The Brothers of Destruction

After The Undertaker won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13, Paul Bearer, who had been engaged in a long period of mutual hostility with the Undertaker ever since Bearer's betrayal at SummerSlam 1996, attempted to reunite with him on *Raw is War*. When Undertaker rejected his attempt at a reunion however, Undertaker's arch-enemy, Mankind, along with Bearer, launched a fireball into The Undertaker's face. This continued at April's Revenge of the 'Taker, 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*, Mankind 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 The Undertaker's "deepest, darkest 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 as follows: 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. While growing up, Undertaker (and presumably his deceased father) lived the vast majority of their lives under the belief that Kane was fully related to him and his family; that is, until Bearer unintentionally revealed to a *Raw* audience that he was actually Kane's father. 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 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 into adulthood. 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 turning on him at SummerSlam.

After suffering mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who had become vindictive and embittered over the 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" Undertaker this time around, Bearer became a tyrant, harassing and nagging at Undertaker constantly. At numerous points in which Undertaker attempted to take attitude, disobey, or even defend himself, Bearer would subjugate him by threatening exposure of the secret.

Eventually, 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 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. Bearer accused The Undertaker of not only being a murderer and a liar, while The Undertaker continued to deny 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 against Shawn Michaels. In keeping with the notion that Kane had been scarred by the fire, 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 the Undertaker, but Undertaker refused to face his own "flesh and blood," claiming that he had vowed to his parents never to do so. Kane attacked and humiliated The Undertaker on several occasions, even going through lengths in challenging him to fights, but Undertaker still refused to fight his "brother". After Undertaker surprisingly saved Kane from an attack by the D.O.A., the duo had a brief partnership which ended after Kane betrayed Undertaker by costing Undertaker a casket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at the 1998 Royal Rumble. He chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket, giving Michaels the win. After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer locked Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze. The Undertaker returned on the March 2 episode of *Raw is War*, revealing that he had spoken to the spirits of his dead parents, and declared his intention to fight Kane. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after hitting Kane with three tombstone piledrivers. They met once again in the first-ever Inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House, which again Undertaker won by burning his brother. On the June 1, 1998 episode 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 the June 8 episode of *Raw is War*, Kane and Mankind attacked WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. On the following episode of *Raw is War*, Austin blamed Mr. McMahon for setting up the attack; McMahon denied it and blamed the attack on The Undertaker, who denied setting up the attack and teamed up with Steve Austin to face Kane and Mankind in the first ever tag team Hell in a Cell match, which 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. The Undertaker formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he intentionally attacked Austin because he didn't want his brother to be burned. The Undertaker started a rivalry with Steve Austin, 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 The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) and Nation of Domination (The Rock and D'Lo Brown) on an episode of *Raw is War* on August 10, 1998. Six days before the Undertaker and Austin's WWF Championship match at SummerSlam, Undertaker and Kane were revealed to be working together, and Kane abandoned Mankind during their tag team title defense against New Age Outlaws and instead tried to interfere in the Undertaker's title match. However, Undertaker sent him to the back. As a result, Austin nailed the Stone Cold Stunner for a victory. At Breakdown: In Your House, Kane, Undertaker and Austin competed in a triple threat match for Austin's WWF Title; per the stipulation, Undertaker and Kane were forbidden from pinning each other, making it a de facto handicap match. At the end of the title match, they pinned Austin at the same time.

Vince McMahon vacated the title since there was no clear winner, and scolded Kane and Undertaker for letting Austin attack him. However, Undertaker and Kane responded to Vince's scolding by breaking his leg with the steel stairs. 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 to side with Paul Bearer, thus turning Kane into a tweener. The match ended in a no contest as Austin attacked Undertaker after Undertaker knocked out Kane with a steel chair and declared himself the winner. Shortly after, the Undertaker admitted to setting the fire that scarred Kane's face when they were children, claiming that he had always known that Kane was the weaker sibling. Their feud continued when Undertaker faced Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a Buried Alive match; during the match, Kane interfered and attacked Undertaker, thus helping 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, which Undertaker once again won. 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, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. The Undertaker attempted to reunite the Brothers of Destruction, but Kane made the ultimate decision to remain in his team with X-Pac after learning the Undertaker only wanted to use him. Shortly after, Undertaker would form The Unholy Alliance with Big 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. They reunited again in the summer of 2000; at this time, Undertaker had taken on the "American Badass" biker persona instead of the satanic character he had portrayed previously. They challenged WWF Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an episode of *Raw is War*, but they were disqualified, so they didn't win the titles. On the August 14 episode of *Raw is War*, the 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, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.

At the Royal Rumble in 2001, Kane and Undertaker teamed up, eliminating most of the field in the Royal Rumble match; Kane entered number six and finished second eliminating eleven wrestlers, while Undertaker came in at number twenty-five and came sixth after being eliminated by Rikishi. The two reunited later that same month, and on the February 1 episode of *SmackDown!*, they defeated Rikishi and Haku in a First Blood match. They got a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out, facing the champions The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Edge and Christian in a tables match, but lost when 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 the Two-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Austin and Triple H at Backlash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 episode of *SmackDown!*, 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, 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.

With Kane injured, The Undertaker began targeting Steve Austin and his WWF Championship. On an episode of *Raw 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. At Judgment Day, Kane defeated Triple H to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a chain match, despite interference from Austin. 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.

Diamond Dallas Page was the Undertaker's next target; Page wanted to become a big star like the Undertaker, and started a feud with him, taking The Undertaker's slogan, "I'll make you famous" quite figuratively. The basis of this feud involved Page stalking Undertaker's wife Sara, hoping to get the Undertaker's attention. On the August 9 episode of *SmackDown!*, the Brothers of Destruction defeated The Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire) to win the WCW Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam, 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 Tag Team Championship, thus briefly unifying the two titles.

The Brothers of Destruction began a feud with KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), who were brought to the WWF by Steven Richards. Richards wanted revenge on the Undertaker for what happened to him on the April 26, 2001 episode of *SmackDown!*, 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 of *Raw is War*, Kane and Undertaker lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Dudley Boyz after KroniK interfered. At Unforgiven, they successfully defended their WCW tag titles against KroniK, before losing them to Booker T and Test on the following episode of *SmackDown!.* They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through to the end of the Alliance Invasion angle, including their participation at Invasion and Survivor Series, 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 again in 2002's WWF 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 of No Mercy as they both respectively had title matches that night, with Undertaker challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship inside Hell in a Cell and Kane defending his Intercontinental Championship in a unification match against Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. They next teamed up again unofficially at the Royal Rumble in 2003, but Undertaker turned on Kane during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated him. Later that year at the Survivor Series, an unmasked and heel Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between The Undertaker and Mr. McMahon, costing Undertaker the match. Kane would go on to say that Undertaker was buried forever. The two would end the feud with a match at WrestleMania XX in 2004, in which The Undertaker returned to his "Deadman" character, and defeated his half-brother Kane.

The demonic duo had a short run-in with each other in 2005; at the Royal Rumble, Undertaker was in a scheduled match against the then-heel Heidenreich in a casket match. Before the match, Gene Snitsky, who was in a feud with the then-face gimmick 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. Originally, those plans were for this to lead up to a tag team match at WrestleMania 21, but The Undertaker instead decided to take on Randy Orton, and Kane would compete in the Money 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 from *Raw* or *SmackDown!* were involved. While Kane, who was helping his partner Big Show against Rey 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 the *Raw* brand and Undertaker was a member of the *SmackDown!* brand. Because the match was held on *SmackDown!* (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 October 27, 2006 episode of *SmackDown!*. Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) interfered with Kane's match against Mr. Kennedy, helping Kennedy beat him down before the lights went out and the Undertaker's music came on. When the lights came back on, Kane was gone, nowhere to be found. As a result of the interference, General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a tag team match: The Brothers of Destruction versus Kennedy and MVP. The next week on *SmackDown!*, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time as a tag team in five years and gathered three wins over MVP and Mr Kennedy in that one night. The first two wins were made by countout, and a disqualification at which point General Manager Theodore Long twice came out and restarted the match with no disqualifications or countouts. Finally, the brothers hit simultaneous chokeslams, and Undertaker finished with a *Tombstone Piledriver* to Mr. Kennedy.

The brothers continued their rivalry with their individual opponents before reuniting for a rematch on the last *SmackDown!* before Armageddon. This time, the match would go to a double disqualification as Kennedy threatened to run over Kane with a hearse parked ringside. 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. At Armageddon, Undertaker defeated Kennedy in a Last Ride match, which was why the hearse had been at ringside for the last two weeks, and Kane defeated MVP earlier in an inferno match. The next week on *SmackDown!*, the Brothers would reunite once again, defeating King Booker and Finlay, before parting ways as Kane began a rivalry with The Great Khali while Undertaker successfully pursued the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 23.

On October 12, 2007 episode of *SmackDown!*, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2007, defeating then-WWE Tag Team Champions MVP and Matt Hardy in a non-title match. The Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2008 on the February 1, 2008 episode of *SmackDown*, defeating Big Daddy V and Mark Henry by submission. At WrestleMania XXIV, after Kane won a well-earned 24-man battle royal and used a sneak attack in gaining the second ever WrestleMania record for the fastest pin later that night, and Undertaker won the Elimination Chamber match earning his number one contender shot at No Way Out, both brothers became world champions: with Kane winning the ECW Championship from Chavo Guerrero, and the Undertaker winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge.

On the April 4, 2008 episode of *SmackDown*, 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, and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) interfered. In tandem, however, Kane and Undertaker delivered a chokeslam and *Tombstone Piledriver* to Chavo and Edge respectively. The Brothers of Destruction also made an appearance when *ECW* traveled to London, England on April 15, 2008, facing then-WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz, who also fell victim to tandem chokeslams. On the April 21, 2008 episode of *Raw*, the Brothers of Destruction teamed with John Cena and Triple H to take on the team of John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Chavo Guerrero, and the one night only reunion of Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) in a losing effort, after Edge hit Kane with a spear.

On the November 13, 2009 episode of *SmackDown*, after his match with Chris Jericho, which was ended after interference from Jericho's partner Big Show, Kane came to the aid of his "brother" to chase off Jeri-Show. The Brothers of Destruction would reunite on the November 20 episode to face the 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 of *SmackDown*, General Manager Theodore Long announced that The Undertaker was found in a vegetative state by Kane, who vowed to out the identity of Undertaker's attacker, and for weeks he accused and interrogated other superstars. At Money 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. At SummerSlam, 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 resulting in a feud between the two.

Kane and Undertaker met at Night of Champions, which Undertaker lost. With Kane seeming to have grown stronger than his older "brother", The Undertaker was boosted by the return of his former manager, and Kane's father, Paul Bearer (who hadn't been seen for many years, since June 2004 when The Undertaker betrayed him by drowning him in a crypt of cement). With Bearer by The Undertaker's side like old times, the two squared off again at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Paul Bearer, however, betrayed The Undertaker by blinding him with the urn, allowing Kane to chokeslam him for the victory (repaying Undertaker for the Concrete Crypt burial at The Great American Bash). The feud culminated with a Buried Alive match at Bragging Rights, in which The Undertaker lost again due to interference by The Nexus, allowing Kane to bury the Undertaker alive, possibly evening a longtime score for The Undertaker's initial ablaze of his brother as children.

On July 23, 2012, during *Raw 1000*, the Brothers of Destruction reunited against Jinder Mahal, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Hunico, Camacho and Drew McIntyre when they were planning to attack Kane. This led to the return of The Undertaker, who assisted Kane in fighting off the six attackers (hinting that he forgave Kane for his betrayal). They cleared the ring before delivering simultaneous chokeslams and tombstone piledrivers to Hawkins and Hunico, after which they did their signature pose.

The Undertaker and Kane were once again reunited on the March 11, 2013 episode of *Raw* following the real-life death of Paul Bearer. As Undertaker was attempting to pay tribute to Bearer, he was interrupted by his WrestleMania 29 opponent, CM Punk. This caused an irate Kane to attack Punk, leading to a match between the two later in the night, which Kane won thanks to interference from The Undertaker. After the match, Punk attacked Kane with Paul Bearer’s urn leaving The Undertaker left irate in the ring. After Punk left the arena with the urn, both The Undertaker and Kane 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. At WrestleMania, both Undertaker and Kane were victorious, extending the streak to 21-0 and retaining the Tag Team Championship respectively.

The Brothers of Destruction reunited once again the night following WrestleMania 29 on the April 8, 2013 episode of *Raw*, when Kane and his Team Hell No tag partner Daniel Bryan rushed to Undertaker's aid as he was about to be attacked by The Shield. Two weeks later on the April 22 episode of *Raw*, there was a six-man tag match between The Brothers of Destruction/Team Hell No (Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan) and The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns), which The Shield won after separating Bryan from his teammates.

On October 25, 2015 at Hell in a Cell, The Wyatt Family attacked The Undertaker after his Hell in a Cell match with Brock Lesnar, ultimately carrying Undertaker to the back after beating him down. The following night on *Raw*, after Bray Wyatt explained his actions, Kane came out to exact revenge for his brother, but he was also attacked and captured by The Wyatt Family. On the November 9 episode of *Raw*, after Bray Wyatt claimed to have taken their souls, The Brothers of Destruction returned and attacked The Wyatt Family, setting up a match at Survivor Series. The Undertaker's body of dark angels, dubbed "The Druids", returned on the November 16 edition of *Raw*, but Wyatt would take control of them and have them turn against the Undertaker and Kane. At Survivor Series, The Brothers of Destruction defeated Wyatt and Luke Harper in a tag team match to end the feud.

On November 15, 2016, at *SmackDown*'s 900th episode, The Undertaker returned to interrupt Edge's *Cutting Edge* segment to send a warning to the *SmackDown* team regarding their match at Survivor Series. After *SmackDown* went off the air, as Undertaker was leaving, Kane appeared on the ramp and they did their signature arm pose together.

On the March 19, 2018 episode of *Raw*, Kane confronted John Cena after the latter had challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 34 the week prior and attacked him with a chokeslam. This led to a no disqualification match the following week, where Kane lost to Cena. The Undertaker went on to defeat Cena at WrestleMania 34.

In October 2018, Kane and Undertaker started a feud against D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels). At the October event WWE Super Show-Down, Undertaker faced Triple H in a singles match, with Kane and Michaels at ringside. After the match, which was won by Triple H, Undertaker and Kane attacked both Triple H and Michaels, thus reuniting the team . Throughout the following weeks, both teams had various confrontations, which then led to a tag team match at Crown Jewel. At Crown Jewel, despite dominating most of the match, both Kane and Undertaker were defeated by DX. Following the match, Taker and Kane broke character and hugged one another in the middle of the ring. Both of them also did their signature arm pose together on the top of the ramp.

At Survivor Series 2020, Kane, alongside other superstars and legends, returned for The Undertaker’s retirement ceremony.