The Ministry of Darkness

After Paul Bearer turned his back on his son Kane and rejoined the side of Kane's brother The Undertaker at the WWF's Judgment Day: In Your House pay-per-view event in October 1998, The Undertaker announced **The Ministry of Darkness** and a "plague of evil" that would be unleashed on the WWF the next night on *Raw is War*, making Undertaker a heel. Following the proclamation, The Undertaker continued to feud with Kane and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which involved segments in which Undertaker hit Austin in the head with a shovel, giving him a concussion, thus costing Austin the WWF Championship against The Rock. The following week on *Raw is War*, interviews were conducted with Austin throughout the night in his hospital room in a medical center in the San Jose, California area, where the night before at a WWF live event Austin blacked out, as part of the storyline in the lead up to their Buried Alive match.

Later, The Undertaker and Paul Bearer abducted Austin, at first attempting to bury Austin alive, then attempting to embalm him alive. However, before Undertaker could begin the embalming process, Kane came in through the embalming room door and attacked Undertaker, preventing the embalming from happening. On that week's *Sunday Night Heat*, Undertaker said that Austin would be sacrificed, but on *Raw is War* instead Undertaker called out Kane, they fought and he called out Bearer, who had brought the orderlies out to the ring and Kane escaped. Backstage, Undertaker knocked Kane out with a chair shot and told Bearer to go get the orderlies and Undertaker tried to wrap Kane in a body bag as punishment, but failed when Austin hit Undertaker in the head with a shovel, knocking him out in the process as his measure of payback for hitting him in the head earlier and costing him the WWF Championship. It was assumed that Undertaker attempted to have his brother committed to the mental asylum because Kane saved Austin from the embalming process in the funeral home earlier on *Raw is War*. However, Austin put the fake Kane mask on Undertaker, fooling everybody to think that Kane was going to the mental asylum, but unbeknownst to Bearer and the orderlies, Undertaker, the actual fool the entire time, was going to the asylum instead of Kane and later dumped Bearer into the sewer. Also, Undertaker tied Austin down on his symbol and crucified Austin as payback for sending him to the asylum and escaping from the embalming room weeks earlier. Undertaker's vile schemes were delayed when Kane cost him the Buried Alive match to Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House on December 13 and he was not seen until the following month.

Meanwhile, Bradshaw and Faarooq formed The Acolytes, a dark and brooding tag team briefly managed by The Jackyl. Shortly after their debut, the Jackyl would mention on color commentary that his acolytes would usher in "an age of tribulation" in the WWF and that the Jackyl would be the "puppet master" controlling everything from the shadows, effectively setting the stage for The Ministry of Darkness with the Jackyl acting as the power behind the throne. However, The Jackyl left WWF at the end of 1998, just before Bradshaw and Faarooq came under the service of a then-unknown new leader.

As one of their first orders of business, they abducted Dennis Knight on the December 28 episode of *Raw is War* and took him to a renewed, druid-like master "He" which they were referring to. Weeks later, this "He" turned out to be The Undertaker, who proceeded to initiate Knight as his servant via a ritual, renaming him as Mideon. At the Royal Rumble event in January 1999, The Undertaker, Mideon and The Acolytes abducted the 485-pound Mabel, who was renamed Viscera the following night on *Raw is War* and turned him to the Undertaker's side. Another faction, The Brood (Christian, Edge and Gangrel), was recruited to The Undertaker's service as well and then Undertaker made it clear that he wanted to own the WWF and oust Vince McMahon.

McMahon, shook up, put Undertaker in the second-ever Inferno match, a rematch in which Undertaker faced off against Kane (who had joined Vince's Corporation to avoid being committed to the asylum). Undertaker defeated Kane again, this time by placing his leg on fire and reduced the WWF owner to tears at the sight of a burning teddy bear. The bear was later 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 crucifix resembling The Undertaker's symbol in McMahon's front yard and McMahon ordered his enforcer, Big Boss Man, to face The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XV on March 28, which Undertaker won. After the match, The Brood lowered themselves from the rafters onto the top of the cell and then lowered a noose to Undertaker, who sent McMahon another message by hanging the Boss Man from the cell.

After WrestleMania XV, 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 her crying in the boiler room and with The Undertaker's symbol on her forehead. As vengeance on Shamrock for ruining his plans, Undertaker ordered The Ministry to abduct Ken's storyline sister Ryan and sacrifice her on one of his symbols as a demonstration on Undertaker's part of what would happen to Stephanie and McMahon was enraged, screaming at the camera and telling Undertaker to stay away from Stephanie. The next week on *Raw is War*, Shamrock found his sister crying in the basement along with Mankind, but was ambushed, attacked along with Mankind as well, captured and attempted to be sacrificed by The Ministry of Darkness. Since Ken forced some of it out of Christian, Undertaker flogged him as punishment for giving the information to Shamrock that Stephanie was in the boiler room and the next week he tried to sacrifice Shamrock and then ordered Christian's fellow Brood members Edge and Gangrel to sacrifice him as well for his incompetence, but instead they refused and turned on The Undertaker and left the stable.

At Backlash on April 25, Mr. McMahon had Shamrock face The Undertaker in the hopes that Shamrock would break Undertaker's ankle with his ankle lock toehold submission, but his plan backfired and Shamrock was attacked by Bradshaw after the match. Later, The Undertaker commandeered Stephanie McMahon's limo and shouting to her "Where to, Stephanie?" while laughing and drove off into the night with a screaming Stephanie in tow as Backlash went off the air. The next night on *Raw is War*, Undertaker held a "Black Wedding" for himself and Stephanie because if he married the WWF owner's daughter, he would control the entire WWF. His wish was about to come to fruition, until the ceremony was ruined successfully by Stone Cold Steve Austin, after two attempts by Corporation members Big Show and Ken Shamrock failed.

As a result, on the very first ever episode of *SmackDown!*, The Undertaker proceeded to join forces with Vince McMahon's son Shane, in turn gaining control of The Corporation and merging his Ministry with it to form the even more powerful Corporate Ministry. However, after Mr. McMahon was revealed as its "Greater Power" on the June 7 episode of *Raw*, The Corporate Ministry would eventually dissolve. The Undertaker formed a new "Unholy Alliance" with Big Show (Mideon and Viscera later helped them as well) which led to two WWF Tag Team Championship reigns for Big Show and Undertaker. This group came to an end when The Undertaker suffered a legit injury in September and was written out by quitting, rather than taking a match ordered by Mr. McMahon.