Few debuts have the impact that Kane did when he came out on this day in wrestling history and tore the door off the cell at Bad Blood on October 5, 1997.
For weeks prior, we’d heard Paul Bearer saying the Undertaker had a brother and that he’d also burned him alive by accident.
This was one of those moments that shot Kane to the top of the heel pile, but what often goes forgotten is this was the first Hell in a Cell match and the Undertaker was out for blood against Shawn Michaels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXbcT1bqJ1A
Breaking through
Like many things, this match was a culmination of a couple of contributions as the WWE borrowed the idea for the cell itself from The Last Battle Of Atlanta in NWA and Vince Russo came up with the name.
Shawn Michaels talked about it in his book, Heartbreak & Triumph. We want to give special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“I had whacked ’Taker pretty good to start our program and this was his professional receipt. I had never been hit so hard in my life. My eyes felt like they were going to pop out and my entire head started bulging. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that gets hit with an object and his whole body starts reverberating with pain.
“Just when it looked like ’Taker could pin me for a hundred count if he wanted, Kane came out with Paul Bearer. Kane was Undertaker’s half-brother, and they had been teasing his arrival for weeks. He walked down to the cell, ripped it open, and hit a Tombstone Piledriver on Undertaker. I rolled over on ’Taker and got the cheap cover. My body ached like I had been run over by a truck and I had to get twenty-nine stitches after the match, but I felt like a million bucks. I gave a huge “Follow that!” when I made it to the back. Of course, we were on last!
“Taker has said this is his favorite match, and that’s the greatest compliment I could ever receive. Working with him was unbelievably satisfying. ’Taker is so good and so smooth. I know he didn’t care for the way I handled myself, but when we got in the ring, he trusted me. He respected my ability and could see through all the crap. Mark is a very smart guy. He would go on to work a great program with Kane.”
This match is a personal favorite as it was so well done. While Michaels got a few shots in, he really sold it and made the Undertaker look unbeatable.
That only enhanced Kane coming out and easily dispatching the Undertaker with a Tombstone piledriver for Michaels to get the pin.
This day in wrestling history was great for many reasons, and it was brought up in conversations by fans on how these are supposed to be done after the Seth Rollins and Fiend debacle in 2019.
What’s your favorite Hell in the Cell match or wrestling debut? Let us know in the comments below.
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