The Undertaker is truly the most iconic gimmick in WWE history, and there’s hardly any doubt about it. Taker’s creativity as a character combined with his exceptional skills as a wrestler made him an unstoppable force in the industry. All these aspects helped him dominate the company for decades and achieve a lot of great accolades in his career.
It’s true that The Deadman remained a prominent figure with high-profile storylines for the most part of his career, but he also had some really forgettable experiences. Sharing one of them during his recent appearance on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast, The Phenom talked about his scariest botch in the organization.
The incident he talked about was when Taker fought through second-degree burns at February 21, 2010’s Elimination Chamber. When asked, “How scary was it when you caught on fire on your way to the ring?” The Undertaker gave an honest answer and shared the entire experience he had during his entrance that night.
At first, The Deadman said, “Yeah, that was pretty hairy.” He then shared what exactly happened and stated, “I come out, I make my entrance, I stop at my normal stop. You know, my head’s down. The pyro ball on the left comes up, and it comes right up my left side.” Alongside this, the legendary in-ring performer revealed that he always used to try his best to no-sell such things, but at that event, it was too much that he wasn’t able to do so.
The Phenom had already warned the crew about the safety of that pyro
The incident was a result of a severe mistake by a WWE employee, but The Phenom had already warned the crew about the safety of that pyro. Sharing this during his latest interview, Taker said, “Backstory two weeks prior, I’m out on the stage and I’m saying, “Look, these Pyro balls, when I stop at the edge of the stage, right before I hit the ramp, I said, these two pyro bursts right here are too close.”
But the guy goes, “Nah, I think there’s just a draft in the building,” The Deadman shared. This shows that the veteran had it in his mind that this thing could turn out to be an idea, and he even told the crew about it. But they didn’t really agree with his opinion, which eventually ended up giving a bad time to The Undertaker just before a highly important match.
The Undertaker isn’t the only WWE star who experienced a pyro botch
While Taker’s experience with pyro at Elimination Chamber 2010 wasn’t a good one, The Undertaker isn’t the only WWE star who experienced a pyro botch. In fact, there have been numerous incidents when professional wrestlers faced issues with the usage of pyro, and it ended up giving them some forgettable memories.
Not going too far from The Phenom, his kayfabe brother, Kane, also experienced a similar botch, as his pyro came off about ten seconds late of the scheduled time on an episode of RAW. Randy Orton had a bad time with Pyro, as he seemed clueless after his 2009 Royal Rumble because the pyro burst didn’t happen. The Viper pointed at the WrestlerMania sign expecting a massive burst, and it ended up making him look like a fool.
While several wrestlers have been involved in such incidents, Taker seems to have some special association with such botches. In addition to his pyro saga in 2010, The Deadman had a similar experience in July 1998, before a match. As he was making his entrance, as per the plans, the lights were supposed to go from crime scene blue to normal house lights, but mistakenly, Kane’s pyro went off, literally in the face of The Phenom.
Such scary incidents showcase how dangerous these pyros can be, but it’s also true that they add an additional layer to the entrances of in-ring performers. It’s true that these botches have given pyro’s a bad name, but it’s important to point out that nothing such has happened in WWE in recent years, and it shows that the team has probably been taking extra care of using pyro in the organization.