Undertaker and Kane - History

History

After The Undertaker won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13, Paul Bearer attempted to reunite with him the following night on Monday night RAW, mind you, with the two engaged in a long period of mutual hostility ever since Bearer's Summer Slam 96' betrayal of The Undertaker. When the Undertaker rejected the offer, Bearer along with his then-protege and arch-enemy of the Undertaker, Mankind, launched a fireball into the face of The Undertaker. This culminated at April's In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker event when The Undertaker returned the favor, launching a fireball of his own into the face of his former manager, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist Mankind to victory in their WWF Championship match. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Foley reintroduced Bearer, whose face was heavily bandaged due to the burns The Undertaker had inflicted upon him. Bearer again made efforts to get Undertaker to be his protege, this time around, however, threatening the exposure of a fire-related secret, The Undertaker's "biggest secret". During the cryptic interview, Bearer likened the fire that had burned his face at "Revenge of the Taker" to a fire that had occurred during The Undertaker's childhood (the secret).

The secret in question suggested that Bearer had a traumatic past with The Undertaker, long preceding Brother Love's joining the two as manager and protege in January 1991. The secret was that: The Undertaker's mother had an affair with Bearer and as a result, gave birth to a younger half-brother of The Undertaker, named Kane. (It's important to note that Kane lived with Undertaker and his parents as a child under the belief that Undertaker and Kane were full brothers; however, Bearer unintentionally (kayfabe) revealed to the RAW audience that he was actually Kane's father from an affair he had with their mother, making Kane and Undertaker half-brothers. 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 commerical but were still on). Growing up, Undertaker lived in a funeral home with his family. According to the secret, The Undertaker committed arson/murder, burning down the family funeral home, in the process, killing his parents and scarring his half-brother's face. Bearer, who survived the fire, hid Kane in a mental asylum during the rest of Kane's youth. In the meantime, Bearer went on to form an alliance with The Undertaker while in the World Wrestling Federation, standing by his side for six years before eventually betraying him at SummerSlam 96'.

After suffering mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who had long been vindictive and embittered over the SummerSlam 96' betrayal, Bearer opted to exact his own vengeance upon the Undertaker with the ultimatum of revealing his biggest secret. Feeling he had no choice, The Undertaker eventually obliged Bearer. While managing The Undertaker this time around, Bearer was unbearably abrasive, tyrannizing over The Undertaker and nagging at him constantly. At numerous points in which Undertaker attempted to defend himself or disobey, Bearer would subjugate him by threatening exposure of the secret.

Eventually however, Undertaker lost his patience and refused to allow Bearer to manage him any longer, leading to Bearer's exposure of the secret. At the time, Undertaker denied the charges of committing the arson/murder, claiming his younger half-brother, a pyromaniac, was the culprit and due to the incident couldn't possibly even be alive (it's important to note that approximately a year and a half later from this point, during the latter part of 1998, Undertaker exposes himself as dishonest by shamelessly confessing to committing the arson/murder, shortly prior to his 1999 Ministry of Darkness director heel shtick). Bearer accused The Undertaker of not only being a "murderer", but a "liar" while The Undertaker denied the charges. The Undertaker thought his younger half-brother, Bearer's illegitimate son, had been dead for years, that is, until Bearer introduced Kane at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5 1997, costing The Undertaker the victory in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels. In keeping with the notion that Kane had been scarred by the fire — and to conceal Jacobs' identity — the character wore a mask, sported long hair, and wore red and black ring attire that almost covered his entire body.

Kane wanted to take out all of his pent-up and vindictive aggression out on his "brother" but Undertaker refused to fight his own "flesh and blood." Kane attacked and embarrassed The Undertaker on several occasions but Undertaker still refused to fight. After Kane surprisingly saved Undertaker from an attack by D-Generation X, the duo had a brief partnership which ended after Kane betrayed Undertaker by costing Undertaker a casket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble 1998. He chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket, which helped in Michaels getting the win. After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer locked Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze. The two continued to feud. Undertaker returned later on an episode of Raw is War and changed his mind and agreed to fight Kane. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after hitting him with three tombstone piledrivers. They met each other in the first-ever Inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House, which again Undertaker won by burning his brother. On June 1, 1998 edition of Raw is War, they wrestled in a number one contender's match for the WWF Championship, which Kane won with help from Mankind.

On an episode of Raw is War, Kane attacked WWF Champion Steve Austin. Austin blamed Vince McMahon for setting up the attack. McMahon denied it and blamed the attack on The Undertaker. Undertaker denied setting up the attack and teamed up with Stone Cold to face Kane and Mankind in the first ever tag-team Hell in a Cell match. The match ended in no-contest as the referee failed to restore order in the match. At King of the Ring 1998, Kane and Austin faced each other in a First Blood match for Austin's WWF Championship. The stipulation was that if Kane lost, he would set himself on fire. The referee was knocked out and Undertaker interfered in the match with a steel chair and came to hit Kane with the chair but accidentally nailed Austin with the chair, which helped Kane to win the championship. Undertaker formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he attacked Austin because he didn't want his "brother" to be burned. Undertaker started a rivalry with Stone Cold, who later regained the WWF title from Kane while Kane and Mankind won the WWF Tag Team Championship. At Fully Loaded: In Your House, the duo were forced to team up together and defeat Kane and Mankind to win the titles.

They dropped the titles back to Kane and Mankind in a fatal four way tag team elimination match, also involving New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) and Nation of Domination (The Rock and Owen Hart) on an edition of Raw in August. This move occurred after they couldn't patch up with each other. This led to a title match at SummerSlam, with Undertaker facing Austin for the WWF title. At that event, he and Kane became a team known as the "Brothers of Destruction" after Kane abandoned Mankind during their Tag Team title defense against New Age Outlaws and instead interfered in the Undertaker versus Austin match when he tried to help his "brother" but Undertaker sent him back. As a result, Austin nailed the Stone Cold Stunner for a victory. At Breakdown: In Your House, Undertaker, Kane and Austin faced each other in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF title. Undertaker and Kane could only pin Austin so they pinned Austin at the same time.

Vince McMahon vacated the title since there was no clear winner. At Judgment Day: In Your House, Kane and Undertaker faced each other for the vacant title with Austin as the special referee. Undertaker turned heel during the match as he betrayed Kane for Paul Bearer, thus turning Kane in to a tweener. The match ended in a no-contest as Austin attacked both men and declared himself the winner. Shorty after, Undertaker admitted to setting the fire that scarred Kane's face when they were children. Their feud continued. Undertaker faced Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a Buried Alive Match. During the match Kane interfered and attacked Undertaker and helped Austin get the win. They separated from each other and went on their own. In early 1999, with Kane now a member of The Corporation and Undertaker now the leader of the Ministry of Darkness, they faced each other in their second Inferno match. Undertaker once again got the win. In the summer of 1999, The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness was beginning to fade away, while Kane was in a tag team with X-Pac whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with. The Undertaker attempted to reunite the team, but Kane made the ultimate decision to remain in his team with X-Pac, when he found out The Undertaker was only using him. Shortly after that The Undertaker would form a tag team with The Big Show with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with, to feud with Kane and X-Pac. The Undertaker eventually was injured in the fall of 1999, with Kane going his own way again. They reunited again in the summer of 2000 and challenged Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an edition of Raw is War but they were disqualified, so they didn't win the titles. On August 14 edition of Raw is War, Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in a match, where Kane turned on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam 2000, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.