The Undertaker Talks Trashing Hotel With Godfather, Setting Yokozuna's Hair On Fire
On the final instalment of Undertaker: The Last Ride entitled Tales From The Deadman, The Undertaker talked about fighting with The Godfather over a hat and setting the late great Yokozuna's hair on fire.
As the story goes, The Undertaker and The Godfather once trashed a hotel room fighting over who would keep The Godfather's new Stetson Riverboat Gambler.
"Rumor has it that The Godfather and I were known to put away large amounts of whiskey," Taker recalled. "Let me just put this disclaimer out that this was a long, long time ago and so we invited a bunch of people back to our hotel room.
"So there's probably 15 people in the room and now we're hanging out and still drinking. [The Godfather] has this really cool Stetson Riverboat Gambler hat. I was like, 'man, that's a really cool hat.' He's, like, looking at himself in the mirror, like, you like that? Man, I just got that.' I said, 'yeah, that's sharp, man.' I said, 'I'm going to find one like that.' Through the course of the night, he comes over to me, he goes, 'here,' he gives me the hat, right? 'No, you're taking the hat. I'm giving it to you. You have to take it.' I'm like, 'no, it's your hat. It's a cool hat. It looks good on you. Thanks, but no thanks' kind of a deal. 'Are you going to take the hat?' 'No, I'm not taking your hat!' So I'm there [in the bathroom] doing my business, and all-of-a-sudden, it's like, [crashing noise] and I'm like, 'what in the world?' I turn around and he's hitting the [bathroom] door. The door's not breaking, [but] the doorframe is coming at me. Then, he's standing there, like, 'you're taking the damn hat!'
"So I take the door and I put my head through it. I take the door off my head, I go out on the balcony, sling this door [throwing sounds]. I'm looking back at everybody like, 'pftt.. I showed him, right?' I turn back around and that joker's in a three-point stance. He heard 'hut' and he blasts me and lands on top of me between the two beds. We were like two big, giant kids, right? He says, 'no, you're going to take the hat!' I'm like, 'no, I'm not taking the hat!' But he won't let me up either and I can't get out, so I finally was like, 'okay, I'll take the hat.' 'That's all you had to say.' I got up. We found the hat. It had been stepped on already. I put the hat on. 'Thank you. Thank you for the hat.' It sounds ridiculous, I know, but you had to be there."
The Godfather's takeaway from the incident was that the former Papa Shango was victorious.
"The moral to the story is that he took the hat, so I won," The Godfather boasted. "He took the hat."
The Undertaker, who recently spoke about ring attire that he regrets, admitted that he once accidentally set Yokozuna's hair on fire. Yokozuna, also known as Rodney Anoa'i, took the incident in stride.
"All the BSK boys, that core group of guys, we were always together," The Undertaker recalled. "Yokozuna, he was always in a good mood and always wanted to play cards or dominos. We were in Kuwait together. No, they don't have adult beverages over there. We were in my room playing cards and we were all getting a bit stir crazy.
"I remember taking a match and I'm setting them on fire and flicking the matches and trying to hit people with them. Big Yoko was on the other side of the table from me, and I flicked one, and it went right over his head. I didn't realize it landed in the back of his hair. All-of-a-sudden, I start seeing all this smoke. I said, hey Rod, turn around.' He turns around and sure enough his hair is on fire. And then, it was like, five guys pounding him to death to try to put the fire out, but it didn't work getting some free shots on him. He laughed it off. Just a great dude, man. I really miss him."
On the subject of wrestlers court, The Undertaker shared that it was a lighthearted way to address backstage issues.
"Wrestlers court was a lighthearted way to get the message across that you're screwing up. And your coworkers know that you're screwing up and they don't much appreciate it. You've kind of made your bed and now you've got to lie in it." The Undertaker continued, "yeah, you may be called out and embarrassed a little bit, but then it's what do you do with it from there? And I'd try to give some type of advice that there was actually some content or merit to what was happening. Anything you could do to alleviate some of the stress and tension on the road, it was more times than not good harmless fun."
The Godfather claimed that the buying booze and paying for transit were the most common penalties in wrestlers court.
"It was usually a case of beer, a bottle of Jack Daniels, you've got to pay for my hotel room for three days, you've got to pay for my rental car for a week." The Godfather said, "those were usually the outcomes of the sentences."
To watch Undertaker: The Last Ride, subscribe to WWE Network. If you use any of the quotations from this article, please credit Undertaker: The Last Ride – Tales From The Deadman with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.