Ministry of Darkness - First Strike

First Strike

Vince McMahon turned face during this time, claiming that Mark Calaway (Undertaker) was taking his gimmick too far, and that Calaway actually believed that he in fact was the Undertaker and that he was the second coming of the Lord of Darkness. This statement could be received as breaking the fourth wall of kayfabe, due to the use of Calaway's real name and the reference to gimmicks. McMahon, shook up, put Undertaker in the second-ever Inferno match, a rematch of the first as Undertaker faced off against his "brother" Kane (who had joined Vince's Corporation to avoid being committed to the aforementioned asylum). Undertaker defeated Kane again, and reduced the WWF owner to tears at the sight of a burning teddy bear. The bear was said to have once belonged to Stephanie McMahon (as a child).

For weeks, Undertaker revealed that his Ministry actually took orders from a "greater power", and kept talking about a higher power who apparently owned the key to McMahon's heart and soul. Undertaker and the Ministry trespassed on McMahon's property, leaving a burning symbol resembling a crucifix in McMahon's front yard, the Corporate leader ordered his enforcer, the Big Bossman, to face Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XV. Undertaker claimed victory without much difficulty. After the match, the Brood lowered themselves from the ceiling onto the top of the cell and then lowered a noose to the Undertaker. He sent McMahon another, symbolic message by hanging Big Bossman from the cell.

After WrestleMania, the mysterious woman in the storyline was revealed to be McMahon's own daughter, Stephanie. The Ministry took Stephanie captive that night, and Corporation member Ken Shamrock found Stephanie, crying in the boiler room and with the Undertaker's symbol on her forehead. As revenge on Shamrock for ruining his plans, Undertaker ordered The Ministry to abduct Ken's "sister", Ryan, and "sacrifice" her on one of his symbols. The next week, Shamrock found his sister crying in the boiler room. In addition, since Shamrock had attained the information as to Stephanie's whereabouts by forcing it out of Christian, Undertaker punished Christian by flogging him. The next week, he tried to sacrifice Shamrock and then ordered Christian's fellow Brood members Edge and Gangrel to sacrifice him as well, but they refused and turned against Undertaker instead. This defection of the Brood was the only voluntary defection from the Ministry during its entire tenure.