246: The Undertaker's Origins & Oddities From The Vault

246: The Undertaker's Origins & Oddities From The Vault

From Talking Taker by Alex Doriot

February 1, 2026 · 1h 55m · Episode 290

About this episode

The episode explores rare Undertaker footage and discusses his early matches and character evolution.

We're finally uncovering some rare Undertaker footage from the WWE Vault on an all new Talking Taker! Join wrestling superfans Alex Doriot and Travis White on their encyclopedic exploration digging up The Dead Man as they dive into some "Origins and Oddities" featuring "The Man Who Walks With Angels". Up first are the "Origins" - some of the earliest squash matches of the Grim Reaper that we've never discussed before including his first ever singles match and his first ever use of a bodybag! Then we look at some "Oddities" - some rarely seen untelevised live event matches against the likes of Stone Cold, Mankind, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, The Rock, Kane, X-Pac, and more! We've got so much to discuss including the evolution of Undertaker's character, the lost art of the house show match, the impeccable comedy timing of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, Paul Bearer's hilarious antics, an absolute banger between Mankind and Taker, Diesel and The Dead Man hanging out backstage, X-Pac and The Rock being over like crazy, and an on-the-scene report from one of these matches from 1996 from our pal Tommy On The Spot! Plus we've got our monthly Undertaker sightings, Alex opens a birthday…

People in this episode

Hosts: Alex Doriot, Travis White

Topics covered

  • Undertaker
  • WWE
  • wrestling history
  • character evolution
  • live events

Keywords

  • Origins
  • Oddities
  • squash matches
  • bodybag
  • house show match

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Talking Taker, WWE Vault Channel

Books & works: The Dead Man, Origins and Oddities, The Man Who Walks With Angels, Origins, Reconstruction, Royal Rumbles

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