#2 The debut of Kane
The Undertaker proved to be one of those gimmicks that the fans were instantly drawn to. So much so, that soon after his feud with Hogan over the Championship, he was forced to turn babyface for the first time. Taker turned on fellow heel Jake Roberts, setting up a match between the two at Wrestlemania 8. For the next few years, the Phenom enjoyed relative success as an upper-mid card fan favourite, occasionally challenging for the WWF Championship, and eventually winning it back against Psycho Sid at Wrestlemania 13.
Fans were still into the gimmick throughout the New Generation era, but something about professional wrestling was beginning to change as 1997 set in. WCW had altered the wrestling landscape and started to embrace a more realistic style of storytelling and character. Gone were the cartoonish gimmicks of the 1980s and in came straight talking guys with attitude, that wrestled under their real names.
One thing the fans did like around this time was getting to know the superstars on a more true to life basis. Mick Foley’s career as Mankind arguably launched off when the WWF began showing home videos of the young kid doing wrestling moves in his back garden. Fans liked to see a more personal, vulnerable side to their superstars in a way they hadn’t before. This exact same move also worked wonders for The Undertaker’s career.
After some animosity between Taker and his manager Paul Bearer, the latter began revealing dark aspects of Taker’s past to the WWF audience. There was apparently a deep, dark secret that the Phenom was desperate for Paul to keep to himself.
He even reluctantly re-joined his manager for a few weeks in the hope that this would help keep the secret under wraps. Eventually, however, we all learned that Undertaker had a younger brother, and that despite being there on the day the Deadman’s parents were killed in a fire at their funeral home, Kane was still very much alive.
Kane’s debut in WWF is one of the most iconic of all time. Ripping the door of the Hell in a Cell and costing Taker the match against Shawn Michales is now a part of WWF folklore. The two brothers would set off on a lengthy feud with each other which involved a Wrestlemania showdown, and the first ever Inferno Match.
The Kane story was able to humanise The Undertaker to the point where fans could relate to him just a little. This helped transform a character that in many ways still felt like part of the old 1980s cohort, into a believable persona for the new millennium.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
