The Ministry of Darkness: where are they now?

Even though the Ministry of Darkness only existed for just under a year, it sticks in the minds of those Attitude Era fans as one of the most entertaining stables of its time. Lead by The Undertaker with Paul Bearer at his side, the group dominated Raw is War and feuded with the Corporation as they wrestled, not only with each other but also for supposed power over the WWF.

Burning symbols, sacrifices, rituals and darkness were the main themes of the group. Dressed in gothic attire, they struck fear into the hearts of the roster and had some very entertaining bouts.

Hell in Cell matches, Buried Alive matches and even Inferno matches were present during the Ministry’s reign of terror and the programming was fresh and exciting. With another real stable to feud against, this became one of the highlights of the weekly broadcast.

It helped to establish other stars such as Edge, Christian, and Bradshaw and gave wrestlers that had nothing to do a purpose.

Eventually, it would be revealed that Vince McMahon had been pulling the strings and the group became the Corporate Ministry. Unfortunately, this was not exactly well received and led to the dissolution of both groups.

But what happened to the original members of The Ministry? We’ll take a look at where the former servants of the Lord of Darkness are now, as well as The Undertaker himself!

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#6 Viscera

The 1995 King of the Ring, Mabel, did absolutely nothing after his win and goes down as possibly the worst winner of the competition ever, after Mr Ass of course. He had no direction and no real feuds. It wasn’t until he joined the Ministry that he was able to reinvent himself as a new character and become fun to watch again.

The Undertaker had Farooq and Bradshaw abduct him during the 1998 Royal Rumble. The Undertaker renamed him Viscera and he began dressing in patent leather attire which made him look bigger than he was, hid his flabby bits and made him an actual challenge in the ring.

He was not successful in the singles department but, as a wrestler, he was absolutely brilliant once he morphed into this persona. He was a terrifying character because of the contact lenses that made his eyes look strange as well as the unnaturally blonde Mohawk he sported.

He would eventually become Big Daddy V and one of the attractions of the revived ECW in WWE in 2006. He was released in 2008 after being drafted to SmackDown and made his return to the independent circuit. He did not really do anything of note but ended his career in Qatar Pro Wrestling, with a match against René Duprée.

Unfortunately, on February 18, 2014, Viscera, real name Nelson Frazier, died of a heart attack. No wrestling fan will never forget the job he did entertaining the crowd during the Attitude Era, especially during his time as a Ministry of Darkness member.

#5 Mideon

Mideon had been floating around the lower card of the WWF as no more than a glorified bodyguard before joining the satanic group The Ministry. The Undertaker performed a ritual on Dennis Knight, renaming him Mideon.

It happened on a segment of Raw and is seriously one of the weirdest things seen on WWE television, as The Undertaker fed Mideon some of his blood, seemingly transforming him.

Mideon did manage to capture the European Championship during his time with the group so one might say he was more successful than you would have thought.

In an article on WWE.com, Knight said of his time with The Ministry:

“In all of pro wrestling, one of the most iconic things has got to be Undertaker’s entrance,” Knight said. “One of the best things for me was going out at Madison Square Garden with Undertaker and Paul Bearer against Mankind and Ken Shamrock.”

After the group disbanded, he would go on to become the resident streaker in the WWE before eventually leaving in late 2000.

After leaving the company, he pursued his passion for food and cooking and set up his own catering business, Dennis Knight Catering. This followed a trip Café Ponte in Clearwater, where he learned certain intricacies of dainty cuisine. He provides for private parties, mainly, but also does other functions as well.

Wrestling is well and truly behind him.

#4 Gangrel

As the leader of the Brood and an extremely scary figure dressed like a vampire, Gangrel and his group were the perfect match for the satanic intentions of The Ministry. With his extended incisors and his goblet of blood, Gangrel was pipped to be a bigger star than he ended up becoming.

He would spit the blood out during his ring entrance under red lights and the drips on his white shirt contrasted perfectly to give that eery look and to turn the audience’s stomach just a little bit.

His group, The Brood, voluntarily left the faction after being asked to sacrifice their fellow member Christian and refusing to do so. They feuded with the Ministry for a short time and then turned their eyes to the Tag Team Championships.

Once Edge and Christian turned on Gangrel following their loss at No Mercy 1999, he lost all direction and was fighting the lower card throughout 2000 and 2001. Performing on Heat and Velocity, rumour has it that management were not happy about his weight and therefore let him go.

He made sporadic appearances throughout the 2000s, coming back for a reunion with Ministry member Viscera to take on The Undertaker. He also reportedly came back again for a potential Vampire stable with Kevin Thorn that never came to be.

He has directed pornographic movies under the name Vampire Warrior and even had a cameo in The Human Centipede 3! He can still be found at the odd wrestling event, spitting blood and taking names.

He even revealed that Bray Wyatt wanted him to return to the WWE but it couldn't come through due to copyright issues.

#3 Edge and Christian

Let’s start with Christian. The Marty Jannetty of the duo in many ways, Christian never quite reached heights of Edge but you can still appreciate that was a heck of a talent and probably deserved a lot more than he got during his time with WWE as a singles competitor.

He got his start with his on-screen brother and now best friend, Edge, as part of the Brood under Gangrel so he was in the Ministry by proxy. The team continued to impress WWE officials and the fans and once they left the Ministry and turned on Gangrel, they became multiple time Tag Team Champions.

Christian did have some singles success following the split of the tag team, however. Between WWE and TNA, he held 22 Championships but never captured the WWE Championship.

Christian was released from his contract due to concussion concerns but went on to star in The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness on the WWE Network, which was, unfortunately, cancelled due to a series of cuts.

Edge, on the other hand, had a much more glittering career as he main evented many pay-per-views and even a WrestleMania. He captured not only the World Heavyweight Championship on multiple occasions but also the WWE Championship. He also won the King of the Ring, the Royal Rumble and picked up a few Intercontinental title reigns along the way. ‘Done it all, won it all’ as his t-shirt once said.

A WWE Hall of Famer, he is now happily married to Beth Phoenix and has 2 daughters with her. He is also pursuing a career in acting having appeared in Haven and The Flash. He will even have a roll in the upcoming Season 5 of Vikings, so watch out for him!

#2 The Acolytes (Farooq and Bradshaw)

Farooq was coming towards the end of his career in the ring and Bradshaw was just a young stud. But when the higher-ups decided to have them as part of The Ministry, a classic tag team was created. They had their origins with a character called The Jackyl, but he left the WWF before he could become involved in the storyline.

The Acolytes were then under The Undertaker and helped to kidnap Mideon and Viscera, essentially helping to form the stable.

We’ll begin with where Farooq is. He is actually currently still signed with WWE under a Legends contract and makes sporadic appearances in comedic segments spouting his well-known catchphrase “DAMN!”

You can also find him in original programming for the WWE Network sharing stories from the past on programmes such as ‘Table for 3’.

Ron seems to be enjoying his retirement that’s for sure!

Bradshaw on the other hand, reinvented himself as John “Bradshaw” Layfield or ‘JBL’ as Ruthless Aggression fans knew him. He captured the WWE title and carried the SmackDown brand alone for a couple of years, having classic matches with Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle and his old master, The Undertaker.

He is still a part of the WWE family, most recently serving as a commentator on the SmackDown Live brand. He is very much a part-timer now having given up that gig but will still return for the big events.

He does a lot of charitable work with children around the world and it’s something he’s passionate about. H was visiting ‘Magic Bus’ when in India which does great things for children struggling in poverty.

Our very own correspondent, Riju Dasgupta, recently did an interview with JBL which you can check out here.

#1 The Undertaker and Paul Bearer

Paul Bearer was usually the puppet master, controlling the actions of either his on-screen son Kane or The Undertaker, depending on what mood he was in. Unfortunately, William Moody, who played Paul Bearer, died in 2013 having been an integral part of the Ministry of Darkness.

Now for The Lord of Darkness himself. Accompanied by Paul Bearer, The Undertaker looked to wreak havoc on the WWF with his new group and his new obsession with being the Lord of Darkness. He wanted to oust power from Vince McMahon and own the WWF.

The great thing about the Ministry of Darkness is that they seemed a viable threat for the control the Vince had over the WWF as his Mr McMahon heel character. With him also building a faction known as The Corporation, the WWF was seeing a true civil war.

Even though several members of the Ministry found success after the group disbanded, none of them came close to matching The Deadman. After coming back from injury shortly after the group broke up, he returned as The American Badass. The gimmick divided fans of the product in hindsight, but he managed to keep himself relevant through the end of the Attitude Era as the product evolved.

His crowning glory is his WrestleMania streak which he lost at WrestleMania XXX to Brock Lesnar. 21 times in a row, The Undertaker beat his opponent at WrestleMania, whether that was in a handicap match, Casket match or in Hell in a Cell.

He suffered his second loss to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33 and left his hat and gloves in the ring, potentially signifying his retirement.

Regardless of whether the Deadman is retired or not, he has given 25 years of his life to this business and this industry. And I for one thank him for that and for bringing us the Ministry of Darkness.

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