Bruce Prichard was an important figure of WWE's golden age. As an officer, he helped Vince McMahon several of the great stories that are now part of the memory. But his work was not just behind the scenes. With his face painted red, Prichard played Brother Love, the remembered first manager of The Undertaker.
Recently, the ex-creative was invited by Sports Illustrated to write his column The Wrestler's Tribune, where he recounted the origins of who 26 years ago debuted as Kane The Undertaker.
People can say it's shit, but I'm the reason why Mark Callaway signed with WWE. You're welcome.
You can also thank Paul Heyman. To Vince McMahon too, obviously. But more than anyone else, you should thank Mark Callaway, because he has turned a career like The Undertaker into the kind of success that rarely happens - and you may never see it again.
The first thing that caught Prichard's attention was the way in which Callaway, called at that time The Punisher, walked on the ropes despite its size. The officer followed Callaway's career in Dallas until he received a call from Paul Heyman, who was driving him at WCW.
"His dream - Paul told me - is to go to the WWF".
So Prichard took the idea to Vince McMahon, but the big boss was not very interested in who, years later, would be his favorite fighter. For Vince, Callaway simply looked like a "redheaded basketball player.
I threw the idea to Vince that he knew him. He accepted and we saw Mark's fight in the 1990 Great American Bash against Lex Luger.
Vince was not impressed.
After seeing the fight, McMahon canceled the meeting he had with Callaway, but Prichard simply told the young fighter that it had been "postponed."
A few weeks later, WCW was in the Meadowlands [in New Jersey]. I got Mark to take an early flight and meet Vince at his house. Vince and Pat Patterson fell in love.
It was there when I shared my idea with Vince.
With Mark Callaway in WWF, Prichard wanted to become his manager, creating a contrast between the dark giant and his religious companion. However, the final conception of his character required more preparation and some lucky coincidences.
The Undertaker and Brother Love
Since Brother Love was an interpretation of evangelism, I looked for a biblical name for Mark. The name Cain sounded very powerful. When you look at the history of the Old Testament, Cain is the first man to commit murder by killing his own brother - and the name sounded powerfully evil.
When Vince gave our concept to the art department in Creative Services, they returned all these drawings of a man in black, and in one of the images, he looked like a gravedigger.
"Oh my god," said Vince, "he looks like an old-time gravedigger."
I fought hard for the name Kane - I did not want to give much credit to the Bible using "Cain" - so we called it Kane the Undertaker. That lasted for about two weeks, then we just called it The Undertaker.
Bruce Prichard began to dedicate himself fully to the development of The Undertaker, as a manager on television and also as a producer. However, his character from Brother Love was beginning to become repetitive and his dual role in the company forced him to make a decision.
We had Percy Pringle - William Moody - or as most people know him, Paul Bearer. His story was that of a funeral home, which helped with authenticity. Percy was Taker's first manager when he entered the business, so they knew each other and liked each other [...]. Paul Bearer fit better.
However, the producer did not stop supporting the Deadman from his position behind the scenes, and was finding that Vince McMahon increasingly coincided with his high expectations.
I really believed that Taker would be something big. I always imagined him as a champion. One day, I was going to the gym with Vince, Taker and two other people in the car. I put on an AC / DC Hells Bells cassette and explained to Vince that I wanted to make a video with Taker and that song. Vince said "hell, mate, this would be great. He would be a technician if he did "and I remember saying that day" and what a fucking technician he would be. "
Vince agreed. He said "When it's time, The Undertaker will be the biggest fucker in the world."
After all this story, to tell his part (maybe something highlighted) in the birth of The Undertaker, the vision of Vince McMahon and the decisive intervention of Paul Heyman; Prichard gives the credit of his success to only one person.