Line #42 Wrestling/PaulBearer


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paul-bearer_4952.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:''[[IncomingHam Ooooh YEEESSS!]]'']]
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4	Paul Bearer (real name William Alvin Moody, April 10, 1954 – March 5, 2013) was a Wrestling/{{WWE}} manager and former wrestler, best known for his years managing Wrestling/TheUndertaker. During the course of his tenure at WWE, he also managed Wrestling/{{M\|ickFoley}}ankind, Wrestling/{{Vader}} and Wrestling/{{Kane}}. In {{kayfabe}}, his character was portrayed as a funeral director with certain mystical powers centered around an urn that he carried with him that seemed to empower whoever he managed. He was also later revealed to be the biological father of Undertaker's half-brother Wrestling/{{Kane}}.
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6	He had also been a funeral director and mortician in RealLife, which was the [[RealLifeWritesThePlot inspiration for the gimmick]].
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8	He passed away due to complications from a blood clot on March 5, 2013. This didn't stop WWE from using his (supposed) ashes as a gimmick in various matches. The next year, Paul Bearer would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
9	----
10	!!"You can read my tropes, Ooooh YEEESSS!":
11
12	* {{Acrofatic}}: He actually took some impressive bumps every now and then, and could dart away pretty quick when it looked like he was going to be attacked at ringside.
13	* ActionSurvivor: Had been a wrestler under the names the Embalmer, the Mortician and Dr. X before settling into his role as a manager.
14	* AffablyEvil: Just a doughy man who runs a funeral home, and gets excited when talking about his work. Sure, he made some mistakes (like reanimating dead bodies to serve as wrestlers).
15	* AlliterativeName: As '''P'''ercy '''P'''ringle
16	* AmplifierArtifact: The urn.
17	* ArchEnemy: (In Florida as Percy Pringle): The Fabulous Freebirds
18	** (From 1991-1996): Anyone Wrestling/TheUndertaker was feuding with at the time.
19	** Later, Undertaker himself, also Kane here and there.
20	* TheArtifact: By the end of the 1990s, as a manager, he was basically the LastOfHisKind.
21	* BigYes: His CharacterCatchPhrase.
22	* TheBusCameBack: Had surprise returns in 2004, 2010, and 2012... Only to become a BodyInABreadbox by Wrestling/RandyOrton in 2012.
23	* CharacterCatchPhrase: OOOOOOHHH YEEEESSSS!!
24	** When being interviewed: Oooooohhh, Mr. (surname of interviewer)...
25	* CompositeCharacter: Starting around early 1997 he was less kindly, raving like a firebrand preacher. He also shared a bit more in common with Pringle.
26	* ChewingTheScenery: Tended to get ''very'' into his character.
27	* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Ever since ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 1996'' when he betrayed the Undertaker for [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]].
28	* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: Bearer used a very high-pitched voice for the role.
29	** Which was doubly enhanced by his already high tenor natural speaking voice.
30	* CreepyMortician: That's assuming the funeral home itself isn't a front for...other illicit activities.
31	* CreepyShadowedUndereyes: Well, just Creepy Shadowed Eyesockets, until 1997 after Undertaker burnt his face.
32	** Came back when he returned in 2004.
33	* CurbStompBattle: Is on the receiving end of one by the {{Wrestling/Big Show}} when forced to fight by Commissioner Shawn Michaels with Bearer’s “defence” consisting of him cowering in fear and [[AintTooProudToBeg begging]] the Big Show not to hurt him, to no avail.
34	* DistressedDude: Was always getting kidnapped, at least since Wrestling/PaulHeyman and Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys first kidnapped him in 2004.
35	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: He eventually lost the pancake makeup, along with a few pants sizes.
36	** He started wearing makeup again when he returned in 2004.
37	* EvilerThanThou: After Yokozuna dispelled the Undertaker at the '94 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'', the [[Wrestling/TedDiBiase Million Dollar Man]] and others scrambled around for months trying to find his body, eager to control him just as Bearer did. At last, [=DiBiase=] wheeled out a fake Undertaker (actually Brian Lee) to throw everyone off the track. This is one of the few times Black-haired Bearer got '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQnUeozAL6w#t=170s furious]]''': he promised to make [=DiBiase=] suffer for hijacking his creation.
38	* EvilIsHammy: Whether he was talking in soft falsetto, or blowing the roof off the arena with his voice, Paul was a gurning, bug-eyed, living cartoon.
39	* EvilRedhead: When he stopped dyeing his hair through 1997-1998.
40	* EvilSoundsDeep: Completely inverted with his high-pitched voice.
41	* {{Fanboy}}: Of Music/GeorgeJones. Would refer to himself as "The Possum Fan."
42	* FatBastard: Perhaps one of the biggest in all of the WWE, matching fairly closely with Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} -- only without the muscle. He eventually shed a good deal of weight after undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
43	* FatComicRelief: Fulfils this role for the Undertaker, being a fat mortician with a high pitched voice.
44	* {{Guyliner}}: It was suggested from the very beginning that Bearer might be immortal or undead himself.
45	* HammyHerald: For Taker.
46	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Amongst other things, he really hammed it up to get Wrestling/TheUndertaker to laugh. In one memorable promo, he got the giggles ''himself''.
47	* HonoraryUncle: To Mankind for a while.
48	* IHaveManyNames: The Embalmer, the Mortician, Mr. X, Percival "Percy" Pringle III, Paul Bearer.
49	* IHaveNoSon: Seemed to go back and forth on this with his {{kayfabe}} son [=Kane=].
50	* ILoveTheDead: Liked to wax poetic about plagues, inquisitions, slaughters in centuries' past. Business was booming for his line of work in those days!
51	* IWasQuiteTheLooker: As Paul Bearer, he mentions this trope after he reveals himself as Kane's real father, having had an affair with the Undertaker's mother at some point decades ago. As those who have seen photos of Moody in his younger days know, it's basically true.
52	* ItemGet: Paul holding the urn aloft like the Holy Grail.
53	* JokerImmunity: Hold on, ''how'' many times has this guy died? Kane stuffed him headfirst down a real-life manhole. He turned up later in the PPV looking no worse for wear. Not even a grease spot. He (or rather, his stunt double) also survived being buried in cement.
54	* LargeHam: And ''how''! I mean, just ''look'' at him!
55	* LastOfHisKind: The last male manager for many years.
56	* TheLoad: The reason Undertaker gave for burying him in cement in 2004. He's also proven to be this to Wrestling/{{Kane}} after his 2010 return, which is partly why he didn't rush to save him in 2012 when Orton kidnapped him.
57	* LouisCypher: One possible interpretation, given his [[ManOfWealthAndTaste sharp suits]] and father figure role to both Kane and Taker, two wrestlers frequently described as [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons from hell]].
58	* LukeIAmYourFather: Revealed that he was Wrestling/{{Kane}}'s father the day after Unforgiven when Kane's arm was engulfed in flames after the first Inferno match. Later related the entire story in an interview segment with Jerry Lawler.
59	* NonActionGuy: Like most managers in Professional Wrestling, he isn’t that great of a fighter. This was {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d on the May 10, 1999 episode of ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw is War]]'' when he was forced by Commissioner Wrestling/ShawnMichaels to wrestle Wrestling/TheBigShow.
60	-->'''Paul Bearer''': I'M NOT A WRASSLER!!!
61	* PlotHole: His claiming to be Kane's "father" created the first problem in Kane's backstory. Paul originally claimed that he first met Kane when he went to work at Kane and Taker's family's funeral home. The only way for all of that to be true would have been if Paul hadn't been told by the mother that he had a "son," and they never resolved that part.
62	* {{Pornstache}}: He's had until Wrestling/TheUndertaker burned his face in 1997. After the surgery he was clean shaven for a bit until he grew it back.
63	* PowerStable: (as Percival Pringle III in Florida, Texas and elsewhere): The Pringle Dynasty, which included, among others, Wrestling/RickRude, [[Wrestling/{{Kamala}} Bad News Harris]], Wrestling/LexLuger, Wrestling/BuzzSawyer, Matt Borne, [[Wrestling/TheBlackjacks Blackjack Mulligan]], The Spoiler, [[Wrestling/MissingLink The Missing Link]] and Wrestling/AbdullahTheButcher.
64	** The Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness, with Wrestling/TheUndertaker, the Acolytes ([[Wrestling/RonSimmons Faarooq]] and [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield Bradshaw]]), Mideon, Viscera and the Brood ([[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]], Wrestling/{{Edge\|Wrestler}} and Wrestling/{{Christian}}).
65	*** The Corporate Ministry, with Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon, [[Wrestling/BigBossman the Big Bossman]], Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/{{Chyna}}, the Mean Street Posse (Rodney, Pete Gas and Joey Abs) and everyone in the Ministry of Darkness except for the Brood.
66	* PunnyName: Pall-bearer, anyone?
67	* SayMyName: KAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
68	* SharpDressedMan
69	* SinisterMinister: When presiding over Undertaker and Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon's "wedding".
70	* StartMyOwn: In 2005, he started his own promotion, Gulf South Wrestling, which he dissolved in 2007 when his business partners had wanted to continue it without him.
71	* StevenUlyssesPerhero: He was a managing mortician named Paul Bearer.
72	* SweetHomeAlabama: He was from Mobile.
73	* TalkShowWithFists: "The Funeral Parlor", an interview segment he had with Wrestling/TheUndertaker in the early 1990s. His show replaced "The Brother Love Show," which was where he debuted shortly before ''Wrestling/WrestleMania VII'', replacing Brother Love as Taker's manager.
74	* UndeathlyPallor: (Probably) not actually undead, but he wore white makeup to give himself a corpse-like look.
75	* VoiceForTheVoiceless: In Undertaker's original gimmick, Paul Bearer did about 90 percent of the talking while Undertaker delivered a short, chilling final line at the end of each promo.
76	* WhamLine: "He's alive! Kane is ''alive'', Undertaker!"
77	* WrestlingDoesntPay: Inverted, as he was actually a certified mortician in real-life, and also operated a funeral home in Mobile, Alabama.
78	** In a more literal inversion, his WWE appearances in 2004 provided him the cash he needed to undergo gastric bypass surgery.

Context Wrestling / PaulBearer