a podcast. I do podcasts. Something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard. I do. It's a great podcast, too. I don't do this, but I said, I'd love to do Taker's podcast. I said, well, he's going to ask you. But then I never got asked, and then I got asked, finally. You know what? My production people sometimes. That's why, again, I know production people. Call me, man. Yeah, I know. You got it all figured out. Look at you. You got an entourage. Yeah. That's only because Stephanie and Cody are busy today. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Wow. That's the only reason they're here. I comprende. Comprende. Yo comprendo. Easy. And you understand that. No, I don't understand that. He does. He totally understands that. El jefe, el jefe de Mexico. El jefe, el jefe buquer de Mexico. You know, I expected it to be a little longer before this came off the rails, right off the bed. Please don't call me el jefe. Si. Si. Si jefe. Si jefe. Whatever jefe wants, jefe gets. No, Paul. Okay, I'm going to remember that. Okay. Okay, I'm el jefe. We got it right here. Where? Right there. I got it. We're not going to edit that out. So whatever El Jefe needs, El Jefe's going to get. Okay. Okay, I like that. You know the story about, well, I said want, and if you want in one hand, you do something else in the other. If you shit in the other. Yeah, okay. Always say shit on this show. I try not to say shit too many times. You said it first. Huh? What about other words? Are there other words I can't say? You're good. Nope, you're good. You're good, man. If it's too bad, if Michelle starts cussing like she normally does, they'll edit it out. The true El Jefe said I can say whatever I want. Yes, the true El Jefe. You know what I mean? Jefe. You know, when I finally heard that you were going to come on the show, I'm going to try this again. When I was finally invited, I was very excited to be on the show. Yeah, anyway. Anyway, so I started thinking, I kind of feel like I was abandoned as a child. I felt like I was abandoned and then I got adopted maybe or found a home. There's so much about the beginning origins of The Undertaker and how it all come about that I really, really don't know. And for our viewers that are not aware, you and actually Paul were huge advocates for me when I was down in WCW. Yeah. And, you know, so, yeah. I mean, y'all basically were a, I don't know what to say. Y'all were kind of like life vests for me at a time where I was like, oh, man, this is not going the way I expected it to go. And I remember Paul saying, you know who Bruce Prichard is? I was like, yeah, I know the name. He says, well, you need to get to know him. is a Texas boy by God. By God, he is a Texas boy. Well, you know, it's interesting because I go back even further. And for me, with you, I remember watching Dallas, the Dallas World, I don't know if it was World Class or whatever it was at the time. And watching you walk the ropes. One of my favorites growing up was Don Jardine, the original spoiler. And he was a big man, but he worked like a 200-pounder. And Don was a big, big strap and probably 270, 280, just solid as a rock, but moved like a cat and could walk the ropes and made everything look easy. And that's what you reminded me of. I actually thought that Don probably had a hand in your training because your work was so similar. I got to work with Don when I first broke in. Obviously, I have this match with Brody where I get educated into the world of professional wrestling. Congratulations, kid. Yes, that's how it started. But then the bookings that I got after that, I worked with the spoiler quite a bit. Nice. Because I learned a lot in the ring as a referee from Don Jardine because Don would put everybody in their place. and Don was great in the ring and just a ring general and amazing. But I enjoyed your work. When you first broke in and you were still, you know, green, little bullshit green, yeah, and needed some seasoning and what have you. And then you went to WCW. I really didn't have an in there. I didn't know anybody that knew you at that point. Then you went to WCW and did well there. And Paul Heyman, yeah, calls me. And we always talk. I mean, I would ask him about you all the time and just say, God damn, that kid's got something. God damn, that kid's got something. Kid. Where are you, two years younger? Kid. Kid. It's not the years, it's the miles, I think. Yeah, well, boy, it is. and Paul just stole all the virtues and said what kind of person you were but also the work ethic and everything so very selfishly on my part when Haman told me of your availability I was like just yes yeah we want him we you I wanted you pretty bad. And it was selfish. It was really selfish on my part for a couple of reasons. A, your talent. I thought we could do something. But B, I wanted to do more than just do the Brother Love Show. I felt the Brother Love Show as what it was, was only going to be able to go for so long. And I wanted to manage and I wanted to do more. And I thought, here's a great opportunity to be able to manage somebody that could then take it to the next level for me and for you. But I saw you as the black to my white since I was pure as the driven snow. Angel. Yes. Pure as the driven snow. The savior, yeah. Virgin-like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very virgin. Yeah. And then I saw you as just evil. Dark, evil. Dark, black, evil, mean, nasty, horrible. But the balance, we were the yin to the yang. You really read people well, don't you? Exactly. I didn't even know when. You get it. You could tell from day one. Day one. I'm with you. She didn't want anything to do with me. Do you blame her? No, but... She's got guts. She's got guts. She went against her. Yeah, I went against her gut feelings. But anyway. But yeah, you know, and you and I talked, and I had a chat with Vince and with Pat and everything, and convinced them to meet with you. Yeah. So, yes. I can hardly wait for the backstory on this, because I've heard parts of it. Well, I just, honestly, here I am 35 years down the road from all of it. Actually, even more. Probably 36 years probably now from when all this started. So you and I are now, we're talking occasionally, and then Paul is giving his two cents, because obviously you guys talk quite a bit, and we schedule a meeting. We did. We scheduled the meeting. We scheduled this meeting, and I'm like, oh, man, this is great. I'm going to go up here and blow them away. We scheduled the meeting, and the day before the meeting, I get a call. Well, actually, it was a day before the meeting, but the Sunday before the meeting was y'all's pay-per-view. You worked at Luger. Yeah, so I think it was a bash or something like that. Something, yeah. One of those deals where my hip is just, like, I just injured my hip. If you knew, let me ask you a question, Michelle. If you knew, okay, let's say you're a professional athlete and you know that, like, a top coach or an owner is going to be watching you. Right. And you're not 100%. Wouldn't you, like, tell somebody that maybe I'm not 100%? Yeah. Okay, well. Yeah. So anyway, I didn't know, but I told the owner, hey, watch him. He's working with Luger on this special thing. And I was at Randy Savage's house. We were on the road. And you have the pay-per-view or Black Bash or whatever it is. and the next day we're in the pool and call comes in and Randy gives me the phone in the pool. And I'm like, uh-huh. Yes, sir. Well, no, but he's, no, coming in tomorrow. You can't, no, you can't. Good God, he was working with Luger. You know, please. Give him a break. Holy cow, man. And then I find out you're working with a bad hip. And I said, look, with a bad hip, he still was better than Luger. Which he loved. Yeah. And Vince was like, ah, he's just a tall, redheaded basketball player. Tall, redheaded basketball player. He goes, you know, they're a dime a dozen. I said, he's not a dime a dozen. You didn't get to see everything he can do. And again, did I mention he's working with Luger? It was not a good match. It wasn't a good showing. But still, I felt that there was enough shown, there was enough there. Plus, I could give him a million tapes that were better than that. He just happened to see that one in first impressions. Right. So then I had to call you and cancel the meeting. I didn't cancel. I postponed it. You postponed the meeting. So, and this is all. We got something for you just not right. I find this part out. This has only been, after all these years, this has only been within the past few years that I actually find out the truth. Because, okay. But what? I wasn't lying to you. I just didn't tell you everything. It was a Pritchardism. Pritchardism. It was a Bruce-ism. So all these years, I think the meeting is canceled. Well, postponed. Postponed, excuse me. I thought the meeting was postponed because Brutus Beefcake has a horrible parasailing accident, right? Where he got his face crushed. Yeah. And you probably told me that was the reason why the meeting. I might have. Look, that's guilt. That is guilt. So all of these years, all these years. You literally thought that was the reason. I thought that was the reason why the meeting was canceled. Probably contributed to the meeting being postponed, not canceled. No, I think the meeting was already postponed before the accident. But anyway, so all these years, as I'm telling my story, I was like, yeah, then Beefcake has this horrible accident, and my meeting gets postponed. I've actually heard you say that. Exactly, right? That was my truth for all these years. Well, if that's your truth. That's your truth. No, you have now informed me that no, that the old man was not impressed. No. And he canceled the meeting. But it's a happy ending, damn it. Yeah. It's a happy ending. It is. It is. Big news. WWE and sports fans. The world's number one sports fan festival, Fanatics Fest, is making its return to New York City. Fanatics is bringing you closer to the leagues, teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action-packed days in July. Meet your favorite WWE superstars. Get your hands on exclusive merch. Catch live podcasts and interact with the biggest names in sports. Tickets are on sale now. And fans of the podcast get a 10% discount by using code TAKER10 at checkout. You guys are coming to the Meadowlands. Right. This is months later, by the way. Months later. A week or two, a month, whatever later. Tomato, tomato. You were there. You were there. You're there. You're in the area. You're in the neighborhood. I said, would you do me a favor? Would you just meet him? Now, I had never met you. We'd never met. Not in person, right? Not in person. We'd talk plenty of times. But never met face-to-face. I said, Vince, I don't know him. Got great. I mean, everybody speaks very highly of him. Just up and down. And I said, I don't think I've really ever asked you for a favor like this. Would you just meet him? Would you take 20 minutes and meet him? So I think this meeting is going to be a... How you doing, pal? Yeah. Uh-huh. Where'd you play ball? A little red-headed basketball player you. And set up the meeting, set the card for the Meadowlands so you can make the Meadowlands that night. met with him. And Pat called me and said, yeah, we're going to meet with the mean Mark. Get out of the face. Hey, come in and I don't know, Bruce. Big fella. God damn. And I think it's going to be a 20 minute and I'm going to get a call. Don't ever waste my time like that again. And I don't get a call. I don't get a call. I'm like, this must have been bad. Because I'm not. You got heat. I'm going to be like, oh, my God, man. He's like, what did you send me? And, you know, next thing I'm going to be, I don't know, going to buy a basketball team. Put him in there. But it went a couple hours. Yeah, it did. It went a long time. Yeah. And Pat calls me and says, oh, my God, we love him. That was good. And I'm like, all right, so it's good. And I said, so we're going to do the deal? And he goes, we already talked to the people. We're sending everything in. I said, well, okay, but Debbie's got, like, I sent her the whole basically dark angel in many ways kind of deal, the black to my white and all this stuff. And they sent over the drawings of different looks for you to be this dark character. And the coolest one was what we ended up with. And he goes, he looks like an old-fashioned undertaker. You know, like the guys in the Old West, and they build the coffin, and they had a pace, and they bury the guy, the undertaker. And I'm like, yeah, that's great. but I wanted to call you Cain because Cain was first man to commit murder. Cain killed his brother. I didn't know this either. You had to know this. I swear to you. I have no idea. Yeah. That's where I was. In fact, I was going to ask you where Cain come from. Cain, first man to ever commit murder. Yeah. Cain kills his brother Abel. That's from the Bible. That's from the Bible. I got it. Got it. Got that reference. It's a book. They got it at Barnes & Noble. I'm going to pick one up on the way home. Yeah, or any of your fine hotels. Okay, okay, okay. Nice androcious. What? Take it with you, no? Back to murder. Okay, back to murder. So in many ways, you know, Cain was the most evil person in biblical lore. Kills his own brother, man. First man ever to commit murder. I just loved that name. It was a cool, strong name, Cain. You loved it so much. I loved it so much I named your brother and my son Cain. Go ahead. And so it was going to be Cain the Undertaker. I know I keep hitting this microphone. I told you you got all my space out of here. I got no room. And that was, yeah, that was the deal, man. And the first man, that couldn't get more evil than Kane. And we were going to go with that. And three weeks, we went three weeks with Kane until we dropped it. We dropped it by the time that I debuted. No, you were introduced as Kane the Undertaker. Was it Kane Survivor Series? Yes, we did three weeks, and then we did TV. That's why I remember it was three weeks, because we did that whole series of TVs as Kane the Undertaker. the next TV, which was three weeks later, we dropped the cane. Yeah, yeah. And you were just the undertaker. And I said, that'll never get over. No, never. Too gimmicky, right? Yeah, way too gimmicky. Yeah, I had to have a name. Yeah. That introduction to WWF at the time was a little crazy. Like going out, like I know that my debut is Survivor Series, but I'm going to go do these three matches in, I don't know, where Syracuse and Rochester. Rochester, yes. So back then we do, what, two days of TV and about six weeks of programming. Six weeks of TV, yeah. Yeah, programming. And, like, me trying to process, how do we do this? Like, I'm not going to debut here, but I'm here. Right. Back then we could get away with it. Obviously you couldn't get away with that now. And then people, when I got to Survivor, it was like, I'm just like, oh, man, these people are, you know, they're going to be smart to all this by now. No clue. It was. No, we didn't have the Internet and social media and all that. We could actually do that. Yeah. So. And then before you kicked me to how long, how long did we were together before you kicked me to the curb? Oh, boy. I mean, you got what you wanted and then you just kicked me to the curb. I then kicked you to the curb. No, we went a few months. Well, we did Royal Rumble, and then I kicked you to the curb pretty much after that. I was given the choice of either continue with my day job and do the producing because I was working in the studio and producing everything, or go on the road with you full time. And the, I did, but, uh, but at the time it was, it was the devil, you know, versus the devil. And I, and I wanted to stay in the office and continue to do that. And also there was look I loved the character and felt that it needed that At the same time Percy Pringle came in for an interview and in the interview they said well what have you done What's your background? I said, well, I'm a licensed mortician. And it was all over at that point. And he had been your first manager, but it was perfect. It was, you know, I loved being the manager. I loved doing that stuff with you. I absolutely dug it, but also the producer in me and looked at it and said, Paul Bearer and The Undertaker, that was a better match. And I think that was a much better fit. And I think that Paul was better for you in the long run, obviously. Oh, yeah. It was. Wasn't even close. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, he was so much better. He was so close. No, he was so much better. He wasn't that much better. No, he was really. You never gave me a chance. No, you kicked me to the curb. You kicked me to the curb. You kicked, I thought you kicked me to the curb. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Let's get this, let's get it straight. You're like, all right, I brought you to the dance. Go ahead, do your thing. I'm going to go back. Yeah, you said boom, I want Paul back. I'm going to stooge at the office here. I want Paul back. That hurts. What? Inside where it counts. Where? You know. What did I say? Way down deep. What? Uh-huh. And who's he to talk now? Oh, yeah. El Jefe. El Jefe. Excuse me. El Jefe. Hey, wait a minute. We got to add to it. Why? What? You can't edit that out. It's made El Jefe. Oh. Snake. Snake? Snake? Can you pick Latin? Can you pick Latin Spanish? You just did. Maybe. Yeah. They know El Jefe. They don't know El Jefe. I don't talk about it much. CBN. CBN. CBN. But that, yeah, you know, Paul came in and I thought, you know, Paul was perfect. He was. And you know who named Paul? I don't. You don't know much, man. Where were you? People are absolutely blown. Where were you, man? People are absolutely blown. I have excuses for not remembering things. You remember far more. You remember all the stuff back in Houston. People are blown away at how little I know about everything that I should know. I had a different way to process and do my thing. But, yeah, I don't know any of that. This is my history, and I don't even know it. Percy came in at a TV, and we were like, we're going to make this move. We're going to do this. I was talking to Road Warrior Hawk, Mike Hegstrand. And he looks over at Percy and he goes, Hey, how about the name Paul Bearer? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Get it? Paul Bearer. Awesome. I'm like. There it is. There it was. He was born. Yeah. And then you tell Vince and that shit just runs. He also did Doink the Clown, too. Didn't come up with the name Doink, but he. Mike did? Hawk did? Hawk did. Because Matt Bourne, who was Doink the Clown, sitting in the dressing room after his match. Crusty. He's got his boots all out, had the cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and he's undoing his lip, and he's miserable. And Hawk goes, Bruce, look, he's Krusty the Clown. Doesn't it look like Krusty the Clown? I'm like, oh, my God, it is. And I ran and got Vince. I said, look, Krusty the Clown. He has no idea who Krusty the Clown is. He's shaking his head like he does. Yeah. You're right. Krusty the Clown. Yeah. Hey, Bruce. Who's Krusty the Clown? The hell's Krusty the Clown? and then Doink was born. But yeah, Mike Eggstrand, both of those. Paul Bear and Doink. Man. You could have been Doink the Undertaker. I was glad I wasn't Eggman. You could have been. I could have been. That's what I was worried about. And what's your name? Gobbly cooker. Oh, God. The gobbly taker. The gobbly taker. Wouldn't that have been cool if you'd come out of the egg? No, it would not have been cool. That would have been so cool. That would not have been cool. that would have been awesome to come out of the egg. The egg cracks and crumbles and then. I think we, I think we did it the right way. Yeah, it was pretty good, but we did. Are you ready to hold WWE history in the palm of your hand? Topps is bringing you closer to the action than ever before with WWE Topps Now. Highlighting the biggest matches and milestones from WWE shows and PLEs throughout the year. Topps Now is enhancing the fan experience by connecting collectors to superstars and spectacles that ignite their passion. Featuring stunning event-exclusive photography, each card is made for the moment. And for some lucky collectors, the moment could be the pull of a lifetime. Along with serial numbered parallels, some Topps Now releases offer a chance at rare short prints. superstar autographs, and even pieces of the mat, gear, or other items used during the featured match. So which moments will you collect? With each card only available for a limited time, you won't want to wait to begin your Topps Now journey. Be sure to subscribe to WWE Topps Now mailing list on Topps.com and follow Topps on all social media platforms so you never miss a single moment. So, you know what? I think we've both told this story separately, but I don't think we've ever been together when we talk the Chattanooga story. We told it one time on stage. I've heard you tell it, and I know I've told it, but I don't think we've ever been together. Before you kicked me out, we were to Atlanta. We got out. It was a TV. Yes. Two things happened at that TV. Do you remember during the match what happened? Is that when you fell? I slipped off the top. And you slipped off and we're on the floor and I'm yelling at you, get up and do it again. I know, God damn it. I didn't know. Like I slip off the road and I'm just like immediately, one, you got that embarrassment feeling, right? Like, oh, I'm supposed to be this cool, calm killer. And now I'm just raging on the inside because I just slipped off on somebody's baby oil that was on the top rope. Now I've slipped, and now I've got you down there with your pink face yelling at me, get back up, do the same thing, do it again. And I'm like, shit, shit. Are you sure I wasn't doing dusty at all? Living dead man, get your ass back up there, get to the same place, do it again. In my mind, I was doing dusty. No, no, no, no. Get back up there. Get back up there. I probably was screaming. And then it came out on TV. It was perfect. It was perfect. So that all happens. I calmed down from that. I'm a little high. My ampage is a little high after falling off the rope. Come on, get ready. Let's go. We've got to go to Atlanta. I'm like, all right, all right. Let's just go, right? Yeah, well, we wanted to get there before the bar closed. Always wanted to get there before last call. I mean, we had priorities and motivation. We get there before last call. So I am still in full Undertaker regalia. I don't know if you, I think you got your paint off. Well, I had just taken the washcloth and just washed my face real quick, but I still had like the pinkish hue and I still had makeup around. My hair was still slicked back and I had the red shirt. I think I still had my suit on, but like a leather jacket. Yeah, it was cold. Yeah, I remember it was cold. But you were just fresh out. It smeared his makeup because he had the dark under the eyes and everything. So that just made it darker and more menacing. So as menacing as you were, it was even worse. It was like, oh, my God. And you were driving. I was driving. Ford Taurus. Yes. And it's funny because back then, like, we didn't have GPS and all that back then. This is before. We had Rand McNally. That's it? We had the map. So we get twisted up in Chattanooga, and we are definitely in the wrong part of town. Yes, we were. And we haven't seen an interstate sign. There's not really much. There wasn't much life out anywhere. Yeah, there were a few dead bodies. It probably wouldn't have took much to find a body land somewhere. We finally come up on this convenience store. It was on the corner. But it was so far back. It was set way far back. Like this whole, most of it was just parking lot. Yes. And I roll into this parking lot. Do you want to go? I got to go. Well, because the guy was closest to me. Guy's walking out. I roll down the window. Excuse me, buddy. Excuse me. excuse me help us out here a little bit and the guy comes along now all he sees is me he sees the chubby cheek red face guy with his hair all slicked back and everything he comes up and he's grabbing parts of his crotchal area crotchal is crotchal a word crotchal area crotchal area crotchal area all one word and was a little bit threatening about what he could do for us and what it might cost us to get this information out of him. And as he gets closer to the car and looks like he might be, I don't know if he's reaching for something or not, nobody really knows because somebody sitting next to me literally does the sit-up because for him to drive, now you gotta imagine this, okay? For him to drive a Taurus, he's got the seat. He's basically laying down in the car like this so that he can even fit and drive. So when he does the sit up, he sits up and boom, and shoots that head and shoots a look at the guy. And the guy takes his hand out of his pocket and back pedals and is almost falling down and looks in there and he goes, oh shit, man. Dude, what's wrong with that dude? He looks like he just killed somebody. He goes, all right. Hey, man, what y'all need to do is you need to go down here two blocks. You're going to take a right. You're going to go down, take your neck left, and the highway is right there, man. Y'all need to get the fuck out of here, man. I got it. And he was backpedaling and all. Didn't say a word. Nothing. Didn't say a word. Just shot that look, man. Those eyes went through him and that dark eyes and everything. And scared to death. Just became helpful as can be. Guess what? We went down. Turn left. Turn left. Turn left and boom. We were on the interstate headed to Atlanta. We were three blocks from the interstate. That's so funny. But we had been driving around in circles. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Oh, man. Get him out of here. Go. We don't like you people in our neighborhood. You're scary. You just kill somebody. It was terrifying. It's just a town. That's the only thing I ever killed were towns. Oh, yeah. Yeah, well, a few of those. I've killed territories. That's true. I had to say. That's probably true. Yeah. So you kicked me out. Kicked you out. You kicked me out. You being Paul Bear in, which, I mean, I'm actually kind of grateful for that. I found your brother. I found your brother. Oh, yeah, good brother. Yeah, but before that, so you got to go back to being the office stooge and producer. Producer, that was a fraudy and slip. Yeah. Yeah. The other part was. I got half a stooge. Oh, half a stooge. So here we go. You went there. I did go there. You did. Do you remember? I know you remember. What? The shoots that you used to make me go do. The vignettes. Oh, my God. I've heard about these. Those were great. Oh, they came out great. They were fun. They were anything but fun. They were fun. No, man. Kamala's casket. Kamala's casket. Well, remember, there was Kamala's casket. I still have the blueprint of Kamala's coffin. I've got it as well. And in some Bethlehem or wherever the hell we were, we had to go out and do that. That was fun in the freezing cold. So I wanted to see his breath. I said, I want to see your breath. And so he's like, really? We can't have any heaters? I said, no. It's got to be cold. It's got to be cold so that every time you speak, I see the breath. And I said, so the more you can breathe in and get that cold in there. he and Paul Bear are freezing to death and they're cursing me because I'm I'm producing I've got a he layered I'm in gimmick you're layered he had a big coat on he had a big leather coat it's not big it was big but the material was a little bit thin we might have had to spritz his head often a little bit Yeah, just get the look. Keep the look. Yeah. Keep the look. Yeah. Consistent. Consistent. That was great. Flesh freezing. Flesh freezing. That was after the rumble in 93. Yeah. Put him out in the middle. That's when I ascended out of the. I only had one night with him to get all this stuff done. Got it done, though. We did get it done. Weeks and weeks of vignettes. Yes. In flesh freezing winds. Like how many hours? Like literally all night? That one we started probably about 10 or 11. No, later next, we left after a show. So probably about 11.30 at night. And we went until 5, 6 in the morning easily. And the only heat was to go in the car in between takes. The budget then was not what it is to this day. I would go out and take it as long as I could possibly take it. and then I'd have to go get in your, it was his car, which was a sports car, like a little. The Talon, Eagle Talon. Eagle Talon or something like that. So I am in there and I would just start to thaw out. I get a, all right, we're ready. Oh my God. You didn't know like if it was good to warm up and then go back out in the cold. Or make it worse. Or it made it worse. It was absolute misery. So I have this, I have this vision. And I want to see him in the middle of the cemetery. And I want to do a snap zoom. And it's like, but you've got to see that it's snowing like crazy and that he's just placed in the middle of this cemetery. In order to accomplish that, you've got to place him there. then we had to brush and move all the snow so that it's smooth so you don't see the footprints going out there. Cool shot. Very cool shot. Just took a little while to get there. And he can't move. So he's like Clint Eastwood and he's standing there and just you got it yet? Hang on baby, we're almost there. And he's just standing there and Paul bears pissed. You're ripping him now, Bruce. I'm not ripping him. Look, I got to get this shot. I got to do here. I got to pull out. I got to do this. And that was some cool shit. And then you tried to sell me on it again. That was cool shit. So then, because we did great cemetery stuff. I loved going to cemeteries. And that particular cemetery because that one was in New York, that cemetery either after that shoot shortly thereafter my assistant came in and showed me the front page of the stanford newspaper that cemetery had been accused of uh stacking bodies and they found them and this guy would dig holes for us he would let us go on mausoleums everything and they yeah it's true they yeah yeah they would stack they would just stack and then And once they knew the family was gone, they'd get rid of that headstone and sell it to another family. Sure, we got room. Don't worry about it. We got plenty of room. We got plenty of room. We got plenty of dirt. We got plenty of room. And then the Mankind. And I had to do point-counterpoint. So it was a buried-alive match, right? Yep. And that was in Fairfield. and we had the hole dug and it starts to rain. And everybody's like, oh God, we're going to have to do this some other time. No. This is beautiful, man. You know how much this would cost to do in Hollywood? To have a rainy, stormy night in the middle of a cemetery? And we kept shooting. And bought Paul Bearer a new suit that night. But the best thing that came out of that was mankind doing his deal and he slipped and fell into the hole like legit legit and i like keep going keep going keep going and that's where when he got in the hole he realized and and he didn't do the line i said stay there i'm gonna do a reset i said when you get down there i said i want to be on top of you and i want you to look up and go oh this hole's too short for the undertaker it's like it fits me it won't fit him yeah that's good stuff that would no i hate you gotta love the finished product but i'm just talking about the misery of having to do it like now you go and do a shoot i got you got your trailers you got catering you got we had my car yeah we had your car and a bag of chips i think it was about that was that was catering yeah i used to have beer too and Jack and yeah. Yeah, but by the time you got time where you could actually have it, you're so miserably cold and frozen that you didn't want it. That's true. But still. I think we drank the beer, but. We did. And then Leslie Nielsen. We had a good time with Leslie Nielsen. Oh my gosh, Leslie Nielsen. Yeah. That was. Okay, that's one of those we can't talk about. No, I think you can. Okay, good. Yeah. So Leslie, remember what we did with Leslie in Bridgeport? When we went to dinner? And then after dinner. What did we do? So there was a gentleman's establishment in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They made me go. They made me go. I didn't want to go. The chicken wings are good. He hadn't been there. I'd never been there. No, he hadn't been there. Yeah. But Ed Cohen. Ed Cohen. God rest his soul. And we had talked about this place. The only thing that the entertainers wore were knee pads. And that intrigued the hell out of Leslie Nielsen. and that would intrigue my yeah and so leslie okay so we've talked about this and leslie says to us after the japanese restaurant about this place where the entertainers just wear knee pads and we went oh and we lost leslie that night no he was great though he was he was he so that was the that was the first night that i met him Yeah. Yeah, because I'd already spent four nights with him every night. Right, so you were well aware he had this gimmick that he had the fart gimmick. In his hand. In his hand. Or he would put it in his, like we go to this Japanese restaurant, right? This nice like hibachi type restaurant where all the waitresses and everything are, They're Japanese, but they're also in the white face with the kimonos on. This is like a nice place. And he's making them fart all the time? Yeah. So we sit down and the waitresses come in and then it's loud enough that you can't not hear it, right? And you can't not sell. But it's also not gimmicky either. No, it doesn't sound like it. It sounds legit. It sounds legit. and then he blames it on the waitress. The Japanese are very respectful and very proper. He's looking at her like, and she's like, no, no, no, it was you. I don't know how many. He would take pictures and get the fart right on the picture. That's funny. He was great. He was so funny. Yeah. He was fun to go out with. Yeah, he was a good time. He could drink. He could drink, and he was old school for sure. Those were good times. And then... Well, hey, I'm warm and I'm eating. There you go. One of my favorite things was we had a black tie affair. New York. They had to go to a black tie affair. Good character. Vince wanted people in character or their black tie to reflect their character. And so this one wants to get a tux. What does he need a tux for? He's always in black tie. Oh, it's so embarrassing. And he had to wear his gimmick to the lieutenant governor's ball honoring Linda McMahon. I remember you telling me that. I wish there were pictures. Do you have pictures? I have pictures. We need pictures. We need pictures. Everyone is dead. I mean, that's when, like, who? That was Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani that I was committed to beat up. Yeah. Oh. Yeah Yeah He marking on the business and like I was not in the mood to hear his bullshit Was it the outfit Huh Just in general Just in general The wrestlers are here. Wrestling in general, and he's marking on it, and I'm already in the mood. You're already in a mad mood because of your outfit. Yes. You look good. You were in black tie. I was in full-on Undertaker regalia. Paul Bearer is dressed like Paul Bearer. Sergeant Slaughter has got a camouflage tux on with his DI hat on. Looking nice. And everybody else is just macked. Boom. I mean, custom fit. And here we are, like the freaking circus sitting there. And Vince and Linda, of course, are sitting up at the main table next to the Shrivers and all the bigwigs. and then there's the table of the wrestling people. The misfits. And we lived up to that name on that evening. I love it. And we had, remember we got the- Who threw the roll at Vince? Was that you? I don't know. He doesn't remember that. I don't recall that. You recall everything. I recall. We got a big thing of vodka, big thing of Jack, and then a couple cases of beer and just had it all underneath the table because they stopped serving alcohol once you went into the main deal. And I was like, I don't care what it takes. You need a bottle of Jack. You need a bottle of vodka. And you need a ton of Coors Light. And so we're hiding it at first, but then the more you consume, the less you care. There's no room under the table anymore. So we're just putting everything on the table. And he's just drinking out of the bottle now. And Vodkalina's cat is making his vodka tonics and everything. And then somebody might have thrown a roll at Vince on the main table. Did they hit Vince with the roll? The elevated table. We're all down. The peasants are all down here. And the nobles are up top. And the nobles are at the top. And somebody. Have good aim? did he have good aim oh yeah oh you could tell he had good aim by the look on Linda's face oh yeah oh no y'all were in trouble yeah I mean we forgot about it yeah she didn't she was mortified and I said he did it yeah he did it but see if he did it then there would be no heave it's okay then because he was a golden boy Golden boy I don't think I was the golden boy You were always the golden boy You could do no wrong Commit murder but do no wrong First man You're the favorite I'm not the favorite No I'm not the favorite You're the favorite He's the favorite Just saying Let's backtrack man So I grew up obviously we both did in Houston. When did, when did you actually get in with Paul and the, and I was selling posters when I was 10 years old, 1973. What does that make you like 78? What is that? So I'm two years older than you. So yeah, 48, 47. Yeah. 47. Yeah. Something like that. and how I got the steady gig was we were given four posters to go sell in the crowd and we got 25 cents per poster that we sold I went out and sold my four posters came back, got more, went out and sold more came back, got more, said take them four I took eight, then took like big handfuls and I made $12 that night the other kids, if they even sold one I don't think anybody sold more than one, but I went everywhere and sold the stuff. So then next week they said, why don't we put you in the ring? And then people will know where to come. You're in the middle of the ring during intermission before the show. They come down and get posters. And that's when I learned a very important business lesson in the wrestling business was when I went to the ring, opportunity for people to see you, you get plugs and people come down and get posters because they know what you have. You sell more. So now that you're selling more, they cut my commission down to a dime. With the rationale being, we've got you in prime position, you're going to make so much more money this way. Opportunity. Yeah, but I'd make more money selling the same amount. It was still a quarter. promoters but I was happy to be in the ring and stuff and then and you were 10 10 years old wow yeah dang so kid just had my little poster box up there had the poster displays all this stuff the ring announcer Boyd Pierce with flashy dresser flashy great dresser yeah and he would do 20 pictures for a dollar and he would promote his stuff and this was the other thing that this happened when I was probably about 12, maybe 13, I would get mad at Boyd because Boyd would plug his stuff. And I said, and the kid's got some posters over here for a dollar. I said, come on, man. I was like, can you get any better plug? Oh, yeah, the kid's got posters over here. And so he threw me the microphone. Oh, no. This is what you do. Oh, Lord. And I did. The origins. There's the origins right there. And I did. And I said, I went on, And I said, well, thank you, Boyd. I said, that's a great deal over here because Boyd's got 20 pictures in a pack, 20 small postcard-sized pictures in a pack for $1. I said, but I've got one giant poster with over 23 stars on one giant poster for only $1. And Boyd was like, nicely done, kid. Touche. And Peter Burkall, Paul's nephew, came down and said, did I just hear Bruce on the PA? He says, yeah, he did good. And then they let me do it from then on. Wow. And then 14 announced. You were announcing at 14? Boyd missed a show. You took Boyd's job. For a night. And my first thing, I asked everybody to stand for the playing of our natural anthem. Natural. Natural. The natural anthem. And then the first person I introduced was Tora Tanaka from Yakahoma, Japan. Yakahoma. Yeah. So what a splendorous night. You had to be growing pains. Fourteen, though. Yeah. So when did you get into, and I don't mean this to office, so when did you start helping Paul? So Tom had taken pictures, and then Tom became like the assistant director of the television show. And then when Tom started playing football, Tom couldn't make every Friday night. So I would do that job. Consistent of giving cues to Paul for the commercials sitting next to him at ringside, and you would tell him what commercial to throw to in breaks. So it also, you had to time out the show. It's where I learned how to add time. And so that was from 12. We always went to the office during the summers. Once Tom could drive, he worked summers there. Then when he graduated, when I got my driver's license, I worked the summers there. And then afterwards, just worked in the office. 1919, corner of Carolina and Pierce. 1919, Carolina, on the corner of Pierce, downtown Houston, open each day of the week, Monday through Friday, 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Tickets and information were available during that time. Awesome. Yeah. It's not there anymore. It's a parking lot. St. Joe parking lot. I drove by it. Yeah, not long ago. Yeah, not long ago. We were going somewhere. Football or something. And we were down there. You needed it. Because I was actively looking for it when I saw Caroline. I was like, oh, man, the old office is here. So sad. Yeah. That was my life. That was a big part of it. That's it. So you were already with Vince when Vince started buying out everybody, right? So I left Watts and Houston in 1987 when Jim Crockett bought Mid-South UWF. So I'd worked for Paul until 87. And then Eddie Gilbert came up and met with Vince and said, are you interested? And I was at a place in my life where I'm 24 years old. I wanted to do more than just Houston, Texas. And I never thought in a million years that they'd want me. And he said, call Vince. I called him. And he says, you'd have to move to Stanford. I said, no problem. I didn't even know where Stanford was. I had no clue. And I kid you not, talking about Rand McNally, after that call, I took out my giant Rand McNally. Kids, okay? Rand McNally, it's a map. It's a book. It's paper. And they have lines on it that tell you the interstates and how to get from place to place. I had to look up Stanford, Connecticut, go in the key. The key? The key. I forgot about the key on the side, yeah. What the hell? Like, it's way up north there, folks. Far from Houston. They don't talk like you do either. No, they don't. They got a funny accent. They do have funny accents up there. Right? Yeah. They don't talk regular like you and me. Right? They don't know how to say y'all. No. I don't even know what they say other than y'all. I can't. What do y'all say other than y'all? They're probably proper. Do you say you all? You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. You guys. That is so Yankee. Hey, you guys. That's rude. Y'all. Y'all sounds friendly. I don't know how you survived up there so long. I mean, I know you had a break, but... I had a couple. I was trying to stay away from all that. Oh, well, yeah. But since we're there, since we're there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you left me. No, you kind of left. I was still there. I haven't left yet. I've been here. You kicked me out the door. No. It was him? Yeah. No, it was not. Dang. It's my story. That didn't happen on my watch, brother. I think it did. Yeah, I've been there a while. Business has changed considerably. A little bit. From my WWE run to where it is now. Al Jefe. Al Jefe. What about WWE? Yeah. That is WWE though, right? It is. You too. We're just jogging your memory. It is WWE. They are Jefe. Oh, yeah. CBN. Do not edit any of this shit out. No, por favor. CBN. I can't work like this. Harsh conditions. But think about all the incarnations from the I can't say it. The pirate. Pirate taker. One of my better that wasn't one of my better no the descending from the garden the bat wings there's a picture of you and I with you he's hanging with his bat wings in the little pirate thing and he's just hanging like this and I'm looking up at you and I'm animated and talking to you and the look of disgust on your face. Your feet are right above my head and I'm like, but Mark, this is going to be great. But that was your idea. It was my idea. When I envisioned it, it was the coolest thing. We all envision it cool. But then when you're just sitting there like, this isn't really as cool as I thought it was going to be. Okay. I thought I was going to look like a giant dragon. Not so much. I look like a big pirate with bat wings. Bat wings. With wings. But the incarnations of your character, too, were a lot of fun to move along. And when you found out you had a brother, and Paul Bear diddle your mom and all that stuff. You can't say diddled. Why can't you say diddled? You can say diddled. You can't say diddled. You can say diddled. That's my mom. We said it on air. Diddled. We said diddled. We said diddled on air. I can't wait to explain that one. Oh, yes. I remember. Mama Taker. Oh, Lord. I remember him and Lawler, right? In the dressing room. It was him and Lawler. Yes. And we put the camera like it was laid down, and it caught them like a hot mic kind of a deal. Oh, gosh, I do remember that. Oh, she screamed. She was a screamer, that one. Oh, yes. Oh, mom. I'm glad my mom didn't really watch this. That was Creation Kane. Kane was created in that diddle. Oh, wait. That little diddle or whatever. What? This is getting way worse. No, this is nothing that we didn't explain on television. You all said little diddle? He did say diddle. Diddle diddle. He diddle takers mama. Oh my goodness. Can you say diddle in this language? Yes, we can. Yes, you can say diddle. Diddle seems more... Kind of fiddle diddle. I don't know. I think we did. Okay. And you can do it still? I just did. Twice. You did? Well, this is a couple times, really. Nobody watches this. Oh, okay. Yeah. Diddle diddle. I was just curious. I want to try and talk somebody into saying diddle on a promo now. Yeah. No, you can. You definitely can. All right. Yeah. That was, but I mean, it all made sense to me. Kane's creation, everything. It's a great story I've ever told. You needed an opponent. That was a good story. You got one. So he went through as many incarnations as you did. And he's got some doozies in his closet. Well, look at his brother. Grissomest creature. Yeah, absolutely. Isaac Yankum. Isaac Yankum. The fact that he rebounded from Isaac Yankum. The fact that he rebounded from fake diesel. Oh, fake diesel. I forgot about fake diesel. Yeah. Yeah. That one we almost had to send him away for good. I don't know if he can come back. I don't know if he can come back from that one. Yeah, that was a bad one. That was a bad one. But it was all because of you because you just needed an opponent. Well, I did need an opponent. You did. And Mama did. And originally he was only going to be – It was a one-off, right? It was a one-off. They brought him in. It was a one-off. It was too good. Yeah, that was really good. And then once we found out that you set the fire, but he really set the fire when it was you that thought you set the fire. Killed your mama, your daddy, your brother. No more diddling. Yeah. I would appreciate it. The diddler was still alive, Paul Bearer. Okay, so there could be diddling just not with the diddle-y. He just wasn't diddling the diddle-y with the diddle-y. So no more brothers. Got it. The brother did. Gone. He gone. He gone. He gone. But he came back. but he came back he came back yeah yeah so I get the mayor on the phone for me he won't answer he won't take my call he won't take your he'll take mine but he ain't gonna take your call actually he will yeah he actually will you'll see who he takes first you'll try I was gonna say you'll both dial up see who he answers what time is it daytime see if he answers FaceTime see if he FaceTime well my phone's way over there we can get it I don't have mine either. They took mine away from you. I hit him. Oh, I know what it was. The Buford Pusser rumors. I hit Kane with a text saying that is mayor of Knoxville that you need to dispel these horrid rumors about Buford Pusser. And he's like all serious at first, and then I'm going, no, you need it. And then he realized that I was. Messing with him? Yeah. As usual? No. Well, not as usual. No, I always go into a conversation with you or anytime you call me, like I'm already guard up. And then I have to decipher whether or not you're being serious. Y'all should both text him, hey, call me at the same time and see who he calls. I don't know. Oh, whatever. Hang on. Okay, wait a minute. Hang on, I got it. I need them these days too. Mine are over there. This is wrong. so many levels. I gotta figure out what I... What do you have in store? Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. We gotta do it at the same time. I know. Hang on. No cheating. Okay, hang on. Yeah, no cheating. I gotta get him up here. Guys, y'all good? Hmm? Are y'all good? I'm checking my email. Hey Siri, text mayor. Me too, right? Okay. Who's this guy who keeps calling me? H-H-H. Dude, me too. What? Me too. What is that? Who is that? I don't know. My boss. Okay. Are we doing FaceTime? Are we going to see a few FaceTimes? You're supposed to be texting him to say, hey, call me. No. What? Is that what we're doing? We're texting? I was just going to call him. Okay. Wait, okay. We're playing that game. I lost him. Wait a minute. What's happening? I don't understand what's happening. Wait, you know what? You can't. I don't think he doesn't have a... He's got one of those other phones. I hear it ringing. Did you call? Bruce. Glenn. Glenn. That's bullshit. How are you? You're on speakerphone. And I'm doing the Undertaker's podcast. Glenn hang up we made a bet as to who could get you to pick up and you picked me up yeah well see he doesn't even know how see there he cheats but not if you had seen me calling at the same time come on man if I had seen you both call at the same time I'd pick up his thank you Only because you would know that we were together No It's an election year mayor Whatever Bruce Hi how are you We were just literally talking about you on the podcast And I was talking about Paul Bearer Diddling y'all's mom That's so bad See and it's an election year and there you go Right I would never have done that to you I would have never done that to you. Easy. Whoa. All this gets edited out. But you remember when Paul diddled your mama and told that story on TV? Stop already with it. I remember taking a blood test. See? And you actually made me take a real life figure of my blood and it was because of you. Oh my gosh. It needed to be real. Well, it was. You've got to have credibility. And they call us evil. Yeah. I mean, it's typical for you, Bruce, you're a blood sucker. That's what you do. That's just rude. Hey, Glenn. Yeah, well. Glenn, I love you. And thank you for picking up. I love you guys, too. If Mark had called, I'd have answered his phone. Thank you, brother. He did call, and you answered mine. Well, you see your office, so yours always takes. Boom. There you go. Hey. Hey Glenn He's el jefe de Mexico I know isn't it Is that cool El jefe de Mexico Glenn's got to go He's got a town to run Hi mayor Good to talk to you Merry Christmas Bye bye You cheat If you ain't cheating you ain't trying That was pretty good He went with the old distraction How'd I cheat? Bro. You said let's FaceTime him. I said, okay, let's see who he answered. Boom. I can hear the phone. I'm still trying to assess that, and I can hear your phone ringing over there. I can see. That's funny. Told you to answer. Mayor always, I can't wear glasses on here. Man. Can't see. Did I put glasses on for you? Huh? Did you put glasses on? I don't need glasses. That's why it took him so long. He couldn't see what he was doing. I'm done with you already today. I need my glasses, too. You've been on me all day today. I'm about done with you. Bruce, help me out. I'm not done with you. Thank you. El Jefe. He's going to. Make her El Jefer de Mexico. Jefer? What? Se de Mexico De Jefe All right Hey thanks for making it I know you got to get going Now I done with you Don't you got a show to do or something? No, now I'm doing this. Okay, all right. Well, let's see. Here we go. You scared? I ain't scared. You look scared. I ain't scared. I'm not scared. I'm scared. I was a little scared. You're scared. I would say I was scared. Okay. I'm done with you, though. Okay. I'm five hot. Remember that night in Nuevo Laredo? Anyway, folks. Nuevo Laredo? I don't know. They tell me I was there one week. I spent a week there once. Yeah, something like that. See, now all these guys, they were like, oh, you guys are going to tell a bunch of car ride stories. I said, yeah. I can't remember those. I don't remember. No, me neither. I don't believe that's been a long time ago either one of y'all I think we told the only one that was really tellable come on that's probably the most homogenized one we've got that time we did come back from Mexico with all that damn contraband in the trunk there was that night there was a night in Montreal that was Montreal Yeah, we won't touch on that. What's wrong with you? What is wrong with you? A lot. I know. A lot. A lot. When you wouldn't speak to me in Montreal, you're mad at me. Why were you mad at him? I don't know. Look at him. Listen to him. Is there any doubt why I'm always mad at him? He was mad at me and he wouldn't talk to me. He was pouting? Oh, yeah. Why? Big pouting. What happened? Big pouting. Big pouting. Yeah. Oh, that Montreal. Yeah. Oh. Oh, that Montreal. That Montreal. Yeah, that was bad. What happened? He was mad at me. You ever heard of Montreal Screwjob? Oh, that Montreal. Oh. Oh. So, okay, that's the story we could tell, actually. Because there are two sides to this. It's been told a lot. Okay, but not, okay, there's different sides to this, though. So, Montreal, Brett versus Sean, Survivor Series. Yeah. You were off TV. I was. But you were there. I was there. So what do you do when you're there? You sit next to me at Gorilla. Yeah. All night, sits next to me at Gorilla. Last match, Sean versus Brett. We did these walk shots all backstage, which we didn't do a lot of back then, but we were doing them for special matches. I tell him, say, hey, you need to leave because you're going to do this shot. Once I get in the ring, we're good. I needed to leave. So he leaves. He doesn't come back. So everything takes place out in the ring. I'm there sitting duck. I don't know what's going on. Watch everything happen. Did not know. You didn't know anything? Did not know. Okay. Okay. Oh, I'm getting to you, big boy. And everything happens. I'm pissed because I don't know. Right. Everybody comes back, and I'm walking back, and I go back towards where Vince's office is. There's a giant redheaded basketball player with his arms crossed staring daggers at me. And I look at him, and he looks at me, and I'm like going, you knew. I didn't know. Okay. And you look at me, and he looks at me, and he looks at me, and like, you knew. And you sent me away. And I'm looking at him going like, you knew and you're guarding Vince's office. Big boy? Yes. So there were two sides to this. I thought you knew. I did not know. 100% did not know. At all. That is wild. You went down to the dressing room. Yeah. I went to Vince's office. Yeah. than that I was. For the record, I was not guarding. For the record, I didn't send you away for that. I thought you were going to come back and join me. So now there's the misunderstanding there. A little bit. Clearly. Okay. And so now we come back. And actually, this is one of the coolest things I've probably ever seen. The only cool thing in the moment that night was when we entered the dressing room, the only people that were allowed in the dressing room were those that were in the match. And you, me, I think Rhea was there. And Shane. Shane, Jerry, and Pat. Yeah. No, Pat wasn't there. Pat was not there. Sarge was there. But we go in, Ken Shamrock is coming out. Ken Shamrock went to Vince and said, do you need me to stay boss? And cool hand Luke over here goes, get your bag, get out. And went by and there were people sitting in the locker rooms. It says, get your stuff, get out. Get your stuff, get out. Hearing it out. And there were no questions asked. They all got out. So now the next day, it's a little heated, a little tense. Somebody's not showing up. We had a basketball game to play. You got a basketball game to play. So now, coming through the door. Late. Late. It was late. Late. I thought you said wet because you may have been at that point. But it was like you kind of kicked in the door a little bit. You made yourself known that you were there. A little dramatic entrance. Very dramatic entrance. So he walks up and it was me, Jack Lanza. I don't know if Vince was there yet but you shook Jack's hand and I stuck my hand out and he just stared at me and then Vince came up and he stuck his hand out and you just stared at him didn't shake his hand Vince walked away and I said you and I need to go talk he said I don't think I have anything to say to you and then we went and we sat down over where they had the bleachers and stuff backstage. We sat down, and he just starts in. You knew. And you set me up, and you sent me away, and blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, you were guarding Vince's office. I said, what are you talking about? I had to go away, so I went to Vince's office so I could eat his catering. That's why I ended up in Vince's office. So, yeah, then we both felt kind of stupid. You sound like a big old mess. He was mean to me. Michelle, he was mean to me. I believe in that. You are. There's two sides to every story. This is true. Two sides. Yeah, there's the right side. Theoretically, we were both on the same side. We were. It was a misunderstanding. We both thought the other one knew. And I don't think anybody trusted anybody at that point. I bet. With everything going on. It was pretty tense. It was pretty tense. Yeah. Pretty tense. Then we kissed and made up. Everything was good. He's a good kisser, by the way. Yeah, he is. I can attest to that. Why? Why did you have to throw that in there? What? Like you'd exclamated the story. But he didn't say diddle. At least he said kissing. You had to take it somewhere that just makes people really disturbed. Not in today's world. No. They're not. Well, this is not this degenerate group. Yeah, nobody's disturbed. I'm glad they stopped doing drugs while we did this. Wow. Look, you promised me. You said, hey, you want to do my show? Will you quit talking so much? What? Oh. Jeez. I thought that's what you do on these things. No, not this one. That's mine? Yeah. You know, you just push the button. Something to wrestle with, Bruce Pritchard. Do not edit that out either. Yes, I'm back, folks. No, your podcast doesn't have heat with me at all. Okay, good. You do that all by yourself? I do it with Conrad Thompson. Yeah, I know Conrad. But I do it all by myself. No guests needed. I need guests We need guests I can't remember I can remember certain things and certain hazy things and I don't even know that it's because I'm punchy really You're disconnected What? Something got disconnected Twice Same night You know the other thing that you did to me one time? What? Maybe drink pickle juice and Jack. Ew. I do kind of, that does ring a bell. And you remember I threw up all over you. But why does that? I think it was more the amount of Jack that you may have drunken before the pickle juice. But why did you combine the two? Somebody wanted to do the pickle juice. You have cramps? No, somebody wanted to do pickle juice and Jack shots. So I don't, I hate pickles. As much as he hates cucumbers, I hate pickles. Do you eat cucumbers? I will eat cucumbers. And you will eat pickles. This makes zero sense, guys. You'll eat pickles, but I won't. Well, no. The cucumber thing's a little weird. Who's talking? So they did the pickle juice thing. And I go, guys, I'm going to throw up. And him and DiBiase held me and had me hooked at the bar. And then they poured the pickle juice and the jack. I was like, all right. Came right back up. Threw up all over them. Can't handle your jack and pickle juice, man. Sure can. But I told you. I warned you. At a time. Yes, you did. And he choked me out on the dance floor one time. On the dance floor? I did what? He choked me out on the dance floor one time. Dang. Is that the wedding? No. I choked you out. I don't remember. He choked me out one time. Wow. Why on the dance floor? Why were we on the dance floor together? I don't know. Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. It was a fog night. To get him on a dance floor. All I remember was being helped up on the floor, really. Might have been somebody else. After you were choked out? You helped me out. Maybe it was I helped you out. So maybe somebody else choked you out. East St. Louis? Maybe. Were Samoans involved? I think so. Oh, yeah. Like a vague one? I think it was East St. Louis. No, it's coming back to me. Keep talking. East St. Louis, the bar that Haku and everybody got in trouble in. Not same night. No, no, no, no, no. This was the first time that we had gone back there. And this had been years. Yeah. This was the first time. This was actually a calm night. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now it's all coming back to me. It was Sammy, Samu. Samu. Yeah. It was Yoko that choked me. No, was it Yoko that choked you? Because Samu was just going up to random people and choking them out. But I thought it was Yoko. I think it was Sammy. I think it was Sammy. Yeah, may have been. Yes, I'm almost positive now. Just random people? Yes. Well, us. They were marks, but are like fans, and they were like, none of that shit's real. He was like, watch this. And then, yeah, he would rear naked choke them, and out they would go and wake them up, and they were like, I told you it was not real. But why you? You're not random. Bruce was being Bruce. You were doing random things. I was random in the moment. Bruce was being Bruce, and then the next thing you know, Bruce was waking up. Now this is falling off the rails. Now this is falling off. No, no, no, no. That's all coming back to me now. Yeah. East St. Louis was rough back then, especially. And especially this particular bar that I don't. Yeah. Yeah. It was one of those crazy nights. Yeah. Maybe I just Yeah I might want to just leave it there With you being choked out right on the dance floor Yeah I remember you helping me out I do remember that I can't leave you on the dance floor man Yeah no I actually remember going out And then Hey The hell I'm sorry You don't have the little phone things and quiet outside Sound boards no You know what I have in my studio? We're low rent, man. You're on the tracks right now. You're on the tracks of podcasting. You know what Ample Man is? Who? You know what Ample Man is? Anybody know what Ample Man is in Germany? Well, hell, in Germany. In Germany, yeah. It's the walk and do not walk signs, and they're green and red. I'm shortening this story up big time. But anyway, I have two of those. And so my house and my office, I have a Go Ample Man green and a red Ample Man on the outside door. and I have a remote control in my inner studio office that I hit. And if it's red, nobody can come to that side of the house. Wow. Y'all need that here. Next level. I need that at home. You do. Same. You do. I will call you this week. Okay. Ampleman. Germany. Ampleman. Ampleman. Yeah. East and West Berlin. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing. And I left with Ampleman. Oh. Yeah. this is a goddamn history lesson here man I know people are going oh boy that's gone off the rails what the hell are they talking about but everybody's going to look it up too when you said Germany I just naturally I just started thinking about I just started thinking about London and SummerSlam 92 I wasn't there you weren't there no I wasn't even there I wasn't there why was you not here I wasn't there you and I had a hell of a night in Berlin one night Was that the night Flair danced on the bar In the hard rock Maybe It was our first No man It was great because like Mark and I Are trying to stay out of trouble So we would go Really We were trying to stay out of it We'd stay together and we'd get in trouble By ourselves Yes. No witnesses. No witnesses, yes. And we would get away from the trouble. And we walk out of the trouble starting into a couple guys on the street in a fight. Yes. Like right at our feet. I was like, what the? Why us? And then we took a taxi one time in Johannesburg to the Hard Rock Cafe in Johannesburg. Except there was no Hard Rock Cafe in Johannesburg. But it was a cafe called the Hard Rock Cafe, and they did have jackets and T-shirts, but they weren't real. Yes, it was not the real Hard Rock. And we're looking at each other going, fucker. We had a few of those. So I really have always wondered, what is your favorite Undertaker narrative? What storyline? There are so many that were great, but I think for longevity and the most fun that I had, It's got to be the whole Kane story. Because I can still remember the day of just riffing these silly ideas of, and again, selfishly, wanting to get the name Kane back in the mix. But like I said, why I enjoyed that so much was it was supposed to be a one-off that then grew, and it grew to another and another and another and then went apart and then brought them back together as brothers and as this incredible force that was just unbeatable and undefeatable. And both individually were so strong, and then together they were unstoppable. And I think that that, for the longevity of it, that it was able to take you anywhere you wanted to go. Yeah, that was a good story. And it made the Undertaker character more relatable and human. True. Yeah. Not that the human is. Was it a booking conundrum when we got together? Like, what do you do with these two monsters that have superpowers and can throw lightning and eat fire? Sure it was a conundrum, but it was a good conundrum because it allowed us to, through the conundrum, it allowed both characters to grow and be able to do more. I'll never forget you coming to me and saying, what am I supposed to do with Kurt Angle? I can't work with him. This little guy, how am I supposed to have a match with him? And you got in the ring with him and made magic. So it was that freedom to grow and freedom for both characters to grow beyond just the mystical, you know, scary undertaker and the mystical fire-breathing cane. And that's why I like it because it lasted so long and took one strong, ultra-strong character, created a second ultra-strong character, and a third with the combination and made everybody stronger, grew everybody in the process. That was the beauty of it to me. It's crazy that two supernatural characters, but when you start getting into the story, how relatable it could be to real life. And I think people... Yeah. Well, it's everybody has family. You know, even... It's for everybody. It's not just... You don't just have to have a sibling to understand it Because you could be an only child. Because in many ways, we were telling that story in that. You thought you were an only child. Right. You thought that, oh my gosh, my brother and my family has perished. So it could identify with anybody. Right. Anybody that had parents. We all do. We all go through tragedy. We all go through ups and downs. And that made it relatable. You, in that moment, became relatable. still scary, still supernatural, still the undertaker, still have all these powers, but he's human. I love that. And to be able to tap into how do you get the undertaker down, how do you hurt him? Well, you can hurt him with family. You can hurt him with this incredible story that this guy manipulated him his whole life for Paul Bearer's needs, manipulated you and told you this story fed you this and and uh that's a lot of people can identify with that yeah i love that but something i didn't love and i want to know your opinion on it because you kind of had to talk me down this day but did you like the streak being ended hated it me too hated it like i was so mad that day and he doesn't even remember it so like it's like yeah a lose-lose I thought the streak should have ended with Giant Gonzalez oh shucks yeah you are a visionary I almost ended with Giant Gonzalez yeah you know the streak the streak was an accident yeah no the streak was an accident yeah it came up in a production meeting I believe it was Michael Hayes he was like I think Undertaker is undefeated at Wrestlemania like 10 times in a row I'm surprised I didn't get beat right then. As soon as that was brought to life, it was brought to life. We've got to beat him. Yes. I think we should end that. But then it became a thing. Part of it, look, if there was a guy to do it, Brock was a guy to do it. I get that. I understand that. However, for me, and I'm speaking strictly selfishly here. Same. It was something created out of my messed up head that it was like a baby. You watch it grow, that character, and it grows, and you see it come to life, and I wanted to keep it pure forever. Yeah, me too. So I understand the decisions. Why? which is not something I would have done nobody gets out of this alive characters or anything else no I know you and I texted the next day wait he didn't even know his name until 4am I waited until the next day I did text our boss that night and I wasn't working there at the time, and I texted him what I thought of it, and I just said, I wish you wouldn't have done that, but you have your reasons. I think I said, other than that, it was a great show. But then I had heard that you had gone to the hospital and everything, so I waited before I reached out to you, just to make sure that you were good. You know what? I don't think you and I ever even talked about it beyond that. But it was, no, I didn't. I would have kept it whole. I would have kept it pure. Except for John Gonzalez. Yeah, makes sense. He were back. Bruce, thank you, man. Thanks for making time. Thank you for going six feet under with us. I could do this all day, actually, but I'm going to need drinks. So we don't have them. Will you come back, man? I would absolutely come back. I would love for you to come back. I loved it as well. It was about time, and I'm glad you finally did. are you i'm not really thank you thank you thank you thank you appreciate it thank you