The Undertaker's Secret WWE Arch Enemy Nobody Talks About

When TAFKA Cactus Jack arrived in WWE on the Raw after WrestleMania to bring his new monstrous Mankind persona to life, longstanding fans would have been forgiven for assuming that this would put The Undertaker back on the treadmill. He was a scary seemingly-not-of-this-world creature that mirrored the style of the beasts 'The Man From The Dark Side' had been tasked with slaying for years. But something was different in the tone of the character, and man-behind-the-mask Mick Foley was committed to making himself the most effective Undertaker opponent ever.

The results were immediate, and literally so.

Having unleashed his terrifying Mandible Claw on Undertaker during their first exchange, Mankind had a far deadlier weapon that Wippleman or Dibiase could ever wield. He rattled Paul Bearer enough that he inadvertently clonked Undertaker on the head with the urn to give Mankind the win in their first ever pay-per-view singles match at King Of The Ring two months later. Or was it inadvertent? Mankind was so terrifying that, after this victory and numerous other attacks that inflicted more damage on 'The Deadman' that had ever been seen before, Bearer joined forces with him following a scary and violent Boiler Room Brawl at SummerSlam. Four years after Kamala ran a mile out of Wembley Stadium in terror, three after Giant Gonzalez fell for the final time, two after an "Underfaker" was vanquished and one after the Million Dollar Corporation were finally disposed of, Undertaker's dominance over forces of evil was questioned to such an extent that even his loyalest supporter turned to the real dark side. It was previously unthinkable, but Mankind had completely changed the rules about what we were to consider about the character, from his fallibility to his mindset and the motivation, and now even what passed for his friendships.

'Taker got a measure of revenge in their 'Buried Alive' battle a month later, but found himself under the dirt by the end of the pay-per-view. A purple glove powered through the soil (!) after a lightning bolt (!!) hit the grave (!!!), but it was in service of something much bigger. Undertaker went through the most substantial physical transformation of his career to date, dropping his former threads entirely for a modernised take on the gimmick, and in doing so was able to overcome the brutality and betrayal of Mankind and Bearer respectively. He went on to win only his second WWE Championship at WrestleMania 13, toasting how he now only needed his "creatures of the night" in the crowd to thrive. The shadow of Bearer and Mankind loomed for a post-Mania title rematch, though, with the feud literally reheated when 'The Deranged One' through a fireball at Undertaker's face. At the appropriately-named In Your House: Revenge Of The Taker, the Champion defeated the Challenger and took revenge for the fiery assault by burning Bearer's face. This pushed 'The Fat Man' over the edge, resulting in the reveal of Kane's existence and backstory, the news that he was still alive, and that he was coming for The Undertaker's soul. Via side quests with The Executioner and Vader, WWE had slipped slightly back into old habits by giving Bearer heel foil for his own Undertaker gauntlet run, but Kane was confirmation that it had been for a greater good.

Kane's debut - one of WWE's greatest ever - at the climax of Undertaker's absolutely mesmerising Hell In A Cell bout with Shawn Michaels at In Your House: Badd Blood was pure WrestleMania fuel, and furnished WWE with an Undertaker rivalry as hot as the company was getting. As the organisation roared back into form, new/lapsed fans loved Kane as a super-charged, evil version of the character they couldn't believe was still around, and both men went into 1998 with an ungodly amount of commercial and critical momentum. The Bearer run had been nothing like Wippleman and Dibiase's after all - it had built to a terrifying final boss in the form of the tortured sibling, and their ups and downs together came to define the Attitude Era almost as much as the exploits of Steve Austin, The Rock et al.

There was no way back for The Undertaker now. WWE had gotten as close to reality and America's zeitgeist as it had been in a decade, and his place in all of that was assured via brotherly combat more than the magic of the urn, or monsters-of-the-week coming for his head. When Vince Russo's brand of insanity consumed the company, the devil consumed The Deadman, and when injuries gave his persona a much needed break, it was reborn as the realest version yet. 'The American Bad Ass' was a necessary excursion for Mark Calaway, even if it scans as quaint or cheesy now. As every other character "was themselves with the volume turned up", so too now was Mark Undertaker riding his beautiful Titan bike and beatin' everybody's ass like a good locker room leader. It ran its course too, but bridged a gap and gave 'The Deadman' a breather before the time was right to revive it for post-boom period hardcore base. WWE had spent years bashing or completely avoiding nostalgia of any kind, but by WrestleMania XX - the site of Undertaker's return to familiar narrative footing - the very theme was "Where It All Begins Again". This was the new age of DVD boxsets, a monopolised and monetised gathering of wrestling's past, and the perfect point to make something old something new again. Best of all was the idea that this simply couldn't be like it was in the mid-90s doldrums. 2004 wasn't 2000 hot, but it was 1995 cold either, and whilst John Cena and Batista weren't quite ready for their Austin and Rock runs, they weren't about to tank the numbers like the lowest days for Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Diesel either. These times, we were told, were more straightforward, and certainly not that ugly bottom-of-the-barrel New Generation the company were at pains to tell you wasn't worth revisiting.

There's a terrific gag in an early episode of The Simpsons where hack journalist Kent Brockman gleefully cues up an interview with champion boxer Dredrick Tatum simply because the pugilist name-checks Springfield. He throws to the chat where Tatum exclaims; "That town is a dump! If I ever wind up back in Springfield, you know that I f*cked up really bad". Context ignored for the cheapest of cheap pops that programme-makers patronisingly believe will entertain locals just for recognition's sake. By 2004, with nothing popping off half as much as they'd like, WWE was about to wind up back in the past with The Undertaker. And everybody would come to see by the end that they had indeed, "f*cked up really bad".

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