What do you think?
Rate this book
Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction
See The Deadman like you've never seen him before!
With stunning visuals and in-depth commentary, Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction takes the reader deep into the darkness, where few dare to tread! Learn everything you need to know about sports-entertainment's mysterious grim reaper of justice with this massive hardcover tome.
Coverage includes:
• Stunning Visuals
• In-depth Discussion of Undertaker's rise within the WWE ranks
• Exclusive Interviews with Superstars, Announcers, and other WWE personalities
• Behind the Scenes Look at Undertaker's Historic Streak
With stunning visuals and in-depth commentary, Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction takes the reader deep into the darkness, where few dare to tread! Learn everything you need to know about sports-entertainment's mysterious grim reaper of justice with this massive hardcover tome.
Coverage includes:
• Stunning Visuals
• In-depth Discussion of Undertaker's rise within the WWE ranks
• Exclusive Interviews with Superstars, Announcers, and other WWE personalities
• Behind the Scenes Look at Undertaker's Historic Streak
- GenresSports
208 pages, Hardcover
First published November 3, 2015
5 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Sullivan
13 books8 followersA graduate of Fairfield University, Kevin Sullivan began his sports-entertainment career in 1998 when he accepted a position within WWE. Over the course of the next decade, he played an integral role in WWE.com’s content creation process, most recently as the site’s Content Director. He also served as managing editor of WWE’s Raw Magazine.
Sullivan left WWE on a full-time basis in 2008, but continues to work closely with the company’s publishing department. His first book, the WWE Encyclopedia, became an instant hit and peaked at No. 8 on the New York Times best sellers list. From there, Sullivan teamed with Simon & Schuster to put out The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. The 320-page narrative tracks wrestling’s most prestigious prize from its first days in 1963 all the way up to today.
Sullivan also wrote the New York Times best-selling WWE 50 book and co-authored the second edition of the best-selling WWE Encyclopedia. Additionally, Sullivan has penned seven children’s books for WWE, including biographies on Undertaker, John Cena, and Big Show.
Sullivan left WWE on a full-time basis in 2008, but continues to work closely with the company’s publishing department. His first book, the WWE Encyclopedia, became an instant hit and peaked at No. 8 on the New York Times best sellers list. From there, Sullivan teamed with Simon & Schuster to put out The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship. The 320-page narrative tracks wrestling’s most prestigious prize from its first days in 1963 all the way up to today.
Sullivan also wrote the New York Times best-selling WWE 50 book and co-authored the second edition of the best-selling WWE Encyclopedia. Additionally, Sullivan has penned seven children’s books for WWE, including biographies on Undertaker, John Cena, and Big Show.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 14, 2020
A Marvellous history of the undertaker from his first 25 Years with WWE.
January 30, 2021
Since coming to the WWE in the early 1990s, the Undertaker has been an iconic figure in professional wrestling. This book looks at the Deadman's first 25 years with WWE in text and photographs.
The Undertaker character has evolved through the years, going from mortician to demonic leader to motorcycle-riding American Badass and back again. This book examines all of those characters as well as his notable rivalries, Wrestlemania matches and more.
I gave Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction four stars on Goodreads. It isn't comprehensive enough to be considered a biography since it leaves out his stints in Dallas and in WCW prior to coming to WWE, but the pictures are excellent and casts a pretty wide net on the events and incidents of his time with WWE. It is from DK Publishing, so while the subject matter covers a wide variety of things, but not in great depth.
The Undertaker character has evolved through the years, going from mortician to demonic leader to motorcycle-riding American Badass and back again. This book examines all of those characters as well as his notable rivalries, Wrestlemania matches and more.
I gave Undertaker: 25 Years of Destruction four stars on Goodreads. It isn't comprehensive enough to be considered a biography since it leaves out his stints in Dallas and in WCW prior to coming to WWE, but the pictures are excellent and casts a pretty wide net on the events and incidents of his time with WWE. It is from DK Publishing, so while the subject matter covers a wide variety of things, but not in great depth.
February 20, 2017
Books about professional wrestling, apart from wrestlers' out-of-character memoirs, are likely to be dismissed as something less than true reading material. How can a book comprised mainly of full-page photos and captioned collages be anything more than a glorified coffee-table book for people to flip through?
This particular book manages to rise above that stigma because it functions primarily as a history and statistics-aggregation of the WWE's most tenured Superstar. It is by no means comprehensive (the Deadman's lesser feuds of the early 1990s, such as those with IRS, Goldust, and others, go unmentioned), but any feud of note is fleshed out and accompanied by relevant captioned photographs. The book is well organized, being largely chronological with occasional interruptions that focus on the Undertaker's signature moves, specialty matches, ring-gear evolution, and other important career data. Going beyond a mere Wikipedia-esque career timeline, the book offers commentary from the Undertaker's opponents (including an excellent introduction from JBL). There's plenty of textual meat to devour, apart from the plethora of photographs. This will definitely require a bookmark, as it cannot be completed in one sitting.
The only factor keeping me from rating this at five stars is the occasional typo (not many, but they are there) and, more importantly, a few miscaptioned photos in one of the sections outlining the Undertaker's ring-gear evolution. One photo, in fact, is actually a screen-cap from a WWE video game. But apart from these editorial gaffes, the overall product is informative, respectful of the character's kayfabe integrity, and a sheer joy for any wrestling fan.
This particular book manages to rise above that stigma because it functions primarily as a history and statistics-aggregation of the WWE's most tenured Superstar. It is by no means comprehensive (the Deadman's lesser feuds of the early 1990s, such as those with IRS, Goldust, and others, go unmentioned), but any feud of note is fleshed out and accompanied by relevant captioned photographs. The book is well organized, being largely chronological with occasional interruptions that focus on the Undertaker's signature moves, specialty matches, ring-gear evolution, and other important career data. Going beyond a mere Wikipedia-esque career timeline, the book offers commentary from the Undertaker's opponents (including an excellent introduction from JBL). There's plenty of textual meat to devour, apart from the plethora of photographs. This will definitely require a bookmark, as it cannot be completed in one sitting.
The only factor keeping me from rating this at five stars is the occasional typo (not many, but they are there) and, more importantly, a few miscaptioned photos in one of the sections outlining the Undertaker's ring-gear evolution. One photo, in fact, is actually a screen-cap from a WWE video game. But apart from these editorial gaffes, the overall product is informative, respectful of the character's kayfabe integrity, and a sheer joy for any wrestling fan.
December 13, 2015
This is a coffee table book about the WWE career of The Undertaker. It is filled with pictures and articles profiling his career and various matches held over the years. For any fan of Taker it is a fun read. Be forewarned that this book is written under the guise of kayfabe. Thus, don't expect any stories detailing Mark Callaway. It keeps up the pretenses of the Paul Bearer, Kane and Taker storyline.
The lone drawback to this book is they largely ignore his run as the American Bad Ass/Big Evil. I have read in other sources that Vince McMahon hated this gimmick, so it is no surprise that they try their best to ignore it in this book. However, it was my favourite personae of the Undertaker. I think it was because it showed the Undertaker as truer to the real man, breaking him loose of the character born in the cartoon age of WWF. It was the last personae he portrayed on a full time basis. If I recall correctly by 2004, when he came back as the Deadman, he was starting to appear on a part time basis which has ultimately turned into his few appearances now.
That said, it is definitely a book any Undertaker fan should have. If you remember his debut and the rest of his career, there is nothing new in this book, but it is a fun coffee table book style walk down memory lane. So buy this book or rest......in.......peace!
The lone drawback to this book is they largely ignore his run as the American Bad Ass/Big Evil. I have read in other sources that Vince McMahon hated this gimmick, so it is no surprise that they try their best to ignore it in this book. However, it was my favourite personae of the Undertaker. I think it was because it showed the Undertaker as truer to the real man, breaking him loose of the character born in the cartoon age of WWF. It was the last personae he portrayed on a full time basis. If I recall correctly by 2004, when he came back as the Deadman, he was starting to appear on a part time basis which has ultimately turned into his few appearances now.
That said, it is definitely a book any Undertaker fan should have. If you remember his debut and the rest of his career, there is nothing new in this book, but it is a fun coffee table book style walk down memory lane. So buy this book or rest......in.......peace!
June 18, 2016
Reading this bio is a nostalgic throwback to the beginning days and witnessing the growth and success of The Undertaker. I chose wisely with my all-time favorite WWE star. Alongside many others like Mick Foley and Steve Austin, Taker went above and beyond for the fans, while maintaining a brilliant head on his shoulders.
April 27, 2017
It's a must have book for all undertaker fans. The size, page quality and pictures in short overall presentation is awesome. The timing of the release was perfect (silver jubilee of his career). Some articles are very interesting and rest of them are above average still good read. Overall a collectible item for fans. It's more of a visual journey with decent amount of reading.
November 8, 2015
if you are a WWE fan then you know who the Undertaker is this book chronicles his great 25 year career and gives a fantastic overview of all his great matches and rivalries. an absolute must own for all Undertaker fans!
Want to read
March 25, 2016LL
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews