The Undertaker Reveals What Could Have Extended His Full-Time Pro Wrestling Career

As previously noted, pro wrestling great The Undertaker recently spoke with Fellowship Church's Senior Pastor Ed Young for the first installment of Wrastlin': A Series By Ed Young. Among many other things, The Undertaker talked about his extensive injuries, the grueling WWE schedule, and how having a tour bus earlier on in his pro wrestling odyssey could have extended his career in the squared circle.

According to The Undertaker, he has sustained several injuries over his illustrious pro wrestling career including having both eye sockets crushed, approximately 20 orthopedic surgeries, both hips replaced, many torn muscles, and bone spurs.

"Let's see, both eye sockets have been crushed. Yeah, both. No, they were separate. They were years apart. I've had probably, I'm guessing I'm closing in on 20 orthopedic type of surgeries from wrestling related injuries. Both hips have had a form of hip replacement. Torn biceps, torn pecs, torn tricep, bone spurs." Undertaker joked, "I think I'm a little tougher than I am smart."

Apparently The Undertaker had a stretch in WWE of eight years where he worked over 270 days per year and would be away from home for 30 to 40 days at a time. Many of the aforementioned 270 dates were double shots.  

"When I was going full-time, there was? I know I had a stretch of I would say probably eight years where I averaged over 270 dates a year gone on the road. I'd be out sometimes 30, 40 days and that's working every night." Undertaker continued, "fortunately, I got to a point where I was like, 'look, I can't [work double shots].' I took a page out of André's book. Like, 'I can't do these double shots like that.' I mean, you're taking off, you're sore, and you're cold. But that was just the norm. That's just how it was done."

Also during the interview, The Undertaker admitted that getting a tour bus earlier on could have prolonged his pro wrestling career. 

"I learned really late." Undertaker divulged, "I started leasing a tour bus, which I wish I had done a lot sooner. I mean, it's a big expense, but I think it would've prolonged my ability to work a fuller schedule just because most people don't realize that day after day after day, you get out of an arena at 12, 12:30 at night sometimes. And you've got to put in 2, 3 [hours], 100 miles to go to the next town. So at 3 o'clock in the morning, 4 in the morning, you're pulling up to a hotel. And there were several occasions, especially near the end when I was working all the time, you'd park, and then you'd sit there, and you'd think, 'okay, let me get this leg out first' because your body is just [stiff]. There's nowhere to stop because everything is closed, so you get a convenience store meal, whatever that means. And then, you've pretty much sat in this position for four hours. And then, you have to get up, check in to your hotel, go to sleep. Now if you want to get up in the morning and workout or do whatever you have to do, then you've got to make time for that. You've got to make time to eat. You've got to get to the arena at a certain time. It's a lot more than what most people think."

Check out the interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Wrastlin': A Series By Ed Young with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Source: Wrastlin': A Series By Ed Young