In this WWE Evil: Brothers of Destruction review, some thoughts on the fourth installment of the newest Peacock series from WWE.
Let’s jump in.
– We see footage of a young Bruce Prichard with Pat Patterson in the WWF writer’s room in 1990, with the story of Bruce coming up with the idea of The Undertaker character to pitch to Vince McMahon.
– It’s kind of cool to see the old storyboards of the Taker character and the Western theme to it and how it evolved from there. Love hearing Taker talk about how “every movement had a purpose.” Those are the most effective characters.
– Jack Palmer (The Ringer) and rapper Killer Mike make appearances to give their insight on Taker. As I’ve said before, the guest lineup for this series is more about mainstream recognition than wrestling recognition.
– They highlight the introduction of Paul Bearer character and how it added another dynamic to the Taker character. Speaking of which, they also focus on Bearer turning on Taker to join Mankind at SummerSlam 1996. I like the detail on how Taker went from being invincible to being vulnerable with Bearer and the power of the urn no longer by his side.
– Enter the idea behind the Kane character and Bearer’s telling of the secret of Taker’s past. Say what you want about silly WWE storylines of the past, but this was not one of them. The introduction of Kane at Badd Blood was one of those “holy shit” moments you don’t forget.
– Another nice tidbit is Glenn Jacobs explaining the reason for the fire in his entrance and its relation to the family funeral parlor catching on fire. My goodness if the WWE put this amount of story detail in its current product, it could make some significant strides.
– Corey Taylor from Slipknot is back to discuss the logic behind wearing a mask. We get an interesting conversation on horror movie villains who wore masks.
– They dive deeper into Kane trying to finish off Taker at Royal Rumble 1997 by setting the casket on fire. Then it’s the creepy vignette of Taker in the graveyard saying he has no choice but to fight Kane, which led to their match at WrestleMania XV. Again, the execution of the story was good stuff.
– Speaking of that match, it wasn’t a classic, but I like that they brought up Kane kicking out of the Tombstone and the importance of it.
– Then comes the story behind the first-ever Inferno Match. The concept probably sounded good in theory, and there’s no doubt that the visual was unique. But I can’t say it’s my favorite match type. However, it’s Taker and Kane. Of course there’s gotta be fire with these two!
– Things climax with the idea to pair Taker and Kane together as the Brothers of Destruction. Mick Foley notes his opinion that no one makes for better partners than bitter rivals.
– While they did skip over the Ministry version of Taker, they do look at the motivation behind Taker and Kane becoming more “real” later on in the Attitude Era. That’s when Taker became a biker and Kane was unmasked. Jacobs explains that Kane had never been burned in the fire, but he internalized that he had.
– They also highlighted some of the crazy shit Kane did after he unmasked. I mean, the guy did set JR on fire, interrupt Edge and Lita’s wedding, and much more.
BLAKE’S TAKE ON WWE EVIL: BROTHERS OF DESTRUCTION
This was easily the best of the four WWE Evil episodes I’ve reviewed thus far. As with all of them, it’s more geared towards a mainstream audience. But this one does go a bit deeper into the psychology behind the evil side of both Taker and Kane.
When you consider they are two of WWE’s most memorable creations over the years, I’m glad they explored the motivations of each character and how their story continued to intertwine throughout their in-ring careers. A solid thumbs up for this particular episode.
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