98 Survivor Series as someone said
Taker/Kane/Paul Bearer saga 1998 (if you want, tack 1997/8 Mankind onto this as he was frequently involved before moving on to Socko era Mankind). The story had a bunch of Russoisms:
-Kane coming to “save” Taker in the 98 Casket Match, only to lock him in and set him on fire in a swerve
-The infamous Undertaker in street clothes worked shoot made frequent reference to Paul Bearer airing Taker’s dirty laundry and Vince’s allowing of it for ratings
-Jerry Lawler and Paul Bearer locker room interview segment with the graphic language
-Kane and Bearer desecrating Taker’s parents graves
-Kane and Bearer digging up Taker’s parents coffins and Bearer lighting one coffin on fire, while Kane chokeslammed Taker into his mother’s coffin. Bearer responded after with “Rest in Peace with your dead mama”
-Always calling Taker’s mama a whore
-Kane aligning with Taker in Summer 98, only for Taker to link with Bearer in October because “You turned your back on me twice, boy!”
-Taker going back and fourth on whether he set the fire that burned Kane depending if he was heel or face
I could go on (I’m sleep rambling ), but you get the point. Aside from the Russoisms, there was some good stuff in there, and the story interweaved perfectly with the other stories at the time such as Austin vs McMahon, and even with DX (Kane and Mankind’s short feud with the New Age Outlaws saw Taker getting involved) we got Satanic/Ministry Taker from it eventually
We still see ripple effects of the story to this day as they’ve run that story to varying degrees with the different incarnations of both Taker and Kane. And as we know, they eventually came together in non Russo Swerve fashion as the Brothers of Destruction
Writing a story that eventually sees 20 plus years of content spawn from that initial story you wrote is nothing to scoff at. Either that or 98 Survivor Series is his crowning achievement
Taker/Kane/Paul Bearer saga 1998 (if you want, tack 1997/8 Mankind onto this as he was frequently involved before moving on to Socko era Mankind). The story had a bunch of Russoisms:
-Kane coming to “save” Taker in the 98 Casket Match, only to lock him in and set him on fire in a swerve
-The infamous Undertaker in street clothes worked shoot made frequent reference to Paul Bearer airing Taker’s dirty laundry and Vince’s allowing of it for ratings
-Jerry Lawler and Paul Bearer locker room interview segment with the graphic language
-Kane and Bearer desecrating Taker’s parents graves
-Kane and Bearer digging up Taker’s parents coffins and Bearer lighting one coffin on fire, while Kane chokeslammed Taker into his mother’s coffin. Bearer responded after with “Rest in Peace with your dead mama”
-Always calling Taker’s mama a whore
-Kane aligning with Taker in Summer 98, only for Taker to link with Bearer in October because “You turned your back on me twice, boy!”
-Taker going back and fourth on whether he set the fire that burned Kane depending if he was heel or face
I could go on (I’m sleep rambling ), but you get the point. Aside from the Russoisms, there was some good stuff in there, and the story interweaved perfectly with the other stories at the time such as Austin vs McMahon, and even with DX (Kane and Mankind’s short feud with the New Age Outlaws saw Taker getting involved) we got Satanic/Ministry Taker from it eventually
We still see ripple effects of the story to this day as they’ve run that story to varying degrees with the different incarnations of both Taker and Kane. And as we know, they eventually came together in non Russo Swerve fashion as the Brothers of Destruction
Writing a story that eventually sees 20 plus years of content spawn from that initial story you wrote is nothing to scoff at. Either that or 98 Survivor Series is his crowning achievement
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