What’s the story?
Appearing on Fightful.com’s podcast, ‘The List and Ya Boy’, former WWE creative writer JJ Dillion opened up on a whole host of his experiences working for the WWE and with Vince McMahon. Of foremost importance, however, was his anecdote about how Vince McMahon initially wanted the Undertaker to have a ‘Viking’ gimmick.
In case you didn’t know...
JJ Dillion is a legendary manager from the NWA days, also heralded as the brains behind the iconic stable, Four Horsemen. He worked with the WWE in an official capacity from 1989 to 1997, which is likely when he came across the Undertaker as he was starting up.
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The heart of the matter
Impressed with his size, stature and ‘it’ factor, Vince McMahon had initially considered giving Undertaker a Viking gimmick. Dillion also states that it’s pretty hard to exactly define what the ‘it’ factor means and that it was likely an insider reference for charisma.
“[Undertaker] is an impressive guy, he had the size. In the business, they call the ‘it factor,’ and if you’re on the business on the executive side, it’s hard to find the words to describe ‘it,’ I can’t explain it, but he has ‘it’ and I guess another word for it is natural charisma and [Undertaker] had it. Vince’s first reaction was ‘maybe he could be a Viking with the helmet and the horns”
What’s next?
Having lost to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33, the Undertaker all but signified the end of his in-ring career by leaving his ring gear in the middle of the ring before he made his way up the ramp.
However, since there has been no official confirmation from the WWE, fans may still be hopeful that the Undertaker may turn up again at some point.
Author’s take
It is a classic ‘What If’ scenario to speculate about how the Undertaker’s run in the WWE would have panned out had he been assigned the Viking gimmick instead of the mortician that he’s made legendary.
However, knowing how adept the Undertaker is at in-ring psychology, it isn’t too far-fetched to assume that he would have totally done justice to whatever persona he enacted in the WWE.
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