Paul Bearer seen here with The Undertaker on WWF (WWE)
William Moody, better known to pro wrestling fans as Paul Bearer, the pasty-faced, urn-carrying manager for performers The Undertaker and Kane, has died, the WWE said. He was 58.
A
spokesman for the wrestling company said Moody's family contacted the
WWE to report the death on Tuesday. No cause was released.
After
stints in various independent wrestling promotions, Moody joined the
WWE in 1990 and quickly became associated with The Undertaker, a
character who claimed he was undead and boasted of mystical powers.
In
the WWE plotline, Paul Bearer later managed Undertaker's on-screen half
brother Kane. He also managed the bad-guy character Mick "Mankind"
Foley.
His shrill catchphrase, "Ooohhh
yeeesss!" and contorted facial expressions made him one of the
sports-entertainment company's more popular personalities for more than a
decade.
In the outlandish world of pro
wrestling, Paul Bearer was once placed in a glass casket and buried in
concrete. In his final WWE appearance last year, Paul Bearer was locked
in a freezer by Randy Orton and left there tied up even after he was
found by Kane.
That was Moody's life in the
WWE. And it was a business he loved for nearly 40 years. Many of his
colleagues paid tribute to him on Wednesday on Twitter.
"Rest in peace, Paul Bearer. You will never be forgotten. There will never be another," wrote wrestler Triple H.
Moody
was a perfect fit as a macabre mortician. When he joined the WWE, he
ditched the blond hair and Percy Pringle name he forged in the 1980s for
jet black locks complete with powdered white face. In the act, Paul
Bearer's urn had some unexplained power that protected the Undertaker,
allowing his protege to escape unscathed from every leg drop and big
boot to the face. Paul Bearer also hosted the WWE segment, "The Funeral
Parlor."
Moody, an Alabama native, told the
pro wrestling website PWTorch.com last year that had a degree in
mortuary science. He said he was a licensed funeral director and
embalmer. He was called to WWE chairman Vince McMahon's office about
taking the job as Undertaker's manager without the company knowing his
true background.
"It was one those
had-to-be-there moments when Vince realized I was the real thing, the
real deal," Moody told the website. "I was the real Undertaker."
Moody battled health and weight problems and worked on and off for the company after 2002.
Foley
said he babysat Moody's children and called him "Uncle Paul." The Paul
Bearer character will be remembered most for the soap opera twists in
his relationship with The Undertaker, still one of the premier stars of
the company.
"It just seemed so bizarre,"
Foley said in a telephone interview. "But at the same time, he was a
perfect fit for The Undertaker. They went on to become iconic figures in
our profession."
