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The legend of The Undertaker goes well beyond his accomplishments in the ring. For decades, he was known as WWE's undisputed locker room leader, and the fear that he struck in opponents has been said to be nothing next to that of how he was behind the scenes if someone acted disrespectfully or things went wrong.
"Busted Open Radio's" Bully Ray and Mark Henry recalled The Undertaker as an effective teacher and a benevolent leader. Bully Ray spoke from experience, narrating an anecdote of missing a chair shot and splitting 'Taker's head wide open.
"I thought I was done," he said. "When I got back to the locker room, I was ready to fight The Undertaker, ready to fight him. 'Listen, I'm gonna get my ass handed to me but if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die with my boots on.'"
Instead, he walked into the locker room to apologize and The Undertaker took a far different approach than what he'd expected.
"[Undertaker] said, 'Bubba, sit down,'" Bully Ray recalled. "He said, 'Bubba, in this industry, you don't want to get a reputation of being reckless or that you can hurt people. What you did tonight was dangerous. You have to make sure you never do what you did tonight again. People won't want to work with you and if people don't want to work with you, you can't make money. And if you can't make money, you're no good to the business.'"
Bully Ray got a lesson, one that he has remembered ever since, and more importantly, tried to pass on to others over the years.
'A benevolent leader, a benevolent king'
Bully Ray said he has had up-and-comers try to "prove themselves" in the ring with him or otherwise make mistakes, but said he laughs it off, and instead of reprimanding them, he treats them the same way The Undertaker treated him. Invoking the name of Matt Cardona to illustrate his point, Bully Ray recalled a time when Matt Cardona accidentally hurt him in the ring and he leaned upon the lesson from The Undertaker.
"When Matt Cardona broke my nose in a dark match, I laughed it off, and he was terrified," Bully Ray said. "He was terrified I was gonna kick his ass. He was terrified I was gonna tell Vince. I laughed it off. I said, 'Matt, you just gotta be more careful. That's all. S*** happens.' I'll never forget the lessons that I learned from The Undertaker and how I tried to pass them along."
Mark Henry doesn't recall ever having to work his way out of The Undertaker's doghouse, despite several memorable moments together, but he took it all in from a bird's eye view and looked at The Undertaker as a gracious and positive leader.
"I'm just happy [for] the fact that it was never me," Mark Henry said. "But I watched." Even in follow-up conversations with The Undertaker, Mark Henry never recalled any badmouthing of the offending party. "He never said [anything] to me like, 'I can't believe that guy.' That's who he is, a benevolent leader, a benevolent king."
Thank you to Busted Open Radio for the transcription.
Photo Credit: WWE
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