The Undertaker And Kane Talk Difficult Aspects Of Delivering A Tombstone Piledriver, Reversing It

Kane was one of the many WWE legends on hand to honor The Undertaker at Survivor Series, and their relationship goes back over 25 years. They wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, they wrestled before Kane became the character “Kane”, and they had various brother vs. brother feuds in WWE.

Kane made his WWE debut at Badd Blood 1997 when he interfered in Taker’s Hell in a Cell match vs. Shawn Michaels. Kane then attacked The Undertaker and delivered his own Tombstone to Taker, which many fans note was a “snap Tombstone.” The Brothers of Destruction joined Notsam Wrestling to talk about that moment along with other highlights from their illustrious careers.

“I just looked at it as it meant in the moment. Here’s this tormented little brother that may or may not have gotten burned up in the funeral home, and I may or may not have been responsible for that,” said The Undertaker. “So he’s got all of this built up inside of him for all these years. He wasn’t going to take the time to savor. It was like, ‘This is what you get.’ That’s always been my take on it. We’ve actually– I don’t think we’ve ever even discussed it.”

Kane then gave his opinion on the snap Tombstone, and was asked if they had ever previously discussed it.

“Not really. In the weeks leading to that debut, I had gone up to Stanford and put on the entire outfit and worked out a little bit, because part of the character was taking moves from The Undertaker, emulating moves from The Undertaker,” said Kane. “I had to practice doing the sit-up and making it look right, and some of the other moves that Undertaker did.

“I never really thought about the speed of the tombstone. My two concerns were making sure that, first of all, it was safe for the person taking it. Second of all, it looked good. So it wasn’t in my mind thinking I’m going to do that at a certain speed. I was like, ‘Okay, I think we are ready to go’ and from there, bam!”

One of the moves we’ve seen from both Kane and The Undertaker over the years is reversing the Tombstone so that the person originally put in the hold is now the one in position to deliver the move. Kane talked about how difficult it is to do that, especially for guys their size.

“I think it is difficult because you have enough mass that if that starts going the wrong way– because you have to do that control bridge, and the other guy has got to be on his feet. Well, for both parties, and then he’s got to be able to have enough strength to pull in his core to pull the opponent off,” stated Kane.

“We’re talking about 300 plus pounds individuals – that ain’t the easiest maneuver in the entire world to pull off. If it starts going one way, it’s going to keep on going that way.”

No wrestler has delivered more Tombstone Piledrivers than The Undertaker. and he talked about the risk vs. reward of doing a reversal Tombstone.

“You have no ability to create any kind of inertia with the guy that has it first because he’s the one who’s got to start that awkward moment with all that weight going backward, and you got to take one foot up,” stated The Undertaker. “You’re just hoping, ‘Man, I hope his feet hit.’ Because if those feet don’t hit, we ain’t got a chance, and this is going to turn to some kind of half-ass pancake that’s going to look like grass.

“That move is probably one of the most nerve-wracking moves I think I’ve ever done. Especially in a pay-per-view type situation because it has the potential to be awesome and it catches people off guard, but it also has the potential to be crickets.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Notsam Wrestling with a h/t to PWrestling.com for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.