Brothers of Destruction or Two-man Plot-wrecking Crew?
By Christian R. Bonawandt
They're calling them the Brothers of Destruction -- and they deserve the title -- but for the wrong reasons.
Since officially teaming up after this year's "Royal Rumble," the Undertaker and Kane have been kicking ass and taking names all over the World Wrestling Federation. They know how to get their way and they certainly know how to make an entrance, but is this good for the WWF?
Hell, no (pun not intended)! Let's take a look at what's gone on as a result of the biggest merger since Time Warner and AOL:
They took on the Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian for the WWF tag titles. Though they didn't win, they did ruin a perfectly good rivalry; one we hadn't seen in a while. They farted around with Rikishi and Haku and almost convinced us that these two were a formidable tag team . . . this led to the beyond-obnoxious battle between the Hardyz and Rikishi and Haku, which thankfully ended when the Phat Man went out on injury.
Then Taker went up against Triple H for a rivalry to end at "Wrestlemania". The brief war these two set off was more than worth the money for the pay-per-view. I haven’t seen a feud this explosive since Rick Flair and Randy Savage! Too bad it almost ended there.
But then the WWF realized that, with Rocky off making movies and Stone Cold Steve Austin gone heel, a new lead face was needed. The Hardyz stepped up to the plate but didn’t get too far.
There was only one thing to do: Bring in the Dead Men.
But is this really a good idea? The April 19 episode of "Smackdown" ended with the Brothers of Destruction winning the tag belts from Edge and Christian. This of course followed Kane’s losing his briefly held Hardcore title belt. Now Kane wasn't great as Hardcore champ because, well, he didn't need any stupid weapons or the no DQ stipulation. Which brings me to my point. These guys are basically indestructible in all fields except for the Heavy Weight gold (somehow only the Heavy Weight contenders have the extra oomph it takes to keep them down for the pin without cheating). The last time Taker and Kane competed for the tag belts was back in '98, when the Undertaker was still a demonic-like thing and Kane could throw fire balls. The only ones who could stop them were the Acolytes, and that was because the two titans were having issues as a team.
Actually, Kane tossed some fireballs in Commissioner William Regal's office before getting their tag team title match. Is this a sign of things to come? Will Biker-Taker become Gothic-Taker again? Or will E-&-C just cheat to get their belts back? I hope it's the latter.
Before I conclude I want to make something clear: I'm among the biggest Undertaker fans there are. I think Kane could far much better if he'd drop the stupid mask and, like his "brother," became more human. If he did that, I'd take Kane over Taker; he's bigger, stronger, faster and is far more agile. The thing I hate about these two teaming up is 1. it takes the Undertaker out of Heavy Weight contendership. The Dead Man needs one more shot at the ultimate prize before he retires, which will be within a year. And 2. it takes every other tag team in the federation out of the title arena because, well, no one can compete. The burden will fall on the A.P.A, who are both getting way too old to be main events in any field.
Bottom line: The Brothers of Destruction are bad news as a tag team, but good news as a general alliance. With Kane at his side and Triple H in Stone Cold's corner, this is a great way to revive the old Undertaker-Austin rivalry with a great new lemony-lime twist!
Back to
Articles