On a recent edition of his “Six Feet Under” podcast, The Undertaker discussed Kane’s WWE debut in 1997 during the Bad Blood pay-per-view event, when the Big Red Machine disrupted the match between The Phenom and Shawn Michaels.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On why he would have Kane as his first pick for a wrestling promotion: “People sometimes look at me funny about this, but if I were to start a wrestling company on my own and I had to pick my first guy, I would pick Kane. One, because of the talent. He can work with anybody. Two, he knows exactly what his gimmick is. He knows what his gimmick isn’t. Three, he’s going to do business. And four, he’s a human being that people wish their kids to be. So you have all of those things with him. You have pretty much the total package. Somebody that was durable and worked hurt, and just did everything that the company asked of him.”
On Kane being a great locker room leader: “Absolutely. He was a leader by example. He’s not going to be up in somebody’s face. He’s the kind of guy that is going to pull you aside and say, ‘Hey, maybe you want to do it this way or try this.’ He’s not going to be loud and boisterous. He’s going to be a gentleman about whatever he does. He’s also the quiet type to where he can rip your head off and take a healthy crap down your neck if he wants to. He was strong. Physically strong. Before I pick Stone Cold (Steve Austin) or The Rock, I want [Kane] as my pillar. He was the man. To be able to do with his character and go to different places with that character. Had far more range than I ever did. He went all the way to Corporate Kane, where he came completely out of the Big Red Machine suit into a suit. Understands the product and what it takes to be successful given the opportunity.”
On Kane’s debut being the greatest debut ever: “Paul Bearer wasn’t lying. He did have my brother, who was alive, who he’d kept, you know, he’d kept all these years. Ah, man, if it wasn’t, I don’t know. I was a complete mystery. Yeah, right, I was just a mystery. Guy, like, okay, and then I walk out, and, you know, I mean, I had a presence, obviously, but this had a backstory to it that you could already start to visualize, and what would Undertaker’s brother look like, and then, I mean, you couldn’t, everything could not have been more perfect, yeah, uh, yeah. Here’s somebody that’s every bit as big as I am, physically, probably bigger when he debuted. I mean, just like, Oh my gosh. And then coming face to face, and then, you, like, it just all made sense. It’s like, wow, these guys are brothers. You know, he had long hair then, you know, the mask that covered up his burns. It was just so, so rich.”
