WWE icon The Undertaker forced to undergo secret lifesaving surgery

Metro

13-06-2025

WWE legend The Undertaker has revealed he secretly underwent heart surgery just one day after attending WrestleMania 41.
The 60-year-old retired Hall of Famer, who called time on his wrestling career in 2020 after a Boneyard Match against AJ Styles, has opened up about a 'terrifying' health scare after he was getting 'out of breath' from everyday tasks.
Undertaker, whose real name is Mark Callaway, was in Las Vegas in April to see his wife Michelle McCool get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
However, the wrestling power couple have revealed he was in the middle of a health scare and wasn't even meant to travel.
'It's because of the heart issues you've been having weeks prior. Which, by the grace of god, we found out just by — it ended up being terrifying,' Michelle said on his Six Feet Under podcast.
'The day we got home from WrestleMania, the next day at 6am, we were at the hospital for a little bit of heart surgery.'
The Phenom admitted he 'wasn't supposed to go to Vegas', and Michelle insisted it was 'not fair' on her that she had to keep the heart issues – which have since been resolved – a secret.
'We were in the hospital for four nights two weeks before WrestleMania,' she added. 'I'm not mad at it because I'd probably be the same, but it was terrifying.'
The former Divas Champion 'couldn't focus on anything else', as she worried about making sure her husband got 'the best cardiologist'.
'Which we eventually did, but that took a lot of phone calls. Several nights in the hospital. By the grace of god you are here,' she said. 'But out of the words of the doctor himself, it could've turned out badly had we not found it that day.'
They revealed that Undertaker hadn't been feeling 'any symptoms' besides being out of breath after things like 'throwing ball with the dog' or walking upstairs to pray with their children.
'Medicines didn't work and we ended up in the ER on a Friday. Of course you wouldn't stay the night,' Michelle told her man.
'At the end of Kai's flag football all day Saturday, you looked at me and said, 'I'm still in a-fib,' because you were doing it with the watch.'
The next morning, he was still feeling it, and so they went to hospital where his numbers and heart beat were 'out of wack'.
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Michelle recalled: 'Your ejection fracture of how the blood was pumping or whatever was 30%, it wasn't much.
'Supposed to be 100%, obviously. We ended up staying in the hospital for four nights where they actually had to cardiovert you and shock you back to a normal rhythm.
'That sadly lasted, what, 24 hours. Maybe 48. After four days we go home, two days later you're back in a-fib. Man I was stressed.'
Since walking away from WWE, Undertaker has stayed busy in and around the wrestling world, with occasional appearances on Raw and NXT. More Trending
He also performs his One deadMan Show around the world, but it was still a heartbreaking moment when he had to retire.
He exclusively told Metro: 'In my heart, I wasn't ready to do it but in my mind I knew I had to. It's been a difficult transition because if I physically could, I would still be going.
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'But I can't put on a match the way people expect to see The Undertaker wrestle. There's no sense in tarnishing the legacy, or cashing in on the equity that I built up.'
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