You cannot talk about the career of Undertaker without talking about Paul Bearer. The legendary manager not only provided a much-needed edge to the character on screen, but he also helped the former world champion in subtle ways that many may not have realized.
The Dead Man recently joined “Mighty” Demetrious Johnson for an interview on his YouTube channel. He talked about things such as his WrestleMania 40 appearance, how he feels about today’s wrestling and more.
When the topic of Paul Bearer was brought up, Taker explained how the pairing first came about. He recalled how Bruce Prichard was his original manager, but they had to find a new one because of Prichard’s other commitments:
“So originally, I had my manager. They brought me in with Brother Love. So Brother Love, his name is Bruce Prichard. He was on the creative team. So he was trying to make the towns with me. Back then we travelled all the time. We’d be out 30-40, days in a row, and he just couldn’t cover both of them.
So they had to find somebody else for me. So they find Paul Bearer, name’s William Moody and come to find out. This is just how everything works out the way it’s supposed to. He was a legitimate funeral director.”
The Perfect Mix
The Undertaker then discussed how Paul Bearer’s personality and his background as a funeral director was the perfect mix for his character:
“He had a degree in mortuary science or whatever the degree is. So he’s a legit Undertaker. What was so good about it is like he had all this insight into, like language that I could use.
Like If I talked about embalming somebody, I knew exactly what, a trocar or whatever, to use. So it was a really cool mix. He had a really high voice. I had a really low voice. It was just…it was meant to be.”
Apart from being a funeral director, Paul Bearer was also a soldier once and he served in the US air force for 4 years. He made his first appearance for WWE in February 1991 and went on to become a legend in his decade long run with the company.
