10 Disturbing Backstories Behind WWE Gimmicks
7. Kane
The Undertaker, whilst acknowledging his tragic backstory of being orphaned growing up, denied he was the one that started the fire that burned down his family home. Bearer claimed he had proof though, revealing his brother Kane, although he was severely scarred and disfigured, survived the fire.
Bearer heckled The Undertaker in his wailing voice with “Kane's alive!” Bearer told of how he helped raise Kane, having him institutionalized in an asylum after the fire, with Kane plotting his revenge on The Undertaker ever since. ‘Taker countered with how Kane solely started the fire as he was a pyromaniac growing up and how there’s no way he could have survived. Bearer would later unintentionally admit he had an affair with The Undertaker’s mother too, making Kane his son and The Undertaker’s half-brother.
Kane epically debuted at the Badd Blood pay-per-view, acting like Frankenstein’s Monster to Paul Bearer as he ripped the Hell in a Cell open and tombstoned The Undertaker, costing him the match and WWF Championship. This was the start of a never-ending feud/alliance between The Undertaker and Kane. Kane has said of it:
"I think that was the best piece of epic storytelling WWE has ever done. Just the whole thing as far as from the introduction of Kane, from Paul Bearer talking about Kane before you ever saw him, to the storyline itself, the matches and everything. I just thought that it was just a great piece of storytelling. Everything seemed to work, we had all these different pieces. One reason I called it epic storytelling was because the feud was like mythology, right? You had these two large and alive characters with this huge backstory and all these different things."
Some more of Kane’s grievous backstory was later revealed in 2002 (in an angle that was quickly dropped), noting how Kane held years of mental anguish over accidentally killing his girlfriend Katie Vick when they were drink-driving and he lost control of the car. And in 2003 we saw how Kane’s scars all this time that had him hide under a mask for years were not physical but mental.