The Undertaker made the transition in 2004 back to the ‘Deadman’ character that he portrayed for many years. From about 2001 until 2003, he was using the ‘American Bad Ass’ version of his character.
On a recent episode of his Something to Wrestle podcast, Bruce Prichard revealed the Undertaker’s reaction to going back to the ‘Deadman’ character.
Here is what he said (h/t to Wrestlezone for the quotes below):
“Mark Calaway hated the idea, absolutely hated the idea of coming back as The Deadman because he thought with the American Bad Ass character he was multi-dimensional and he wasn’t doing the head snaps and everything. He could work and go out and have a different style of match and he felt that if he came back as the Deadman that he would have to go back to the Deadman persona in the ring. We all felt, ‘Look, let’s give them that at WrestleMania (The Deadman), but then you can evolve in the ring with your work. You can work like the American Bad Ass, but you’re The Undertaker. You’re in your old garb.’ It was a battle. It was a multi-month battle to really convince him that this would work and he didn’t think that people wanted The Dead Man back, he really didn’t. He just wanted to continue on with The American Bad Ass and felt it was a step back to go to the old Undertaker.
How they convinced him to switch back:
“I could say a lot of begging, but it was a constant dialogue of, ‘We could do this,’ and he would come up with, ‘What if I’m presented with this situation? How would this Undertaker react?’ We worked through all of that and it took awhile, but we said, ‘Take this time off. Grow your hair out and if it completely sh*ts the bed and the audience is like, ‘Nah, we don’t like it,’ then we can always go back.’ He’s like, ‘Goddamn, you can’t go back.’ ‘Yes, you can. We’re gonna try it.’ Finally, he just gave in and said, ‘OK, I’ll try it. I’ll do it.’ The rest, as they say, is history.”
On a related note, check out the latest hint on the Undertaker’s status.