Brothers of Destruction

Brothers of Destruction
(left to right) The Undertaker and Kane in 2006.
Tag team
Members	The Undertaker Kane
Name(s)	Brothers of Destruction Kane and The Undertaker
Billed heights	Undertaker: 6 ft 10.5 in (2.10 m) Kane: 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Combined billed weight
Debut	1998

The Brothers of Destruction is the name of the professional wrestling tag team consisting of The Undertaker and Kane, who are (kayfabe) brothers that occasionally wrestle for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its SmackDown! brand.

History

Formation

In the beginning The Undertaker and Kane are storyline-wise "brothers". After months of feuding over an accident the Undertaker once committed which led to the burning of their home, the killing of their parents, and the scarring of Kane's face (all kayfabe), they first put their differences aside and joined forces in August 1998, before the Undertaker's WWF title match with Stone Cold Steve Austin. When the Undertaker failed to gain the title, Mr. McMahon put them in a Triple Threat Match with Austin in which neither brother could pin the other. After arguing over who would ultimately pin Austin, the brothers both pinned Austin at the same time, and Austin lost the belt, but it was not decided who among the brothers was champion. When Vince tried to crown one of them champion, Austin drove a zamboni to the ring and attacked McMahon. This made him furious as neither Kane nor the Undertaker tried to prevent this attack and he decided not to crown either brother the new champion. This made the brothers attack and "break" the leg of Vince McMahon with steel ring steps. Vince then decided to make the brothers fight each other to determine the new champion with Stone Cold as the special guest referee. At the end of the match, Paul Bearer came to the ring and hit Kane with a chair that he brought to ringside. Soon after, the Undertaker hit Kane with the same chair, thus turning on Kane. Austin refused to count the pin, however, and proceeded to give the Undertaker a Stone Cold Stunner, a chairshot, and counted them both out, thus ending the match in a no contest. The Undertaker went on to turn heel, rejoin Paul Bearer, feud with the now face Kane once again, and form the Ministry of Darkness.

2000-2001

The brothers did not perform as a tag team again until 2000 when they took on Edge and Christian for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. They nearly won the titles but Kurt Angle interfered to help Edge and Christian retain the titles. Kane soon turned on the Undertaker by giving him two Chokeslams in the Undertaker's match against Chris Benoit, the second sending the Undertaker through the ring.

However in the build up to the 2001 Royal Rumble, Kane and the Undertaker were refusing to fight each other. In a 6-Man Tag match on Smackdown! with the teams consisting of the Rock, Austin and the Undertaker versus Rikishi, Kane and Triple H, when both were tagged in to fight each other, both just stood in their corner just staring at each other and were tagged seconds later. Later on in the match, they chokeslammed the Rock and Steve Austin after the match became a no contest. The end of the show saw them do the Brothers of Destruction salute.

In the Royal Rumble itself, they did team up eliminating most of the field. Kane entered No. 6 and finished 2nd eliminating eleven wrestlers. Undertaker came in at no. 22 and came 7th after being eliminated by Rikishi.

The two reunited and took on Rikishi and Haku in a brutal First blood match. They would then get a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out 2001, facing the champions the Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian in a tables match. The Brothers of Destruction dominated the entire match, and nearly had the match won until Rikishi and Haku interfered.

The Undertaker and Kane started focusing on then-Intercontinental Champion Triple H, who would soon make a surprise alliance with WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. After the duo injured Kane's arm in a WWF Hardcore Championship match against Rhyno (and cost Kane his Hardcore Championship) , the Undertaker and Kane threatened then-Commissioner William Regal by stating that if they did not get a WWF Tag Team title shot at Edge and Christian , Kane would throw Stephanie McMahon off a large drop over an emergency exit in a boiler room. Thus they were granted an opportunity to face Steve Austin and Triple H at Backlash 2001 if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification Match for the titles. Despite interference by Steve Austin and Triple H, the Undertaker and Kane managed to win the WWF tag titles and the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H (The Two-Man Power Trip). At Backlash all major titles were on the line but despite that, Triple H pinned Kane after using a sledgehammer, thus making him and Austin the new WWF Tag Team Champions as well as the WWF Champion (for Austin) and the WWF Intercontinental Champion (for Triple H).

With Kane injured, The Undertaker began targeting Steve Austin and his WWF Championship. On an episode of RAW, the Undertaker was told by police officers that his wife Sara had been involved in a car accident. The Undertaker arrived home, only to find out that it was all a set up by Austin. At Judgment Day, the Undertaker dominated his WWF Championship match with Austin. However, Triple H interfered once more using his sledgehammer, allowing Austin to pin the Undertaker and retain his championship.

Diamond Dallas Page was the next person to get in the Undertaker's way. Page wanted to become a big star, just like the Undertaker, and so he started a feud with him, taking the Undertaker's slogan, "I'll make you famous" quite literally. The basis of this feud involved Page stalking the Undertaker's wife Sara. At SummerSlam 2001, the Undertaker and Kane defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon in a steel cage match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (now called the World Tag Team Championship) and retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship they won earlier that month. As a result, the Undertaker and Kane became the first Unified Tag Team Champions in the WWF, holding both the WWF and WCW tag titles. They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through onto the end of the Alliance Invasion angle, after which the Undertaker immediately turned heel and the two did not interact with each other for a long while.

Unofficial Returns

2002-2004

The duo next appeared together during the first few moments of No Mercy 2002 as they both had title matches that night. They next teamed up again unofficially at the 2003 Royal Rumble, but the Undertaker turned on Kane during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated him. Later that year at the Survivor Series, an unmasked Kane (in his second to latest heel run) interfered in the Buried Alive match between the Undertaker and Vince McMahon, costing a face Undertaker the match. Kane would go on to say that the Undertaker was buried forever.

The two would actually end this feud with a match at WrestleMania XX in 2004, in which the Undertaker returned to his Deadman character, and defeated Kane.

2005

The brothers had a short run-in with each other in 2005. At the Royal Rumble, Undertaker was in a scheduled match against Heidenreich in a casket match. A little bit before the match, Gene Snitsky, who was in a feud with Kane, told Heidenreich he would help him that night. Due to the interference, Heidenreich was positioned to win. When the casket was asked to be opened, however, Kane emerged out of it and battled Snitsky out of the arena letting Undertaker defeat Heidenreich. Original plans were for this to lead to a tag team match at WrestleMania 21, but the plans were scrapped when Undertaker decided to take on Randy Orton instead. They did team up during house shows taking on Snitsky and Heidenreich.

The last time Kane and the Undertaker would meet in 2005 was during an interpromotional match neither were involved in. While Kane, who was helping his partner Big Show against Rey Mysterio, pretended to leave when Undertaker entered the arena, he would inevitably receive a chokeslam from Undertaker after a failed sneak attack.

Official Return

2006 - 2007

The return of The Brothers of Destruction was announced on the edition of SmackDown that aired on October 27, 2006. Montel Vontavious Porter interfered with Kane's match against Mr. Kennedy, helping Kennedy beat down on him before the lights went out and the Undertaker's music came on. When the lights came back on Kane was gone, no where to be found. As a result of the interference, Theodore Long scheduled a tag team match: The Brothers of Destruction vs Kennedy and MVP. The Brothers of Destruction gathered three wins over them in that one night.

The first win was made by countout when MVP and Mr. Kennedy refused to re-enter the ring, at which point General Manager Theodore Long came out and restarted the match with no countouts. Kennedy then delivered a blatant low blow to Kane in front of the referee, getting disqualified. Teddy Long came out again, and restarted the match with no disqualifications. Finally, the brothers hit simultaneous chokeslams, and Undertaker finished with a Tombstone piledriver to Mr. Kennedy.

The Brothers continued to feud with their individual opponents before reuniting for a rematch on the last SmackDown before Armageddon 2006. This time, the match would go to a double disqualification as Kennedy threatened to run over Kane with a hearse parked ringside. The Undertaker, who had run off MVP, emerged in the passenger seat as his gong tolled and the lights went out, thus scaring Kennedy out of the vehicle. At Armageddon, Undertaker defeated Kennedy in a Last Ride match, which was why the hearse had been at ringside for the last two weeks, and Kane defeated MVP in an Inferno match. The next week, the Brothers would reunite once again, defeating King Booker and Finlay, before parting ways as Undertaker successfully pursued the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 23.

On the October 12, 2007 edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2007, defeating WWE Tag Team Champion's MVP and Matt Hardy in a non-title match.

Finishing and signature moves

• Double chokeslam
• Tombstone Piledriver ([[Piledriver (professional wrestling)#Tombstone piledriver|Kneeling belly to belly piledriver usually preceded by an uppercut ]]) - The Undertaker / Kane, sometimes in tandem
• Chokeslam - Kane / The Undertaker, sometimes in tandem
• Last Ride (Elevated powerbomb) - The Undertaker
• Double big boot

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Federation

• WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time)¹
• WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

¹ Won title during The Invasion and also held the WWF World Tag Team Championship at the same time and became the first ever Unified Tag Team Champions.

External links

• The Undertaker's WWE profile
• Kane's WWE profile