During an interview with the Toronto Sun, the Undertaker discussed the difficulties of using his Phenom gimmick during the Attitude Era. At the time, most of the top characters were less gimmicky and their promos had less restrictions. Undertaker just wanted to be able to compete on a level playing field.
“I made the real big change when I went to the American Badass (character) because I felt like I needed to let (the original character) rest for a little bit,” Calaway said. “I think I would have really struggled in the Attitude Era doing the old school Undertaker. The shackles were off and it was everything goes (at the time) and it would have been tough for me to compete, promo-wise, with backstage interviews and everything else that everybody was doing, guys like Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, Kurt Angle. It would have been really difficult for me to be true to the character.”
He adds that when he went back to the Phenom gimmick he added pieces of the American Badass gimmick to change things up.
“It was almost new again when I brought it back,” Calaway said. “I kept some of the elements from the American Badass, I had the original Undertaker elements there and then this hybrid version that we ended up with.”
You can read the full interview by clicking here.
(credit: TorontoSun.com)