A Month after the unforgettable debut of the Big Red Machine at Bad Blood, the deranged in his own right - Mankind becomes Kane's first opponent at Survivor Series '97. While this may have been Kane's first official match, for those first few weeks since arriving in WWF Kane was leaving carnage in the ring every time he showed up.
Fun fact: Kane was given a special "eerie" red light during his first few appearances much like Sin Cara's, well, Sin Cara botch lights.
The Undertaker vs. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka - Wrestlemania VII (1991)
Only a few months after the fresh (yet dead) new competitor known as The Undertaker made his debut at Survivor Series, he was thrown into a match at the biggest WWF PPV of the year against Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. While challenging Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is never a walk in the park, you can see here that this was boot-era Jimmy Snuka and therefore lacked the "Superfly" powers that he once possessed.
'Taker would go on to win 20 more of these WM matches, and is looking for his 22nd win this Sunday against "The Beast Incarnate" Brock Lesnar. Many people on the internet say that the only wrestler that can really put an end to the streak is Kane - who has failed two times already. I, on the other hand, believe that it takes someone who can tie the whole streak back together, and since Jimmy Snuka is well passed his glory days to return, it looks like it's up to another Snuka; it looks like it's up to Tamina "The daughter of Hall of Famer Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka" Snuka to put an end to the streak!
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - first Hell in a Cell match - WWF Bad Blood: In Your House (1997)
The match that started it all: the very first "Hell in a Cell" match. The main differences between a Hell in a Cell match and a regular WWF/E cage match is that the cage is wider with room for the wrestlers to go outside the ring, there's a roof on the cage, and you can't win via escaping the structure.
While this match between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels marked the first Hell in a Cell match, the match is probably remembered more for its ending. The ending goes like this: Just as Undertaker is about to finish off a bloodied Michaels after blasting him over the head with a blue steel chair, the lights got and from the darkness appears Paul Bearer, Taker's former manager, following a large figure clad in black and red from head to toe. After weeks of Bearer mentioning that Taker has a long lost brother, it is finally confirmed that he is still alive and looking for his brother. As the large individual walks to the cell, Vince McMahon from his headphones reveals, "that's gotta be... that's gotta be Kane!" before ripping the cage door right off its hinges. The two brothers of similar height then square off in the middle of the ring until Kane makes his move and takes out Taker using the Phenom's own tombstone piledriver and forever cementing his legacy as the Big Red Machine!
This match also features a fair amount of brawling outside the ring and on top of the cell, Michaels abusing cameramen, and a bump off the cage that will forever be overshadowed by the legendary bump that Mankind takes in the next Hell in a Cell match.
Kane vs. Vader - Mask vs. Mask - WWF Over The Edge (1998)
Kane and Vader go mask to mask in this match that marks Vader's decline into jobber status. After losing to Kane even after using that wrench that came with a lot of Kane action figures back in the day to wear the big red monster down, Vader gives a very unforgettable speech about making the biggest mistake of his life and then proceeded to call himself "a big fat piece of shit" before storming off into the back.
Since Kane had previous destroyed Vader's face with that very same wrench we see make its return in this match, Vader had to get surgery on his face, therefore giving this who mask versus mask stipulation a little more believability considering Vader usually ditched his mask halfway through every match anyways.
After Vader loses his classic face mask to Kane's tombstone piledriver, Paul Bearer puts the sweaty jockstrap looking face wear and announces into the camera that, "It's Time! It's Time! It's Paul Bearer Time!" after The King jokingly says Paul Bearer's line moments beforehand. The mask was never seen again on Paul Bearer's ugly complexion known as a face again and neither was Paul Bearer Time.
Vader did however reappear wearing his signature face mask again after this match but the lose at the hands of Kane here at Over The Edge 1998 was really a metaphor for losing his career, since, like I mentioned above, this was really Vader's last match before becoming a glorified jobber and losing to all the young up-and-comers from Mark Henry to Bradshaw to Edge on Sunday Night Heat (his last televised match in the WWF).
The Undertaker vs. The Executioner - WWF In Your House: It's Time (1996)
In yet another incident of The Undertaker taking on whoever and whatever WWF had to throw at him, this time in the form of Terry Gordy as The Executioner, things got almost extreme in '96 when Taker decided to take the house down...
Literally.
This was also an Armageddon rules match AKA a last man standing match where you must pin your opponent before the ten count is started.
