Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Undertaker’s Dark Secret

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Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Undertaker’s Dark Secret — WWF, 1997

History
By May of 1997, the Undertaker’s long-time alliance with Paul Bearer was shattered. Bearer had turned on the Undertaker at the previous August’s Summerslam, choosing to ally himself with the deranged Mankind instead.

Mankind and Undertaker had feuded until the April 1997 In Your House pay-per-view — the Taker’s Revenge, where Paul Bearer had found himself on the wrong end of a fireball. Along the way, Undertaker had managed to win the World champion from Sid at Wrestlemania XIII.

Bearer returned to WWF television on the May 12th Raw. Once again alongside Mankind, Bearer proclaimed that the bond between he and the Undertaker was destroyed. Bearer went on to offer Undertaker one last chance — reunite with him or a secret from his past would be revealed.

Undertaker replied later on that night by avoiding questions about his ongoing troubles with Faarooq and the Nation of Domination to warn Bearer not to say anything.

Two weeks later, Bearer had another interview. By this time he’d done away with the traditional Paul Bearer makeup and gone back to his normal skin complexion and natural red hair. He hinted that the secret was in a safe deposit box. Bearer went on to give Undertaker one hour to take his offer before the secret was revealed.

Later, Undertaker appeared resigned that the secret would be revealed. He even went so far as to say that Bearer should do what he had to do, and so would he.

At the end of the show, Bearer headed out to the ring for an interview with Vince McMahon. Bearer revealed the fact that he’d worked for the funeral home run by Undertaker’s parents years before and had known them for years. He then started to talk about a third grave only for Undertaker to run out and threaten him. Bearer refused to back down, and finally Undertaker had no choice but to concede and reunite with his former manager.

Undertaker came out the next week for an interview and told McMahon that he’d done what he had to do. Undertaker admitted that he was being blackmailed but he reunited with Bearer to protect his loved ones. That brought Bearer out who threatened Undertaker’s privacy again. That brought Sid out who told Undertaker he’d lost respect for him by seeing him cave to Bearer’s demands and challenged the Undertaker to a match later that night. Undertaker accepted.

The main event (non-title, of course) ended when Undertaker tombstoned Sid, which brought out the Nation to attack.

That brought us to the King of the Ring, where Undertaker was defending his title against Faarooq. Undertaker won it with a tombstone. That brought Crush in to attack, and he earned a chokeslam for his trouble. Bearer wasn’t finished, and he demanded three chokeslams on Faarooq. Undertaker complied. That brought out Ahmed Johnson, who demanded Undertaker stop, then hit him with a Pearl River plunge when he wouldn’t. Undertaker sat up after Ahmed left and looked disgusted.

The next night the Undertaker was set to give an interview when Paul Bearer interrupted and wouldn’t let him say anything. Undertaker grabbed Bearer by the throat, and Paul had to bring up “the fire” to get himself released.

In the main event, Undertaker teamed with Vader as they competed against Nation members D’Lo and Faarooq in the tag team title tournament. After a skirmish while the DOA (Disciples of Apocalypse — Crush’s splinter group from the original Nation) attacked, Vader started yelling at Undertaker, who was ignoring both the match and Paul Bearer’s orders. Undertaker started to leave, only to have Vader attacked. Undertaker tombstoned him and started to the back. Bearer threatened again to reveal Undertaker’s secret the next week, and Undertaker simply stared him down.

The next week, Undertaker was strangely absent. All that he said in a taped interview was that he wanted people to let him tell his side.

Paul Bearer, however, was not absent. He joined Vince McMahon for an interview and let the cat out of the bag. He spoke of how a young Undertaker and his little brother had been playing with matches and burned down the family’s funeral home. Then he called Undertaker a murderer.

Later, Undertaker told his side. He confessed to playing with matches as a boy, but denied that he and his brother were responsible for the fire. He went on to vow vengeance on Bearer.

In the semi-main event, Rockabilly was taking on Vader. Undertaker came down the ramp and attacked Vader, then went after Bearer. Paul Bearer finally had to use the last item in his arsenal to stop Undertaker — he told him his brother Kane was still alive.

That brought us to the Canadian Stampede In Your House where Undertaker defended his WWF title against Vader. Undertaker retained.

The next night, Bearer came out to for another interview. He talked about how much hatred Kane had for his murderous brother.

A week later Bearer again claimed that Kane was alive and said that he’d have proof the next week.

Sure enough, Bearer brought out his proof. It was half of a small statue. Bearer explained that both brothers had always kept one half.

The main event was a flag match pitting the Hart Foundation (Bret, Owen, Jim Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman) against any challengers (who turned out to be Steve Austin, Dude Love, and the Undertaker). Bret won the match thanks to Davey Boy and Pillman keeping the Undertaker occupied.

It was also announced that Shawn Michaels would be the referee for the Bret Hart-Undertaker title match at Summerslam.

Undertaker only showed up the next week in a tribute video, and that brought us to Summerslam. Bret won the belt in a controversial fashion in the main event. Hart grabbed a chair and Michaels took it away from him, explaining that he wouldn’t let him use it. Bret spit in Michaels’s face, so Michaels took a swing with the chair. Bret ducked and Michaels clocked the Undertaker. Bret went for the cover, and Michaels was forced to count the pinfall.

The next night the Undertaker was doing an interview with Vince McMahon where he explained that Shawn Michaels had just jumped to the top of his list of targets. They were interrupted by Bearer who gloated that he’d been with Kane the night before and he was coming.

The following Raw saw Undertaker start making his way down to the ring after Shawn Michaels’s main event victory over Mankind when Bearer showed up on the Titantron and continued warning about Kane’s imminent arrival.

A week later Undertaker teamed with Mankind to take on Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Shawn Michaels in a tag team match. Michaels wound up blasting Undertaker with three chairshots and then the group that would become the original D-Generation X (Michaels, Helmsley, Chyna, and “insurance policy” Rick Rude) cleared out as the bloodied Undertaker struggled up the ramp after them.

For the next two weeks, Raw was bumped to Fridays and not much happened. Undertaker continued to threaten Michaels, and Bearer continued to promise Kane. The second week Undertaker faced Hunter Hearst Helmsley and DX (although not named) jumped him. Undertaker wound up popping up from their assault and sending them scattering.

That brought us to Ground Zero, the September In Your House. The semi-main event saw Shawn Michaels taking on the Undertaker. The match ended in chaos as the rest of the soon-to-be DX interfered and multiple referees were knocked down and sent back to the back. In the end, Undertaker won by disqualification.

The next few weeks focused on Michaels and Undertaker feuding. In an unusual stipulation, the WWF set up a brand-new match for the match at Badd Blood. The match was called “Hell in a Cell.” The entire ringside area would be enclosed by a cage with a roof on it, ensuring that there would be no interference.

That brought us to Badd Blood, where Bearer kept his promise. As Undertaker dismantled Shawn Michaels, Bearer came out with a tall, masked man dressed all in red. As Undertaker stared in shock, Kane ripped the door off the cell and tombstoned Undertaker. Michaels then dragged himself on top of Undertaker for the win.

Analysis
This was an exceptionally well-done angle that still managed to hold its own even as Steve Austin’s popularity was skyrocketing. Through it all the question remained — was Bearer telling the truth or just trying to get inside Undertaker’s head?

The unexpected payoff at Badd Blood served to end this angle, and send it in another direction. Which we will cover”¦

Next Week
The Undertaker’s brother is alive. What next?