The Undertaker's cinematic Boneyard match with A.J. Styles at WrestleMania 36 was a groundbreaking event in The Deadman's near-thirty year history in the WWE. He thrived in the theatrical battle, which turned out to be one of the best things he's done in a long time. While fans witnessed the first (and hopefully not last) official Boneyard match between The Phenom and Styles, there's actually proof that, despite what Styles said in the lead-up to 'Mania, The Undertaker actually had a Boneyard match... over 20 years ago. And it was WILD.
Most WWE and Undertaker fans don't know this, but in 1999 the (then) WWF collaborated with Chaos! Comics to produce a 10 issue series based on The Phenom. However, instead of comics that reflected or resembled Undertaker's feuds and storylines within the confines of the wrestling ring, the story taps into his supernatural powers and dark mythology. The premise is that not only is Undertaker a professional wrestler, he is also the ruler of Hell's prison called Stygian, and has had the gig for centuries. He was able to do so because he held the three Books of the Dead, but two of them were stolen over time, one by Paul Bearer. The two remaining books are the McGuffin of the comics and The Undertaker is on a mission to retrieve them.
In the sixth part of the series, The Undertaker's first official Boneyard match takes place. It's easy to prove that it's a Boneyard Match because the issue outright calls it "Battle in the Boneyard!" And who was his opponent? Why, none other than his longtime foe... The Embalmer? As almost no Undertaker fans know, The Embalmer is a demon who means to rule over the damned in Hell. He decides to gather The Undertaker, Kane, Paul Bearer and Jezebelle (Kane's half sister) at the Black Rose Cemetery to obtain the book and finally fulfill his destiny as the new lord of Stygian, gaining all the power and authority that comes with it.
The four twisted members of The Undertaker family make a fine group, but it gets even better with the edition of Mankind, who can see through the earthly disguises of Embalmer's hellish minions. Speaking of minions -- or indeed, Mideons -- Undertaker's infamous Ministry of Darkness even make a cameo to help turn the tide in the Boneyard beatdown. While the Ministry were the clear villains on television, in the comics they look like heroes compared to Embalmer and the Dark Souls.
In the real Boneyard Match at WrestleMania, The Undertaker managed to win on his own, despite going against multiple opponents. In the comics, however, Undertaker needed all of his allies because The Embalmer's minions were way more powerful than Styles', especially Paul Bearer, who, in the comics is a keen necromancer for some weird reason.
Amidst this wild battle, Paul Bearer and The Undertaker negotiate a deal in which Bearer gives The Deadman one of the Books of the Dead in exchange for becoming his second in command of the Ministry of Darkness. What's utterly gross is that instead of handing the book to him, Bearer had it literally lodged in his belly and Undertaker used his force-like powers to retrieve it. Yes, that is a scene that exists in a real comic book -- and it's not even the weirdest part of the series.
Just when The Phenom finally has the power he's been searching for, The Embalmer literally impalesTaker with a stone cross and kills him. The Embalmer gloats over Undertaker's corpse while his allies stand there in shock to end Issue #6. Obviously The Deadman comes back like most dead comic book characters, but this insane Boneyard Battle actually has him losing in the end, unlike his WrestleMania 36 reprisal.
A.J. Styles and The Undertaker's Boneyard match was fun, but it pales in comparison to the insanity that the Chaos! comic book brought to the table. If the WWE wants to continue doing cinematic matches, creative should take a crack at adaptation of THIS!