Throughout professional wrestling’s existence there have been brothers that made it to the top together, and brothers that have betrayed each other. With Ranjin Singh’s recent surprise declaration on the August 14th edition of Smackdown that he is The Great Khali’s brother, now is a good time to take a look at some of these pairs—both real and scripted—in World Wrestling Entertainment’s past.
The Brothers of Destruction Undertaker and Kane
The Undertaker and his younger half-sibling Kane began things on the wrong foot when Kane emerged in the then-World Wrestling Federation in October 1997. The two, who are not brothers in real life, feuded until the two teamed up in 1998, though it didn’t last long. They eventually reunited and won the World tag team titles from Edge and Christian on April 19th, 2001.
The duo broke up, however, and off and on feuded and tagged with each other up to 2008. They had only one title reign together, but even without the gold they put the fear into many of their opponents due to their size, attitude and brawling abilities. Should they ever team again, they will be a formidable force for others to reckon with.
Extreme Brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy
Real-life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy knew they wanted to be wrestlers from an early age. As teenagers they formed their own wrestling organization called Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, or OMEGA, which had a large following in their home state of North Carolina. When they joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1998, they won the tag team titles within less than a year of their debut.
By the time they split up as a tag team, they garnered seven tag titles before Matt (kayfabe) betrayed his brother by hitting him in the head with a steel chair in January 2009. However, as of August 20th, 2009, they appear to have uneasily reconciled. With rumors of Jeff Hardy leaving WWE soon, it is impossible to tell whether the Hardys will become a formidable tag force once again.
What Time is it? The Dudley Boyz
D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley, storyline half-brothers from Dudleyville, were a hardcore tag team force in WWE from 1999-2005. Their penchant for putting people through tables (including the very senior Mae Young) thrilled the fans during the Attitude Era. The duo was one of the three tag teams that made the match Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) famous, though they never won either of those matches.
Totally Reeking of Awesomeness Edge and Christian
Edge and Christian are real-life best friends (but not brothers) Adam Copeland and Jason Reso, who dominated the tag team division of the World Wrestling Federation from 1999 to 2001. They had seven tag team title reigns, a record at that time, and thrilled most of the fans with their “off-beat shenanigans” and catchphrases such as “reeking of awesomeness”, “sodas rule” and insults like “chumpstain” “dork chop” and “reekazoid”.
All the fun came to an end when Christian turned on his “brother” and bashed him with a steel chair on September 3, 2001. Christian declared that he was tired of being known only as Edge’s brother and being seen as someone who held Edge back from singles glory. The two have had successful singles careers, but should they reunite, fans of the E&C Era would surely be pleased.
The Rocket and the Hitman Owen and Bret Hart
Bret and Owen Hart were usually enemies when they interacted within the World Wrestling Federation, though in reality they were very close friends as well as brothers. The height of their feud was in 1994, when Owen attacked Bret after a tag match loss due to Bret’s injured knee. They faced each other at Wrestlemania X, where Owen defeated his brother.
Other Brothers of the WWE
The Colón Brothers, Primo and Carlito, also have been in WWE since 2008, and won the WWE Unified Tag Team Championship belts together. Their team split when Carlito attacked Primo because he was frustrated that they had lost a match against Edge and Chris Jericho, whom they had also lost their tag team titles to recently.
Earl and Dave Hebner are identical twins who also served as referees for WWE. Earl acted as Dave’s evil twin who cost Hulk Hogan the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship to Andre the Giant at an edition of The Main Event in 1988. Earl went on to work for WWE full-time as a referee, while Dave went on to work as a road agent.
In a sport where men fight each other to compete for the top spot, it is heartwarming to see tag teams—whether they are truly brothers or not—help and look after each other, and it can be disappointing to see them split up. No doubt there will be many more brother teams, whether scripted or real, in World Wrestling Entertainment’s future.
Source:
World Wrestling Entertainment Homepage
Online World of Wrestling
Jillian Bost - Jillian Bost is an experienced writer with interests ranging from Victorian literature to 1980s pop and professional wrestling.
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