Mark Calaway Continues to Show the World He Is More Than a WWE Character

For so long, Mark Calaway hid behind The Undertaker, keeping his private persona as far out of the public eye as possible.

Now, as he winds down his decades-long wrestling career, the 48-year-old wrestling legend has allowed some light to shine through the man behind the character. But he is not doing it as part of a major endorsement deal, and that is what makes seeing this side of him so enjoyable to watch.

Calaway made a third video for a church raffle of his motorcycle, but in this commercial, he makes a few light-hearted references to his alter ego.

Because the event is not a WWE-sanctioned activity, Calaway does not specifically mention his character in the latest promo for this month’s SPUR Ministries raffle. But in the video now on YouTube, the script includes puns directed at the Taker character.

Dressed in a Fedora hat and T-shirt, and sporting a light gray beard, Calaway looks nothing like Undertaker as he starts off the 45-second spot by asking for some help with “a little project that I’ve…undertaken.” He pauses before “undertaken” for emphasis.

Calaway then goes on to tell his audience that he is auctioning off his Jesse James/West Coast Choppers bike—appropriately deemed “The Ghost”—to benefit the America’s Mighty Warriors Project and SPUR Compassion Ministries.

Later, he says that “we will not…rest in peace”—another Taker favorite statement—“until we’ve done all we can to help our nation’s troops, their families and our underserved neighbors.”

He closes the spot by asking the audience to join him in “this great undertaking.”

Each time Calaway makes the pun, there is a split-second image of The Undertaker and the sound of thunder crashing.

The raffle will be held June 16 and is being operated by Lake Hills Church in Austin, Texas, where Calaway and his wife, Michelle McCool, live.

This commercial and the two previous ones are an example of Calaway breaking away from his previous practice to not appear in public out of character. While he does not speak in the first commercial, he does make a plea in the second spot to support the causes.

The Phenom

Undertaker ( Calaway ) is not alone in shedding his wrestling persona recently.

It is a pleasant surprise for Undertaker fans and for anyone else familiar with him to see Calaway being…well, human. There are no dark hoods, no urns, no dry-ice smoke anywhere to be found in the spots. Instead, we see a man who obviously cares deeply about helping out his neighbors and supporting strong causes.

His fellow “Brother of Destruction,” Kane (Glenn Jacobs), has been appearing in public without the wrestling garb to speak out against the imposition of an Internet sales tax in Tennessee. Jacobs was recently interviewed by a Tennessee TV station about him challenging that state’s lieutenant governor to a debate over the tax issue.

They also have proven that breaking their mystique in this fashion has done nothing to harm their popularity. Jacobs now is enjoying perhaps his greatest run of popularity since joining WWE almost two decades ago, while Calaway and his Undertaker remain one of the most popular performers in company history.

Calaway and Jacobs have been considered leaders in the locker room over the years. Let’s hope more wrestlers will continue to follow their lead in showing that there is more to the performer than just the gimmick.