The Undertaker's 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Wrestling Outfits
Mark Calaway has been portraying The Undertaker for nearly 30 straight years since his debut at Survivor Series in 1990. From Western Mortician to the Boneyard, 'Taker has sported many looks and been through many different iterations of his iconic character.
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Times have changed a lot since 1990, and, though The Undertaker has adapted and updated his look over the years, he has never lost sight completely of the original concept. Sometimes his look is an intimidating hit, and sometimes it's an embarrassing miss. We run down 'Taker's five best in-ring getups, as well as his five worst.
10 Best: WrestleMania 28
After one of the most incredible entrances in 'Mania history, Undertaker squared up to Triple H before pulling the hood down on his magnificently over-the-top spiked coat. This revealed his new mohawk look and simplified ring gear, plain black vest with plain black pants with his classic logo, boots, and MMA gloves. The "End Of An Era" match that followed was an emotional rollercoaster that finished with 'Taker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels arm in arm, saluting the fans
9 Worst: The Ministry Goatee Look
In his defense, the actual in-ring gear wasn't really so bad. It was all the accessories around it that were a little bit too Halloween. Was he a bat? A vampire? A demon? Whatever he was meant to be, he certainly liked having huge shoulder decorations.
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Combine this with his pulled-back hair, two-pronged mustacheless beard, and dodgy eyeliner, and the overall effect is more kooky than spooky. This look coincided with what is probably the worst run of 'Taker's career, in part due to the ridiculous storylines written by Vince Russo for him.
8 Best: American Badass
Loved by some, hated by many, The Undertaker cast aside the supernatural and embraced his inner biker in 2000 as the American Badass. With slightly baggier pants and a loose cut-off tee, 'Taker looked far more up to date than he had at any point in his previous 10 years with WWE. The look was not just cosmetic, either, The Undertaker began speaking normally, wrestling less zombie-like, and even smiled once or twice.
7 Worst: No Way Out 2001
It's fairly easy to see why this awful bodysuit made very, very few appearances. Somewhere between The American Badass and Big Evil was this look, not quite Ministry, not quite Badass, and not very flattering at all. Thankfully, someone in WWE agreed, and we soon saw 'Taker return to proper pants.
6 Best: Phenom
After being buried by his brother Kane for becoming "too human," The Undertaker returned at Wrestlemania XX as a hybrid of classic 'Taker and biker 'Taker.
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Still sporting slightly baggier pants and plain black vest, he made his entrance with a floor-length leather duster and hat looking like a zombified cowboy. This persona became known as The Phenom, and everything he has done since has been based upon this look.
5 Worst: Classic Western Mortician
Controversial for sure, but, if you take off your rose-tinted glasses for a second and actually look at him, you will see that this is not a cool look. Black tights under black trunks, a button-up shirt with 'ragged' sleeves that have clearly been scissor-cut, and ugly gray gloves.
Add to this a pair of weird gray boot coverings and two bad hair cuts in one, a perm and a mullet, and we get one hot mess of a look. Granted, he looked pretty cool during the entrances until the overcoat and hat were removed.
4 Best: Lord Of Darkness
As if to prove that being cool can be a very fine line, this look manages to pull off what the admittedly similar Ministry of Darkness 'Taker look cannot. The Lord Of Darkness incorporated more leather to his look and used make-up sparingly but effectively. This style shows that sometimes less is more, and, by adding too much to this style, they ruined it by making it too campy in the Ministry era.
3 Worst: Purple Deadman
It would be unfair to include the earlier, gray version of this look and not this one itself. Overall, it's a bit better than its gray counterpart—purple is a cooler color—and 'Taker grew out his hair. This doesn't change the fact that he's still wearing black tights over black trunks, and the rubbish 'ragged' shirt is hardly an improvement.
2 Best: Boneyard
The American Badass bike and bandana. The Lord of Darkness leather vest. The MMA gloves of The Phenom. The dusty ripped jeans of a gunslinging cowboy. Undertaker really went all out at Wrestlemania 36's "Boneyard" match with AJ Styles, unveiling his coolest gear to date.
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The match was a cinematic pre-tape which was raved about by fans, and here's hoping they keep 'Taker in this format from now on as an annual 'Mania treat.
1 Worst: Survivor Series 2000
Some say this was a deliberate effort to make a change on his tenth anniversary as the Undertaker. Some say 'Taker lost his luggage and had to borrow some ring gear from the Godfather. Whatever the truth is, Undertaker walked out at Survivor Series 2000 wearing gold-colored snakeskin pants to face Kurt Angle for the WWF World Title. All these years later, the mystery has never been solved, and this match represents the one and only time we ever saw 'Taker wear anything but black pants.
NEXT: 5 Best Undertaker Matches As The Deadman (& 5 As The American Badass)
