# The Undertaker The Undertaker is the horror-themed ring persona of retired WWE wrestler Mark William Calaway, who debuted the mortician gimmick in 1990 and racked up 21 straight WrestleMania wins known as The Streak. His 2014 loss to Brock Lesnar and 2017 farewell to Roman Reigns spawned waves of online tributes, including the viral #ThankYouTaker hashtag. ## Origin Calaway debuted in 1984 as Texas Red in World Class Championship Wrestling, then wrestled as Mean Mark Callous in WCW from 1989[3]. He arrived in the World Wrestling Federation in 1990 as the Undertaker, a western mortician in a long coat, and the gimmick stuck[3]. The in-ring origin of the meme-worthy Streak traces to every WrestleMania he worked from that debut forward, which built an unbroken win column that fans eventually tracked as its own stat[3]. The meme catalyst event came on April 6, 2014, when Brock Lesnar pinned the Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, ending The Streak at 21 and triggering the stadium's now-iconic shocked-fan reaction shots[3]. The tribute meme format emerged on April 3, 2017, the day after Roman Reigns beat him at WrestleMania 33, when Twitter spun up a Moments page collecting fan goodbyes under #ThankYouTaker[1][5]. - **Platform:** WWF television (origin) / Twitter (viral tributes) - **Creator:** Mark William Calaway (performer) - **Date:** 1990 ## Overview The Undertaker is the long-running horror gimmick performed by Mark William Calaway in the WWF/WWE, a trench coat wearing mortician whose slow walk, rolling eyes and lightning cues made him one of pro wrestling's most memeable characters[3]. Across 27 years, the character shifted through several looks, from the 1994 to 1996 Deadman, into the Lord of Darkness run during the Attitude Era, and then the biker American Badass of the Ruthless Aggression era before returning to the Deadman[3]. Online, the character is best known for two meme moments tied to The Streak, his 21 straight WrestleMania wins. The shock loss to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 produced a tidal wave of stunned reaction shots and clip edits[3]. His WrestleMania 33 exit then spawned a dedicated tribute cycle under #ThankYouTaker, with fans sharing match clips, drawings and the image of his hat and coat left in the ring[5]. Fans also meme his iconography directly, from the Urban Dictionary entries riffing on the eye roll that fans mimic during oral sex jokes[6], to the recurring note that he kept wrestling after suffering second-degree burns to the chest, which hardcore fans cite as proof of his legend status[6]. ## How to Use The #ThankYouTaker format typically pairs a career clip, fan art, or a photo of the hat, gloves and coat left in the ring with a short goodbye caption[5]. The shocked-fan reaction shot from WrestleMania 30 is often used as a standalone image macro for any moment of pure disbelief, with no wrestling context required[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is The Undertaker? The Undertaker is the horror-themed ring persona of American pro wrestler Mark William Calaway, built around a mortician gimmick he debuted in the WWF in 1990[3]. ### Where did The Undertaker come from? Calaway wrestled earlier as Texas Red and Mean Mark Callous before launching the Undertaker character in the WWF in 1990[3]. ### What does The Undertaker mean? In wrestling, it refers to Calaway's Deadman gimmick and his 21-match WrestleMania winning run known as The Streak, which ended at WrestleMania 30 in 2014[3]. ### How do you use The Undertaker? Online, fans use clips of his entrance and the shocked-crowd reaction from WrestleMania 30 as reactions, and tribute edits often ran under the #ThankYouTaker hashtag after his 2017 farewell[1][5]. ### Is The Undertaker still popular? The character is a classic WWE figure with an official Facebook page past 17 million likes, and his retirement sparked a tribute wave aggregated by a dedicated Twitter Moments page in April 2017[1][2]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/i/moments/848804795703975937]() 2. [https://www.facebook.com/undertaker/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-undertaker]() 4. [https://twitter.com/WWEMarkWCalaway?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor]() 5. [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThankYouTaker?src=hash]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Undertaker]() 7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4uts0Bp2g]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/the-undertaker Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library