The Brothers of Destruction were a professional wrestling tag team in WWE composed of storyline half-brothers The Undertaker and Kane. Their storyline is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic storylines in professional wrestling, the duo’s relationship alternated between periods of intense rivalry and dominant alliance. First introduced in the late 1990s, their supernatural personas and complex backstory captivated audiences. Together, they achieved significant success, including multiple championship victories, and are considered one of the most formidable and enduring tag teams in WWE history.
Their relationship was given a dark domestic backstory. It would become a WWE sibling relationship with Paul Bearer. Bearer was later revealed to be Kane's father. The Undertaker and Kane would both feud amongst themselves and would team up together as The Brothers of Destruction from 1997 until The Undertaker's retirement in 2020.
As the Brothers of Destruction, they won three tag team championships (two WWF Tag Team Championships and one WCW Tag Team Championship). Their on-again, off-again feuding was typically rooted in the harboring of unresolved, harsh feelings from the arson incident dating back to their youth.
Fictional backstory During The Undertaker's childhood, he had a little brother named Kane. The two were inseparable, spending every minute of every day together, causing destruction and chaos in their wake. However, young Kane soon became obsessed and fascinated with fire. One day, while The Undertaker was coming home from school, he returned to his parents' funeral home to find it completely burned to the ground, subsequently killing his parents as well as Kane — or so The Undertaker thought. It was soon discovered that Kane himself had started the fire, and Paul Bearer, who (oblivious to The Undertaker) was present during the fire, hid Kane in a mental asylum during the rest of Kane's youth into adulthood, eventually bringing him to the World Wrestling Federation to confront his brother. Unbeknownst to The Undertaker until spring 1998, his late mother had an affair with Bearer and, as a result, gave birth to Kane (therefore making Kane his half-brother). In the fall of 1998, The Undertaker admitted that he was actually the one that set fire to the funeral home, scarring Kane's face, and, in the same process, killing their mother and The Undertaker's father. To justify this, Undertaker stated that he had always known that Kane was the weaker and worthless of their mother's children, and sought to eliminate him with the fire.
While hiding his son away for years and apparently keeping this information confidential, Paul Bearer, in the meantime, joined the World Wrestling Federation and formed an alliance with The Undertaker. Bearer stood by his side for six years before eventually turning on him at SummerSlam 1996. After suffering repeated acts of retaliatory mistreatment at the hands of Undertaker, who was filled with rancor and bitterness over the betrayal incident, Bearer opted to exact vengeance of his own with an ultimatum: to either allow him to once again take over Undertaker as manager now that he had won the WWF Championship, or deal with the disclosure of his darkest secret. Feeling he had no choice in the matter, The Undertaker eventually obliged Bearer and became his protégé, though this was not like old times. While "managing" Undertaker this time around, Bearer took to abrasively overbearing and harassing behaviors towards him at every turn. At numerous points in which Undertaker attempted to take attitude, disobey, or even defend himself, Bearer would subjugate him by threatening exposure of the dark secret, forcing Undertaker to back down and comply with his orders each time. Eventually, Undertaker lost his patience and refused to allow Bearer to manage him any longer, leading to Bearer's exposure of the secret. At this point in time, The Undertaker denied the charges of committing the arson murders, claiming his younger brother, a "pyromaniac", was the culprit and, due to the incident, couldn't possibly be alive (note that Undertaker would reveal himself as the intentional arsonist a year later). Bearer accused The Undertaker of not only being a murderer but a liar, while The Undertaker continued to deny the charges. Kane had supposedly been hideously scarred by the fire — and to conceal Jacobs' identity — the character wore a mask, sported long hair, and wore red and black ring attire that almost covered his entire body. After being forced to unmask in 2003, it was revealed that Kane had no physical scars from the fire. Instead, it was explained that Kane's scars were more psychological in the form of severe body dysmorphia, convinced that he was hideously burned and scarred, when in fact the scars had either long since healed or had never existed at all.
History
Kane's debut (1997–1998) After The Undertaker won the WWF Championship from Sycho Sid at WrestleMania 13, he started a feud with Mankind, managed by his former manager Paul Bearer. The Bearer/Undertaker feud escalated at April's Revenge of the 'Taker: In Your House event when The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of his former manager. During the following weeks and months, Bearer threatened the exposure of The Undertaker's "deepest, darkest secret". Finally, at Badd Blood: In Your House, Kane made his debutWhile this was Kane's debut as character, Glen Jacobs previously worked with WWF as Isaac Yakeem and Diesel. and interfered during the Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.
During the following months, The Undertaker refused to wrestle Kane, stating he had promised their parents that he would never fight his own brother. This allowed Kane to frequently attack and humiliate The Undertaker on several occasions, as The Undertaker would not retaliate. At the 1998 Royal Rumble, Kane cost The Undertaker a casket match against WWF Champion Shawn Michaels and, after the match, Kane and Bearer locked The Undertaker in the casket and set it ablaze, leading everyone to believe The Undertaker had been killed. After two months of absence, The Undertaker returned and finally agreed to face Kane at WrestleMania XIV, which The Undertaker won after hitting Kane with three Tombstone Piledrivers. They met once again the following month in the first-ever Inferno match (Kane's signature match) at Unforgiven: In Your House, which again The Undertaker won.
At King of the Ring 1998, Kane challenged for the WWF Championship against then-current champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a First Blood match, with the added stipulation that if Kane did not win the championship, he would set himself on fire. During the match, The Undertaker interfered with a steel chair and nailed Austin with the chair, which helped Kane to win the championship. The Undertaker then formed a partnership with Kane after he later revealed that he intentionally attacked Austin because he didn't want his brother to be burned. This led The Undertaker into a rivalry with Steve Austin, 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.
Collusion and betrayal, Undertaker's arson confession and feuding (1998–1999) After Austin and The Undertaker dropped the titles back to Kane and Mankind, The Undertaker and Kane began to work as allies, facing the WWF Champion Steve Austin at Breakdown: In Your House in a triple threat match. Per stipulations put in place by Vince McMahon, The Undertaker and Kane were forbidden from pinning each other, making it a de facto handicap match. At the end of the title match, they pinned Austin at the same time following a double Chokeslam. The title was vacated since there was no clear winner, and both men faced each other the following month at Judgment Day: In Your House with Austin as the special referee. The Undertaker turned heel during the match, as he betrayed Kane to side with Paul Bearer. The match ended in a no contest as Austin attacked Undertaker. Their feud continued when The Undertaker faced Austin at Rock Bottom: In Your House in a Buried Alive match; during the match, Kane interfered and attacked The Undertaker, thus helping Austin get the win. The brothers then separated from each other and went on their own.
In early 1999, with Kane now a member of The Corporation, and The Undertaker now the leader of the Ministry of Darkness, they faced each other in their second Inferno match, which Undertaker once again won. In the summer of 1999, The Undertaker's Ministry of Darkness had disbanded, while Kane was involved in a lengthy partnership with X-Pac, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice. The Undertaker then attempted to reunite the Brothers of Destruction, but Kane made the ultimate decision to stay loyal to X-Pac after learning The Undertaker only wanted to use him for his own selfish gains. Shortly after, The Undertaker would form The Unholy Alliance with Big Show, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship twice, to feud with Kane and X-Pac. The Undertaker eventually was injured in the fall of 1999, with Kane going his own way again.
Tag team division dominance (2000–2001) The Undertaker and Kane reunited again in the summer of 2000. At this time, The Undertaker had transformed into the "American Badass" biker identity, instead of the horror-themed Deadman identity he portrayed previously. He and Kane challenged Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian for the tag titles on an episode of Raw is War, but they were disqualified due to interference from Kurt Angle, so they didn't win the titles. On the August 14 episode of Raw is War, The Undertaker faced Chris Benoit in a match. After the match, as The Undertaker was being assaulted by both Benoit and Shane McMahon, Kane came to the ring, appearing to aid The Undertaker. Kane then turned on The Undertaker by chokeslamming him through the ring, and the two feuded with each other again. This culminated in a match at SummerSlam, which resulted in a no contest when The Undertaker unmasked Kane, causing him to flee the ring.
At the Royal Rumble in 2001, Kane and The Undertaker teamed up eliminating most of the field in the Royal Rumble match; Kane entered number 6 and finished second eliminating 11 wrestlers, while The Undertaker came in at number 25 and came sixth before being eliminated by Rikishi. The two reunited later that same month, and on the February 1 episode of SmackDown!, they defeated Rikishi and Haku in a First Blood match. They got a shot at the tag titles at No Way Out, facing the champions The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) and Edge and Christian in a tables match, but lost when 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 and WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin, who had recently formed a surprise alliance known as the Two-Man Power Trip. They were granted an opportunity to face Austin and Triple H at Backlash, if they could defeat Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification match for the titles. On April 19 episode 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, the Brothers of Destruction earned the right to face Steve Austin and Triple H. 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 Intercontinental Champion and WWF Champion, respectively.