In 1991, The Ultimate Warrior appeared as the first guest on Paul Bearer’s Funeral Parlor, a new interview segment on WWF’s Superstars of Wrestling television show. At the time, I was 8 years old and a huge wrestling fan. During the interview, The Undertaker came out of a casket on the set and attacked the Ultimate Warrior from behind with a metal urn, eventually forcing him into the casket and shutting the lid while Paul Bearer locked it. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Vince McMahon lent their commentary, which quickly turned from a fairly standard commentary to a panicked plea for help, while stage crew help tried for several minutes to open the casket. I was watching what I thought to be the televised death of a human being from a bedroom at my grandparent’s house. I didn’t actually see the casket finally open and an unconscious Warrior revived and carried off by medics because I was crying so loudly that my mother ran in from another room and carried me out to the living room where my grandparents and uncle were sitting. My mother consoled me while my uncle gave me a hard time for being suckered into believing that wrestling wasn’t scripted entertainment. In fact, he still makes sure to remind me when I see him that I believed wrestling was real when I was 8 years old.

This is a comic about that day.

31 Risographed pages.