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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: November 22, 1990
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: WWF Survivor Series 1990 [Stream on WWE Network.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Wrestling debuts are not always so auspicious. Organizations like WWE (which was the WWF back in 1990, before the panda bears had their way with them) tend to prefer to test out their product without a whole lot of spotlight or pressure. They’re kind of like Broadway shows that way. No one really remember’s Hulk Hogan’s first match or Ric Flair’s in-ring debut. Certainly there are some historians who do remember those events, but they haven’t passed into lore; not the way that The Undertaker’s wrestling debut has.
The WWF put a lot of eggs into one basket on the night of the Survivor Series pay-per-view event in 1990. (And that’s not even getting into the giant prop egg that would hatch that night to unveil the execrable Gobbeldygooker, the less said about which the better.) Debuting a “mystery partner” for The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s team during one of the traditional four-against-four Survivor Series tag-team matches put a big ol’ spotlight on that question mark. Who would it be? Generally, in wrestling, mystery partners turn out to be either returning superstars or big-name imports from a rival promotion. Hulk Hogan’s infamous heel turn at Bash at the Beach ’96 was the payoff for a mystery-partner angle. But debuting a completely new persona — and a completely new wrestler — on such a high-profile stage is so risky, it’s almost never done. But Vince McMahon’s WWF must’ve had some big confidence that the Undertaker’s massive size and fearsome presence would be able to sell itself. And he was right.
It’s not always the case in wrestling that stunned silence is the preferred response, but in this case, the silence that fell over the crowd upon the moment that Undertaker walked out (accompanied by Brother Love, an odd fit for a manager who would be soon replaced by the spooky Paul Bearer) was one of the true unique wrestling reactions. Fans weren’t bored or even puzzled; they were fascinated. Who is this behemoth with dead, sunken eyes, pale skin, and an old-timey Western’s idea of how an undertaker dresses? What kind of Children of the Corn of the Old West zombie movie did this guy just walk out of? Commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Rowdy Roddy Piper sold the hell out of this guy from the broadcast table, but they almost didn’t have to. He sold himself.
The Undertaker’s WWE legacy almost doesn’t need to be enumerated. His rise to power was swift and deserved.Exactly one year after his debut, at Survivor Series 1991, he was winning the WWF championship from Hulk Hogan, of all people. Decades of dominance followed, including a Wrestlemania winning streak that will likely never be equalled. And it all began in a tag-team match that prominently featured Koko B. Ware and the Honky Tonk Man.
