On the Broken Skull Sessions with Steve Austin, Taker talked about
No, definitely not. 90% of the time I’m Mark Calaway. I do your show, I try to keep a little of that look where people identify, ‘Okay, that’s Undertaker, American Badass,’ I give them a little bit of that, but obviously, you get a lot more Mark Calaway. In my interviews, ten years ago, we wouldn’t be talking like this. There’s times where like if I’m watching our product I turn kind of back into Undertaker a little bit thinking about what I would do in that situation if I was that guy, but those thoughts are kind of fleeting and I’m more Mark Calaway now I’m comfortable with at, right? I’ve never been that guy that like wants that kind of extra recognition. I mean it comes with the territory as you well know, but you get a lot more Mark Calaway these days.
I was selfish in some respect because I put myself first and through all the relationships or whatever that I was into, this was my baby. This was me, this was about me, this was for me. Now I was providing, but I signed on. Nobody was going to throw me off the track, barring injury or whatever, I was resolute in the decision that I made. Do you do in anyway feel that too?
100%. It’s really difficult to have relationships. To be at your level. To be at my level, and to still try and have personal relationships. It is what it is, but that’s your chosen path. There’s a lot of things that I regret that have happened in my personal life. I regret and I hope I get forgiveness and I’ve asked for forgiveness for the things that we’ve done, but it’s part of the sacrifice that you make to be at the level that we’ve attained and a lot of people don’t understand that and they’ll think we are selfish and you have to be selfish to a certain extent to survive and maintain at the level that you’ve been able to attainn and where I’ve been able to go. It’s a given because you have to give yourself. You have to be totally committed to it and there’s a lot of time that I’m not going to get back with my children and that’s the way it is and I hope the one day they do appreciate the life that they were provided. It doesn’t make up for the time I wasn’t there and those are some of the things I’ve asked forgiveness for, but I was blessed. I was blessed to be able to do something that I love and it made me happy and I just hope that it works out for everybody, but there is a committment that you have to make to be on top.
Were you consumed by the business when you were home, as well? Thinking about the next thing? The next storyline? ‘Hey, where am I?’ ‘Which way is the wind blowing?’ Cause I kind of never check out.
No so I’m not only living the gimmick, I’m at home thinking about ‘Okay, getting my bags.’ I get home, wash the clothes, re-pack the bag and now I’m sitting waiting to go back again cause your motor’s running too. Especially back in the day, right? You don’t have any down-time. You work in a town, you do whatever you do that night, you go to your hotel room, you sleep, you wake up the next morning, you fly to the next town and it’s boom, it’s boom, it’s boom, it’s boom, it’s boom, it’s boom and it’s normal.
So when you go home, you get those few rare days off. You don’t know what to do with yourself. You don’t know how to go and relax and sit there and put a movie on cause your mind is telling you, ‘you gotta go’ and you worry. ‘Damn, man “such and such,” man he was getting over a little bit.’ I’m just totally being honest here, right? It’s like, ‘Oh shit, he’s coming on.’ You know? ‘What am I gonna do?’ Right? And that’s great, that’s what you want. You wanted everybody to push.”
“100%,” agreed Austin.
“I think that’s something that’s kind of lost now. You were at the top of the page,” Taker said, pointing at Austin, “Everybody wanted what you had. I can’t be any more honest than that. Right? Did everybody get there? No, but damn did we try.”
“Case in point, you just said that. I mean like, ‘Here comes The Rock. Rock’s got it coming on a little bit.’ Like, ‘That dude’s coming on a little bit! No, no, kinda really comin’ on!’ So yeah, I’ve been there.
“This business is too tough. It’s too tough on you physically, mentally, emotionally. It’s too tough on your personal life just to be middle of the road. If you don’t strive to be at the top of the page, you’re wasting your time.”
