Unified Tag Team Champions

Summer slam 2001 – The Brother of Destruction win the WCW Tag Team Titles & WWF Tag Team Titles from DDP and Kayon to become Unified Tag Team Champions in a Steel Cage Match.

Part 1

Part 2

WCW Tag Team Championship Match

August 9, 2001 – Smackdown!: the Brother of Destruction win the WCW Tag Team Titles from Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match

April 17, 2001 – Smackdown!: Kane & Undertaker defeated Edge & Christian in a “no DQ” match to win the WWF Tag Team titles

History

Glenn Jacobs, who was last seen working on Raw as the new “Diesel,” debuted at Bad Blood 1997 as “Kane,” Undertaker’s younger brother. He interfered in the First-ever Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, with the winner facing Bret Hart for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series 1997. During the match, Kane interfered and Tombstoned Undertaker allowing Michaels to pin Undertaker and become the number one contender to the WWF title.

At this point, Kane and Undertaker started a feud with each other, the basic premise being Kane and Paul Bearer accusing Undertaker of intentionally starting a fire which resulted in the burning of their funeral home, the scarring of Kane’s face, and the death(fake) of Undertaker and Kane’s mother. Basically, Kane wanted to take out all of his pent-up aggression on his “brother” but Undertaker refused to fight his own “flesh and blood.” Kane attacked and embarrassed The Undertaker on several occasions but Undertaker still refused to fight. After Kane surprisingly saved Undertaker from an attack by D-Generation X, the duo had a brief partnership which ended after Kane betrayed Undertaker by costing Undertaker a casket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at Royal Rumble 1998. He chokeslammed Undertaker into the casket, which helped in Michaels getting the win. After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer locked Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze. The two continued to feud. Undertaker returned later on an episode of Raw is War and changed his mind and agreed to fight Kane. This led to a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after hitting him with three tombstone piledrivers. They met each other in the first-ever Inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House, which again Undertaker won. On June 1, 1998 edition of Raw is War, they wrestled in a number one contender’s match for the WWF Championship, which Kane won with help from Mankind.kamina

On an episode of Raw is War, Kane attacked WWF Champion Steve Austin. Austin blamed Vince McMahon for setting up the attack. McMahon denied it and blamed the attack on The Undertaker. Undertaker denied setting up the attack and teamed up with Stone Cold to face Kane and Mankind in the first ever tag-team Hell in a Cell match. The match ended in no-contest as the referee failed to restore order in the match. At King of the Ring 1998, Kane and Austin faced each other in a First Blood match for Austin’s WWF Championship. The stipulation was that if Kane lost, he would set himself on fire. The referee was knocked out and Undertaker interfered in the match with a steel chair and came to hit Kane with the chair but accidentally nailed Austin with the chair, which helped Kane to win the championship. Undertaker formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he attacked Austin because he didn’t want his “brother” to be burned. Undertaker started a rivalry with Stone Cold, who later regained the WWF title from Kane while Kane and Mankind won the WWF Tag Team Championship. At Fully Loaded: In Your House, the duo were forced to team up together and defeat Kane and Mankind to win the titles.

They dropped the titles back to Kane and Mankind in a fatal four way tag team elimination match, also involving New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) and Nation of Domination (The Rock and Owen Hart) on an edition of Raw in August. This move occurred after they couldn’t patch up with each other. This led to a title match at SummerSlam, with Undertaker facing Austin for the WWF title. At that event, he and Kane became a team known as the “Brothers of Destruction” after Kane abandoned Mankind during their Tag Team title defense against New Age Outlaws and instead interfered in the Undertaker versus Austin match when he tried to help his “brother” but Undertaker sent him back. As a result, Austin nailed the Stone Cold Stunner for a victory. At Breakdown: In Your House, Undertaker, Kane and Austin faced each other in a triple threat match for Austin’s WWF title. Undertaker and Kane could only pin Austin so they pinned Austin at the same time.

Vince McMahon vacated the title since there was no clear winner. At Judgment Day: In Your House, Kane and Undertaker faced each other for the vacant title with Austin as the special referee. Undertaker turned heel during the match as he betrayed Kane for Paul Bearer, thus turning Kane in to a tweener. The match ended in a no-contest as Austin attacked both men and declared himself the winner. Shorty after, Undertaker admitted to setting the fire that scarred Kane’s face when they were children. Their feud continued. Undertaker faced Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a Buried Alive Match. During the match Kane interfered and attacked Undertaker and helped Austin get the win. They separated from each other and went on their own. In early 1999, with Kane now a member of The Corporation and Undertaker now the leader of the Ministry of Darkness, they faced each other in their second Inferno match. Undertaker once again got the win. In the summer of 1999, The Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness was beginning to fade away, while Kane was in a tag team with X-Pac whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with. The Undertaker attempted to reunite the team, but Kane made the ultimate decision to remain in his team with X-Pac, when he found out The Undertaker was only using him. Shortly after that The Undertaker would form a tag team with The Big Show with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice with, to feud with Kane and X-Pac. The Undertaker eventually was injured in the fall of 1999, with Kane going his own way again. They reunited again in the summer of 2000 and challenged Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an edition of Raw is War but they were disqualified, so they didn’t win the titles. On August 14 edition of Raw is War, Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in a match, where Kane turned on Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam 2000, which resulted in a no contest when Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.

Tag team division dominance (2001)
At Royal Rumble 2001, Undertaker and Kane teamed up eliminating most of the field in the Royal Rumble match. Kane entered number 6 and finished second eliminating 11 wrestlers. Undertaker came in at number 25 and came sixth after being eliminated by Rikishi. The two reunited later that same month and on February 1, 2001 edition of SmackDown!, they defeated Rikishi and Haku in a brutal First Blood match. They got a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out 2001, facing the champions Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) 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. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Kane defeated Raven and Big Show to win the WWF Hardcore Championship and The Undertaker defeated Triple H.

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 known as Two-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Steve Austin and Triple H at Backlash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 edition of SmackDown!, the Undertaker and Kane defeated Edge and Christian to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship as a team, despite interference from Austin and Triple H. As a result of winning the titles, Brothers of Destruction earned the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H. At Backlash 2001, 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 edition of Raw is War, 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 2001, Kane defeated Triple H to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a chain match, despite interference from Steve Austin. Later that night, The Undertaker dominated his WWF Championship match with Austin. Triple H interfered once more, however, 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. On the August 9 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated the Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire) to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam 2001, the Undertaker and Kane defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon in a steel cage match to win their second WWF Tag Team Championship and retain the WCW World Tag Team Championship, thus becoming the first ever Unified Tag Team Champions.

Brothers of Destruction began a feud with KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), who were brought to WWF by Stevie Richards. On September 17 edition of Raw is War, Kane and Undertaker lost the WWF tag titles to Dudley Boyz after KroniK interfered. At Unforgiven 2001, they successfully defended their titles against KroniK before losing them to Booker T and Test on the following edition of SmackDown!. They continued on as a team representing the WWF side through onto the end of the Alliance Invasion angle, including their participation at InVasion and Survivor Series 2001 after which the Undertaker immediately turned heel once more and the two did not interact with each other for a long while.

Unofficial encounters (2002–2005)
The duo first appeared together in 2002’s WWE Draft, standing right next to each other when Undertaker was drafted to Raw. 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 Royal Rumble 2003, but the Undertaker turned on Kane during the Royal Rumble match and eliminated him. Later that year at the Survivor Series 2003, an unmasked and heel Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between Undertaker and Vince McMahon, costing Undertaker the match. Kane would go on to say that the Undertaker was buried forever. The two would end the feud with a match at WrestleMania XX in 2004, in which the Undertaker returned to his Deadman character, and defeated his half-brother Kane.

The brothers had a short run-in with each other in 2005. At the Royal Rumble 2005, Undertaker was in a scheduled match against then-heel Heidenreich in a Casket Match. Before the match, Gene Snitsky, who was in a feud with the face gimmick Kane, told Heidenreich he would help him that night. Due to the interference, Heidenreich was positioned to win. However, when the casket was asked to be opened, Kane emerged out of the casket 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 where neither of the men were involved. 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. Notably, both brothers were faces at the time, however Kane was a member of the Raw brand and Undertaker was a member of the SmackDown brand. Because the match was held on SmackDown (and the SmackDown brand was portrayed more favorably in that year’s brand warfare storyline), Kane and Big Show were portrayed as tweeners without ever officially turning in that direction.

On-and-off reunions (2006–2010)
The return of the Brothers of Destruction was announced on October 27, 2006 edition of SmackDown!. 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, nowhere to be found. As a result of the interference, general manager Theodore Long scheduled a tag team match: The Brothers of Destruction vs Kennedy and MVP. The next week on SmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time as a tag team in five years and gathered three wins over MVP and Mr Kennedy 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. Long came out again, and restarted the match with no disqualifications or countouts. Finally, the brothers hit simultaneous chokeslams, and Undertaker finished with a Tombstone piledriver to Mr. Kennedy.
The brothers (though not actually being brothers in real life) continued to feud with their individual opponents before reuniting for a rematch on the last SmackDown! before Armageddon. 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 on SmackDown!, 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 October 12, 2007 edition of SmackDown!, the Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2007, defeating WWE Tag Team Champions MVP and Matt Hardy in a non-title match. The Brothers of Destruction reunited for the first time in 2008 on the February 1, 2008 episode of SmackDown, defeating Big Daddy V and Mark Henry by submission. At WrestleMania XXIV, both brothers became world champions: Kane winning the ECW Championship, and Undertaker winning the World Heavyweight Championship.

On the April 4, 2008 edition of SmackDown, Undertaker and Kane faced each other for the first time since WrestleMania XX. The match finished with no decision as “La Familia” (Edge, Chavo Guerrero, and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder) interfered. In tandem, however, Kane and Undertaker delivered a Chokeslam and Tombstone Piledriver to Chavo and Edge respectively. The Brothers of Destruction also made an appearance when ECW traveled to London, England on April 15, 2008, facing current WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz who also fell victim to tandem chokeslams. On the April 21, 2008 edition of Raw, the Brothers of Destruction teamed with John Cena and Triple H to take on the team of John Bradshaw Layfield, Chavo Guerrero, and the one night only reunion of Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) in a losing effort, after Edge hit Kane with a Spear.

On the November 13, 2009 episode of SmackDown, after his match with Chris Jericho which was ended after interference from Jericho’s partner The Big Show, Kane came to the aid of his brother to chase off “Jeri-Show”. The Brothers of Destruction would reunite on the November 20th episode to face the tag team of Chris Jericho and The Big Show. The match ended in a No Contest, and Jericho subsequently fled the ring during the match after pilfering the Undertaker’s championship belt. On the June 4 edition of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced that the Undertaker was found in a vegetative state by his brother Kane. At SummerSlam, the Undertaker returned to confront Kane and Rey Mysterio although he was tombstoned by Kane who was revealed as the Undertaker’s attacker, This resulted in a feud between the two. The matter between Kane and Undertaker was settled at Night of Champions, which Undertaker lost, they then squared off at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in a which Undertaker lost again due to Paul Bearer blinding the Undertaker allowing Kane to chokeslam him for the victory, they also fought at Bragging Rights in which Undertaker lost again due to interference by The Nexus allowing Kane bury the Undertaker alive. After the event their feud was over because of Undertaker taking time off due to shoulder injury.

The Undertaker vs. Triple H (20-0)

There’s plenty of intrigue and drama surrounding the WrestleMania 28 Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Triple H. What will Shawn Michaels do? Will this really be the end of an era? Will this be the final match for one or both of these legends?

The intrigue is there, but there is no doubt about one thing: The Undertaker’s WrestleMania winning streak will continue to 20-0. The reason is simple—nothing else makes sense.

Think about all that’s happened in this streak. He has downed some of the best wrestlers in the history of the company, even ending the career of the aforementioned Shawn Michaels. What sense would it make to give Triple H the nod with a win here?

If we were talking about a current main eventer (John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton), it would be completely sensible. Conversely, if we were talking about a young up-and-comer (e.g. Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes), this would also make sense. I don’t know that I would agree with those booking decisions, but I could make some sense of them.

But Triple H is basically retired as it is. We see him more in an administrative and authoritative role today, and is not an active in-ring star. It probably wouldn’t take more than one hand to count the matches he’ll have between now and WrestleMania 29. As a matter of fact, you may not even need one finger to count the matches that he’ll have for the rest of his career.

Triple H’s legend is not in doubt. He’s one of the best to ever lace up the boots, and even if he continues wrestling (even full time), he doesn’t need the boost that comes with ending the streak. And that is the real deciding factor here.

Even established stars like Cena, Punk or Orton would get a huge bump adding that to their resume. Barring some injury, there’s no reason to think that those guys wouldn’t have at least five more quality years left dominating the main event.

Think about the bragging rights there. It’s not that uncommon to hear Chris Jericho remind us that he beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in one night—and that came in 2001. Bragging rights from monumental events last a long time, and ending Undertaker’s streak would certainly be monumental.

Triple H doesn’t need it, and it would be a complete waste for him to be the one to get that honor. He’s done more than enough, and isn’t around that often anymore.

There’s a number of ways this match can end, and I can’t wait to see exactly how we arrive at a finish. But the Undertaker has to go over in Miami, giving him a 3-0 WrestleMania record against The Game, and a clean 20-0 mark overall.

The Undertaker vs. Triple H (19-0)

This match was billed as a No Holds Barred match. With both returning Triple H & Undertaker, Triple H challenged The Phenom for the match which he accepted. Triple H would tell the audience why Shawn Michaels could not defeat The Undertaker because of his emotions. Then he would come to the comentator’s table at random matches every week & would deliver the Pedigree on the table to whoever superstar enters first & would leave. This would happen for two weeks with he delivering the Pedigree to Sheamus on the first & Ted Dibiase on the second week. At WrestleMania, Deadman would gain the Momentum in the beginning & then Triple H later on. Undertaker would win this match via the Hell’s Gates which he locked on Triple H for about a minute. This match didn’t reach the heights as the last two WrestleMania matches did but was a great matchup due to the stipulation & the superstars involved.

The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (18-0)

It was billed as “The Undertaker’s Streak vs Shawn Michaels Career” for WrestleMania XXVI. A rematch was made as Michaels has challenged Undertaker to a rematch at next year’s Wrestlemania. However, The Undertaker refused, telling Michaels that he has nothing to prove on him anymore. After Shawn Michaels caused him to lose the World Heavyweight Championship to Chris Jericho inside the Elimination Chamber by hitting him with his signature Sweet Chin Music, The Undertaker changed his mind and accepted the rematch but only if Michaels agreed to putting his career on the line. Michaels did, and two-weeks later it was announced the match could only end by pinfall or submission. Though not reaching the height that their Wrestlemania XXV match did, the added stipulation made this match an automatic classic for any wrestling fan.

The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (17-0)

Arguably Undertaker’s best WrestleMania encounter, Shawn Michaels proved to be the one of the biggest threats to Undertaker’s Streak. This match recieved a 5-star rating from critics due to the length and action of the match. It was named the best match of 2009 and will be remembered for many WrestleMania’s to come.

The Undertaker vs Edge (16-0)

Undertaker defeated Edge for the World Heavyweight Title. It was also the first match where The Undertaker win via submission (using his then-unknown Hell’s Gate submission hold). However, only about 1 month later Vickie Guererro, who at the time was dating Edge, made Undertaker vacate the title due to his dangerous submission manuever, which he won the match at WrestleMania with.

The Undertaker vs Batista (15-0)

This was one of the Undertaker’s finest matches ever. The emotions were there as he was able to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista. Plus, the match surprised a lot of fans in that Batista performed way better than expected.