Minus-Star Match Reviews: The Undertaker vs. Kane – Casket Match – WWF RAW 1998

The Attitude Era is still regarded as this vaunted, exceptional period in pro-wrestling history. Even after more than twenty-five years wrestlers like Kane and The Undertaker get tons of praise for what they did during the late 1990s, as if they both had the Midas Touch every time they faced off.

But just because something was exciting in the moment doesn’t mean much in retrospect. Many moments and matches haven’t stood the test of time; whether that’s because tastes change or because people look back on what they liked when they were younger and realized they were caught up in the hoopla depends on each individual person. And when it comes to the fabled Attitude Era…well…a lot of it was overhyped nonsense that didn’t live up to the hype.

The Story

The Kane/Undertaker story took another surprise turn towards the fall of 1998 when – surprise, surprise – Bearer turned on Kane and aligned with the Undertaker. Then to add more DUDE, SWERVE, BRO to the angle, ‘Taker revealed that he was indeed the one to have set his family funeral home ablaze when he and Kane were younger. This was to setup the Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness stable as ‘Taker vowed to unleash ‘a plague of evil’ all over WWF.

Kane, however, wasn’t going to go down without a fight. After the main-event of Judgment Day the night before ended in shenanigans, the Brothers of Destruction needed to continue their bitter, brutal, and personal war. How would they do that, you ask? By having an impromptu casket match with less than 24 hours of build.

The Match

This took place on October 19, 1998. It was rated MINUS TWO STARS by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

The bell rings and Kane rushes Undertaker with punches. Kane chokes him in a corner and lands a big Irish whip into the opposite corner. ‘Taker elbows out to block a charge and kicks Kane’s leg. ‘Taker ducks a clothesline and lands a flying clothesline of his own. They brawl but then Kane counters an Irish whip and lands a powerslam. He goes for a back body drop but Undertaker counters with a DDT which Kane no-sells completely. Both monsters sit up and ‘Taker lands more punches followed by a clothesline which sends Kane into the now-opened casket. Kane remains standing and pulls ‘Taker from under the bottom rope. Both men are standing in the casket. Kane punches ‘Taker down until ‘Taker lands a low blow. Then ‘Taker lands a DDT and…the casket closes on both of them. Wait, what? Paul Bearer is smiling and both referees look on flummoxed.

Even though the casket lid was closed the bell doesn’t get rung. Instead, Kane kicks a hole in the side of the casket while ‘Taker smashes the lid side off the rest of it. Both men escape the casket and continue clobbering each other. Kane drives ‘Taker into the side of the ring and chases Paul Bearer up the entrance ramp. Then ‘Taker chases Kane down and hits him with a chairshot. ‘Taker lands more stomps and then leaves to Gorilla with Bearer and then seconds later Kane gets up, grabs the chair, and leaves as well with a few referees in tow as the crowd boos this non-finish.

Match Result: No Contest after 4:40

Review

If I paid good money for a ticket to RAW and THIS was my main-event I’d be as disappointed as Meltzer was when he reviewed it. Put simply it was a nothing match. It didn’t have any redeeming qualities outside of the fact that no one got injured. But when it came to creativity, excitement, or drama, there was none. For a minute I thought Bearer was turning on both Brothers of Destruction as he smiled when the casket closed and was maybe going to bring someone else in. But that theory died instantly when these two men brawled out of the casket and up the ramp. So in that sense what was the point of closing the lid on both wrestlers? What was the point of having the referees stand there looking like confused dolts? Nothing was explained or given any serious forethought; it was as if everyone involved panic-booked this hoping that promoting a casket match on its own would be good on its own.

In that sense this match was just like the Undertaker/Kane/Steve Austin fiasco from only one night earlier in which referee Austin ruled the match a double no contest and declared himself champion. This was another clear example of WWE’s decades-long mentality of doing bait-and-switches to sucker fans in with a promise of a big main-event only to underdeliver once they have the fans’ money. This has happened many times over the decades but because we tend to look at the Attitude Era with rose-colored glasses then the bad stuff tends to be overlooked more often than not. Yet it would be unfair to just pretend that everything was great just because Steve Austin was stunning Vince McMahon every week. When you take the nostalgia goggles off and actually take the time to revisit the things that hypnotized you during your youth, you come to realize that a lot of it was smoke and mirrors and many things either aged poorly or were sold to you as something far better than they really were.

Final Rating: -*

Despite being a dreadful and refunds-worthy main-event I don’t think this was as bad as Meltzer originally claimed. Yes it was short. Yes it lacked any cohesive story. Yes it was a massive disappointment especially given the names involved. But when all’s said and done this was a short brawl that underscored just how wild and zany the Attitude Era was. It was a period of nonsense and unpredictability, for better or worse.

Matches like this one highlighted Vince Russo’s influence on the product: it was a quick display of chaos with a non-finish that left the audience with more questions than answers. In many ways it was just like what Al Snow once said: that TV wrestling is meant to be a commercial, a teaser of what could be seen, while the more exciting stuff would be saved for untelevised events and PPVs/PLEs.

Still, it’s unfortunate that two wrestlers as revered as The Undertaker and Kane were forced to work with such godawful material and couldn’t even make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

Thanks for reading.