The Undertaker shakes after the catastrophic pyro incident – ​​TJR Wrestling

A lot can go wrong in a wrestling ring. But as The Undertaker discovered in an infamous WWE incident, a lot can go wrong before you even step through the ropes.

At Elimination Chamber 2010, The Undertaker entered the demonic structure as World Heavyweight Champion in hopes of forging his own path to WrestleMania 26. However, The Deadman’s final title shot of his career ended when Shawn Michaels interfered in the bout to goad The Undertaker into facing him one more time on the grandest stage of them all.

But before the Undertaker even set foot in the Elimination Chamber, a lot had already gone wrong. During his entrance, the WWE Hall of Famer was set ablaze by his pyrotechnics, leaving his body badly burned.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast, the Undertaker gave his full perspective on what happened, beginning with the revelation that he had already asked for some of his pyrotechnics to be moved further away before the frightening incident:

Yes, that was pretty hairy and could have potentially been a lot worse than it actually was. A lot of things happened that night just by accident. Backstory: Two weeks before, I had Kevin Dunn and the pyrotechnician on stage. I said these pyro balls as I stopped at the edge of the stage just before I walked onto the ramp. I said these two powerful explosions here are too close, I’m getting very hot. I said I want my act to be as scary and cool as possible. But I said these need to be toned down a little bit.

The guy says, “No, I think it was just a draft in the building.” I said, “I don’t care if there’s a draft in the building. I’m telling you, those pyro explosions are too hot, they’re too close.” Kevin Dunn said you have to support them.

However, as The Undertaker found out, that didn’t happen. However, he explained that the situation could have been much worse if he hadn’t made two last-minute decisions:

Okay, so now we’re two weeks ahead. It’s Elimination Chamber, it’s in St. Louis, and I’m the champion. We’re going to switch belts because now we’re going to be Shawn (Michaels) and I. So originally I was wearing one of my Hellraiser jackets. I had this coat on, well when I wear this coat and when you wear the belt, you can’t see it because it’s all tied up. And I said, okay, this is my last night as champion, I want people to see the belt. I don’t want to wear the belt, I don’t want to drag the belt behind me, I want to wear the belt. This could be the last time I have it.

So at the last minute I swapped my Hellraiser coat for a duster coat and a hat so you could see the title when I went down. That was the first thing I did right. So I was the last one to go into the pod and I was going to be the last one to come out. So I thought, OK, my hair is going to dry out and when it dries out I won’t be able to see anything.

So I take a few more bottles than usual and I pour water all over myself so that my hair stays wet and when my music comes on I’m completely soaked. I mean, it just pours off me. That was crucial.

The Undertaker went on the hunt for the Pyro Handler

But disaster struck anyway. The Undertaker explained what was going through his mind as he was engulfed in flames and why he was determined to finish the fight despite blistering his chest:

I come out and enter the building. I stand in my usual spot, head down, waiting for the elevator. The pyroball on the left comes up and comes right up on my left side. I mean, it’s like he moved it in and it’s so hot. I’m not going to sell anything as long as I can until I can’t take it anymore. So I turn to the right to get out of the fireball and then this one goes off. Now I’m in the middle of it.

So I was completely enveloped in this propane pyro ball. And I knew that the only way I could be safe was to walk straight, because I would have to walk off the stage and then I would be on fire and take a bad fall.

So I run out of the fireball and of course everyone is freaking out and trying to cover me. So I come out of this pyroball and I see my hat and my right sleeve are on fire. If I hadn’t changed jackets, that arm would have been completely ruined. Without all the water I had on me, my eyebrows were all singed, my face was burned, and then I had a big burn right around my undershirt. So I’m in the pod and I know I’m OK, but now I smell like burnt flesh and burnt hair.

I look down and see the skin on my chest blistering, blistering, and I’m getting more and more angry. They’ve got some ring crew guys down there. Back then, the bottom of the pods had bars on them. So they’re handing me bottles of water from down there and I take the water and pour it on myself. I still have to keep going. They ask me if I want to stop? If I want to get out? I just said, no man, we got some work to do, I’ve got to get this belt to Jericho.

So, everyone is working, working, working. Finally, I’m the last one to go and then I have to go on with Jericho for another 20 minutes and this idiot throws me into the Walls of Jericho. My burned chest is on the mat and I’m thinking, you can’t be serious!

Finally, Shawn comes through the ring, superkicks me, and then I leave. I had already told him if that guy is backstage, when I come back, I’m going to kill him, and I meant it. So I was out there, when I came out, it was all over, man. I went through Gorilla backstage, it was like a ghost town. There was no one anywhere. And everyone’s kind of after me, chasing me, because they want to tend to my wounds and everything, but I was like, man, if there’s any chance that guy is here, he’s dead, because I was pissed.

But yeah, I had severe burns on my chest and had to go to the burn center the next day and went into mild shock later that night. When I tried to shower and clean myself up, I came out of the shower and was just shaking. So yeah, that was pretty scary, that could have been avoided.

The Undertaker also admitted that he was in danger of becoming a parody at the end of his WWE career, reflecting on how hard it was for him to retire from the ring.

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