Kane says being revealed as The Undertaker’s brother is WWE’s ‘best storyline ever’
Back in 1997, Kane was at a crossroads in his WWE career.
Although he stood around 6ft 9in and was a wall of muscle weighing more than 300lbs, his original character in WWE, Dr. Isaac Yankem, had fallen flat.
He even played a fake Diesel - a character originally portrayed by Kevin Nash - for a little while before the concept of Kane, The Undertaker's brother, emerged.
It was a great story by all accounts. Undertaker's father, Paul Bearer, had told the Phenom something from his past was returning and nobody could tell what he meant.
At Badd Blood in 1997, Undertaker faced off against Shawn Michaels in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match. Kane would make his debut later that night, ripping the door off the cell and helping Michaels win in the process.
When the awesome figure stood face-to-face with The Undertaker, he was instantly a hot act.
Speaking to Yahoo Sports, Kane explained this was his last chance in WWE at the time.
"Originally, my whole storyline and the Kane character was kind of thrown together to give Undertaker an opponent," he recalled.
"Vince [McMahon, the chairman] liked the idea so much that they decided to build an actual storyline behind it and character out of it.
"From my perspective, I had to make it work. I didn't want to let anyone down and I didn't want to let Mark [Callaway, Undertaker's real name] down. I thought I could do it, but realised I had to do it because of the pressure and that for me, it was my last chance. I figured I wouldn't get another one."
Kane was played by Glenn Jacobs who is now the mayor of Knoxville County.
While his best wrestling days are behind him, he does believe he was part of the best storyline in WWE history.
"I think it's the best, most epic storyline that has ever been done," Kane said about competing with the now retired Taker.
"Really it was almost like you took Greek mythology and put it into wrestling with us. The thing is, everything was moving so quickly and we were so caught up in the moment that we saw it as just doing business and trying to compete with WCW and everyone else on the roster.
"It was very internally competitive at the point. You had all of these people really pushing each other to provide the best product that we could, that was the focus. Now, you're able to take a breath and look back and realise how amazing it is."
