Remember The Undertaker? He's A Shill For Donald Trump Now

Kayfabe is an old carnival term. It means to pretend whatever act you are doing is real. If used correctly, audience members won’t know where the show ends and reality begins. Few things make as much sense as pro-wrestlers adopting the term. For decades wrestling was both real and not real, depending on who you ask. Many of the industry’s secrets have been revealed over the years, and people are more likely to call it “staged.” Kayfabe is mostly dead, and no other person encapsulates its downfall like Mark Calaway.

Mark Calaway is predominately known as The Undertaker. The pro-wrestling superstar used that persona for over three decades. During that time, little was known about his personal life. Some details would emerge here and there, but he carefully protected his image as an undead ghoul/biker/MMA fighter and then back to ghoul. It worked! He’s one of the most popular wrestlers ever, with a gimmick that has attracted generations. Fans and wrestlers loved and respected him and still do. Then he retired and boy oh boy did we learn a lot about him!

Calaway, who is listed 16th in the Suburban Commando cast list, retired his Deadman persona with prejudice. While he has returned to the ring since (because Stone Cold Steve Austin was too expensive), gone are his elaborate costumes, deep voice, and rolled-back eyes. However, his pale skin has remained. Taker is now loudly and proudly being the silly, Texas-born redneck he’s always been. That includes complaining that wrestlers play video games instead of drinking, sporting thin blue-line shirts, and publicly endorsing Donald Trump for President!

Trump joined the former world heavyweight champ along with Knox County Tennessee mayor, Glenn Jacobs. Jacobs is best known as The Undertaker’s red-mask-wearing brother, Kane. However, being the least talented of the two, he retired sooner to become a far-right politician who hits all the s***ty racist and sexist scare tactics you would expect. The three old white men sat on a couch together and urged voters to pick Trump over Kamala Harris, Dave Bautista, and Tim Walz.

Like most of Trump’s recent campaign efforts, the video is sad, low-energy, and will probably appeal to his base and other rubes (known in the wrestling world as “marks”). It feels like an attempt to respond to Bautista’s hilarious sketch on Jimmy Kimmel, and pathetically so. Trump is slumped over between Taker and Kane like Bernie Lomax, making the whole thing feel sleepy. Still, the mere presence of these two sycophantic former superstars will likely move the needle for the worst people.

Luckily, this won’t win over anyone new and is turning off many wrestling fans. Kayfabe is dead, but the wrestling business is different in other ways as well. These are the same fans who rejected Hulk Hogan for being a union-busting racist (and supporting Donald Trump). Undertaker refers to the election as “Electionmania” and people aren’t stupid enough for those kinds of silly gimmicks anymore. This election is serious. It’s not something to be co-opted by a man who spent 30 years pretending to be a zombie.

Kayfabe is no more, and that’s a good thing. Wrestlers can be more open with who they are and what they believe in. If what they believe in happens to be a nearly 80-year-old man who can’t keep his thoughts straight and wants to send us back to the 1800s, we can throw them over the ropes like it’s the goddamn Royal Rumble.