3. The Build To His Match vs. Kane At WrestleMania 14
Even though Kane had made his debut by attacking Taker and costing him his Hell In A Cell match against Shawn Michaels, Taker refused to fight his storyline brother. He was goaded and egged on repeatedly, both by Kane and Kane's Manager, Paul Bearer, who of course, used to manage Taker himself. He simply would not budge, and continued to turn down fights and matches. Eventually, they would actually go on to team up and form an alliance, which was terrifying. Kane was taller, more muscular, and seemingly more out of control and violent than Taker was, so putting them together just seemed like trouble for the rest of the WWF roster. That all came to an end at the 1998 Royal Rumble, when Kane cost Taker a Casket Match (again VS Shawn Michaels). After the match, Kane would take the casket, with Taker inside, roll it up the aisle, destroy it, and then set it on fire. He and Paul Bearer would look on as the casket continued to burn into a huge fireball. By the time Taker returned a few weeks later, not only had he changed his mind about fighting Kane, he became the aggressor, and we got to see an angry side of him like we had never seen before. The entire thing, convoluted as it was, made for gripping television. It was a deep, layered story, the likes of which we hadn't seen very often in the WWF, especially during that time frame when "Crash TV" was still the go-to thing. It helped to set these two up to be connected for years to come, either as opponents or as partners. It all started with one match, though...