{"id":48076,"date":"2019-06-07T15:35:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T19:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=48076"},"modified":"2019-06-07T15:35:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T19:35:34","slug":"ministry-of-darkness-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/06\/07\/ministry-of-darkness-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It Was Me Austin!&#8221;: Ministry of Darkness Grand Reveal 20 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cIt\u2019s me Austin! It\u2019s me Austin! It was me all along, Austin! You all bought it!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><strong>Vince McMahon<\/strong> yelled this through the arena as he revealed himself as the <strong>Undertaker<\/strong>\u2019s Higher Power as a part of the<strong> Ministry of Darkness<\/strong> and Corporate Ministry angle, 20 years ago today. Following almost a year of buildup, the Ministry would quickly vanish all together, but it was certainly one of the most memorable angles in the history of wrestling.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Higher Power of The Corporate Ministry is revealed\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tcXhMSOLJKM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Ministry of Darkness Grand Reveal 20 Years Later<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Undertaker formed his Ministry of Darkness at <strong><em>Judgement Day: In Your House<\/em><\/strong> when <strong>Paul Bearer<\/strong> would turn on Kane and rejoin \u201cThe Deadman\u201d. Undertaker would officially announce the Ministry of Darkness as a \u201cplague of evil\u201d that would be released upon Raw the following night on the October 19th, 1998 edition of Raw. As the Ministry of Darkness cast a cloud over the WWE, Undertaker would become a problem for everyone, especially <strong>Kane<\/strong> and <strong>Stone Cold Steve Austin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48088\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48088\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48088\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/031_RAW_11161998_0057-3909840157-e1559935763402.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Undertaker would force Steve Austin to lose his WWE Championship to <strong>The Rock<\/strong> due to him hitting him in the head with a shovel, causing a concussion. The concussion story would lead to him not only losing his WWE Championship but also heading to the hospital to try and recover. On the November 23\u00a0show, The Undertaker would abduct Austin from his hospital room in hopes of burying him alive and even tried to embalm him.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Undertaker attempts to embalm Stone Cold Steve Austin: This Week in WWE History, Dec. 8, 2016\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pm9yNgZ91TU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Steve Austin and Kane would continue to try and stop the Undertaker as he tried to continuously get them to be part of the Ministry. Undertaker would attempt to send his brother Kane to a mental institution following him saving Austin. This would not turn out for Undertaker in the end when he would be fooled into heading to the mental institution following Stone Cold placing the mask of Kane on to the Undertaker without Paul Bearer and the workers would bring him in.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48089\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48089\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48089\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/20151103_MinistryOfDarkness_Thumbnail-e1559935785535.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48089\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This would only anger the Undertaker as he tied him down onto his symbol, leading the two men to a Buried Alive Match at <em>Rock Bottom: In Your House<\/em>. On the December 13\u00a0show, Kane would help Austin avoid being Buried Alive, resulting in the Undertaker getting buried. As the Undertaker was off of television for the weeks coming, <strong>The Acolytes<\/strong> made up of <strong>Bradshaw<\/strong> and <strong>Farooq<\/strong> would become members of the Ministry. They would abduct Dennis Knight on December 28\u00a0and bring him to \u201cHe\u201d who would eventually turn out to be the returning Undertaker.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48091\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48091\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48091\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/Undertaker_1999_ministry-e1559935865665.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48091\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Knight would be renamed Mideon as Undertaker\u2019s new servant, becoming a member of the Ministry along with the Acolytes. In no way would the Ministry be done, as they would only continue growing by adding Mabel at the <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> of \u201999. In doing so, much like Knight, would be renamed as <strong>Viscera<\/strong>. The Ministry was getting stronger and more powerful, continuing by adding The Brood to bolster them one more time in hopes of having what it would take to remove Vince McMahon from power and allow the Undertaker to own the WWE in the meantime.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48090\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48090\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48090\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2019\/06\/e3d3052c6a816ada3131bae3360e0dde-e1559935802235.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This would lead to the remembered burning of the teddy bear following the Undertaker\u2019s victory over Kane in the second Inferno Match. He would have Vince on his knees in grief as the teddy bear, which would be Stephanie McMahon\u2019s from her childhood, would continue to burn. This would be when the \u201cgreater power\u201d that the Undertaker answered to. This would begin to be the question as to who this higher power was before it was revealed, as it was said to be holding the key to Vince\u2019s heart and soul.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Big Show vs. Big Bossman, Albert, Viscera &amp; Mideon: Survivor Series 1999\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lb1Qvuj5sXs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Vince would have <strong>Big Bossmsan<\/strong> be the enforcer to try and take out the Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell at <em>WrestleMania XV<\/em>. This would be the show where Big Boss Man would lose and eventually be hung by a noose. Ken Shamrock would be Vince\u2019s next help to try and stomp out the Undertaker, but it would not work. The mystery woman throughout all of this would be <strong>Stephanie McMahon<\/strong> as the Undertaker looked to hopefully marry her at the \u201cBlack Wedding\u201d to become an owner of the WWE through marriage. Steve Austin would manage to disrupt and ruin the wedding however, stopping the Undertaker from gaining power.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Undertaker and Stephanie Dark Wedding\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h-c6wDFjQ8I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>On April 29,\u00a01999, Undertaker would join forces with Shane McMahon to create the Corporate Ministry, looked at as even more powerful than the Ministry of Darkness. It would just be a week later on June 7, 20 years from today that Vince would reveal himself as that \u201cHigher Power\u201d. The angle of the Ministry of Darkness is forever remembered for its role as a part of the Attitude Era.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Undertaker and Shane McMahon join forces to form the\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5zslNRRq5_4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt\u2019s me Austin! It\u2019s me Austin! It was me all along, Austin! You all bought it!\u201d\u00a0Vince McMahon yelled this through the arena as he revealed himself as the Undertaker\u2019s Higher Power as a part of the Ministry of Darkness and Corporate Ministry angle, 20 years ago today. Following almost a year of buildup, the Ministry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2921,"featured_media":48092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[629,3800,5327,5324,5325,800,298,5330,5331,326,3349,3350,5326,550,241,5328,5329],"class_list":["post-48076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wwe-universe","tag-stone-cold-steve-austin","tag-big-bossman","tag-bradshaw","tag-farooq","tag-in-your-house","tag-jbl","tag-kane","tag-ministry-of-darkness","tag-paul-bearer","tag-stephanie-mcmahon","tag-steve-austin","tag-stone-cold","tag-the-acolytes","tag-the-rock","tag-vince-mcmahon","tag-viscera","tag-wrestlemania-15"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}