The Undertaker is one of the most recognisable names in wrestling, but when his career began in 1990, Mark Calaway had no idea what lay ahead.
"When I first met with [WWE chairman and chief executive] Vince [McMahon] and he showed me the storyboards of what his Undertaker looked like, I did not see in the fine print 'this will last 30 years' – that's nuts," he tells The National.
As he prepares for his farewell to the WWE Universe at Survivor Series on Sunday, November 22, we chat with Calaway about how The Phenom (as he's known) came to be as well as his favourite wrestling moments.
From the basketball court to the squared circle
Calaway was born in Houston, Texas, and was active in sport from a young age. As a member of the American football and basketball teams in high school, he went to university on a basketball scholarship before deciding to drop out. While he considered playing professional basketball in Europe, he instead decided to take another path: one that led him to professional wrestling.
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Hans Jorgen Wiberg, co-founder of Be My Eyes, a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers. Courtesy: Christian Erfurt -
Be My Eyes is a service that pairs visually-impaired people with sighted volunteers via a video call, in real-time. -
Christian Erfurt, chief executive and co-founder of Be My Eyes -
Be My Eyes can help users while they're travelling. -
Sighted volunteers “lend their eyes to solve tasks, big and small,” to help blind and low-vision people lead more independent lives. Courtesy: Christian Erfurt
