The Undertaker has no time for so-called fans who are looking for something more than to make money off of him.
Highlighted more on social media, autograph hunters have gotten more and more aggressive and invasive with their tactics. Finding out which flight a wrestler is on ahead of time and showing up to the airport with multiple photos for them to sign and sell on, many have rightly condemned those who partake in this behaviour as it is different than a chance meeting in the airport or a paid meet and greet.
WWE star Rhea Ripley was recently targeted by the airport stalkers and Undertaker wanted to let his feelings be known on the matter. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, the Hall of Famer stated that he always tried to be accommodating to the fans but these people are not fans, adding that he was especially angry at how Rhea Ripley was treated:
“Pittsburgh was the worst for the marks coming out with the huge binders of 50 pictures of the same guy. If I’m by myself traveling, minus my family, I try to be as accommodating as I possibly can to my fans. It’s part of it. I have never ever considered those people to be fans. They’re trying to make a buck. It drives me absolutely crazy. I saw something online where Rhea Ripley gets caught at the check-in counter and this guy is just handing her picture after picture after picture after picture. I’m talking to Rhea through the thing that I’m watching and I’m like just turn around. That pisses me off. Everybody knows what it feels like at 6 AM trying to catch a flight. That sh*t drives me absolutely crazy.”
“The guy comes down and they’re all huddled together and I see them. They’re flipping through their pictures to get to The Undertaker pictures and the guy comes up to me. He goes, ‘Will you sign?’ I’m like nah man, I can’t do that.
“I wrote on there, ‘Hey you can go F off'”: The Undertaker
Continuing, Undertaker told a story of another tactic used where he saw someone use a small child to try and get an autograph and how he responded:
We go sit down and we’re waiting on our luggage and I’m watching this guy from 2 or 3 luggage racks over and I can see him talking to this little girl. He is giving her verbatim what to do. She’s maybe 6 years old. Here she comes and I’m like, this sonofabitch. This dog, right? … She went to somebody on either side of me. She went to the wrong person first. I could hear her say ‘Mr. Undertaker, will you sign?’ [I say] I’m him, what can I do for you honey? She goes ‘Oh, I’m a big fan, will you sign this for me?’ I’m thinking this son of a gun sends this poor girl over here who doesn’t even know who I am. I say, you know what of course I’ll sign that for you. I think I wrote on there, ‘Hey you can go F off’ on the picture. I put the picture face down in her hand and I said you hold this picture just like this and you take it back over there and hand it to your dad…she walked all the way back over to him and hands him the picture. He pulled that picture up and he read what I wrote. He was freakin’ pissed. Don’t use a kid to try — it rubs me wrong man.”
Speaking on his podcast, The Undertaker revealed who he wanted to see break his WrestleMania Streak.
H/t to Wrestling News.co
