WWE legend The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) and Hastings fan Hemi Moeroa at the meet and greet in Brisbane.
WWE legend The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) and Hastings fan Hemi Moeroa at the meet and greet in Brisbane.
Originally published by Māori Television
Wearing a freshly inked mataora fit to meet a rangatira, Hastings fan Hemi (James) Moeroa (Ngāti Porou, Cook Islands), grabbed a VIP meet-and-greet ticket online and jumped on a flight to Brisbane recently to live the dream of meeting a childhood idol, widely regarded as one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time. And he took a precious gift with him for the star.
“I’ve been watching wrestling since I was 2. My parents and my grandparent used to take me, and then when it came on TV I was about 10 or 12. So I’ve been a fan ever since, and I’ve been a fan of The Undertaker since I was probably 16 years old,” says Moeroa.
“When I was growing up, we grew up pretty ‘plastic’ [Māori], so music, pop culture, wrestling, Street Fighter that was our culture back in the day. Until I had my own kids at age 18 and 20, and then I started growing up, wanting my kids to be proud of who they were and finding a pride in myself being Māori, being Cook Island.”
An inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, and one of the biggest names in pro wrestling history, retired wrestler Mark Calaway – better known by his ring name, The Undertaker – was in Australia in February with his one-man talk show UNDERTAKER 1 deadMAN SHOW.
Initially, there was only one show planned, in Perth.
“I tried for that and I clicked to buy tickets and within seconds they all sold out,” says Moeroa. “I wasn’t disheartened, I thought, ‘oh, this is not meant to be.’
“A couple of days later, they announced shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. I’ve got whānau in Brisbane, Māori whānau and Cook Island whānau, so I thought, ‘give it a go’ and clicked and got me some tickets.”
An imposing 2.08m, ”Taker” is known for his macabre, undead character and signature Tombstone and Hell’s Gate moves.
They are a big part of the reason Moeroa says he was so keen to meet the wrestling great.
“Because of his persona and I mean he wears black and I love the colour black. And I don’t know, he was just some guy that I wouldn’t have wanted to mess with in real life.”
Moeroa, who it’s safe to say is one of those “legit” fans that will go all out to meet their idols – “I feel the same way, you don’t have to explain yourself to people who know what you’re on about” – wanted the occasion to be extra special.
“I’ve got a mate I grew up with, Aaron Greaves, he’s a pounamu and bone carver. And I thought, ‘Well, I really admire this man so much that I’ll give a part of who we are’. So I had his tohu made out of greenstone, out of pounamu. I wasn’t too sure if he would accept it because I heard that superstars aren’t allowed to take gifts.”
The taonga, carved by Aaron Greaves, that was gifted to WWE wrestling legend The Undertaker by Hastings fan Hemi Moeroa.
The taonga, carved in the shape of The Undertaker’s trademark cross, looks precious.
“Yeah, nah, it was more than a hundred [dollars] and less than a thousand. But to me, it was a million bucks.”
It’s so beautiful that it is no doubt sure to have left an impression on the star.
“Oh, thank you. That’s given me goosebumps.”
Moeroa didn’t stop at the taonga, he also hurried to make sure he would look his best when he met the wrestler at the aftershow. He also planned to surprise him with a haka.
“I walked in shook his hand, said, ‘As you can see, I’m not from this country’. Because I only got my mataora a week before I went to go see him.
“I got it for my 50th birthday, only because I knew I was meeting a rangatira. I wanted to turn up, you know [just so]. Because I probably would have ditched out [of the haka] if I didn’t have my mataora, because he’s just, I don’t know. And in front of him, because he’s not exactly little either.”
Each of the VIP ticketholders had just a few brief minutes with the star and weren’t allowed to video their meet, although some photos were allowed.
“I went up to him and said, ‘I’ve brought you a gift. This material is important to our people, people call it greenstone, but in our language it’s pounamu. And this is just a token of my appreciation for what you’ve done in your sports entertainment but also in my life.’
“Because my kids are 30 and 32 this year, and when they were young, when we were in the thick of watching it in the 90s, he was ‘Pāpā Taker’ to them.”
Moeroa says the wrestler told him: “This is special, it’s really cool.”
“As soon as he said that and he was looking at it, I just went straight into it – no, taringa whakarongo. It was just straight into Tika Tonu. And oh, the Aussie security guards were kind of, ‘what’s going on here?’
“But he took it [the taonga] and looked as staunch as he does, and then at the end [of the haka] he just said, ‘it was very motivating’.”
Moeroa dressed up for the occasion too.
“Two years ago, I met another legend in wrestling called Mick Foley. He’s a hardcore legend and so when I met Mick Foley I wore an Undertaker shirt and I said, ‘When I meet Undertaker I’m gonna dress as Mick Foley’. So what I dressed like was a man called Mick Foley.”
Everything was very “strict” with time and recording at his meet with Taker, says Moeroa.
“I just said my kōrero, did the haka, gave him a bow and cruised out.
“It was an honour to meet the man. He was so humble.”
Moeroa says his whānau were excited for him.
“Oh, they were just blown away but not surprised because I’m pretty passionate about most things I love, like music.
“I’ve done the haka for a band called Lamb of God, they’re a pretty popular heavy metal band. And that’s given me a connection with the singer because he loves indigenous cultures.”
It wasn’t until Moeroa was on his way home to Aotearoa that the true joy of the experience really sunk in, he says.
“It didn’t really dawn on me the gravity of the situation until my plane took off from Brisbane and I was flying home. And I was like, ‘Wow, I just represented our people in front of all these Aussies to one of the greatest sports entertainers in my eyes’.”
