Bruce Prichard Looks Back On Genesis & Debut Of WWE Hall Of Famer Kane's Character, Gimmick

These days, it's hard to imagine The Undertaker without Kane, or Kane without The Undertaker. The onscreen brothers have become intertwined with each other's legacies, something that makes sense given they spent the better part of their careers either teaming together, becoming three-time Tag Team Champions, or feuding against each other. It was a feud that began the moment Kane himself began, debuting at Bad Blood 1997 to cost Undertaker his Hell in a Cell match against Shawn Michaels.

On the latest episode of "Something to Wrestle," Bruce Prichard, a key cog in WWE's creative team during the 90s, talked about the origin of Kane, and how the character lined up perfectly both as a chief rival for Undertaker, and a gimmick to give Kane, who had floundered as Isaac Yankem and the second "Diesel," a second chance.

"I was looking for something for Kane, or Glenn [Jacobs]," Prichard said. "We needed an adversary for The Undertaker. And it was [a] good story, and [we were] not really sure where we were going to pan out. The other gimmicks with Glenn Jacobs had failed and this was an opportunity where we didn't have to rely on his facials at that point, and we could cover him up. And the story was strong enough that we felt as long as he was able to deliver, just even half assed [it] in the ring at that point, it would've been a hit."

In the end, it worked out great, with Prichard saying both Undertaker and Kane were thrilled with how the latter's Bad Blood debut came off, though they may not have been as happy as Prichard was.

"Great debut," Prichard said. "This is one where it came off exactly as we had envisioned. So [I was] ecstatic. It was tremendous."

If you use any quotes in this article, please credit "Something To Wrestle" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription