The Undertaker Recalls His Friendship With Yokozuna, Life After The Ring, More

During a recent interview on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, The Undertaker reflected on his friendship with the late great Yokozuna and also adjusting to life after retiring from the ring.

The Undertaker on his friendship with Yokozuna:

“Yeah, Yoko and I were very close and there’s not a day I don’t think about him. That’s not always the case, there’s a lot of guys that you don’t like, that you don’t play cards with. It just happened to be that Yokozuna and I were really close and we spent a lot of time downtime playing dominoes and playing cards. That’s the origins of the famous BSK was dominoes and a group of like-minded guys that hung out together. It would be funny because if I won at cards before we went out and worked, it was gonna be a long night for me [laughs]. Yoko could impose his will when he wanted to. He might sit on that Banzai Drop a little longer if I had taken a few bucks off of him while we were playing cards. He was just a different kind of cat, and there wasn’t a whole lot you could do with him. What I tried to do to get back at him was make him run around the ring and chase me and try to make him tired. Big Rod was a man’s man, and the Samoans don’t play. I tell you what, I really miss him and the good times we shared together.”

On his off-screen personality and adjusting to retirement:

“I’m a lot lighter. I’m not nearly as dark as what you see on TV. I love cutting up. I love playing practical jokes on people. Now, there was a long period of time there where it was hard for me to shut Undertaker off. I mean, It’s kind of well-chronicled now that I lived that character, and that sometimes bled over into my personal life. But at this point, I’m rediscovering who Mark Calaway is, and a lot of the things that I sacrificed for the sake of my career and that character, I’m getting to do now, and it’s really cool. I’m finally getting to spend time with my children. and my wife – quality time, not time where I’m sitting there thinking about, ‘Okay, I’ve got this opponent coming up, and what can I do differently here?’ I guess I’m in the middle of a deep exhale. I miss being in the ring, and if my body would allow it, I would probably still be out there. But it’s nice being at home and not having to worry about what I have to do next as far being in the ring and all that. It’s nice to be able to go hunting and fishing and hang out with my kids and go to the beach and do all those things. They’re still kind of difficult. Obviously, I’ve been on TV for 30-plus years, so it’s kind of hard to blend in and hide. But I make a much, much bigger effort now to do those kinds of things while I still can.”