A few years before The Undertaker 'officially' retired from WWE in 2020, Mark Calaway - the man behind the character - pulled back the curtain on his life.

For well over two decades, The Phenom was one of the most protected athletes in the world - let alone just sports entertainment. 

He rarely did public appearances, almost never did interviews and certainly never broke character. But that's all changed in the age of social media.

Calaway has run his own personal Instagram account since 2018 and last year fully smashed kayfabe, allowing WWE cameras to follow his life for the Last Ride documentary series. 

While many fans were excited to finally see the man behind The Undertaker, some were unhappy that he 'broke kayfabe' after so many years. 

One of those people is Dave LeGreca, host of Busted Open Radio. He recently had Stone Cold Steve Austin on his show and discussed how didn't like the fact that 'Taker has broken character.

But how does the WWE icon feel about his colleague doing that? Speaking to Busted Open, Stone Cold jumped to The Undertaker's defence. 

"I can appreciate what you’re saying. Because you’re one of those guys that couldn’t stand to see Taker lift up the veil and finally say after 30 years, 'Believe it or not, I’m a human being.'

"That’s the way I look at it because I’m a big fan of the business as anybody. And I understand kayfabe, I understand protecting the business, but when it’s time to ride off into the sunset, it’s time.

"If Mark Callaway never talked about being The Undertaker, why shouldn’t he have that opportunity to do that, just like anybody else, because he can’t be The Undertaker anymore." 

Austin went on to say that he's glad Calaway has 'broken the cycle' of kayfabe and that it won't affect any of his future WWE appearances.

"He can make an appearance on RAW, or whatever, but now it’s time to live his life, and the majority of his life was being that guy," he continued.

"So I think it’s great for him to do it, it doesn’t bother me in the least. I mean hell, I’ve done it, and to a point, you don’t start going in that cycle, everybody’s asking the same questions.

"But that’s going to take a long time, so I think it’s outstanding." 

We certainly agree with you, Stone Cold. The Undertaker gave everything to WWE for 30 years, so it's only right he decides how to live the rest of his life. He wanted to pull the curtain back, so he did.