| Brothers of Destruction | |
|---|---|
 The Brothers of DestructionKane (left) andThe Undertaker (right). | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | The Undertaker Kane |
| Name(s) | Brothers of Destruction Kane and The Undertaker |
| Billed heights | The Undertaker: 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)[1] Kane: 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)[2] |
| Combined billed weight | 632 lb (287 kg)[3] |
| Debut | August 24, 1998 |
| Disbanded | November 22, 2020 |
| Years active | 1998–2000 2001 2006–2009 2012–2020 |
TheBrothers of Destruction were aprofessional wrestlingtag team inWWE composed ofstoryline half-brothersThe Undertaker andKane.[3] Their storyline is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic storylines in professional wrestling, the duo’s relationship alternated between periods of intense rivalry and dominant alliance. First introduced in the late 1990s, their supernatural personas and complex backstory captivated audiences. Together, they achieved significant success, including multiple championship victories, and are considered one of the most formidable and enduring tag teams in WWE history.
With more deep-seated drama and dysfunction than other WWE tag team combinations, their relationship/brotherhood was furnished with an elaborately dark and disturbed domestic backstory. In what became afickle WWE sibling relationship withPaul Bearer (later learned to be Kane's father) only adding to thependulum and complexities, The Undertaker and Kane went back and forth from one extreme to the other: alternatively feuding to barbaric lengths and yet teaming together as The Brothers of Destruction from 1997 to 2020 (The Undertaker's retirement).
As the Brothers of Destruction, they won threetag team championships (twoWWF Tag Team Championships and oneWCW Tag Team Championship). Their on-again, off-again feuding was typically rooted in the harboring of unresolved, harsh feelings from the arson incident dating back to their youth.
During The Undertaker's childhood, he had a little brother named Kane. The two were inseparable, spending every minute of every day together, causing destruction and chaos in their wake. However, young Kane soon became obsessed and fascinated with fire. One day while The Undertaker was coming home from school, he returned to his parents' funeral home to find it completely burned to the ground, killing his parents as well as Kane—or so The Undertaker thought. It was soon discovered that Kane himself had started the fire, and Paul Bearer, who oblivious to The Undertaker at the time was present during the fire, hid Kane in amental asylum during the rest of Kane's youth into adulthood, eventually bringing him to the World Wrestling Federation to confront his brother. Unbeknownst to The Undertaker until spring 1998, his late mother had an affair with Bearer and, as a result, gave birth to Kane (therefore making Kane his half-brother).[4][5] In the fall of 1998, The Undertaker admitted that he was actually the one that set fire to the funeral home, scarring Kane's face, and, in the same process, killing their mother and The Undertaker's father. To justify this, Undertaker stated that he had always known that Kane was the weaker and worthless of their mother's children, and sought to eliminate him with the fire.[4]
While hiding his son away for years and apparently keeping this information confidential, Paul Bearer, in the meantime, joined the World Wrestling Federation and formed an alliance with The Undertaker. Bearer stood by his side for six years before eventually turning on him atSummerSlam 1996. After suffering repeated acts of retaliatory mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who was filled with rancor and bitterness over the betrayal incident, Bearer opted to exact vengeance of his own with an ultimatum: to either allow him to once again take over Undertaker as manager now that he had won theWWF Championship, or deal with the disclosure of his darkest secret. Feeling he had no choice in the matter, The Undertaker eventually obliged Bearer and became his protégé, though not like old times. While "managing" Undertaker this time around, Bearer took to abrasively overbearing and harassing behaviors towards him at every turn. At numerous points in which Undertaker attempted to take attitude, disobey, or even defend himself, Bearer would subjugate him by threatening exposure of the dark secret, forcing Undertaker to back down and comply with his orders each time.[4] Eventually, Undertaker lost his patience and refused to allow Bearer to manage him any longer, leading to Bearer's exposure of the secret. At this point in time, The Undertaker denied the charges of committing the arson murders, claiming his younger brother, a "pyromaniac", was the culprit and, due to the incident, couldn't possibly be alive (note that Undertaker would reveal himself as the intentional arsonista year later). Bearer accused The Undertaker of not only being a murderer but a liar, while The Undertaker continued to deny the charges. Kane had supposedly been hideously 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.[4] After being forced to unmask in 2003, it was revealed that Kane had no physical scars from the fire. Instead, it was explained that Kane's scars were morepsychological in the form of severebody dysmorphia, convinced that he was hideously burned and scarred, when in fact the scars had either long since healed or had never existed at all.[6][7][8]
After The Undertaker won theWWF Championship fromSycho Sid atWrestleMania 13, he started a feud withMankind, managed by his former managerPaul Bearer. The Bearer/Undertaker feud escalated at April'sRevenge of the 'Taker: In Your House event when The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of his former manager. During the following weeks and months, Bearer threatened the exposure of The Undertaker's "deepest, darkest secret".[4] Finally, atBadd Blood: In Your House, Kane made his debut[9] and interfered during the Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker andShawn Michaels.
During the following months, Undertaker refused to wrestle Kane, stating he had promised their parents that he would never fight his own brother. This allowed Kane to frequently attack and humiliate The Undertaker on several occasions, as Undertaker would not retaliate. At the1998 Royal Rumble, Kane cost Undertaker acasket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and, after the match, Kane and Bearer locked Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze, leading everyone to believe The Undertaker had been killed.[2][10][11] After 2 months of absence, The Undertaker returned and finally agreed to face Kane atWrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after hitting Kane with three Tombstone Piledrivers.[1][2][10][12][13] They met once again the following month in the first-everInferno match (Kane's signature match) atUnforgiven: In Your House, which again Undertaker won.[1][10][14]
AtKing of the Ring 1998, Kane challenged for the WWF Championship against then-current champion"Stone Cold" Steve Austin in aFirst Blood match, with the added stipulation that if Kane did not win the championship, he would set himself on fire.[2] During the match, Undertaker interfered with asteel chair and nailed Austin with the chair, which helped Kane to win the championship.[2][15] Undertaker then formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he intentionally attacked Austin because he didn't want his brother to be burned.[2] This led Undertaker into a rivalry with Steve Austin, who later regained the WWF title from Kane, while Kane and Mankind won theWWF Tag Team Championship. AtFully Loaded: In Your House, the duo were forced to team up together and defeat Kane and Mankind to win the titles.[1][10][16][17]
After Austin and Undertakerdropped the titles back to Kane and Mankind, Undertaker and Kane began to work as allies, facing the WWF Champion Steve Austin atBreakdown: In Your House in atriple threat match. Per stipulations put in place byVince McMahon, Undertaker and Kane were forbidden from pinning each other, making it a de facto handicap match. At the end of the title match, theypinned Austin at the same time following a double Chokeslam.[2][10][18] The title was vacated since there was no clear winner, and both men faced each other the following month atJudgment Day: In Your House with Austin as the special referee. Undertakerturned heel during the match, as he betrayed Kane to side with Paul Bearer. The match ended in a no contest as Austin attacked Undertaker. Their feud continued when Undertaker faced Austin atRock Bottom: In Your House in aBuried Alive match; during the match, Kane interfered and attacked Undertaker, thus helping Austin get the win. The brothers then separated from each other and went on their own.
In early 1999, with Kane now a member ofThe Corporation, and Undertaker now the leader of theMinistry of Darkness, they faced each other in their second Inferno match, which Undertaker once again won. In the summer of 1999, The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness had disbanded, while Kane was involved in a lengthy partnership withX-Pac, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. The Undertaker then attempted to reunite the Brothers of Destruction, but Kane made the ultimate decision to loyal to X-Pac after learning the Undertaker only wanted to use him for his own selfish gains. Shortly after, Undertaker would form The Unholy Alliance withBig Show, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice, to feud with Kane and X-Pac. The Undertaker eventually was injured in the fall of 1999, with Kane going his own way again.
The Undertaker and Kane reunited again in the summer of 2000. At this time, The Undertaker had transformed into the "American Badass" biker identity, instead of the horror-themed Deadman identity he portrayed previously. He and Kane challenged Tag Team ChampionsEdge and Christian for the tag titles on an episode ofRaw is War, but they were disqualified due to interference fromKurt Angle, so they didn't win the titles.[19] On the August 14 episode ofRaw is War, Undertaker facedChris Benoit in a match. After the match, as Undertaker was being assaulted by both Benoit andShane McMahon, Kane came to the ring, appearing to aid the Undertaker. Kane then turned on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match atSummerSlam, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.[20]
At theRoyal Rumble in 2001, Kane and Undertaker teamed up eliminating most of the field in theRoyal Rumble match; Kane entered number 6 and finished second eliminating 11 wrestlers, while Undertaker came in at number 25 and came sixth after being eliminated byRikishi.[21] The two reunited later that same month, and on the February 1 episode ofSmackDown!, they defeated Rikishi andHaku in a First Blood match.[10][22] They got a shot at the tag titles atNo Way Out, facing the championsThe Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray andD-Von) and Edge and Christian in atables match, but lost when Rikishi and Haku interfered.[10][23] AtWrestleMania X-Seven, Kane defeatedRaven and Big Show to win theWWF Hardcore Championship, and The Undertaker defeatedTriple H.[10][24][25]
The Undertaker and Kane started focusing on then-Intercontinental Champion Triple H and WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had recently formed a surprise alliance known as theTwo-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Austin and Triple H atBacklash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in ano-disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 episode ofSmackDown!, Undertaker and Kane defeated Edge and Christian to win theirfirstWWF Tag Team Championship as a team, despite interference from Austin and Triple H.[10][26][27] As a result of winning the titles, the Brothers of Destruction earned the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H.[10] At Backlash, 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 Intercontinental Champion and WWF Champion, respectively.[10][28][29]
With Kane injured, The Undertaker began targeting Steve Austin and his WWF Championship. On an episode ofRaw is War, 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. AtJudgment Day, Kane defeated Triple H to win theWWF Intercontinental Championship in achain match, despite interference from Austin.[10][30][31] Later that night, Triple H interfered in the Undertaker's WWF Championship match, using his sledgehammer, allowing Austin to pin The Undertaker and retain his championship.[30][32]
Diamond Dallas Page was the Undertaker's next target; Page wanted to become a big star like the Undertaker, and started afeud with him, taking The Undertaker's slogan, "I'll make you famous" quite literally. The basis of this feud involved Page constantly stalking Undertaker's wife Sara, hoping to get the Undertaker's attention. On the August 9 episode ofSmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction defeatedThe Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo andSean O'Haire) to win theWCW Tag Team Championship.[10][33][34] AtSummerSlam, The Undertaker and Kane defeated Diamond Dallas Page andKanyon in asteel cage match to win their second WWF Tag Team Championship and retain the WCW Tag Team Championship, thus brieflyunifying the two titles for the first time.[10][35][36] This also makes The Undertaker and Kane to be the first tag team in WWF to become a double tag team champions.
The Brothers of Destruction then began a feud withKroniK (Brian Adams andBryan Clark), who were brought to WWF byStevie Richards. Richards wanted revenge on the Undertaker for what happened to him on the April 26, 2001 episode ofSmackDown!, when Undertaker faced Richards'Right to Censor stable in a 4-on-1 handicap match, causing the stable to disband. On the September 17 episode ofRaw is War, Kane and Undertaker lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Dudley Boyz after KroniK interfered.[37] AtUnforgiven, they successfully defended their WCW tag titles against KroniK,[10][38] before losing them toBooker T andTest on the following episode ofSmackDown!.[39] They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through to the end of theAlliance Invasion angle, including their participation atInvasion[40] andSurvivor Series,[41][42] after which The Undertaker immediately turned heel once more and the two did not interact with each other for a long while.
The duo first appeared together in 2002'sWWF draft, standing right next to each other when Undertaker was drafted to the Raw brand. The duo next appeared together during the first few moments ofNo Mercy as they both respectively had title matches that night, with Undertaker challengingBrock Lesnar for the WWE Championship inside Hell in a Cell and Kane defending his Intercontinental Championship in a unification match against Triple H for theWorld Heavyweight Championship. They next teamed up again unofficially at theRoyal Rumble in 2003, but Undertaker turned on Kane during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated him.[43] Later that year at theSurvivor Series, an unmasked and heel Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Mr. McMahon, costing Undertaker the match.[44][45] Kane would go on to say that Undertaker was buried forever, claiming he did it because his brother was no longer a monster, and instead had become just one of the people. The two would end the feud with a match atWrestleMania XX in 2004, in which The Undertaker returned to his "Deadman" identity, and defeated Kane.[46][47]
The demonic duo had a short run-in with each other in 2005; at theRoyal Rumble, Undertaker faced off againstHeidenreich in a casket match. Before the match,Gene Snitsky, who was in a feud with Kane, told Heidenreich he would help him that night. Due to the interference, Heidenreich was positioned to win. However, when the casket was asked to be opened, Kane emerged from the casket coming to his aid, attacked, and battled Snitsky out of the arena, allowing his brother, The Undertaker to defeat Heidenreich and gain the victory.[48][49] Originally, initial plans were for this to lead up to a tag team match between the four atWrestleMania 21, but the match was scrapped when The Undertaker instead decided to take onRandy Orton, and Kane would compete in theMoney in the Bank ladder match.
The last time Kane and the Undertaker would meet in 2005 was during an interpromotional match where neither of the men fromRaw orSmackDown! were involved. While Kane, who was helping his partner Big Show againstRey Mysterio, pretended to leave when Undertaker entered the arena, he would inevitably receive a chokeslam from Undertaker after a failed sneak attack. Notably, both brothers were faces at the time, however Kane was a member of theRaw brand and Undertaker was a member of theSmackDown! brand. Because the match was held onSmackDown! (and the SmackDown! brand was portrayed more favorably in that year's brand warfare storyline), Kane and Big Show were portrayed as tweeners without ever officially turning in that direction.
The return of the Brothers of Destruction was announced on the October 27, 2006 episode ofSmackDown! whenMontel Vontavious Porter (MVP) interfered with Kane's match againstMr. Kennedy, helping Kennedy beat down on him. As a result of the interference, General ManagerTheodore Long scheduled a tag team match pitting the Brothers of Destruction against Kennedy and MVP.[50] The next week onSmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time as a tag team in five years and gathered three wins over MVP and Kennedy in that one night.[10][51][52] The first two wins were made by countout, and disqualification at which point General Manager Theodore Long twice came out and restarted the match withno disqualifications or countouts.[51] Finally, the brothers hit simultaneouschokeslams, and Undertaker finished with aTombstone Piledriver to Mr. Kennedy.[51][52]
The brothers continued their rivalry with their individual opponents before reuniting for a rematch on the lastSmackDown! beforeArmageddon. This time, the match would go to a double disqualification as Kennedy threatened to run over Kane with a hearse parked ringside.[10][53] The Undertaker, who had run off MVP, emerged in the passenger seat as his gong tolled and the lights went out, thus scaring Kennedy out of the vehicle.[53] At Armageddon, Undertaker defeated Kennedy in aLast Ride match, which was why the hearse had been at ringside for the last two weeks,[54] and Kane defeated MVP earlier in an inferno match.[54][55] The next week onSmackDown!, the Brothers would reunite once again, defeating King Booker andFinlay,[10][56] before parting ways as Kane began a rivalry withThe Great Khali while Undertaker successfully pursued theWorld Heavyweight Championship atWrestleMania 23.[57][58]
On the October 12, 2007 episode ofSmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2007, defeating then-WWE Tag Team Champions MVP andMatt Hardy in a non-title match.[10][59] The Brothers of Destruction reunited again in 2008 on the February 1 episode ofSmackDown, defeatingBig Daddy V andMark Henry bysubmission.[60] AtWrestleMania XXIV, after Kane won a 24-man Battle Royal and used a sneak attack, gaining the second ever WrestleMania record for the fastest pin later that night, and Undertaker won the Elimination Chamber match earning his No.1 Contender shot at No Way Out, both brothers became world champions: Kane winning theECW Championship from Chavo Guerrero, and the Undertaker winning theWorld Heavyweight Championship from Edge.[61][62]
On the April 4, 2008 episode ofSmackDown, Undertaker and Kane faced each other for the first time since WrestleMania XX. The match finished with no decision as "La Familia" (Edge,Chavo Guerrero, andCurt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) interfered. In tandem, however, Kane and Undertaker delivered a Chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver to Chavo and Edge respectively.[63] The Brothers of Destruction also made an appearance whenECW traveled to London, England on April 15, 2008, facing then-WWE Tag Team ChampionsJohn Morrison and The Miz who also fell victim to tandem chokeslams.[64] On the April 21, 2008 episode ofRaw, the Brothers of Destruction teamed withJohn Cena and Triple H to take on the team ofJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Chavo Guerrero, and the one night only reunion ofRated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) in a losing effort, after Edge hit Kane with aspear.[65] On the November 13, 2009 episode ofSmackDown, after his match withChris Jericho ended after interference from Jericho's partner Big Show, Kane came to the aid of his brother to chase offJeri-Show. The Brothers of Destruction would reunite on the November 20 episode to face Jeri-Show, but the match ended in no contest, and Jericho subsequently fled the ring during the match after pilfering the Undertaker's championship belt.
On the June 4 episode ofSmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced that The Undertaker was found in avegetative state by Kane, who vowed to out the identity of Undertaker's attacker, and for weeks he accused and interrogated other superstars. AtMoney in the Bank, Kane won the Money in the Bank ladder match to win a World Heavyweight Championship title shot any time, anywhere. Later that night, Kane chased off one of The Undertaker's potential attackers,Jack Swagger, who was attacking Rey Mysterio. Kane then returned to cash in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Kane would then claim that Rey Mysterio was The Undertaker's attacker, although Mysterio denied it. AtSummerSlam, Kane defended his championship against Mysterio, during which The Undertaker returned to confront Kane and Rey Mysterio. Undertaker, however, was tombstoned by Kane, who was revealed to be the Undertaker's attacker the entire time, Thus resulted in a feud between the two.
Kane and Undertaker met atNight of Champions, which Undertaker lost. Kane had seemingly grown stronger than his older half-brother (seemingly resolving previously unfinished business from their youth when The Undertaker set Kane on fire as teenagers, later reasoning that it was because Kane was "too weak"). In an attempt to regain momentum over Kane, The Undertaker was boosted by the return of his former manager/Kane's father, Paul Bearer (who hadn't been seen in years, since June 2004 when The Undertaker betrayed Bearer by drowning him in a crypt of cement, seemingly paying Bearer back for his unforgettable act of betrayal atSummerSlam 1996 and following acts of introducing Kane).
With Bearer by The Undertaker's side like old times, the two brothers squared off again at theHell in a Cell pay-per-view in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Bearer, however, betrayed The Undertaker by blinding him with the urn, allowing Kane to chokeslam The Undertaker for the victory (repaying Undertaker for the Concrete Crypt burial atThe Great American Bash). The feud culminated in what would be the brothers' final one-on-one match, a Buried Alive match atBragging Rights, in which The Undertaker once again lost and in his own specialty match, this time resulting in part from interference byThe Nexus.
On July 23, 2012 duringRaw 1000, the Brothers of Destruction reunited againstJinder Mahal, Curt Hawkins,Tyler Reks,Hunico,Camacho andDrew McIntyre when they were planning to attack Kane. The Undertaker and Kane were once again reunited on the March 11, 2013 episode ofRaw following thereal-life death of Paul Bearer, when they paid a final tribute to Paul Bearer by standing on the ramp and doing their signature arm pose together to a graphic of Paul Bearer on the titantron. This moment was not viewed by the television audience, instead taking place after Raw had gone off the air; however, the moment can be viewed onPeacock or theWWE Network. On the April 8, 2013 episode ofRaw, Undertaker had a match with Kane and hisTeam Hell No tag partnerDaniel Bryan againstThe Shield. AtSurvivor Series 2015, The Brothers of Destruction defeatedBray Wyatt andLuke Harper in a tag team match.[66][67] The Brothers of Destruction had their final tag team match together atCrown Jewel in October 2018 where they fought against D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels). Both Undertaker and Kane were defeated, despite dominating most of the match.[68] AtSurvivor Series 2020, Kane, alongside other WWE superstars and legends, returned for The Undertaker's retirement ceremony. The Undertaker, wearing his trademark mortician trench coat and stetson hat, then made an appearance at the conclusion of the Survivor Series event on November 22, which commemorated thirty years since his WWE debut, where he reiterated that his career was over, giving an emotional farewell speech which ended in typical Undertaker fashion: "My time has come to let The Undertaker rest in peace."[69][70]
In the aftermath of Undertaker's retirement from the WWE, the following year, Undertaker announced that Kane would be inducted into theWWE Hall of FameClass of 2021 via The Bump. Kane made his entrance and set off his signature pyro atWrestlemania 37 on night 2. On 18th February 2022, it was announced that The Undertaker would be inducted intoClass of 2022. He made his entrance on both nights ofWrestleMania 38.
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