The Undertaker ‘almost killed’ WWE Hall of Famer with first ever Tombstone as botch caused backstage confrontation
The Undertaker's phenomenal WWE career almost faltered at its very beginning when the veteran botched his first ever Tombstone.
The iconic performer, portrayed by Mark Calaway, is arguably wrestling's greatest character creation, having dominated WWE for 30 years.
Debuting in 1990 at Survivor Series and calling time on his tenure three decades later, he won multiple championships, headlined WrestleManias and left a lasting impression on fans worldwide.
The Phenom battled against the likes of The Rock, Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin during his unrivalled WWE run, although it may have all ended up being so different for the towering Texan.
Years before he was hitting the big names with tombstones and chokeslams aplenty, one unfortunate moment right at the start of his career caused a major issue with one WWE legend.
Back on his first night in the role, he was the shining star of a traditional Survivor Series elimination match, going up against likes of Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes and Koko B Ware in the encounter.
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Taker ended up cleaning house to win the match for his team but, along the way, executed what would become his trademark finishing move a little too awkwardly.
Koko B Ware was the man on the end of it and, having taken the rough landing, let the newbie know all about it backstage in a tense standoff.
Recalling the story on his podcast series, Undertaker claims he and Koko almost had to take matters outside before things settled down.
“The whole match was designed to make me look and shine," Calaway.
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“The very first Tombstone that I give is to Koko. I give him the Tombstone; one, two, three and he’s out.
“We get backstage, and Koko gets me in the hallway and is giving me the riot act, [saying]: ‘If someone gives you their body, you’ve gotta be able to protect them, you hurt my neck!’
“I said ‘Koko, if I hurt you, I am sorry, I really pride myself on being safe and taking care of the guys I’m working with.’
“He kept going, he was p*****, and it got to the point where I’d apologised all I could apologise for, and that’s when I said ‘I’ve apologised as much as I know how to do, if you’re not going to accept that, maybe we need to go out into the parking lot and figure this out.’
“Koko is a tough dude and had already confronted me, he’s already reading me the riot act, looking up at me, and that took balls in its own right.
“He was like ‘no, man, you just need to learn to be more careful!’â€
Looking back on the uneasy debut of the Tombstone after his career ended gave Undertaker a different perspective on the night.
He readily accepts now that Koko may have had a point all those years ago, adding: “After it came up I went and watched it back and I was like: ‘Oh!’
“I was always under the impression that he’d overreacted, and I went back, and I watched it and was like: ‘Holy s*** I damn near killed Koko!â€
There was, thankfully, no lasting damage to The Bird Man - who later went on to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame - or indeed the pair's relationship.
“That was it," the veteran admitted. "Me and Koko were fine, and we’ve been fine ever since, we hug when we see each other.â€
Undertaker, 59, was himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022 as WWE celebrated one of the finest careers of all time.