Since the beginning of time, there have been many epic battles contested in arenas, stadiums, steel cages and even in boiler rooms. But what the world would witness on the night of Oct. 5, 1997 in St. Louis would forever change the perception of fans around the world; the perception that the squared circle is the penultimate fighting ground for wrestlers around the world.
It’s been noted that steel cage matches have always captured the essence of the Roman Coliseum of the wrestling world where man would do battle with another until only one could no longer survive the punishment inflicted on one’s body not to mention the physiological scars on one’s mind.
The irony of the situation which presents itself is that cells are usually for those who must be kept contained; away from society so that they might not commit heinous, violent crimes against others.
In this case, the cell did not contain the rage and anger of the two men encased in it but instead unleashed unto the world a product worthy of Satan’s endorsement: Hell on Earth.
But how did it all come to this? Was it one man who sealed his fate or was it the four who inadvertently caused such a monstrosity to unveil its ugly head?
Fate dealt the world a cruel hand. But we, instead of recoiling from the sight of a man being broken to bits, cheered for more. What a sight it turned out to be, the gladiatorial games reborn, the insatiable appetite for blood and violence personified.
The signs were clear as the night time sky; the Undertaker had just come out victorious at Wrestlemania 13 with the WWF title now in his possession only to find his former colleague and manager Paul Bearer threatening to tell the world of the terrible secret the new WWF Champion had concealed successfully over the years.
The Deadman, who then stood in the ring, with his fingers wrapped around the throat of Bearer, had two options: to knock Bearer out knowing full well that when he would awaken he’d have a hard time keeping his mouth shut.
The other, of course, would be to submit to Bearer’s will; in short, it was a no-win situation for the newly crowned WWF Champion.
The following weeks would show the Undertaker as a weak, miserable champion who did everything requested of him, in order to keep his secret from the world forever.
But the agreement would end as quickly as it began; after the Undertaker teamed up with Vader to take on the Nation of Domination on RAW, Vader became victim to the Tombstone Piledriver and thus broke the pact between Bearer and Undertaker.
The following week would see both Bearer and Undertaker give their sides of the story; the night would come to an end when Bearer revealed that Kane is alive.
Meanwhile, an equally intense feud had been brewing within the bowels of the WWF as Shawn Michaels had, according to him, exacted revenge on the officials for forcing him to referee a title match between his arch rival Bret Hart and the Undertaker during which he hit the champion with a steel chair meant for Bret.
This caused Shawn’s nemesis, Hart, to take advantage and capture the title.
Not only did the Undertaker become incensed at the circumstances of his title loss, he put all of his focus on exacting revenge for weeks leading up to In Your House: Ground Zero, Michaels made it his mission to demonstrate his dominance over the Deadman by making him all too familiar with the dimensions of a steel chair.
The image of the Undertaker leaving the ring with blood gushing all over his forehead, without a trace of aggression or anger, would indicate that he already was devising a way to end the existence of the man who had caused him this much misery.
It’s said that a predator is at the height of his ferocity and is most dangerous just before he strikes; the Undertaker had a plan.
56 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete