#7 The Undertaker turns face for the first time
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When a Superstar warrants as much respect and love as The Undertaker, it is easy to forget that he actually debuted as a monster heel. At Survivor Series 1990, Brother Love introduced the world to arguably professional wrestling’s biggest all-time legend. He was a mountain of a man, dressed in black and grey, making a slow, methodical walk to the ring. Little did we know back then that this same walk would become a staple of WWF/E entertainment for years and years to come.
Undertaker and his manager Paul Bearer would do spooky vignettes together backstage as a way of building up their feuds. Taker stood as the exact contrast to everything WWF was about in the early 90s. They were still very much living through the days of Americana, led by the yellow and red sensation known as Hulk Hogan. Rather than encourage young fans to take their vitamins, Taker would instead instil dread and fear into them, allowing a white-meat babyface like Hogan to vanquish the scary monster on their behalf.
In 1992, in an attempt to rescue Miss Elizabeth from an attack by Jake Roberts, the viewing audience erupted in delight when they saw The Undertaker’s good side for the very first time. His gimmick was one of those that would eventually turn babyface organically. Evil or not, it’s just not easy to boo the Phenom.
His initial days as a babyface were quite awkward, despite how much fans appreciated him. Trying to join in with the other faces when they encouraged children not to take drugs or try dangerous moves at home just didn’t come across very well from a man dressed all in black, surrounded by coffins.
In fact, it wouldn’t be until the more edgy days of the New Generation and Attitude Era that Undertaker’s babyface persona would start to make sense. Taker would go on to become a heel again in the future of course, but his face turn in 1992 changed the way fans thought about him for the rest of his legendary career.
