[1991-11-02-WWF-Superstars] Funeral Parlor: The Undertaker

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Paul Bearer shows off the casket he has prepared just for Hulk Hogan. How nice of him. Undertaker is the guest and comes out of the casket. Undertaker and Bearer have this act down to a science at this point. They did a great job getting Undertaker over as a top guy right out of the gate, and I think they've done a nice job teasing an eventual match throughout the year too.

[PeteF3]

Hogan vs. Undertaker is officially on for Survivor Series. Undertaker is going to take both Hogan's title and his soul, while Bearer will work on the remains. The lack of dialogue from the announcers once UT and Bearer get going add to this segment's effectiveness. Hogan has not had an opponent built up this well since (I hate to say it) Zeus.

[Kevin Ridge]

So now Hogan is dealing with both Flair and Undertaker. Just seems to be a early 90’s WWF staple of guys lining up multiple feuds. Undertaker will be Hogan’s gravest challenge to date. He's definitely a serious challenger to him.

[soup23]

Crazy to think about that we are in November and right now is our first mention of Hogan/Taker. Flair coming in was great in some areas but really made things scatterbrained in others. This is a good promo and the casket customization is a nice touch. Taker does his longest promo to date.

[garretta]

I'm sure Vince didn't plan it this way, but Percy actually takes away from Taker's scariness with the campy way he talks and acts. The trouble is, this gimmick absolutely needs not only a manager, but an out-of-the-ordinary manager. A Heenan or DiBiase type won't cut it; the closest thing they had at the time other than Percy was Fuji, who was totally useless by now and would be until Yokozuna came along to give his career an unexpected shot in the arm. (Could you imagine Fuji cackling, "You suffer, boy-san. Very very dead. Hulkamania is sayonara!")

 

Kudos to Calloway for taking this a thousand percent seriously; the only slight hint that the guy's human is a trace of a Texas accent which you can only hear if you listen for it. Other than that, he's completely believable as one of the undead. I can only imagine what this gimmick would have turned into in less dedicated hands.

 

Other than that, we've seen all this before, including the casket customization, which was done better for Warrior. I would have appreciated a hint of a Flair/Taker alliance given what's to come at Survivor Series, but there are still three weeks of buildup to go.

[dawho5]

Not sure why you would go from Hogan talking about flair to Undertaker talking about his match with Hogan, but that's the only thing wrong with this. Really well carried off for a guy as young as 'Taker was here.