by Terry Lidral
The Undertaker is big and athletic with the proven genetics to make a big statement. He’s a bucking bull who loves his job and he does it with an attitude that matches his size. At a size of around 2,000 pounds, that’s a lot of attitude.
The Undertaker was bred and raised by the Riley Bucking Bull program in Forney, Texas. The bull was born in June of 2016. He was a big strong calf who wasn’t a good prospect for a futurity bull.
“Chad Riley raised The Undertaker and sent him to Shane Dunham to work with,” said Justin Cornwell of Cornwell Bucking Bulls, who is the stock contractor who now hauls The Undertaker to PBR events. “I was surprised when Shane Dunham called me and said he had this coming 3-year-old bull and asked me if I’d take him into my program. I enjoy watching the futurity bulls, but I work with rider bulls. Shane had sent me some good bulls in the past and he told me this one needed to be bucked with a rider. He convinced me to take him on.”
The Undertaker’s sire is #923 Undercover Boss, a son of A712 Pit Boss and the grandson of 821 Blenderhead. His dam is a Bushwacker daughter over a Reindeer Dippin’ cow. “I was a little worried about that double bred Reindeer,” laughed Cornwell alluding to the great Reindeer Dippin’s wild and unpredictable traits. “But it’s worked out well.”
When Cornwell saw the bull that Dunham had sent him, he was amazed.
“When The Undertaker arrived at the house, the first words out of my mouth were, ‘He’s huge!’. At 1600 pounds as a 3-year-old, he was a monster.”
When Cornwell bucked the bull, he was even more amazed at The Undertaker’s athleticism.
“He’s incredibly athletic,” Cornwell said of the bull that has grown to weigh around a ton. “With his size, he shouldn’t be able to do the things he does. But it’s all about genetics. Just like a bird dog is wired to point, a bull is wired to buck. You can’t make a bull buck. He has to be born with the ability.”
Cornwell Bucking Bulls bought half interest in The Undertaker, becoming partners with Chad Riley. Cornwell saw the potential in the athletically talented bull and was excited about his future.
The Undertaker is a bull that is strong on character. He’s smart. And he is confident in himself.
“This bull has an intense personality. He gets along well with me. But if anyone else is around, he gets high headed and starts pacing. He’s definitely alpha around here,” said Cornwell of the bull who is the dominant factor of his herd. “He is confident and he gets himself noticed. He speaks for himself.”
But The Undertaker’s quirkiness on the road might be compared to that of the infamous Reindeer Dippin.
“He definitely likes to go to events. He gets right on the truck,” continued Cornwell. “But he only eats his hay once we get there. He doesn’t eat his grain until after he’s all done bucking for the weekend. Then he’ll start eating it again. It used to make me nervous, but now I realize that’s just how he is.”
At first, The Undertaker was anxious being in the pens at an event. But Cornwell partnered him with a companion bull to calm him.
“I paired Sugar Boom Boom with The Undertaker early on. He fed off Sugar’s relaxed manner and it kept him calmer,” Cornwell told us. “Now, The Undertaker is relaxed at events. He’s always aware of what’s going on and he’ll pick his head up to see what’s happening. But he’s not nervous. He always has that confidence about him.”
When it’s time to work, The Undertaker is calm and collected. He’s all business making the trip to the chutes and waiting for the cowboy on his back to get ready to ride.
“The Undertaker isn’t affected by all that goes on in the arena. Most of the time he’ll just stand there waiting for the gate,” Cornwell said about his bull’s chute manners. “He only acts up once in a while. That’s probably because he’s so big it’s a little bit hard for him to move around in the chute,” Cornwell added with a chuckle.
Shortly after Cornwell acquired the bull, he started taking The Undertaker to amateur events so that the bull could start learning the game. Right from the start, the bull was impressive.
“He liked his job and he proved he was smart,” Cornwell told us about assessing the bull’s first trips. “He had the tools. He kicked and he turned back. I knew I had a diamond in the rough. But it didn’t look like any fun for the guys at that level getting on him. It was one jump and done.”
The Undertaker’s stint as an amateur bull was short lived. He was too much for amateur riders to handle and the bull wasn’t getting tested.
“I don’t want my bulls to get used to one jumping a rider. If they do, they are apt to quit if a rider makes it past that first move. I want my bulls to know how to handle a rider that stays on their back,” explained Cornwell. “We stopped taking him to amateur events and started taking him to events on the Velocity Tour.”
The Undertaker was only a 3-year-old when he made his debut in the Velocity Tour in 2019. With a June birthday, that meant that The Undertaker was still a 3-year-old in the first part of the 2020 PBR season. Yet his scores rivaled that of veteran PBR bulls.
In his first out ever in a PBR event (the Velocity Tour event in Peoria, Illinois) the bull earned a score of 42 and a 3.64 second buck-off of his rider, Cody Rodeo Tyler. In his next out, at the Syracuse Showdown, The Undertaker dispatched rider Dakota Louis in 2.21 seconds for a bull score of 41.
The Undertaker showed his heart and determination to do his job in his third out on the Velocity Tour. Ramon de Lima rode him for a combined score of 85.75. The bull score of 42.25 made it clear that The Undertaker was no quitter and that he knew how to finish the job he’d started.
Watch Ramon de Lima and The Undertaker combine for 85.75 points at the March 12, 2020 Velocity Tour event in Bangor, Maine https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=638314713592725
For Cornwell, the 8 second ride was a test that benefitted his bull.
“Being ridden is the best thing for him,” he said about his big, strong bull. “It keeps him from getting used to not having to go the full eight seconds. It helps him because after he gets ridden, he works that much harder on the next outs.”
And the outs did keep getting better. In March of his 4-year-old year, being a June calf, he was still just a 3-year-old when he put up bull scores of 44.5 and 43.5 at the Bangor, Maine Velocity Tour event.
The Undertaker was giving the bull riding world cause to take notice. His size, his athletic ability and his attitude of confidence and bravado got people’s attention. He liked the spotlight and quickly realized he could take his time going out the exit gate.
“The bull liked to run in the arena and he could be hot,” Cornwell told of his bull’s post-ride antics. “I gave the pick-up man a head’s up because The Undertaker liked to take a lap and was apt to try to run the horse over. And sure enough, he did. But the pick-up man was ready and the bull missed the horse. The bull’s gotten better since he got dragged out.”
The Undertaker made his PBR UTB debut in Manchester, New Hampshire in January 2020. He made quick work of the veteran rider Stetson Lawrence. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2972203776146797
Throughout the 2020 season, The Undertaker continued to be impressive. He bucked off 3X PBR World Champion Silvano Alves in 4.84 seconds with a bull score of 43.5. And in his first Unleash The Beast PBR event, he bucked off 2X PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood in 5.18 seconds with a bull score of 44.25.
“The Undertaker went to the 2020 PBR Finals, his first year on the tour,” Cornwell told us. “He matched up with Jess Lockwood in a rematch and he bucked off Lockwood again.”
In the rematch, Lockwood was only able to stay on the bull for 3.61 seconds. The Undertaker earned a 44.75 bull score, his best score of the season.
“The bull made a good showing,” said Cornwell of The Undertaker’s first trip the PBR Finals. “He responds to a challenge and he showed how much he loves his job. He handled it all really well.”
In 2021, The Undertaker was consistently impressive, splitting his outs between the Touring Pro Division, the Velocity Tour and the UTB series. His bull scores were never lower than a 42.5 with the majority being 43.5 and above.
The Undertaker was ridden one time in 2021. Boudreaux Campbell rode him for a combined score of 87.5. Once again, The Undertaker did his job and earned a bull score of 42.5. True to form, the bull came back the next trip and disposed of Matt Triplett in 1.70 seconds.
As he did in 2020, The Undertaker saved his best for last. His final out of the 2021 season at the PBR Finals earned him a bull score of 45.75 with a buck off of Cody Nance at 2.60 seconds.
Now coming on 6 years old, The Undertaker has started off the 2022 PBR season by bettering his bull scores and establishing himself as one of the elite bulls chosen for the short round. So far, he’s put up scores of 44.5 and 45.25 with two impressive buck-offs.
Cornwell is looking forward to continued success as he hauls The Undertaker to UTB PBR events in the 2022 season.
“I really enjoy watching this bull buck. He tries so hard every time. I hope it continues,” Cornwell said of The Undertaker’s impressive scores and buck off rate which stands at 95 percent. “I plan to haul him to enough events so that he has the number of outs to have the opportunity to be in the running for PBR World Champion.”
To keep him bucking his best, Cornwell makes sure to keep The Undertaker in good physical shape. “We jog him along with our other bulls out in the pasture. And I manage his weight. I had him heavy,” Cornwell explained. “He’s an easy keeper and will eat too much. I work hard to make sure he’s getting just the right amount of feed.”
Cornwell is thankful to Chad Riley and Riley Bucking Bulls for giving him the opportunity to work with, and be partners on, such a genetically gifted bull. “It’s guys like Chad that I rely on to bring me good bulls. I am a small operation and I need those guys to make my business work.”
This year The Undertaker has three partners. Steve Riley and PCP Bucking Bulls joined partnership with Cornwell Bucking Bulls and Riley Bucking Bulls at the start of the 2022 season. “Partnership is an essential part of my business,” said Cornwell, “And I appreciate having them on board.”
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
