The Undertaker says the one thing that worries him about professional wrestlers today is the longevity of their careers because of all the crazy moves they do.

The Phenom recently sat down with “Mighty” Demetrious Johnson for an interview. He talked about things such as his pairing with Paul Bearer, his WrestleMania 40 appearance and more.

During the talk, Taker was asked for his thoughts on the current era of wrestling. The former World Champion first mentioned how WWE is breaking new records with each show so there is not a lot for him to complain. There is one thing, however, that the wrestling veteran is worried about:

“There’s nothing that I can say that like, ‘They should probably be doing this,’ Because they’re killing it. They’re killing it. The only thing that worries me, because I know the physical shape and condition that I’m in, and the things that I’ve had to do since I’ve been in the business, is I worry about their longevity, because of how much they continue to push the envelope.”

Get Them Invested In The Character: The Undertaker

The Undertaker claimed that the lack of character development made a lot wrestlers turn towards high risk moves. Though he still believes that getting the audience invested in your story is the best way:

“What ends up happening a lot of times. You mentioned it a little bit earlier, about like the character development. There was a time period there, where the character development was really lacking and the athleticism part was there. So they would, they started doing these crazy moves to [compensate].

Then what they end up trying to do is like, okay, well, after two or three times of seeing a double backflip twist off the top rope to the floor, your audience gets desensitized to that, like ‘I’ve seen that. What do you got now?’ Now you have to push the envelope a little bit further, and there’s limitations to what the human body can do. But if you can get them invested in the character, you either gotta make them love you, or you gotta make them hate you.”

The Risks of Wrestling

The Dead Man closed his argument saying that a lot of people do not understand the risks involved in wrestling. That’s why he wishes that talent would focus more on character side of things:

“That’s kind of the one thing that I wish, as a whole, that there would be more of, just because, you know what most people don’t realize about wrestling. What people really don’t realize is that within any given match, on any given night, you’re two inches away from something catastrophic happening. Regardless of how much training you’ve had.

Then when you think about the number of dates per year that you’re working, that risk factor goes up exponentially. When you’re doing double back flips off of the top rope into a group of people, it only takes one time.”

• The Undertaker Details Experience of Wrestling Inside a Federal Prison

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 Undertaker Details Experience of Wrestling Inside a Federal Prison

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.