Making his debut in the inaugural Hell In A Cell match which pitted Shawn Michaels against The Undertaker, he made an immediate impact as the then WWF made its move into the Attitude Era. A mystical character, said to have been burned as a child, Kane was supported by none other than the capable Paul Bearer.
Paul Bearer was one of the best talkers in the business and when you’ve got a character that can’t speak, that’s exactly what you need!
For weeks Paul had teased the debut of the Big Red Monster and when he was finally by his side, he portrayed the story about an illegitimate child that he’d had with The Undertaker’s mother so captivating for us!
As the story went, when he was a young child, The Undertaker set the family funeral home on fire, causing the death of his own parents and the scarring of his half-brother. Paul Bearer had then kept Kane in a mental asylum for much of his youth as he recovered from the burns received from the fire.
Undertaker thought his brother to be dead and originally pinned the arson on him, but later admitted it, shortly before his debut.
It’s like something from a horror film.
Growing up in this era, I can tell you this. I was whole-heartedly scared of Kane. I mean, I would quiver when he came on screen. As he built up to an epic battle with his brother at WrestleMania, I was absolutely captivated, as was the audience, by this family feud between two supernatural characters that were from out of this world.
The matches did not disappoint. Even after his defeat at WrestleMania, the feud continued between Kane and The Undertaker as they entered the first Inferno match at Unforgiven 1998. With the right framing it looks literally like a match from hell between two demons. You could not wish for a better character to complement the Undertaker.
