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The Undertaker reveals the Attitude Era angle he really didn’t like

Originally posted on ClutchPoints | By Matty Breisch | Last updated 5/18/24

The Undertaker has been part of dozens and dozens of different angles across his professional wrestling career. He’s been a “Deadman,” an “American Bada**,” and even a “Brother of Destruction,” but through it all, he’s remained one of the more popular performers in the WWE Universe and someone who is generally proud of his efforts in the squared circle.

And yet, in the latest round of his Six Feet Under Q&A sessions, The Undertaker revealed the one angle he really didn’t enjoy being a part of, as the payoff simply didn’t justify the extensive setup.

“How much can I push back really in that situation? But I didn’t like it. I thought as soon as it became Corporate Ministry that it got all watered down and it just ceased to be fun anymore. So, yeah, that was the kind of the beginning of the end right then,” The Undertaker explained on Six Feet Under via Fightful.

“We were really pushing the envelope, as far as touching on religion and all these other different [aspects]. We were getting plenty of hate mail over some of the stuff that we were doing, but once The Corporate Ministry, [and] there’s 20 people out there… [The nWo] is a great example of where it ended up, you know? Not a super great payoff, in my opinion. It was just kind of bleh.”

Unfortunately for The Undertaker, he isn’t alone in his dissatisfaction with The Corporate Ministry angle, as the reveal of Vince McMahon announcing that “It’s me Austin, it was me all along, Austin” was the ceiling of an angle that rapidly went downhill from that point on. While the Ministry angle could have turned out cool if Creative took things in another direction, in the end, the angle was a poor rip-off of the nWo that is only remembered as the butt of a joke.

**The Undertaker reveals his process to join WrestleMania‘s main event.**

In a recent appearance on The Bump, The Undertaker discussed what it was like to join the main event of WrestleMania 40 and why he wanted to reach out to everyone in the match in order to make sure his presence was a positive addition to the match.

“I had just got home from doing something and the phone rings, it was a phone call from Paul [Leveque]. Paul called me and he goes, ‘Hey, what do you think about getting involved in this? This may be like a Dusty kind of finish.’ I was like, hm, that’s interesting. I said, look man, I’m there. The first thing I asked was is everybody on board with that because you run the risk of being a huge distraction to something that’s been two years in the building. That was my first question. He was like, ‘Yeah, I think everybody is on board, we’re gonna sit down and talk about it.’ I said, look, if you guys need me, I’m gonna be in Philadelphia. Whatever you need, you got it. He goes, ‘You sure?’ I said, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? I just don’t wanna be a distraction to what the final story is. If anybody has any qualms about it, my feelings are not gonna be hurt, I’ve got plenty of stuff to do at Mania, no big deal,” The Undertaker explained via Fightful.

“So then I don’t hear anything for a couple of days. I pack up the family, everybody goes to Philadelphia. I think it was Thursday, I was about to do my 1DeadMan show. I text Micheal Hayes, I hadn’t heard anything in a couple of days, im talking radio silence. I text Michael Hayes and I say, Mike, do you know anything? What’s the thought? He said, ‘We’re meeting later today, I’ll let you know.’ So I get to the OneDeadMan show, I’m about 15 or 20 minutes from going on and I get a text from Heyman. I was like, nope, ain’t doing this one. The first 45 minutes of my show is completely written and it’s in my head, there’s no way I’m taking a call from Paul Heyman at this point. Then, Paul texts somebody else, as Paul would do. Somebody comes into the dressing room, ‘Hey, Paul Heyman would like for you to call or text him back.’ I was like, ‘I bet he would.’ [laughs] So, I blew Paul off that night and then I saw him a little bit on Friday and nothing was really said. We get to Saturday, now it’s a possibility. We’re thinking, will you be there at such and such time and we can talk. Sunday, I’m up in the suite, I’m having a great time with my family and I get a text that says, ‘Hey, we’re meeting downstairs in 20 minutes.’ So I go downstairs, and bang, it’s all laid out. That’s how it all happened.”

Did The Undertaker really think he needed to touch base with Paul Heyman and company in order to appear in the WrestleMania 40 main event as part of Cody Rhodes’ Avengers against The Bloodline? I mean, probably not, but then again, it was a nice gesture, as he had no impact on the storyline otherwise and as a result, was a certified surprise to everyone, especially The Rock, when he appeared in the ring. Then again, would it have worked any other way?