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The Gimmick Table: The Origin of Paul Bearer

Posted: Jun 19th 2024 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.Wordpress.com

A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.

Today we browse the gimmick of Paul Bearer

It was on December 21, 1990..that William Moody was without a job in professional wrestling. Moody admittedly was on the verge of bankruptcy having his car repossessed and not even enough money to buy presents for his two young sons or afford a Christmas tree. Moody was still close friends with Rick Rude and randomly called Rude to tell him he was quitting the wrestling business for good and moving his family from Texas to Alabama to work in the funeral industry. Rude, who was wrestling for the WWF at the time, told Moody not to make any rash decisions just yet and that he would call him right back.

A couple of hours later, Rick Rude called back and gave Moddy Vince McMahon’s private number and said that Vince would be waiting for his call. Moody called and the very next day was flown from Dallas, Texas to New York City. Moody said he was picked up at the airport in a limousine and stayed at a 5 star hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. The next morning, Moody had a meeting with both Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson. They talked for a few hours to get to know one another and that is when Vince discovered that Moody had a degree in mortuary science. It was at that moment a light bulb went on in McMahon’s head and began talking about a character the WWF had recently debuted called The Undertaker. McMahon told Moody he wanted him to become the brand new manager to the Undertaker and the two brainstormed on gimmicks for Moody’s new character.

Moody said that various names were pitched by himself, Patterson and McMahon…but eventually decided on ‘Paul Bearer’ a play on a pallbearer used in funerals. Moody said everything clicked from that moment on. It was Moody’s decision to introduce Paul Bearer with an urn. Moody said he had gone to various funeral homes in the Connecticut area and came across a golden urn that was for sale and bought it on a whim to add something to his gimmick. Paul Bearer remained with the WWF/WWE from 1991 and was off and on until 2012.