The Undertaker Discusses The Original Name WWE Gave Him

The Undertaker is a former world champion, WrestleMania main-eventer, Hall of Famer, and an overall generational talent for WWE.

From his debut in the company until the very end of his run, Undertaker was a top star. At Survivor Series in 1991, The Undertaker secured a huge victory and defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship.

At the end of his career, Undertaker was in the main event of WrestleMania, facing AJ Styles in the infamous COVID-19-era Boneyard Match.

Imagine The Undertaker with a different name. It's nearly impossible.

The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 — IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

The Undertaker was not his original name

In a new interview on his Six Feet Under podcast, Taker spoke with longtime WWE official Bruce Pritchard. During the conversation, both men opened up about the fact that Undertaker once had a different name: Kane The Undertaker.

“They sent over the drawings of different looks for you to be this dark character, and the coolest one was what we ended up with," Pritchard said to Undertaker. (Pat Patterson) goes, ‘He looks like an old fashioned Undertaker.’ And I was like yeah that’s great, but I wanted to call you Kane, because Kane (Cain) was the first man to commit murder.”

To bridge both opinions, WWE used both names and combined them. Kane The Undertaker. Pritchard told The Undertaker that they went with that name for three weeks and then dropped it.

“And so it was going to be Kane The Undertaker, that was the deal, you couldn’t get more evil than Kane ... Three weeks later, we dropped the Kane and you were just The Undertaker. And I was like, ‘That’ll never get over.’”
Bruce Pritchard

Ironically, the name Kane ended up being given to The Undertaker's biggest rival. Kane was brought into the company as Undertaker's tortured brother who, in storyline, killed their parents. The two wrestled at WrestleMania 14 and WrestleMania 20. Both men also tagged together as The Brothers of Destruction.

The Undertaker last appeared on WWE television at the Wrestlepalooza PLE on ESPN late in the summer of 2025. On that show, Undertaker made a surprise appearance and informed Stephanie McMahon that she was being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

In the ring, The Undertaker last appeared at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia during the main event to help Cody Rhodes fight off The Bloodline. Undertaker hit a choke slam on The Rock, which allowed Rhodes to eventually get a pin on Roman Reigns to win the world championship.

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