Before They Were Stars: The Undertaker Wrestles His Debut Match as “Texas Red”

Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, chances are good that you’ve probably heard of Mark Calaway, a.k.a. The Undertaker. This weekend will mark the 20th anniversary of the Undertaker’s debut in World Wrestling Entertainment and I’m going to be posting a column chronicling the biggest moments of the career. It’s quite astonishing that Mark Calaway has been able to portray such a popular successful wrestling character for twenty straight years, but even he had to start from humble beginnings. This particular clip is from World Class Championship Wrestling in the mid-eighties and is Calaway’s debut match in the business. You’d never know it was him because he’s wearing a mask and wrestling under the name “Texas Red”. Ironically, he is also managed by Percy Pringle, who would later go on to dye his hair and become Paul Bearer, the Undertaker’s manager in WWE. I can imagine it must have been quite scary for a rookie to have to wrestle his first career match against the late, great Bruiser Brody and, sure enough, Brody winds up beating the crap out of him!