The world of professional wrestling today mourns the loss of the legendary Paul Bearer. The contributions Bearer made to the industry, namely WWE, were truly great and will never be forgotten. The thing most fans will remember Paul for is for being the long term manager of the Undertaker, and in my opinion if there was never a Paul Bearer then the Undertaker would never have reached the heights he now has.
Ever since Bearer made his début in the then WWF back in the early 90’s he very much stood out from any other manager that the wrestling world had ever seen. He was unique! The slow walking deadman (Undertaker) accompanied by this ghoulish little man was something fans were in awe of because nothing like these two had come along before, not in the way these two men did anyway. During his early years the Undertaker said very little in his interviews/segments and that’s where Paul took over with his creepy one liners and screams of “Oh Yes”. It helped take the whole Undertaker gimmick forward.
During that first run together Bearer oversaw Undertaker defeat Hulk Hogan for the WWE championship at the 1991 Survivor Series and then helped Taker get over with the fans in his face turn in 1992. The two men would work on and off throughout all of Bearer’s WWE career, friend & foe, the foe parts most notably with Mankind and Kane. Some people in the wrestling world know how to pull off the gimmick they are given, some do it to an exceptional level, Paul Bearer was one of those exceptional cases in my opinion! I can now only imagine the tribute WWE, and more notably the Undertaker, may pay the man that gave fans so much.
It would not surprise me at all if Bearer was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame next month and it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if Taker points to the skies at WRESTLEMANIA after what will surely be his Streak going to 21-0! Some names will forever live with wrestling fans and the name Paul Bearer is one of them.