By Sue Barnard 7/94
Snake in the Parlour
The WWF was in town again. It had been a year since they had been here and the atmosphere in the arena was electric. There had always been wrestling in England but never on the scale of the World Wrestling Federation. There was not only wrestling of great skill and agility but also good acting, stunt work and pure entertainment via most of these men.
All the wrestlers had gimmicks, Hulk Hogan with his four demandments, (prayers, training, vitamins and believing in yourself) Jake ‘the snake’ Roberts who brought pythons and cobras into the ring. Randy Savage and his fringed suits and many more. Some with dogs, sequined coats, army uniforms. There was even a mountie, a voodoo man, a prison guard and an American Indian.
But the wrestler to whom this story surrounds, is a man who is 6ft 8” in height, 24st, long chestnut brown hair, wearing a long black coat and hat, with a trademark in coffins. A man with such an evil stare, with no emotion, that it sends a chill down the spine of most God-fearing men. His name the Undertaker.
He has a sick-kick called the Paul Bearer, a weird fishy little character, who comes in front of the Undertaker carrying a funeral urn. He has his own side to this miss-match, a funeral parlour where he interviews his guests and talks in this voice that goes up and down with every word. He has a round pitted voice with eyebrows the size of large pieces of liquorice.
In about 2 years, the Undertaker had beaten most of the men in the WWF, usually by foul means rather than good but was still very popular, especially for his agility in the ring. In particular the way he can stand and walk along the top rope.
Sue had managed to get a ticket to go to the rampage at the arena. It had been hard, as most of the tickets were sold out within an hour of going on sale. She was really looking forward to it as her favourite was the Undertaker. She decided to dress up for the occasion and what better way to do it than to get the gear to make her look like the Undertaker. All she needed was along black coat, hat, tie and black shirt and trousers. Shouldn’t be that hard. She should look quite good dressed like him.
She managed to get the gear from Carnaby Street and the tie she made. He always wore a tie-pin in the photos, so she decided to go one better and instead of a small black pin, she got the jeweller round the corner to make one in the shape of a coffin. It was made in silver and looked really good.
The night arrived for Sue to go to the arena. She got dressed and made her way on the tube. She secretly hoped that she might meet the Undertaker but nothing prepared her for what was going to happen that night. It started off quite well, the atmosphere was great with the crowd. There were people from all the country as could be seen from the banners.
There were three really good matches involving the Texas Tornado, Randy Savage and Papa Shango. The next one on the agenda would be the Undertaker versus Jake Roberts. There was to be a 15 minute interlude so Sue decided to go round to where the wrestlers were coming into the arena and leave a note and a ring that she had bought for him. It was a silver ring in the shape of a skull and sickle. She saw a man there in a suit called Colin, he promised her that he would give it to him personally. She settled for that and went back to her seat just as the interlude finished.
Sue was about two rows from the ring and had a good view. To start the match off, Randy Savage was invited into the funeral parlour. This went well compered to some of the others who went in there to be interviewed by Paul Bearer.
Ten minutes later, Paul Bearer appeared with the Undertaker behind him and walked down to the ring. Jake was already there waiting for him. He was so sure that this time he would finish the Undertaker off with his famous DDT move. This involves the opponents head under the arm and a backwards fall, smashing their head into the mat, knocking them out or at least stunning them enough to win the match.
The Undertaker climbed into the ring and as usual Paul took his coat before standing outside the ring, by the apron as they called it, with the funeral urn. Jake went sneaking behind the Undertaker and smashed him in the back but it was shrugged off. Three times Jake tried this but every time the Undertaker shook it off as if it were a fly. Suddenly he turned and threw Jake into the opposite corner. Jake came back with an arm twist which was soon got out of. The Undertaker got hold of Jake by the arm and holding him tightly, climbed onto the top rope, walked along it to the middle and did a flying leap twisting Jake over as he did so. Jake got up quite slowly this time but managed to take the Undertaker by surprise with a clothes line. It stunned the Undertaker for a few seconds but he was soon up and pounded Jakes head into the corner. Jake turned tables and did his DDT on the Undertaker. Nobody gets up from that but after about 30 seconds, he was up as though nothing had happened.
Sue, by this time had moved down into the corner right by the ring. She didn’t like the Undertaker getting hurt and wished she had the guts to step in-between them to stop him getting injured. She knew that most of it was acted out and rehearsed very well.
As she watched, the Undertaker had got Jake into a hold again where he got up on the top rope. But this time, as he did so, jake pushed against his hand and the Undertaker lost his balance and fell backwards from the top rope onto the mat below outside the ring, catching his head down the front of the safety barrier. This knocked him out.
She was worried for him but assumed the match would be stopped and the Undertaker would be carried out. But no-body seemed to realise what had happened. Jake got out of the ring and started to lay into the unconscious Undertaker. It was obvious he was out cold but Jake still carried on kicking him.
Sue could stand it no longer and despite the trouble she would get in, jumped over the barrier and ran round the side of the ring to the aid of the Undertaker. Jake at this moment was after Paul and didn’t notice her. An official tried to stop her but she pushed him aside. She knelt beside the Undertaker. He was starting to come round but blood was pouring from a gash on the side of his head. As she tried to put a handkerchief on it, which she had in her pocket, to stop the bleeding. Jake came back and saw her kneeling there. She was then helping the Undertaker to sit up, holding his head at the same time.
“Take it easy, are you ok Mark?” she asked. Mark was his real name, if nothing else she knew that.
“I think so but you shouldn’t be here.” he answered.
“I know but I had to do something with Jake laying into you, no-body realised what you had done.”
As she was doing this, neither her or the Undertaker saw Jake come up behind her with a chair in his hand. All she knew was that as she helped Mark up, Jake smashed the chair across her back, sending her sprawling into the arms of the Undertaker, who had turned towards her. All she felt was a pain across her shoulders then blackness.
The Undertaker caught her and guided her to the floor. Making sure she was ok, he stepped over her and stalked Jake, who maybe realising what he had done, dropped the chair as the Undertaker grabbed him, turned him upside down and proceeded to do the tombstone on him. As he did this move outside the ring, he picked him up and rolled him back into the ring to finish him off as he could have be disqualified if he hadn’t.
Normally he would have put his opponent into a body bag, which was something he liked to do. But this time he didn’t, he climbed out of the ring and went over to Sue, who was still lying where he had left her, although Paul was beside her. Kneeling down, he gently turned her over to see if she was alright but she was still out cold. He put his arms under her and lifting her up, carried her out of the arena, to the ovation of the crowd.
This was the first time he had shown any concern for anyone else while in the ring. Maybe it was because Sue helped him or because it was a girl, they didn’t know but they liked this side to the Undertaker and showed it by a standing ovation.
As they got to the dressing room, the Undertaker laid Sue on this couch. He turned to go and get the doctor that was always with them, but he had seen what had happened and was already on his way.
“It’s ok Mark, I saw what happened, has she come round yet?"
“No Jake really hit her hard, we can take it but she can’t.”
As the doctor looked at her, she started to wake up. Her back was painful when she tried to sit up. Mark had got a drink and sat down beside her.
“Here, drink this, how do you feel?” he asked. “What you did was really stupid but I admire your guts, not many people would have done that.”
“Well I think I’m ok but my back hurts, I never thought he would do that.”
“I didn’t either but you can’t trust him. This time I think Jack Tunney is going to have something to say. He has gone too far this time.”
“Look I don’t want to get any-one into trouble, I shouldn’t have interfered, it was my fault I got hurt.”
The Undertaker tried to convince her that even if she had stayed where she was, he could have done it to someone else. There was no excuse for what he did. Having it in for the Undertaker was one thing, injuring the public was another story.
There was a knock on the door and Jake came in. Mark stood up and the doctor had to stand in front of him as he guessed what Mark would try and do.
“No Mark leave it, Jack will sort him out.” said the doctor.
“Look I’m sorry.” said Jake. “I don’t know why I did it, are you alright?”
“Yes I’m ok, it hurts a bit but I’ll survive. As I said I shouldn’t have got involved. But what you did was out of order too, you could have broken his back or neck pushing him off there.”
“I’m sorry about you but I’m not sorry for what I did to the Undertaker. I’ll still bury him in his own coffin.”
“Name the time and place Jake, I’ll be there but you’ll be the one to get buried.”
Jake turned on his heels and left, leaving the Undertaker even more determined to get his revenge.
“Be careful Mark, he’ll try something nasty given a chance.” said the doctor.
“Yeah I know, but we’ll get it into the ring as soon as possible or even the funeral parlour.”
The Undertaker went off to see Jack Tunney and left Sue with the doctor. He suggested she take a shower and he would put some stuff on her back to ease it.
“I can’t I haven’t got anything to wear except what I’ve got on.” she said.
“Here borrow Marks robe, he won’t mind, it’ll be a bit big though.”
Half an hour later, Sue was feeling better and her back was easing. Mark came back, he had arrange a meeting with Jake in the funeral parlour the next day. What he was going to do, no-one knew. But they were all worried.
Sue was scared for Mark. She like everyone else had seen what Jake could do and didn’t want anything to happen to him.
“Let’s go back to the hotel for a drink.” Mark said “You can stay with me if you like.”
“I’d love to Mark.” she replied “But I need something to wear, I can’t go like this.”
He went and saw Miss Elizabeth and she very kindly lent Sue a black dress. It fit quite well and Sue felt a bit more respectable to go to the hotel. Mark put his arm round her as she got up, her back still hurt. For the first time in her life, she felt very small because although she was 6ft, Mark towered over her by 8 inches. She felt safe and relaxed, something she hadn’t done for a long time.
Sue spent a lovely evening with Mark and they ended up together for the night. Considering the impression he gave everyone about being mean, unemotional and evil, as a lover, he was very gentle, passionate and very experienced. Never had anyone made love to her as he did that night.
She didn’t get up till 11 the next morning and found that she was alone. There was a note on the pillow next to her, it read.
"SUE, HAVE GONE TO THE ARENA, MY DRIVER WILL BRING YOU HERE WHEN YOU GET UP, LOVE MARK."
She quickly had a bath, washed her hair and dressed. As she couldn’t wear what she had on yesterday, she looked to see if there was anything there of Marks that might do. It would be a job as he was so tall but she found a jumper and a pair of jeans. The jumper was baggy but that was the fashion anyway and the jeans had to be turned up at the bottom. She found a belt to go round them, she just hoped he wouldn’t mind.
It didn’t take long to get to the arena. The driver got her into the place, otherwise she wouldn’t have been allowed. She walked round to door no 9 what the wrestlers used. Mark was in the funeral parlour with Paul. In fact, it was Paul who saw her first and nudged Mark. He turned and did a sort of double take when he saw what she was wearing.
“Sorry I had nothing else to put on, hope you don’t mind.” she said.
“No it looks good on you, I’m surprised that it fitted even a little bit." He replied putting his arm around her.
She responded and cuddled him. It felt so right to be this close to Mark. She liked it but it scared her too, because he would be going back to the states soon. What would she do then? Still she wouldn’t think about that at the moment. It was best to see what happens.
She thought the funeral parlour looked really good, if it could be called good. She went to have a proper look as it would probably be the only chance she had. There was a platform with a silver coloured coffin on it. Beside this were two candle-stands holding five candles each. There were lots of flowers around the coffin and also a large wooden coffin, standing upright in the corner. It was lit with green lighting and a smoke machine behind it. s she glanced round, she realised that the Undertaker was dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt.He really looked different from when he went into the ring.
“I’ve a strange request. she said “I’ve never been in a coffin, can I have a go?”
“Aren’t you scared I might lock you in." He laughed.
“No I trust you totally."
He opened the lids, as it was in two halves and lifted in, gently not like he did the warrior a few months ago. It was quite cosy and comfortable. It was lined with silk and quite well padded. She thought it was weird to be laying in there but she was not scared in the slightest.
“Want to come out now, you don’t look right in there." He said.
He had a look of concern on his face but she didn’t know why. Maybe he would tell her when he had a bit more confidence in her and realised that she would never repeat anything he said to her.
“Shall we go and get something to eat?” he asked “I’m hungry and the matches start at 5 this evening."
He told her that there was a good café in the arena and that they would go there. Paul didn’t want anything yet and had a few things to do so would see them later. When they went in, Mark introduced her to the Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth. Sue thanked her for the loan of the dress the night before.
“That’s alright, I hope your back is better today."
“Yes, thank you."
“You had some guts going in-between those two, I’m not sure I would."
“I couldn’t let Mark get hurt like that. Not only that, no-body had realized that he had knocked himself out on the barrier, certainly not the officials but I diddn't think Jake would go that far."
They got up to go and said they would see them later. After some lunch,Mark took her back to the dressing room where he had to get his outfit ready for the show. She said she would iron his stuff for him if he liked. There was only the shirt, tie and coat to to. Thee rest was lycra. It took her about 20 minutes then she hung them on a hanger.
She made herself a cup of tea and a coffee for Mark. Paul had come in by this time, but didn’t want anything. Her and Mark sat on the sofa, which all the dressing room had, plus a table and chairs, bathroom and facilities for a drink or snack. Not all the arenas were like this though. He put his arm round her.
“You will be careful tonight, won’t you?” she said.
“I’ll try, it depends on what Jake comes up with. You’ve seen what he can do."
“I feel that it’s my fault you have to do this tonight. If I hadn’t interfered you wouldn’t have to." she said.
“Don’t be silly. You heard Jake, it didn’t matter whether you did anything or not. He wants me and God help anyone who gets in his way. Just promise me something."
“If I can." she replied.
“Don’t get yourself hurt again tonight. I’ll tell you what to do if you want to get involved but other than that, stay at a distance."
She cuddled him and ran her fingers through his hair. As she did so, he closed his eyes and kissed her gently. She thought she had caught his neck because he jumped. But he explained that he had pulled it slightly last night when he fell. Sue told him to lie on the sofa on his front. She massaged his neck and back, firmly but gently. He said it was lovely and when she looked, he had fallen asleep. She stopped and sat on the floor beside him so that she could lay her head on his arm and put her other arm round him. But not before she had covered him with a blanket as he would get cold with just a tee-shirt on. She must have fallen asleep too because when she woke up, it was 3pm, only two hours to go. They had been asleep for over an hour. She gently woke him.
“It’s 3pm, I thought I’d better wake you. I wasn’t sure when you wanted to get ready.”
“We’ve plenty of time, come here. I want a kiss but first lock the door."
He pulled her on top of him and he was soon kissing her passionately. She gave a little laugh and he asked what was so funny.
“I never thought I would ever meet you, let alone end up like this with you. You are so different to what you are like in the ring. I really do care for you." she said.
“Well I haven’t felt this way about anyone for ages. I care about you too.” he said.
Mark said he had better shower and get ready, the funeral parlour came on about half way through, he guessed about 6pm but he had to be ready just in case anything else happened. He told her to wear the black dress again, which she had brought with her. She could wear one of his long coats if she liked or she could leave it.
“This is what I want you to do, if you like.” he said “Paul will go out and talk to Jake, then the gong will go and I will enter. You walk behind me with your hand on my shoulder. When we get to the parlour, stay by the upright coffin. Don’t get any closer just in case. Jake has promised not to touch you but I don’t trust him. Depending on what he does, will allow you to decide what to do without getting hurt.”
“I promise not to get in the way but I can’t promise not to help you if he really hurts you.” she said “Mind you quite a few people will wonder who I am. By the way what about my make-up, I’m not very good at it because I don’t wear it that often.”
“I’ll ask Liz to do it for you, I’m sure she will.”
It was 5pm and Sue had had her make-up done and was ready. So was Mark. Liz had done a great job and Sue found her to be really nice. Paul had gone to the parlour and the Undertaker and Sue waited in the wings. He was worried, you could see it in his face. He could put on a front but couldn’t hide everything. Liz wished Sue good luck as it was her first time officially out there in the arena with the Undertaker.
One of the officials came in from the arena and said that there looked like trouble with Jake and advised the Undertaker to either not go or at least leave Sue behind. Mark said there was no way he was backing out, he looked at Sue.
“Are you sure you want to come with me. It might be best if you stayed here if there is trouble.”
“I’m going with you, no matter what happens, I’m not backing out either.” she replied.
The gong sounded and the Undertaker walked through the curtains with Sue, her hand on his shoulder. There were a lot of looks because no-one knew who she was, though some of them must have been there the night before. They walked to the funeral parlour which was next to the ring. Sue felt great as she walked out there with Mark. Never in her wildest dreams could she have ever imagined doing this.
Jake was standing in front of Paul with his hands on his hips, waiting with a smirk on his face. Sue didn’t like it, he was up to something. As they reached the platform, she gently squeezed his shoulder and stepped back to the coffin as she had been told to do.
They stood face to face and Jake demanded to know who’s side the Undertaker was on, what side of the river did he stand on. The Undertaker looked him straight in the eye and said in a low voice.
“Not Yours.”
Jake turned and grabbed the urn and quickly, opening the lid of the coffin, threw it in and slammed the lid shut. The Undertaker lunged at him and grabbing him by the throat tried to do a tombstone straight away. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, Jake wriggled out of it and slammed into the Undertaker from behind. He was trying to get him to get his urn from the coffin, taunting him and Sue wondered why he was so determined to get him to open it, when he had just thrown it in there.
They continued hammering each other for a while and then the Undertaker slowly walked over to the coffin. Jake by this time had walked around the back. The Undertaker slowly lifted the lid of the coffin and put his hand in to get the urn. Sue thought Jake was going to slam the lid down on his arm but he didn’t. As he reached inside the coffin, he suddenly jumped and clutching his arm, dropped to his knees.
Sue gasped in horror, as she saw, as did hundreds of other people, a 14ft king cobra hanging onto the Undertakers arm, biting harder the more he tried to get it off. Suddenly he collapsed to the floor, hardly moving at all. Paul had disappeared on the other side of the parlour. Jake just stood there and laughed, not attempting to release the snake from the Undertakers arm. None of the officials dared go near him to help him because they were petrified of the snake.
Mark was rocking from side to side moaning, obviously in pain. Sue couldn’t stand there any longer. She was already crying, she looked around to see if anyone was going to do anything and although she saw Macho man and Miss Elizabeth running down to the ring, there was no-one willing to take a chance. She would have to.
She totally ignored the fact it was a cobra, she wasn’t scared of snakes and as this one already had its mouth wrapped round his arm, she hoped it would stay there long enough for her to grab it behind the neck.
“Be careful Sue, no.” shouted Randy.
“I’ve got to do something.” she shouted back to him.
She ran to Mark and then slowly walked to where the snake was writhing on the floor as it bit into his arm. Very carefully she grabbed it by the neck and squeezed it to get it to release its grip. At the same time, with the other hand grabbing the rest of the snake which coiled its tail round her arm as it didn’t like being removed.
Jake, seeing this, backed off, knowing it was all over and he was in trouble and that his trap had failed, to a point. As she grabbed the snake, Randy and Elizabeth went to the aid of Mark. Someone brought a stretcher down. An official had found the bag that the snake went in and held it as Sue dropped it in, being very careful of the head. Cobras are renowned for being quick. The draw string was pulled tight and dropping the bag, she ran to Mark. He was sitting up, leaning against the platform, looking very white and shaking. Randy had found something to wrap round his arm to stop the bleeding.
They all knew that the cobra had been de-venomised as Jake had used this before on Randy a few weeks ago and their bite even then was just as lethal. The bite of a cobra without the fangs was just as painful and nasty on its own and could cause a nasty injury. Sue put her arm round him and cuddled him.
“It’s ok babe, we’re going to get you to the dressing room. You’ll be alright.”
Randy and two officials lifted the Undertaker onto the stretcher and with Elizabeth holding his arm up and Sue holding him the other side. They ran into the dressing room. Jake was nowhere to be found although the bag with the snake had gone. The doctor told Elizabeth to get Sue a drink, she looked like she needed one. They went into her dressing room and having a drink, Elizabeth sat beside her and put her arm round her.
“Come on Sue, he'll be alright, don’t worry. Drink this, I know how you feel, I’ve been there.”
As they sat there Randy came in to tell her that Mark was sleeping and would be fine in a couple of hours. Sue stood up to thank him for what he had done but suddenly felt very dizzy, probably from shock or worry she didn’t know.
“Are you alright Sue?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I feel really dizzy, I think I’m going to….”
That was the last she remembered, she collapsed in his arms. When she came too, Elizabeth was sitting beside her wiping her forehead with a damp cloth.
“How do you feel, you had us worried.”
“I’m ok, I’m sorry, I suppose everything caught up with me.”
“That’s ok, just lie here for a while, Randy has gone to see how Mark is.”
Sue must have fell asleep because it was nearly 10pm when she woke up and got a shock to see Mark sitting beside her.
“Mark, thank God you’re alright, you had us all scared.”
“I’m fine, the bite wasn’t too bad but the doctor gave me a sedative to help the pain and make me relax. But are you alright, Randy told me you passed out.”
Sue said she was and that she only fainted because she hadn’t had much to eat that day as he knew. His arm was bandaged but they held each other tight for a while and he kissed her. She cried as he held her.
“Mark I care for you really I do, hold me tight.”
“I know you do and I care for you too. Let’s go back to the hotel. Randy and them are waiting for us. But we’ll go up to my room if you’d rather.”
She asked what was going to happen to Jake. He had gone, Mark didn’t know where. But he knew Jake would suffer for what he had done. She wished she’d never asked.
“That’s all you think about.” she said “Getting revenge on each other. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt as long as somebody does. You could have been killed out there tonight and all you can think about is what you can do to hurt him tomorrow. I can’t stand it, I hate you, hate you.”
Hitting him hard, she ran out of the room and into the arena. She pulled the coffin off the platform and knocked the other one over, smashing the candles and the flowers. She fell to her knees clutching the flowers, sobbing. How could they enjoy hurting each other like that, she didn’t know. Wrestling was one thing but what happened today was downright dangerous. She’d probably done it now, Mark would not want to know her now, she had tried to tell him what to do, hit him and told him she hated him. Apart from interfering in everything, why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut and stay out of other peoples business.
The Undertaker went after her, he guessed where she had gone but he couldn’t see her at first. Then he noticed the damage in the parlour and saw her sitting in the middle of it. As he got nearer, he saw and heard he crying into the flowers. He slowly stepped over the broken coffin and candles and knelt beside her. She didn’t hear him and jumped when he touched her arm. She looked at him.
“I’m sorry Mark, I never meant to…….”Sue never finished the sentence, Mark took her in his arms and held her tight.
“Shh! Its ok, calm down.”
They sat there for a while until she had stopped crying and then Mark asked her why she had done it.
“I’ve always thought of myself as being pretty strong.” she said “But when I saw that cobra tonight, biting you and then you saying what you were going to do to Jake, I just fell apart. I don’t hate you, I couldn’t, I love you, do you hear me, I love you.”
"I know you love me, I can see it in your eyes, you don’t need to prove it in such a silly way.” he said grinning. “Paul is going to have a fit.”
“I’ll clear it up before he sees it.” she said "I haven’t done that much damage really. I’m really sorry.”
“We all do silly things sometimes, I just thought I might have done something wrong apart from the thing with Jake.”
“You could never do anything wrong as far as I am concerned. But I shouldn’t have told you I love you, it’s not going to work.”
Mark asked her why she thought that. She explained that she had only known him a short while and he would be going back to the states at the end of the week and that would be that. She also told him that she was a jinx to people she cared about or loved and told him why.
“You can’t blame yourself for what happens, it’s just coincidence. If you think that you’ll ruin the rest of your life. Is that why you don’t want to love me?”
“Yes, I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you and I know I would be to blame.”
“Come on let’s go to the hotel, they’ll wonder where we are. We’ll talk about this later, I have something in mind but I have to think about things first.”
They arrived at the hotel and Randy asked where they had been. They told him the traffic held them up. Sue went and had a word with Paul and told him the Funeral parlour was in a bit of a mess and she would help him clear it up the next day. She said she had tripped and knocked the coffin over.
Liz asked what had happened, when they went into the ladies later on as she could see by her eyes that she had been crying. Sue told Liz, afterwards Liz hugged her.
“Take my advice, if you love him go for it. I nearly lost Randy because I couldn’t make up my mind. If it’s going to work it will, if not you will have tried. But don’t let it slip through your fingers because you are scared of losing him at the start. Be positive, tell him you love him and let fate take its course."
“I love him so much, I’d like to tell the world, a bit like you did.”
“Why don’t you, it could be arranged.”
“But I don’t want to push into a corner where he feels he has to love me or put up with me.”
"Look I’ll try and find out how he feels about you if you like and we’ll take it from there.”
Sue agreed as long as she didn’t make it obvious that it was her who wanted to know. Just make it a general thing.
“What were you two doing, we thought we’d lost you.” said Randy.
“No we were just talking about London. Sue was telling me what it was like to live here. We forgot the time.” said Liz.
After an hour Mark and Sue went up to their room. When they walked in there was a note shoved under the door. It just said ‘To the Undertaker R.I.P’ He opened it, read it and put it in his pocket.
“Who was it from?” asked Sue.
“Oh it’s nothing. It doesn’t matter.” he replied.
She could see the look of concern in his face, so she decided to press the matter. In the end he showed her. It read.
"YOU GOT AWAY WITH LIFE TONIGHT BUT DON’T THINK YOU WILL THE NEXT TIME. NEXT TIME YOU WILL BE DEAD, DESTROYED AND THAT PAUL BEARER AND THAT GIRL. SHE INTERFERED TONIGHT TOO MUCH, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD IF SHE HADN’T PULLED MY BABY OFF YOU. JUST DON’T TURN YOU BACKS ON ME BECAUSE YOU WON’T BE GOING HOME. THERE IS TO BE A CORNER OF ENGLAND THAT IS FOREVER AMERICA.
THE SNAKE"
Sue gave the note back to Mark, who was now sitting on the end of the bed.
“This is getting stupid, He has got to be stopped Mark.” she said “What are you going to do.”
“First thing in the morning I’m going to talk to Jack. He has to do something to stop Jake now. It’s not that I’m scared of him, I’m not but it’s getting dangerous. I want you to stay away from the arena tomorrow to be on the safe side.”
“No, I’m not staying away, some of this is my fault and if he has it in for me as well, staying here isn’t going to stop him. Not only that I’d be worried sick if I knew you were there alone. Am I being stubborn?”
Mark pulled her onto the bed beside him, and they lay there together.
“You’re not being stubborn or silly but we’ll talk about it in the morning. Let’s forget about Jake for now, I’ve more important things to think about, come here.”
Sue woke first, about 7am and went and had a shower, slipped into Marks robe and rang down for some tea. There was a knock at the door about 15 minutes later and a waiter brought in the trolley. She poured one out for herself and then one for Mark. As she put it on the bedside table, she sat down beside him and kissed him gently on the lips. He stirred and opening his eyes, smiled.
“You’re up early.”
“No, I’ve been awake since 5 but only up since 7. I’ve had a shower, got some tea and now I need you.”
It was an hour later when they finally drank their cold tea. Mark got up and after using the bathroom, phoned down to Jack. He would go and see him and Sue said she would see Liz. Sue had a great time with Liz and they had a good conversation about the States, London and of course Mark. Randy came in and was surprised to see Sue there.
“I’d have thought you would have gone to the arena with Mark, he left with Jack about 2 hours ago.”
“Oh no, I bet he’s gone to meet Jake alone. There’s no other reason for him to go there this early.”
“Hold on, Jake is still in his room, I’ve just seen the waiter go in there, so Marks gone for another reason. He won’t be long, What’s happened then.”
Sue told him about the note and he came to the same conclusion. Jake definitely had to be stopped. He suggested they went down to the lounge to wait. Randy was going to the gym for a while but they would be alright. Gene was about so was Paul, if there was any trouble they only had to call them or phone him in the gym. When they walked into the lounge, Mark was already back and standing at the bar with Jack. He saw Liz and Sue and beckoned them over.
“When Randy said you had already gone to the arena, we thought you had gone to meet Jake on your own.”
“Oh no, I am not going to meet him alone, not now. Do you want a drink?”
Liz and Sue had tea and Mark introduced Sue to Jack Tunney. She asked him what they were going to do about Jake.
“Well I’ve arranged a match-up with Jake tonight. I’ll be there and there will be no snakes, no dirty tricks on his side. I’ve seen him and he’s agreed. But we will be careful. Now if you want to go out to the arena with Mark, please come and sit with me while the match is on. For your sake we don’t want to tempt Jake into doing anything. Mark didn’t want you there but from what he has told me about you, I don’t think he’ll stop you, am I right?”
“You’re right but I will do as you say. I don’t want Mark hurt anymore than is necessary to stop Jake although I’m not bothered about me. I personally would kill him.”
Mark told her that he didn’t want her to get hurt either, Jack suggested that they went out for a couple of hours and forget about the wrestling and relax. They didn’t need to be at the arena till about 6.30. Mark wasn’t due to go into the ring till 9pm. They told Liz that they would see her and Randy later. She would go and let Randy know what was going on.
It was nearly 5 by the time they got back to the hotel. They had gone on a bit of a tour of London by river. A few kids recognised him but it wasn’t too bad. Mark seemed to be enjoying himself and started to relax a bit. When they got back to their room, Sue said she would have a shower and wouldn’t be long. When she came out, Mark was lying on the bed, he looked asleep but when she went over to him, she found he only had his eyes shut, not asleep.
“Are you alright Mark.” she asked “You don’t look it.”
“I’m not sure to be honest. I feel a bit sick and dizzy, that’s why I laid down. I might be getting the flu or something, it’s been doing the rounds. I hope not.”
Sue felt his head and said he had a temperature but it didn’t seem too bad. She knew he would still go to the arena tonight. They got ready and headed off to the arena. While Mark got ready, Sue went and saw Liz and borrowed her long black gown with a cape. It looked lovely, it was a bit short but looked fine. She told her that Mark wasn’t feeling too good and Liz said she thought something was wrong earlier but put it down to Jake. Sue said she would keep an eye on him but it was down to him whether he went to the ring or not.
The time came for him to go out, he said he was feeling fine now. Mark passed his coat and hat to Sue and she sat with Jack as promised. It was a good match and Mark won but not before Jake had given him a run for his money. There were no tricks from Jake although Sue and Jake wondered what he was up to. At the end there was a standing ovation for the Undertaker and Sue followed him back to the dressing room. She had her hand on his arm and she thought he still felt hot but he had been fighting, so it could be that.
“I don’t think I’ll get any more trouble off him for a while.” said Mark to Jack “But who can tell.”
“Mark are you sure you are alright, you’ve still got a temperature.”
“Well, I still feel dizzy and sick but I might feel better if I get to bed. Lets go back to the hotel, I can’t even be bothered to get changed first.”
They got back to the hotel within 45 minutes and he hardly said a word all the way there. He went straight up to the room when they got back. Sue went and ordered some tea and sandwiches, then she went up. As she unlocked the door and walked in, she found the door wouldn’t open properly. She put her head round the door and saw Mark unconscious on the floor. She went back out to see if she could find anyone to help. The only person around, was Jake. She had no choice but to get him to help her as much as she didn’t want to.
"Jake, can you help me, Mark has passed out.” she called.
Jake ran up the hall and went into the room with her. Sue told him that he’d had a temperature all day but said he was alright, although he had felt dizzy and sick. Jake knelt beside him.
“Why didn’t he say something before the match?” asked Jake! “Stay here with him and I’ll go and get the doctor, he is only down the hall and don’t worry.”
Sue got a cloth and tried to bring him round which only took a couple of minutes. She helped him sit up.
“Take it easy, you had me scared. Jake has gone to get the doctor.”
“Jake, why him and I don’t want a doctor.”
“He was the only one around to help and I think it would be best to get you checked over.”
When Jake came back, under protest Mark let him help him to the bed.
“I’ve got some consideration when someone is ill regardless of our differences in the ring.” said Jake.
“Ok. Point taken, thank you” replied Mark.
The doctor saw and confirmed what they had thought, he had flu and needed to spend a couple of days in bed. As they weren’t going back to the states till Sunday, he had 3 days to rest. The last match was Sunday afternoon and the flight out was 11pm Sunday night.
Three days, that’s all she had with him, Liz was going to have to find out if he cared about her and if he did, something would have to be done the Sunday afternoon. So she could tell him how much she loved him in such a short time. Mark had gone to sleep so she decided to go and see Liz and get her to find out later.
“Look, I’ll come to your room to see how Mark is, you go and have a shower and I’ll find out what I can. If he says he does care, I’ll arrange something with Jack and Gene.” Said Liz.
“I hope he does because I love him but if he doesn’t I’ll have to except it although it’s going to hurt. I’ve felt so good, happy and secure with him this week and so safe. I know it sounds silly but it’s true.”
“It doesn’t sound silly.” said Liz “I can see you love him, I hope this all works out.”
Sue went back to the room and waited for Liz to come later that afternoon. She had her fingers crossed as she sat there with mark, who was still sleeping. She kissed him gently.
“I love you Mark.” she whispered softly.
It was now about 10pm and Sue had gone down to the bar to meet Liz for a quick drink. Mark would be alright for a while. He had slept for most of the day which would do him good. He’d been sick once but the temperature and dizziness were getting him down and he ached all over. Randy had been to see him but he had been asleep and so did Jake. He was worried in case something he had done was the cause of the illness, but Sue assured him it wasn’t, the flu had been coming on for a couple of days.
“I’m popping down to see liz, will you be alright?” Sue asked.
“Of course.” replied Mark “I’ll watch some tv. Look thanks for everything you’ve done the last couple of days. It’s been lovely having you here.”
“I’m here because I want to be and because I really care about you. Oh, you know how I feel.”
She kissed him and left. Liz was sitting in the corner with her drink, Sue got a tomato juice and joined her. Liz asked how Mark was.
“He’s a lot better but is still not right. I told him I wouldn’t be long. Did you find out anything. By the time I came out of the bathroom you had gone.”
“Randy phoned through, he needed me for something. But I did find out that Mark is pretty sure he loves you. But he is scared that you only love him because he is the Undertaker. He knows you care about him, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. But you do understand why he thinks like that?”
“Oh I understand but I do love him for him, not who he is in the ring. The only way I know how to convince him is to go into the ring and tell the world how I feel. He makes me feel good and safe and I love him. It’s as simple as that. Where do we go from here?”
“Well I’m seeing Jack tomorrow and Randy will be there. We will try to get Gene to ask you into the ring just as the Undertaker finishes his match. He’ll ask you who you are etc.”
“How long before I can say what I want to say to Mark>”
“Not long, maybe a couple of minutes because Mark won’t want to be in the ring any longer than he has to. Although this time he will wonder what is going on. Plus if things go to plan I think Mark will stay on a few days, he has no matches in the states for a week.”
Sue said it was time she went back and said goodnight to Liz. On the Sunday morning Liz phoned and asked Sue to pop along to her room.
“Well, it’s all arranged. You will walk to the ring as usual, he has his match with a newcomer, the man then leaves the ring and Paul gets Mark to kneel like he does in front of the urn. Then Randy goes down to the ring, gets in and beckons the Undertaker to stay. The he or Paul sits on the rope to let you come in. Gene thought it better if Randy did it instead of him. He’ll take it from there and then you can tell people how you feel.”
“It sounds great but I think the hardest thing will be keeping Mark in the ring afterwards.”
“Well that’s Pauls job, he’ll think of something. Randy will be waiting to get to the ring as soon as the match ends. I’ll see you at the arena later and act as normal as possible.”
She went back to the room and Mark phoned down for some breakfast, he was feeling much better. He suggested they went out for a walk, he needed to get some fresh air. While they waited for the breakfast to come up, she pulled him onto the bed and started tickling him. He did the same and they were laughing so much they didn’t hear the knock at the door.
“Leave it outside thank you.” called Mark.
Grabbing Sue, he kissed her and she couldn’t resist his powerful arms round her. It was an hour before they went to get the breakfast from outside the door. After they were finished they went out for a walk. It was great to walk down the street with him and feel his arm round her. Mark seemed relaxed and happy. Randy had told her that even some of the wrestlers had seen a change in him. Instead of looking solemn and unemotional, he was smiling and generally seemed happy. They liked it although they still didn’t trust him in the ring.
By the time they got back to the hotel they only had half an hour before they needed to leave for the arena. The car picked them up outside. Mark would be going into the ring about 4.30 and Sue wasn’t succeeding in showing how nervous she was.
“Sue what’s wrong, you seem very tense.” asked Mark.
“I’m alright, my gallstone is playing up a bit, I’ll be alright.” she said.
Mark put his arm round her and she laid her head on his shoulder. If tonight didn’t work, she would be alone tomorrow and he would be 5,000 miles away. Only about 7 more hours before they leave. She felt like crying her eyes out. She didn’t want him to go but couldn’t ask him to stay, she would never ask him to give up his career. She went to see Randy and Liz when she got to the arena.
“I feel like I’m pushing him into a corner, I don’t know if I can do this to him.” she said.
“You’re not Sue.” replied Randy “You love him, don’t let him go without telling him, you may never get another chance.”
Sue agreed and Liz helped her get ready. She wore the black dress and cape covered in beads. It was time to go and they waited for the funeral gong and then they would walk to the ring. After it was finished, Paul got in and held the urn up so mark knelt in front of it. When he rose he saw Randy with the mic. He looked at Paul, who simply shrugged his shoulders and pretended he didn’t know what was going on.
“Undertaker would you please hang on a minute. I’m sure there is something everyone wants to know and that is, who is the young lady with you and Paul at the moment. Would you come up here please?”
He beckoned Sue and Paul sat on the rope so she could get in the ring. Mark looked at Sue, Paul and Randy, knowing something was going on but not knowing what. He’d never been asked to stay in the ring before. Sue went over to Randy who smiled and asked.
“Ok everybody would like to know who you are and why you are with the Undertaker?”
“Well my name is Sue and I am with him through a total accident to do with my interfering the other night.”
“You’ve certainly made an impression, oh yeahhhh. The Undertaker is an impressive sight coming down to the ring with Paul anyway but with a lovely lady as well, he’s certainly got the WWF talking.”
Sue just smiled and Randy asked the last question which would allow her to tell Mark what she wanted the world to know.
“You have been seen on a couple of occasions to actually risk your own life to help the Undertaker, can you tell me why?”
“Well Randy, I’ve always liked and admired the Undertaker from a distance and the other night I had the oppitunity to help him. Since then I got to know him and although its only been a week I have found him to be a very kind, affectionate and gentle man and I did know you were going to ask me out here, for one reason and one reason only. For me to be able to tell the Undertaker and everybody watching that even though it has only been a week I love that man more than anything in the world and I felt that this was the only way I could prove it to him. I love you Mark, I really do.”
Randy didn’t have to say another word, the Undertaker held out his arms and Sue ran into them and the middle of the ring they held each other. The crowd erupted, everybody stood, clapped and cheered. He let go of Sue and taking the mic away from Randy, faced Sue and knelt as though he was facing the urn and said in a soft voice (something that no-one had heard before).
“Sue will you marry an Undertaker?”
She stood there, tears in her eyes and quoting Liz because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Oh Yeah!!!!!!!!”
Mark stood up and taking her hand, pulled her to him and as they did so, something happened that even Sue didn’t know about. He had arranged for fireworks to go off above the ring on the assumption that Mark would do exactly what he did do. They went off with a bang making everybody jump. As they went off, Mark sat on the rope for Sue to get out and then followed her and together they walked out of the arena, everybody’s cheers ringing in their ears. Liz was waiting for them.
“I saw what happened, congratulations. I didn’t think you would actually propose in the ring Mark.”
“Well Sue had gone to so much trouble to let me know how she felt I wanted to let her know how I felt about her. I didn’t expect her to have the guts to tell the world how she felt about me not knowing what my reaction would be.”
“I had to let you know I loved you. I just hoped you felt the same way. It was a chance I had to take but you’ll never know how proud I was when you asked me to marry you. I love you so much.” said Sue.
They decided to slip off to the hotel and meet everyone there later. All their stuff was packed and already at the hotel except the holdalls they had with them. Sue was still worried because she didn’t know if he would fly out tonight or not, perhaps he’d stay a couple of days more. She couldn’t ask him to stay for her and she couldn’t go with him at short notice because she didn’t have her passport back from the passport office yet. Also she wasn’t flush with money and she didn’t want to sponge off Mark. It might look like she was after his money and that was the last thing she wanted.
They were sitting in the lounge with Liz and Randy when the rest of the wrestlers came in. They all congratulated them with the exception of Jake and Sid. Gene came over and Mark asked him to sit down.
“Gene look, I’ve got no more wrestling matches till next weekend so I’ll be staying in the U.K. for a few more days. Sue and I have some important things to sort out.”
“Look if I can square it with Jack, you don’t have to be back for about 2 weeks. Would that be long enough”?
So Mark re-booked their room for the next two weeks, that way they could get all they needed to sorted out. After a while they sneaked off to bed and with a bottle of champagne, Sue couldn’t think of a more romantic way to spend the time with the man she loved.
THREE MONTHS LATER…….
A lot had happened in the last three months. Sue had got her passport and had returned to the states with Mark. They had arranged everything, their wedding, where they were going to live the lot. But the most exciting thing would be the wedding itself. It had all been arranged in secret with the exception of Randy, Liz and Jack. Nobody else knew where it was going to be or when. Least of all that it was going to be at Wrestlemania IX. The hardest thing would be to decorate the ring, while the people were out there. It would have to be done with the curtains lowered from above with most of the lights out.
Liz had agreed to be chief bridesmaid and Randy was to be best man. Sue wanted Mark to wear his Undertaker gear, it wouldn’t look right otherwise. So he had some really nice ones made. Liz had gone to help choose Sues dress. As the shop had some different coloured ones and Sue chose a black crinoline with a long train and catherdral length black veil. Her bouquet would be white lilies that were in the funeral parlour only in a cascade mixed with fern.
There was just one week to go till Wrestlemania, Mark was actually wrestling Sid Justice but it was going to be the first match so they could go back and get ready for the wedding. All the flowers, clothes etc had been taken in the night before and hidden from prying eyes. Curtains had been hung above the ring but nobody had really noticed them. They weren’t really supposed to see each other on the day of the wedding but they had been living together so it wouldn’t matter too much.
“In a few hours you will be my wife, I can’t wait.” said Mark holding her.
“Neither can I, I love you so much, I wouldn’t care if we got married in the dressing room as long as I married you.” she said.
She told him that she would go and get ready for the match and then it would give them about 2 hours before the ceremony. This walk to the ring was easy compared to the next one. She had a long sequined dress on with matching cape and the match itself went well. Although Mark did take a hammering from Sid, he did win. They did everything as they normally do without giving anything away. The wedding was being announced as a special main event, so everyone was thinking of who could be fighting, never imaging what was going to happen.
As Liz finished helping Sue with her dress, Randy came in.
“God Sue, you look lovely.” he said.
Mark was going to the ring first and wait for Sue, as soon as he walks down they would know what the main event was. Everyone was wondering and talking about why there were curtains round the ring and why boxes were being taken into the ring. The ropes were gone and the curtains went up. Everyone gasped as they realised what the main event was going to be.
The vicar went down to the ring and stood in the middle. Suddenly the funeral gong sounded and Mark walked down with Randy. He looked great. The normal Undertaker stuff was good but this was covered in beadwork and he looked fantastic. They walked up the steps and waited in front of the vicar. Even some of the other wrestlers had come down to watch. The music changed to the Land of Hope and Glory theme and first to walk to the ring was Liz in a simple beaded gown and a bouquet of lilies. A cheer went up for her as it always did. She stood by the steps and looked back towards the dressing room area. The music changed again to the wedding march. This was Sue’s cue.
Slowly she walked down to the ring. The train and veil tailed back about 10ft behind her. Her flowers came to her feet and boy, did she get a standing ovation. She smiled at Liz as she got to the steps and Liz helped her with the train. Randy came to offer his hand so she wouldn’t fall. As she got to Mark, he whispered how lovely she looked. She handed the flowers to Liz and the service began. You could hear a pin drop in the arena as they listened to Sue and Mark take their vows. Not till the very end when the vicar said “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
As Mark took Sue in his arms and kissed her, the arena erupted and suddenly glitter, confetti and petals cascaded into the ring from above and the fireworks went off from all round the arena. They stayed in the ring for a good 15 minutes so the people could and for the cheering to subside a little but it didn’t. Mark stepped down and held Sue’s hand while she walked down the steps and arm in arm they slowly walked to the dressing room. As they walked through the curtains, the wrestlers were there including Jake who was holding a tray of champagne.
“Regardless of our differences I hope you’ll both be very happy. Good luck.” he said.
"Thanks Jake.” said Mark.
They shook hands and Sue kissed him and whispered “No cobras please ok.”
He laughed and said no way not at the Undertakers wedding, he wouldn’t dare. They all went off to the reception what had been arranged and it went off without a hitch. About midnight they all said their farewells and after throwing the bouquet, Sue and Mark left for their honeymoon. Two weeks in the Seychelles. As they got into the car to the airport, they both thanked Liz and Randy for everything.
“Good luck you two, have a great time.” shouted Liz.
They would still be waving as they drove into the night. Sue’s dream really had come true, she had not only met the Undertaker but fell in love with him and now they were husband and wife. She couldn’t be happier and looked forward to their life together.
“I love you sweetheart and you looked gorgeous today.” said Mark.
“I love you too darling and so did you.” They kissed and cuddled in the back of the car and drove off on the start of their journey into a life of happiness.
THE END