Mark William Calaway born March 24, , better known by his ring name The Undertaker , is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, [ 13 ] Calaway spent the vast majority of his career wrestling for WWE and in was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
As one of WWE's most high-profile and enduring characters, [ 15 ] [ 16 ] The Undertaker is famed for his funerary themeing around an undead , macabre "Deadman" persona, which gained significant mainstream popularity and won him the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Best Gimmick a record-setting 5 years in a row. In , the Undertaker adopted a biker identity nicknamed "American Badass". Calaway resurrected the Deadman gimmick in , with residual elements of the "American Badass" remaining.
For the better part of his career, the Undertaker was observed as a focal point of WWE's flagship annual event, WrestleMania , where he became esteemed for The Streak — a series of 21 straight victories, and headlined the event five times 13 , 24 , 26 , 33 and He is also known for pairing with his in-storyline half-brother Kane , with whom he alternatively feuded and teamed as the Brothers of Destruction from through He also won the Royal Rumble match in He graduated in and began studying on a basketball scholarship at Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas.
In , he enrolled in Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas , where he majored in sport management and played as a center for the Rams in the — season. In , Calaway dropped out of university to focus on a career in sports and briefly considered playing professional basketball in Europe, before deciding to focus on professional wrestling.
Calaway began training under Buzz Sawyer in late ; [ 6 ] [ 26 ] he disliked Sawyer, who reportedly lacked commitment and provided a limited education. In , Calaway developed a military gimmick named The Commando. Under this persona, he mainly wrestled in the Chicago area for Central Illinois Wrestling. He would also have a brief stint in Georgia for Southern Championship Wrestling.
