The Born Identity: Ten wrestlers who drastically switched gimmicks.

#9. Mark Calaway/Undertaker

Undertaker didn't rise from the grave until later in Calaway's career.

Someone with the Undertaker's size and athletic ability should be an overnight success story in wrestling, right?

Wrong! The man who would become the Undertaker suffered through several terrible gimmicks before becoming the iconic Dead Man.

Originally he wrestled under a mask as Texas Red--a man who wore all black most of the time, and covered his red hair with a mask. Then he became the Master of Pain, a former convict who had killed men in a fight.

Once he signed with WCW, the decision was made to just bill him as Mark Calaway, but then the creative team changed his last name to Callous. Mean Mark Callous didn't last long in WCW, but turned a lot of heads while he was there.

Famously, when Calaway was signed by the WWE, Vince McMahon himself called the future Dead Man at home to offer him the job. Vince asked "Hello, is this the Undertaker?"

Calaway recognized the voice and said, "Hell yeah, I'm the Undertaker!"

The rest is wrestling history.