The most epic storytelling WWE has ever produced started in the spring of 1997 and stretched well into 1998. It was a saga that built on the story of Cain and Abel and added its own unique twists and turns. At the April 1997 In Your House: Revenge of the Taker pay-per-view, Undertaker severely burned Paul Bearer with a fireball. Enraged, Bearer revealed to the world the dark past of his former friend, telling the world about the death of Undertaker's parents in a fire and accusing the Deadman of murder. He then stunned his former charge by revealing that his brother, Kane, was alive. Kane was once believed to have perished in the fire but Bearer was able to save him and kept the hideously disfigured younger brother of Undertaker's hidden from the world for his entire adolescence and early adulthood. Undertaker refused to believe this but had his doubts extinguished when, at October's Bad Blood event, Kane made his debut by tearing the door off of the Hell in a Cell structure and delivering a Tombstone to his brother that would cost him the match to Shawn Michaels. Despite assaults at the hands of his brother, Undertaker refused to fight back against Kane thanks to a promise he made to his deceased parents never to do so. That became much more difficult a promise to keep when Kane set fire to a casket that Undertaker was trapped in at the Royal Rumble in January of 1998. After a month-long hiatus, Undertaker returned and vowed to, "walk through the fires of hell to face you, Kane." The story would culminate with a much-anticipated, heavily hyped match between the brothers at WrestleMania XIV. Undertaker would throw caution to the wind, diving over the top rope and crashing through an announce table. He would withstand the hard-hitting offense of his brother throughout the entire bout and manage to defeat the force of nature with three...yes, three...Tombstone piledrivers. A month later, he would again defeat Kane, this time by setting him on fire. Poetic justice at its finest.
Erik Beaston is a freelance pro wrestling writer who likes long walks in the park, dandelions and has not quite figured out that this introduction is not for Match.com. He resides in Parts Unknown, where he hosts weekly cookouts with Kane, The Ultimate Warrior, Papa Shango and The Boogeyman. Be jealous.
