Brothers of Destruction - History - Tag Team Division Dominance (2001)

Tag Team Division Dominance (2001)

At Royal Rumble 2001, Undertaker and Kane teamed up eliminating most of the field in the Royal Rumble match. Kane entered number 6 and finished second eliminating 11 wrestlers. Undertaker came in at number 25 and came sixth after being eliminated by Rikishi. The two reunited later that same month and on February 1, 2001 edition of SmackDown!, they defeated Rikishi and Haku in a brutal First Blood match. They got a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out 2001, facing the champions Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Edge and Christian in a tables match. The Brothers of Destruction dominated the entire match, and nearly had the match won until Rikishi and Haku interfered. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Kane defeated Raven and Big Show to win the WWF Hardcore Championship and The Undertaker defeated Triple H.

The Undertaker and Kane started focusing on then Intercontinental Champion Triple H, who would soon make a surprise alliance with WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin known as Two-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Steve Austin and Triple H at Backlash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 edition of SmackDown!, the Undertaker and Kane defeated Edge and Christian to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship as a team, despite interference from Austin and Triple H. As a result of winning the titles, Brothers of Destruction earned the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H. At Backlash 2001, all major titles were on the line but despite that, Triple H pinned Kane after using a sledgehammer, thus making him and Austin the new WWF Tag Team Champions as well as the WWF Champion (for Austin) and the WWF Intercontinental Champion (for Triple H).

With Kane injured, The Undertaker began targeting Steve Austin and his WWF Championship. On an edition of Raw is War, the Undertaker was told by police officers that his wife Sara had been involved in a car accident. The Undertaker arrived home, only to find out that it was all a set-up by Austin. At Judgment Day 2001, Kane defeated Triple H to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a chain match, despite interference from Steve Austin. Later that night, The Undertaker dominated his WWF Championship match with Austin. Triple H interfered once more, however, using his sledgehammer, allowing Austin to pin the Undertaker and retain his championship.

Diamond Dallas Page was the next person to get in the Undertaker's way. Page wanted to become a big star, just like the Undertaker, and so he started a feud with him, taking the Undertaker's slogan, "I'll make you famous" quite literally. The basis of this feud involved Page stalking the Undertaker's wife Sara. On the August 9 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated the Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam 2001, the Undertaker and Kane defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon in a steel cage match to win their second WWF Tag Team Championship and retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship, thus becoming the first ever Unified Tag Team Champions.

Brothers of Destruction began a feud with KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), who were brought to WWF by Stevie Richards. On September 17 edition of Raw is War, Kane and Undertaker lost the WWF tag titles to Dudley Boyz after KroniK interfered. At Unforgiven 2001, they successfully defended their titles against KroniK before losing them to Booker T and Test on the following edition of SmackDown!. They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through onto the end of the Alliance Invasion angle, including their participation at InVasion and Survivor Series 2001 after which the Undertaker immediately turned heel once more and the two did not interact with each other for a long while.