The Undertaker battles Ultimate Warrior in early Casket Match

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The Undertaker and Paul Bearer work on a custom-made casket for a future “customer. | (Photo: WWE) WWE Vault released “one of the earliest Casket Matches in WWE history” on Tuesday. In what it described as a “grave affair,” the Ultimate Warrior faced The Undertaker. The match came about following a morbid incident during Paul Bearer’s “Funeral Parlor” shortly after WrestleMania VII, where Taker attacked Warrior and locked him inside an “airtight” casket. Officials struggled for several minutes to free Warrior. When they finally did, he was unresponsive, though it was clear he tried clawing his way out. After several rounds of CPR, Warrior finally came to. In the real world, such an act would land someone in prison. In pro wrestling, it led to Warrior battling Taker in a Casket Match. The concept seemed novel in 1991, but it wasn’t entirely new. In October 1980, Dusty Rhodes faced former WWE Champion Ivan Koloff in a Texas Death Coffin Match at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas. That match, which saw the coffin sitting inside the ring, had several stipulations despite being a no-holds-barred encounter. Rhodes ultimately won after knocking “The Russian Bear” into the box. WWE, though, simplified things, making it an anything-goes match. The only way to win was to stuff an opponent inside the casket, now placed outside the ring, and shut the lid completely. The irony of it all was that William Moody, a longtime performer and manager who played Paul Bearer, had been a real-life mortician. If anyone was suited to be the manager for a character named The Undertaker, it was Moody. The match is short, as is Taker’s entrance compared with his more theatrical arrivals in later years. The casket also looks like the one used in the “Funeral Parlor” scene. Though it’s missing the Warrior’s familiar logo, a special customization by Bearer, it has several dents, and the inner lining is torn. Fan reactions reached critical mass after Taker drilled Warrior with a Tombstone Piledriver and opened the lid. Shrieks of horror echoed through the arena as it appeared Warrior was going to meet his maker. But the Ultimate one would not go gentle into that good night. Just before the lid closed, he fought back. Unfortunately for Taker, Bearer was too close to the action. Warrior, in a flash, snatched the urn out of Bearer’s hands and walloped the Deadman with it before rolling him into the casket and sealing it shut for the win. Though he lost, Taker still looked strong. When the casket was opened, Taker, like a horror movie monster, sat up and coldly stared at Bearer’s urn. Future casket matches featuring Taker were marred by outside interference, keeping him strong in defeat as a babyface. But as a heel in 1991, this was a brilliant finish that gave fans a satisfying conclusion without “burying” wrestling’s most macabre persona.