William Alvin Moody[4] (April 10, 1954 – March 5, 2013) was an American professional wrestling manager and licensed funeral director.

He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) where he performed under the ring name and gimmick of Paul Bearer,[a] manager and guiding light of The Undertaker.

[4][5] Outside WWE, Moody was known by the name Percival "Percy" Pringle III and performed in various regional territories and promotions, as well as World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW).

[4] After high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, serving four years on duty; during this time, he often wrestled for independent promotions during off-duty hours.

[4] In 1979, Moody began managing as Percival "Percy" Pringle III in southeastern independent promotions; a few years earlier, in June 1974, he wrestled as Mr.

[5] Immediately after his first son's birth, he cut back his involvement in the wrestling business in order to obtain a degree in mortuary science and earn certification as an embalmer and mortician.

[4] Warrior turned babyface after falling out with fellow Pringle proteges Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne following a six-man tag defeat in 1986.

[4] McMahon used Moody's real-life involvement in the funeral industry to create the character of Paul Bearer, a name given to him by Road Warrior Hawk and a play on the term pallbearer.

[5] Bearer hosted his own WWF talk show segment entitled The Funeral Parlor, which included memorable moments such as the Ultimate Warrior being locked inside a casket, among others.

Once healed from the burns, Bearer changed his looks, shedding the makeup of ghostly pallor and jet-black color to his natural strawberry blond hair and less make-up.

Around mid-1997, Paul Bearer coerced The Undertaker (WWF Champion at the time) into being his protégé again with the ultimatum of revealing a deep, dark secret from their past.

The dark secret suggested that Bearer had a disturbingly traumatic past with The Undertaker which long preceded Brother Love's joining the two in January 1991.

Bearer claimed that The Undertaker had committed an arson murder, burning down his parents' family funeral home, in the process, killing them.

This came to light when Bearer informed Jerry Lawler on Monday Night Raw, at a point in which he thought cameras had stopped rolling for a commercial break but were still on.

In this first appearance for the character, Kane cost The Undertaker a Hell in a Cell match to determine the #1 contendership for the WWF title against Shawn Michaels.

Once becoming a heel with Bearer, The Undertaker shamelessly admitted to setting the funeral home ablaze for which he had initially claimed was an accident or blamed Kane.

In February 2000, Bearer, who turned face once more briefly, returned to WWF television as Kane's manager (now wearing a red overcoat), aiding and assisting his son in his war against D-Generation X, but retired from on-screen performing shortly after WrestleMania 2000.

[5] Moody spent the next year working with NWA Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (NWA-TNA) under the ring name Percy Pringle III.

At that time, he was suffering from health problems and depression related to his obesity and underwent gastric bypass surgery in November 2003.

[10] In spring of 2004, Paul Bearer was kidnapped by The Dudley Boyz under the direction of Paul Heyman; this was set up in order to temporarily write Bearer out of WWE story lines because he had to undergo emergency gallbladder surgery after suddenly developing gallstones, a common side effect of gastric bypass surgery.

[4] The Undertaker won the match[11] but proceeded afterwards to pull the lever that sent cement into the crypt, completely burying Paul Bearer, suffocating him.

[4] On the following week's SmackDown!, Bearer was acknowledged to be alive, although gravely injured, for storyline purposes; the rehearsal taping earlier in the day of The Great American Bash – with The Undertaker ad-libbing and only half of the stunt complete, in an empty arena – was leaked onto the internet dirt sheets and actually broadcast live by accident in many of the television markets.

[5] On June 10, 2005, Bearer announced that he had signed a new deal with WWE, allowing it to market his personality and requiring he attend autograph sessions, make promotional appearances and occasionally work television and house shows.

In late January 2007, at a SmackDown!/ECW house show in Mobile, Alabama, Bearer joined The Brothers of Destruction at ringside, carrying the original urn.

[14] The final wrestler managed by Bearer on the independent circuit was Shaun Ricker, who would later become widely known in WWE under the ring name LA Knight.

At Survivor Series, Edge brought an empty wheelchair causing Kane to go mad frantically trying to interrogate him on where Bearer was held.

On the December 3 episode of SmackDown, Edge continued his mind games with Kane by pushing a dummy version of Paul Bearer down some stairs.

[19] Bearer was planned to reunite with The Undertaker and Kane on WWE Raw 1000 in July 2012 but could not make the event due to scheduling and travel conflicts.

Bearer was also featured as a manager in the THQ video game WWE Legends of WrestleMania in 2009 (depending on whether or not he's paired with The Undertaker, he enters with or without his signature urn).

On March 2, 2013, Moody attended the annual Gulf Coast Wrestlers Reunion in Mobile, Alabama, riding a wheelchair.