The Undertaker is a WWE Hall of Famer who led the locker room for decades. While he led the troops for Vince McMahon backstage, he also saw many instances of tomfoolery along the way.

The Undertaker Speaks on Backstage Pranks in WWE

WWE Superstars spend their lives on the road, and sometimes they get bored. This was especially true during The Undertaker’s heyday, because WWE’s schedule was far more grueling. To pass the time, Superstars would often prank each other backstage.

The Undertaker is famously afraid of cucumbers. Owen Hart took advantage of this fact on several occasions, as he pranked the Deadman with the common vegetable. Through it all, things never got too intense as Taker remembers it. He did remember how The Rockers would tamper with other wrestlers’ belongings while they were busy in the ring.

During his Six Feet Under podcast, The Undertaker was asked what was the most juvenile prank he ever saw backstage in WWE.

“When I first started with WWE, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty. They were a couple little turds. That’s what they were. They were just bad. I would go out and have a match. Back then, we’d have somebody there that would bring our ring gear back. Every time I’d come back from a match, there would be my hat sitting on a case somewhere, and it would be poked. The top of it would be poked in. It’d be like sugar poured all over the top of it, flowers put in it. Just silly things that they would do to my hat. I didn’t know who was doing it. One thing with a rib when you’re in the wrestling business is, you don’t sell it. You don’t sell the rib. You don’t let anybody know that the rib’s getting to you. Because if it’s bothering you, it’s only gonna get worse. So I’m just playing it cool and I kind of set it up like a trap one day. I had my hat sitting out on the case. My coat was lying next to it and I’m kind of hiding.”

“This is kinda juvenile in its own right. I’m kind of hiding behind the curtain backstage, watching. I set a trap [and] here comes Shawn Michaels, just be-bopping down the hallway, and he stops. He walked in, he sees my hat and he stops. I remember him looking both ways like ‘Is there anybody around?’ I remember him pushing my hat, the top of my hat, caving my hat in, and I caught him right away. I was like, ‘You son of a bitch.’ And he about pissed himself like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ That was some of the more juvenile. I’ve been fairly lucky.”

“There’s only been a few guys that would rib me. Paul Bearer would rib me and Brian Adams would rib me. Those are the only two. Yeah, those are the only two guys or whatever. I mean Vince. Yeah, he went out of his way to rib me. He would spend thousands and thousands of dollars just to rib me and get a kick out of it. But as far as the talent, though, the only two guys that would rib me were Paul Bearer and Bryan Adams.”

The Deadman was also asked if he ever saw a prank go too far. That is when the former judge of Wrestlers Court was candid in his response. There were what he called “close calls,” and cucumbers were involved. In the end, those ribs were relatively harmless.

“There were a couple of close calls with cucumbers, that got a little bit too close to consumption, which would have been really bad. But most of them were pretty harmless.”

History of Practical Jokes in Pro Wrestling

Another notable instance of a famous backstage rib went down during a European tour in 1993 when Owen Hart switched his brother Bret Hart’s wrestling gear with a smaller-sized version, so the Hitman had to go out alone. Owen Hart also put sliced cucumbers in The Undertaker’s boots, which caused quite a reaction from the Deadman.

Mr. Fuji, who was a legendary prankster backstage, was known for mischievous ribs. He did things like filling babyface wrestlers’ water bottles with salt. Bobby Heenan was also legendary for his outlandish ribs, one that would entertain Superstars for hours on the road.

The infamous “Plane Ride from Hell” in 2002 saw various disruptive ribs, including Ric Flair’s naked antics, which did not age well at all. A wrestling match also broke out between Brock Lesnar and Mr. Perfect, who also allegedly dosed wrestlers with halcion tablets for giggles at times as well. 

Today, WWE 2K16 got some new downloadable content (or DLC), the Legends pack, which adds six of WWE’s greatest legends (almost all of whom are Hall of Famers) to the game: The Big Boss Man, Trish Stratus, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Lita, and Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig). The DLC pack is $8.99 on its own but is also available as part of the $24.99 Season Pass that covers all of the game’s DLC.

Also, the Terminator DLC, featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger as his most iconic character, is now available as a standalone item for $4.99. Previously available only as a pre-order code with early copies of the game, it features Arnold as the T-800 character with looks inspired by tge first two Terminator films.

Here’s 2K’s whole press release:

2K today announced WWE 2K16’s next downloadable content offering, the Legends Pack, is available now for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, as well as Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system, and Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft for a suggested price of $8.99. TheLegends Pack features a diverse roster of playable talent, including WWE Hall of Famers Dusty Rhodes, Lita, Mr. Perfect, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Trish Stratus, as well as WWE Legend Big Boss Man.

Also available for standalone purchase today is blockbuster action film star and WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger, playable as two characters – T-800 from The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day films – for a suggested price of $4.99.

The Legends Pack is also included in the WWE 2K16 Season Pass. For a suggested price of $24.99, a savings of more than 20 percent versus individual content purchases, players will receive the following items as they become available:

• Accelerator
  • Players will gain instant access to all unlockable content available in the game (excluding downloadable content);
• New Moves Pack
  • Featuring more than 30 new moves, including the Corner Enzuigiri (made popular by WWE Diva Nikki Bella), Avalanche Ram (made popular by WWE Diva Paige), Sidewinder Suplex (made popular by WWE Superstar Kevin Owens), Standing Crossface Chickenwing (made popular by WWE Superstar Stardust) and Dragon Sleeper (made popular by NXT Superstar Finn Bálor);
• 2015 Hall of Fame Showcase
  • Playable matches include:
    • “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts;
    • Rikishi vs. The Rock;
    • Alundra Blayze vs. Paige;
    • Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes
    • Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair;
    • The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke  Williams) vs. The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake);
    • The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray);
• Future Stars Pack                                                                                             
  • Playable NXT Superstars: Samoa Joe, Diego, Fernando, Blake and Murphy

Additional downloadable content available now for WWE 2K16 includes the following:

• MyPlayer KickStart (PS4™ system and Xbox One Exclusive)
  • Players will gain instant access to boost created Superstar ratings and attributes in the game’s MyCareer mode

Developed collaboratively by Yuke’s and Visual Concepts, a 2K studio, WWE 2K16 is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and is available now for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One and Xbox 360.

WWE Hall Of Famer Scott Hall recently spoke with the folks at Title Match Wrestling about why he didn’t receive as many world title shots as others did, as well as the back-story behind an incident involving Ultimate Warrior during his WWE run.

“I was doing whatever was asked of me,” said Hall of not being put in many world title matches. “I looked at it as being a team player, whatever the team needed me to do on pay-per-view. Whether it was being on first or being on last.

Hall was also asked about some major reshuffling that took place prior to WWE Survivor Series 1992, as significant roster changes prevented the originally scheduled line-up from taking place.

“It was supposed to be Flair and I against Warrior and Savage. Warrior had a history of holding Vince up for money before pay-per-views to get his guarantees, and Vince called his bluff. They had to substitute for Warrior, so they brought Mr. Perfect in,” Hall said.

“I was told prior to the match I was going to break Randy’s leg and retire him. But when you have a substitute, you have to feature the substitute, so I think I got PerfectPlex’d and Flair got PerfectPlex’d.”

• UFC President Dana White Gets In A Little Dig At VINCE MCMAHON! What Did He Say?? Find Out!

– WWE Superstar Curtis Axel inducted his father — “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig — into the Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame at their 14th annual induction ceremony in New York this weekend. Others included at the ceremony were Rick Martel, Michael Hayes and more. Slam! Wrestling has a recap of the ceremony, which you can check out at Canoe.ca.

– In response to a fan on Twitter who commented about WWE taking NXT on the road for live tours outside of their home base in Florida, Triple H noted that they are “just getting started,” alluding to the fact that NXT will be doing more tours outside of Florida in the future.

– Following Monday’s post-Payback edition of WWE RAW, a quick five-minute “RAW Fallout” show is scheduled for the WWE Network. Additionally, fans will get to see a “First Look” special at the new WWE DVD on Jerry Lawler on the WWE Network this Monday night.

• CM PUNK Says He Got MMA Advice From Batista — WILL Fight This Year

With all the things you can criticize WWE for these days, the company should be commended on doing an excellent job in elevating their secondary championships.

If you flashback to around this time last year, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was virtually ‘on ice,’ only being defended on major pay-per-view events due to the champion at the time — Brock Lesnar — working under a special, limited-date contract.

Now, at the time, you could make sense of it, and even Vince McMahon himself did when asked about the topic during his interview on the short-lived “Steve Austin Show” live WWE Network podcast, as he pointed to the fact that having Lesnar defend the biggest title in the company on an infrequent basis made World Title matches feel that much more important.

Fast forward to the present day, and when it comes to championships in WWE — all systems are “go.”

First and foremost, we finally have a fighting WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Sure, the storyline surrounding Seth Rollins, the current world champion, is that he chickens away from ‘the big fight.’ At the end of the day, however, the bell eventually rings, the referee raises the golden belt up high, and two or more competitors end up vying for the richest prize in all of sports entertainment.

Now, move down one level to the two secondary championships. For the longest time, the WWE United States Championship and the WWE Intercontinental Championship, for all intents and purposes, were viewed as a total joke by the WWE Universe — and rightfully so.

Not anymore.

WWE came up with a great idea heading into WrestleMania 31 this year — put more significance behind their secondary titles. First, slap the U.S. title belt around John Cena’s waist. In a bit of irony, it was Cena who really launched his career off of his first U.S. title run, so in a story-telling fashion, his story comes full circle.

So, basically, WWE decided that now that they want to elevate some new blood into the top spots in the company, they decided to put one of their secondary titles — in this case the U.S. title — on arguably the biggest star in the company today.

On the flip side of the coin, when it comes to the WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE decided to put that belt on the most popular wrestler in terms of the fans — the leader of the “Yes! Movement,” Daniel Bryan.

And that brings us to Monday’s WWE Payback ‘go-home’ edition of RAW.

After being unable to defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett at the recent WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view as originally scheduled, WWE played the waiting game to find out how the latest round of the Daniel Bryan injury-bug would work out. As it turns out, whatever Bryan is going through is serious enough that WWE felt they had no choice but to have him surrender the Intercontinental Title on live television, much like they had him do shortly after he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXX last year.

The idea behind his forefitting of the title last night was where the plan regarding secondary titles in WWE remains in tact. The reason given by Bryan, delivered in a passionate way I should add, was that the WWE Universe deserves a fighting champion. A top contender who deserves the right to bust his ass day-in and day-out, city-to-city, state-to-state, country-to-country and even continent-to-continent, all for the right to try and earn what is now once again slowly being viewed as a title of importance. One of value. One worth fighting to obtain.

Where WWE goes next with the Intercontinental Championship in particular remains to be seen in terms of how far they are willing to go to try and elevate the perceived importance of the title.

Basically put, the company can go one of two ways, as I see it. You can follow the mandate that they have been following since this year’s WrestleMania, which is find the most over performer with the fans, give him the I-C title, and try and get the belt over that way, so that in the future, the belt can make the man, as opposed to the current formula, where the man makes the belt.

Their second option is to try and do the opposite. Put the title on an up-and-comer who has the goods to deliver, but just needs something to put him over the edge so he is viewed as a bigger deal than he already is. Names like Neville and Sami Zayn come to mind.

Zayn, depending on his injury, would make a great impact on the main roster by giving U.S. Champion John Cena all he could handle — with an injury no-less, in his first high-profile match on RAW since having his run as NXT Champion in WWE’s developmental system, and then go on to win the next high-profile match he is in and become the brand new WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Keep reading on Page 2 …

– WWE broadcast member Renee Young noted on social media that one of her upcoming guests on her “Unfiltered” show on the WWE Network will be “King” Bad News Barrett. As noted, Young’s guest on Monday’s edition of the WWE Network show will be Wiz Khalifa.

– Saturday was officially “Jerry Lawler Day” in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. This year’s Saturday, which fell on May 9th, is the same date that Lawler won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship with Curt Hennig, who would later go on to fame in WWE under the “Mr. Perfect” gimmick.

– WWE Hall Of Famers Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart are featured in a new Baltimore Sun video at an airport. In the video, it is revealed that Hogan can’t sign autographs because the cameras that follow him stress him out. Check out the clip above or at Newsinc.com.

• Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV Buys Revealed + How Much Did They Get Paid?

– For the eighth time, WWE Hall Of Famer Bob Backlund’s official autobiography has been delayed. The new release date for the project is now Tuesday, August 4th.

– As reported recently, Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Hall and Jake Roberts were in attendance at the Slamdance Film Festival for the premiere of the new “Resurrection of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts” documentary. Below is additional footage of the trio at the film festival.

– The latest edition of WWE’s “Fantasy Match-Up” online series, which you can check out below, features a look at a fantasy match between Dolph Ziggler and Mr. Perfect.

• VERY Detailed Update On Reason BROCK LESNAR Walked Out On WWE On Monday!

When I was a kid, I had a trampoline. My friends and I were all huge pro wrestling fans and long before the explosion of “backyard trampoline wrestling federations,” we would watch the matches together, go out on the trampoline and try and reenact what we saw on television.

Of course if you’re this enthused about professional wrestling as a youngster, you’re going to take your trampoline matches seriously and treat them as if they were part of a legitimate organization — for kids. Were we looking to become millionaires or television stars? Of course not. Did we fantasize and treat it like we were right in the middle of a WWE ring on a WWE Superstars or Saturday Night’s Main Event broadcast?

We sure did.

So the next logical step, seeing is how we were taking this so seriously was to purchase replica WWE Championship belts so that when we won “the big matches,” we could crown ourselves the champion.

What was the first replica belt we bought? Well, obviously it was the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, right?

Wrong.

This was during the early-1990s and mid-1990s, when if you were a kid, the best wrestlers and your favorite wrestlers were generally the guys who held the WWE Intercontinental Championship. We thought the belt itself looked cooler than the “Eagle” championship that the main champions wore and we — even as kids — recognized that guys like Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect and Shawn Michaels were much better wrestlers than Diesel or Yokozuna.

Fast-forward to today.

I can’t recall a time when the secondary titles in WWE have meant less. If you’re an Intercontinental Champion or United States Champion in WWE these days, you basically aren’t a champion at all. I can’t even count how many times a pay-per-view would come and go without an I-C or U.S. title match even taking place on the card. If they were on the card, they certainly didn’t come off as anything important or relevant.

With Brock Lesnar as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and with the main title in WWE being unified, meaning there’s only one “main” champion these days, and due to the fact that Lesnar has such a limited schedule in WWE, why doesn’t WWE take this opportunity to try and make their secondary titles mean more?

WWE Superstars need to cut promos and make the I-C and U.S. titles seem like a goal that is really worth achieving. They need to act like those titles are the be-all, end-all, if for no other reason than the fact that they are the only consistently active titles in the company right now.

There has been a lot of talk about unifying the I-C and U.S. titles and while I have always been in favor of that idea, I’m not so sure if that should be happening anytime soon. While unifying the I-C and U.S. titles would, in theory, make the one secondary title seem stronger, it would also take away even more from WWE live events having title matches.

Right now, the I-C and U.S. titles are the only men’s singles championships that are on the line at non-televised events. For that matter, they’re the only titles that are defended on television. Hell, they’re the only two men’s singles titles that are defended on pay-per-views more often than not.

WWE needs to raise the value of their secondary championships and make those I-C and U.S. titles mean as much as humanly possible. The good part is, when Lesnar does eventually drop the title and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship becomes active again, the I-C and U.S. titles, if they play their cards right, will at that point mean more and all of a sudden you have three titles of value, something WWE hasn’t had in years.

Basically, it won’t seem odd for a big-name Superstar to explain how important it is to win the I-C title at that point, whereas if Roman Reigns or John Cena said in a promo today, “I won’t sleep until I get the WWE United States Championship around my waist!” you would probably look at them like they have four heads. Although with Cena’s current program against U.S. Champion Rusev, we might actually hear a version of that, if WWE decides to make the title an important part of their feud, which of course is doubtful.

Regardless, WWE needs to work on getting these secondary championships to regain the luster that they had when I was a little kid jumping on a trampoline and pretending like my dreams just came true because I won a match and got to hold the — PRESTIGIOUS — WWE Intercontinental Championship high over my head.

What are your thoughts on WWE’s secondary singles titles? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also follow me on social media for continued news and views at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.

– In the following video from Diamond Dallas Page’s official YouTube channel, WWE Hall Of Famer Scott Hall pays tribute to fellow WWE Hall Of Famer “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig.

– Former WWE Superstar CM Punk recently filmed some footage for Nerdist.com in Aquora Hills, California. Below is a photo from the shoot.

Shooting some fun stuff with @CMPunk for @NerdistDotCom! pic.twitter.com/6k52SIwwEz

— Jack (@jackofalltweetz) November 19, 2014

EMINEM Raps About RONDA ROUSEY In New Song (VERY FUNNY RHYMES)

The following are highlights of a new City Pages interview with Curtis Axel:

On the state of Minnesota producing many quality pro wrestlers: “If you look at the guys who have come out of our state — my dad, Rick Rude, the Road Warriors, and the whole AWA, really — we produce tough guys. We’ve got a good stock in Minnesota.”

On being a third-generation wrestler: “It’s always tough to live up to having a famous father and grandfather, but I’m not trying to be the next Mr. Perfect or Larry the Ax; I’m trying to be the first Joe Hennig. With a lot of third generation guys, their fathers are still around to give them advice. Unfortunately, my dad isn’t around anymore. I wish he was, and I still get good advice from my grandfather, but I think the fact that my dad isn’t around drives me even more to get out there and do it for myself.”

Check out the complete interview at CityPages.com.

– Hulk Hogan teased during a recent WWE App interview that he may be appearing on Legends House soon. Whether or not he was referring to the current season, which was filmed back in 2012, or a potential future taping of the series, is anyone’s guess.

– The official WWE website recently ran another ranking article, this time looking at the 25 greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions in history. The top ten of the list reads as follows:

10. Tito Santana
9. Randy Orton
8. Pedro Morales
7. Bret Hart
6. Razor Ramon
5. The Honky Tonk Man
4. Mr. Perfect
3. The Ultimate Warrior
2. Chris Jericho
1. Randy Savage

You can check out the complete list at WWE.com.

– Today marks 11 years since the death of WWE Hall of Famer Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig.

– WWEShop.com is selling new t-shirts for Big E Langston and Natalya. The new Shawn Michaels “Mr. WrestleMania” DVD/Blu-Ray will also be released tomorrow.

– Carl DeMarco, the former President of WWE Canada, is developing a Canadian TV show called El Tabador, based on the mascot of a Canadian mobile company, Koodo. Canadian newspapers reported last week that several wrestlers will be appearing on the animated show including WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart. For more information, visit ElTabador.com.

The following are highlights from the latest online blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:

On Kurt Angle returning to WWE: “Speaking of another Pittsburgher, been reading a great deal about Kurt Angle’s thoughts on returning to WWE to end his pro wrestling career. I don’t know what’s accurate or not but personally it would be fun to see Kurt finish where he started as it’s obvious that the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist should seriously be thinking of hanging up his boots and looking at other avenues within the business of which he can contribute. There are many for the record.”

“I’d surmise that for Kurt to return to in ring competition in WWE that he would have to pass an extensive physical as that particular landscape has changed drastically, and for the better, since Angle last appeared in WWE.”

On Chris Benoit footage airing on the WWE Network: “Glad to see that the much anticipated WWE Network will air some Chris Benoit matches accompanied with the proper ‘warning.’ What Chris did in the last days of his life are unpardonable but no one has ever said that Benoit wasn’t a great in ring technician. Should Chris be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? Absolutely, not. However seeing some of his matches on the new, WWE Network feels fitting even thought there will be some who will raise hell over it just because they can somehow justify it via their keyboards.”

On Mr. Perfect: “Curt Hennig aka Mr. Perfect passed away 11 years ago tomorrow Feb 10. Arguably as naturally talented in all phases of the pro wrestling game as anyone I’ve ever been around. We went into the 2007 Hall of Fame class together at WM23 in Detroit. One of the funniest guys ever and a fabulous in ring performer. One could tell that the influence of so many of the great talents in the AWA had a positively profound influence on Curt. That would apply especially to Bobby Heenan and Nick Bockwinkel, among others.”

Check out the complete blog online at JRsBarBQ.com.

The following are interview highlights with wrestling legend “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan:

On which current WWE Superstars he feels has the ‘It Factor’ right now: “I think everybody likes Dolph Ziggler, you know I seen him back in the Spirit Squad days. You see that kid, he’s got the blonde hair and a lot of white teeth, good body, good-looking young guy. He’s the kind of guy, a marquee player that WWE looks for, like John Cena, Hulk Hogan, somebody of that nature. I think Ziggler fits that bill. Kind of an unknown hero is McGuillicutty (Curtis Axel). I think Curt’s boy, third generation wrestler, he’s got a lot to show.

On second and third generation WWE Superstars: “I think guys that grow up in the business are just a little more polished than guys like myself who came into wrestling blind. I had no idea what to expect. I think, like Jake the Snake Roberts, Ted Dibiase, your second generation wrestlers, we see even more in Cody Rhodes and Ted Junior, that they grew up in the business and have a better understanding of the show.”

On the upcoming Mid-South DVD and the territory days: “Mid-South was a great wrestling territory, as you know many of the WWF stars came out of Mid-South. It was a great training area, not only did you learn how to do your work in the ring, but you learned how to do your interviews.”

“A lot more guys were making a living wrestling and it was a great time in the business. Of course, the WWE, WWF days was better for a few unique guys but for overall wrestlers, it was good in the territory days.”

Check out the complete interview online at ChaddukesWrestlingShow.com.

WWE SummerSlam 2013 Results