Athletes - Mark Calaway

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	Athletes - Mark Calaway

Mark William Calaway (also spelled incorrectly as either Callaway or Calloway) (born March 24, 1965 in Houston, Texas) is an American professional wrestler, currently performing for the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment. He is better known by his ring name, The Undertaker. As the Undertaker, Calaway has experienced considerable success. In addition to multiple title reigns, he is undefeated at the flagship WWE pay-per-view, WrestleMania, having won all of his thirteen matches. He is also one of the few wrestlers to have been consistently pushed throughout his career. Calaway is generally seen as a company loyalist and prominent "ambassador" for WWE. He is one of the company's longest-serving employees, having wrestled for WWE for over fifteen years.

Early career

Before becoming a wrestler, Calaway had intended to become a professional basketball player. He began his wrestling career in 1984 by training and wrestling at the Dallas Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas, with Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Calaway would later go on to wrestle in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), winning the USWA Heavyweight and USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship before signing with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in late 1989. During the mid to late 1980s, he used several ring names: The Commando, The Punisher, Texas Red, The Master of Pain, and Punisher Dice Morgan.

Mark Calaway's professional wrestling career began with a short stint from late 1989 until late 1990 in the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions. The NWA became World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during Calaway's time with them. While there, he was known as "Mean" Mark Callous and wrestled as part of the Skyscrapers tag team along with "Dangerous" Dan Spivey and later as a singles wrestler. His most famous match in WCW was against Lex Luger for the NWA United States Title (Mid-Atlantic version) at the 1990 Great American Bash, which he lost. At the end of 1990, WCW declined to renew Calaway's contract and he signed with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

Calaway debuted in the then-World Wrestling Federation on November 22, 1990 at Survivor Series 1990 as The Undertaker. For a short period during late 1990 and early 1991, he appeared on WWF programming as Kane, The Undertaker. The name Kane was dropped soon afterward, but was later recycled as the name of Calaway's "brother". The appearance of Undertaker was modelled on that of a mortician from old Western movies, with the character being supposedly impervious to pain and possessing supernatural powers such as teleportation and manipulation of flames and lightning. It was also at this time that Undertaker switched managers from Brother Love to Paul Bearer.

The Phenom

Throughout 1991, Undertaker's popularity began to grow, despite being a heel. After an "undefeated" year and high-profile feuds with Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, he defeated Hogan at Survivor Series 1991 with assistance from Ric Flair to win his first WWF Championship. He would lose the title a week later to Hogan at This Tuesday In Texas.

Between December 1991 and September 1993, Undertaker did not lose a single match. It was the longest undefeated streak of the 1990s.

Early in 1992, he fell out with his ally Jake "The Snake" Roberts, thus turning face. He feuded extensively with wrestlers managed by Harvey Whippleman, most notably Kamala and Giant Gonzales.

In January 1994 he challenged then WWF Champion Yokozuna and met him in two of the best known Casket Matches in WWF history at the 1994 Royal Rumble and Survivor Series 1994. At the Royal Rumble in 1994, thanks to interference by over a dozen heel wrestlers, Yokozuna sealed Undertaker in the casket. The Undertaker's "spirit" appeared from inside the casket and warned he would return, then rose from behind the TitanTron. This began Undertaker's first hiatus. In reality, he had a back injury that was getting worse and needed time off.

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