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WWE Hall of Famer Paul Bearer’s Tragic Death
The Undertaker will be widely featured on WWE Network programming throughout November to commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Deadman’s debut with the business.
He’s scheduled to appear at Survivor Series, the same event where he made his debut 30 years ago, as his “Final Farewell.”
Unfortunately, one of his career’s pivotal figures, William Moody, better known as Paul Bearer, will not be there because he tragically died in 2013.
Paul Bearer, a real-life mortician, was a significant figure in The Undertaker’s career and also managed many other well-known wrestlers.
Here’s a look back at Paul Bearer’s life, career, and tragic death.
William Moody’s early career
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William Moody was not recognized as Paul Bearer until later in his career.
In the 1970s, while on leave from the United States Air Force, he wrestled in independent promotions under several aliases.
He began his career as a manager in 1979 under the alias Percy Pringle, a blonder, louder version of Paul Bearer who was just as frightening.
While taking a break from professional wrestling in the early 1980s to get a degree in mortuary science and become certified as an embalmer and mortician, Moody returned to the business full-time in 1984.
Still going by the name Percy Pringle, he worked in Florida Championship Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas, where he managed Lex Luger, Koko B. Ware, Ravishing Rick Rude, Stunning Steve Austin, and none other than Mark Calaway, who went on to become The Undertaker.
In 1991, he made his WWE debut as Paul Bearer
Three months after The Undertaker made his WWE televised debut at Survivor Series in November 1990, William Moody made his debut as Paul Bearer the following February.
Rick Rude had recommended him to Vince McMahon, and Road Warrior Hawk had given him his name, plainly a play on “pallbearer.”
Given Moody’s background as a mortician and his previous work with The Undertaker, it was a match made in heaven…or hell, as WWE would undoubtedly describe it.
The Undertaker probably didn’t give the finest promos in his early WWE career, so having Paul Bearer by his side as a mouthpiece was a huge assist.
“The Funeral Parlor,” Bearer’s WWE television segment, took off instantly and offered some of the finest moments of the early-to-mid 1990s.
In The Undertaker’s incredible feud with Mick Foley in 1996, Paul Bearer turned on The Deadman and surprised him with a half-brother, Kane, the following year, resulting in a protracted program.
Bearer briefly retired in 2000 but returned to wrestling in 2002 as Percy Pringle in TNA until 2003.
Paul Bearer returned to WWE in 2004 to manage The Undertaker in his WrestleMania 20 battle against Kane, and he has since made intermittent television appearances while still acting as a backstage agent.
He was in and out of WWE during the late 2000s, and he didn’t appear on WWE television for six years.
He reappeared in 2010 as part of another Kane vs. Undertaker storyline, and he managed The Big Red Machine intermittently until 2012.
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In 2013, Paul Bearer died of a heart attack
Paul Bearer faced a variety of health difficulties throughout his career, including obesity.
In November 2003, he underwent gastric bypass surgery, which WWE paid for, and shed more than 200 pounds.
However, after his final run in WWE, he began to have trouble breathing and acquired a horrible cough.
On March 2, 2013, he informed pals that he would be seeking therapy for lung problems and was treated for a blood clot.
Tragically, Paul Bearer died of a heart attack three days later, on March 5, 2013, at the age of 58.
The Undertaker was embroiled in a storyline with CM Punk leading up to WrestleMania 29 at the time.
WWE brought Paul Bearer into the show by having Punk mock Bearer’s death, which many considered offensive.
However, as TMZ reported at the time, WWE creative approached the Moody family and requested permission to utilize Paul Bearer in the narrative, which was given. At WrestleMania, The Undertaker defeated CM Punk and dedicated the victory to his longtime manager and buddy.
In 2014, Paul Bearer was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
