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Only One Gets Out Alive

Posted: Oct 7th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Almost 12 years has passed since the arrival of Kane in WWE. Heralded by his father Paul Bearer, Kane was brought in to end the domination of the Undertaker. He debuted at the Survivor Series and cost 'Taker the WWF World Title in the first Hell In A Cell Match against Shawn Michaels. Since then, he's faced his half-brother twice at WrestleMania (the only person to do so) and also found a way to patch things up and team together as the Brothers of Destruction.

This past summer, Kane appeared on TV and announced that he had found his brother in a vegetative state, then vowed to search for the person who put him there. Several candidates were pursued by Kane, including Jack Swagger and Rey Misterio, Jr. But it was Rey who proposed the idea that it was Kane himself who put his brother in that state. And after Kane won the Money In The Bank Ladder Match for the Smackdown team and defeated Rey for the WWE Smackdown World Title, he confirmed that idea.

Convinced that his brother was out of the way, Kane set about preparing to dominate as World Champion. And then the Undertake came out of his coma. But he wasn't quite the same. He seemed to be lacking in power and every confrontation with Kane appeared to end with Kane as the physically dominant person. So 2 weeks ago, while Kane was in the ring, it appeared that the Undertaker had a suprise for him as his druids wheeled a casket to ringside and when Kane opened it, the figure of Paul Bearer was inside. 5 years before, Bearer had been encased in concrete ,seemingly killed, at the hands of the Undertaker. Now, Bearer had returned and Kane appeared completely surprised by this.

With Bearer back, the power of the urn that he brought with him seemed to once again revitalise the Undertaker. This past Friday, he faced C. M. Punk during the Smackdown TV tapings in Oklahoma City for their debut on the SyFy network. The match was almost completely dominated by 'Taker, who eventually won with a Tombsone piledriver. The fans' reaction showed that even though he'd been in the WWE for 20 years, he was still as popular as ever. And it wasn't the last time he would be seen.

The main event for that night was John Cena vs. Kane in a Lumberjack Match where there members of the Nexus served as the lumberjacks. As should probably be expected, whenever Cena was thrown from the ring, the members of the Nexus moved in to pounce on their prey. On several occasions this happened, helping to weaken Cena and assist Kane in an undeserved victory. As the end of the match neared, Cena hoisted Kane up for the Attitude Adjustment. Kane reversed out and tried to connect with a chokeslam. Cena wriggled out of that and once again tried to pick up Kane for the Attitude Adjustment, but couldn't get his balance right and ended up dumping Kane outside the ring. Nexus started to move in, but even though there were 5 of them compared to the 1 of Kane, they still decided they didn't want to mess with the Big Red Machine. But Kane certainly didn't have any qualms about messing with them and he began to tear the Nexus apart. Cena knew there would be nothing gained by sticking around and scooted out of the ring, making his way up the ramp. At that point, the lights in the arena went out.

And when the came back on, the Undertaker was standing in the ring with his brother, Kane.

The two began to battle in the ring area and nothing could withstand the destructive force they eminated. The ringside announce table was obliterated. The battle actually spilled over the guardrail and into the crowd as Kane and the Undertaker fought through the seats at the Ford Centre. After taking their personal war into the stands, they finally made it back into the ringside area and reentered the squared circle. There, Kane tried to chokeslam Undertaker, but 'Taker countered and picked Kane up for a chokeslam. Kane wanted nothing to do with that and wriggled out of the ring.

While that should have been the end, at least temporarily, it wasn't as one of the post-broadcast dark main events was Undertaker vs. Kane for the Smackdown World title. After Undertaker had saluted the urn and helped Paul Bearer to ringside again, he turned his attention to his returning brother and prepared to capture the big gold belt Kane wore. Kane had used the brief time away from the ring to mentally prepare and spent most of the match working on 'Taker's knee and leg. But despite having only one good wheel to move on, 'Taker was still able to get outside the ring and Kane followed suit. Again, the two men brawled around the ringside, refusing to heed the referee's count, until they were both unable to return to the ring by the count of 10. A double countout was the official decision, but Kane wasn't satisfied with that. He again went out of the ring and grabbed a steel chair, then slid back in. With 'Taker in the corner, Kane tried to crash the chair onto the head of his brother, but 'Taker got a boot up and kicked the chair into the face of Kane. 'Taker then emerged from the corner and hoisted Kane up for a tombstone piledriver. He then left his brother's carcass in the ring and made his way up the ramp with Paul Bearer, signalling his appreciation to the fans at the top with his right arm raised, fist balled.

Although Kane wasn't victorious in either of his Oklahoma bouts, he gained a vital victory 2 days later when Paul Bearer turned on him at the "Hell In A Cell" Pay-per-view and once again father and son were reunited. Now 'Taker, who had seemingly been sustained only by the power of the urn that Bearer kept, finds himself potentially at a huge disadvantage in future confrontations with Kane. No manager. No urn. All he had are the fans. But as much as 'Taker seems to draw on mystical powers to keep himself in a match, he also can draw on the fans' support. And that may be the most vital thing of all as both men are allegedly booked to face each other in a "Buried Alive" match in 2 weeks on Pay-per-View.