WWE’s The Undertaker Underwent Emergency Heart Surgery

Michelle McCool’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas in April may have been a celebratory occasion, but it was a “terrifying” experience for the pro wrestler and her husband, The Undertaker.

Just a day after the couple returned from Las Vegas, The Undertaker, real name Mark Calaway, was rushed into emergency heart surgery.

“I felt that when people would come up to congratulate me and ask how I was doing, I was almost in tears. I would say I’m okay, but they could tell I wasn’t,” McCool recalled during a recent episode of their Six Feet Under podcast. “They thought it was probably just because of the speech, but it was because of the heart issues you had been having weeks prior, which we found out by the grace of God.”

Despite showing up to induct his wife into the WWE Hall of Fame, The Undertaker “wasn’t supposed to go to Vegas.” According to McCool, during a doctor’s visit in March, it was discovered that McCool been in chronic atrial fibrillation (AFib), which is an irregular and often very rapid heart rhythm, per the Mayo Clinic, for some time.

“Come to find out, you had been in chronic AFib for who knows how long. But the scary part was that you didn’t feel any symptoms, so we didn’t know,” McCool revealed. “Yeah, you came in a few times out of breath and I’d give you a hard time like, ‘Dude, you were just throwing the ball with the dog, why are you so out of breath?’ Or going up the stairs to pray with the kids, ‘Why are you out of breath,’ not thinking it was an actual heart issue.”

McCool said it was her husband’s “old school mentality” that prompted him to still follow through with his Wrestlemania commitments, admitting that “it was terrifying. I couldn’t focus on anything else. All I wanted to focus on was you, your heart, getting you in with the best cardiologist.” She said that after returning home from the event, “the next morning at 6 a.m., we were at the hospital for heart surgery.”

Thankfully, the couple said The Undertaker’s heart issues have since been resolved.

The famed WWE star had an iconic three-decade career with WWE before he retired in 2020. He now hosts his Six Feet Under podcast alongside his wife, who is also set to appear in Season 2 of A&E’s in-ring competition series WWE LFG: Legends & Future Greats, replacing Mickie James.