The Story of The Ministry
It's hard to believe that people thought that Calloway's wrestling career was finished in 1989, after his 'Punisher' gimmick lost its appeal. Vince McMahon, owner of the WWF, offered to Calloway a trial persona to test the limits of what people will accept in TV, a resurrected demon from the 'Darkside' called 'The Undertaker'. The Undertaker arrived in the WWF in November of 1990, and has been the cornerstone of the WWF ever since. In this time, he has had 3 reigns as WWF Champion and 3 as one half of the Tag Team Champions. He is the longest serving wrestler in the WWF, being in his tenth year now, with the only other wrestler coming close to serving as long being Badd Ass Billy Gunn, who's been in the WWF around eight years.
At the beginning of 1999, the Undertaker returned to the WWF. He had been defeated by Steve Austin in a 'Buried Alive' Match at a Pay Per View some months earlier. His evil persona has taken a turn, with his announcement of himself as the 'Lord of Darkness' and his prophecies of an 'Era of Darkness' to fall upon the WWF. He started this campaign with the recruitment of a crappy tag team known as Faarooq and Bradshaw. Undertaker renamed them the Acolytes, and had them paint dark symbols upon their chests. Under the tutelage of the Undertaker, the Acolytes became the hardest, meanest tag team in the WWF. They kidnapped a man named Dennis Knight, sacrificed him in the name of the 'Ministry' and renamed him Mideon. At the Royal Rumble, the Undertaker recruited another member to his Ministry. Mabel, who had defeated the Undertaker in the only ever King of the Ring Tournament to involve the Phenom, was recruited and renamed Viscera.
After the Ministry recruited the Brood (Gangrel, Edge & Christian), the Undertaker announced his intention to take control of the WWF from Vince McMahon. The Ministry began to stalk the McMahon family, in particular Stephanie McMahon. Pictures of Stephanie taken by the Ministry were given to Vince, but Vince could not stop the Undertaker and the Ministry stalking his family. Stephanie was kidnapped by the Ministry, but was found when Shamrock forced Christian to divulge Stephanie's location. The Undertaker whipped Christian as punishment and attempted to sacrifice him, which led to the Brood leaving the Ministry. The Undertaker then sacrificed Shamrock's sister, and later attempted to sacrifice him. This led to a match at Backlash between the Undertaker and Shamrock, which the Undertaker won.
After Backlash, the Undertaker kidnapped Stephanie again and tried to marry her. Due to interference from Steve Austin, who was begged by Vince to help him, he did not succeed. This set up the feud between Austin and the Undertaker. Due to Vince's lack of action against the Undertaker, Shane turned against Vince and seized control of the WWF. Shane then announced that he had sided with the Undertaker, and had combined the Ministry and the Corporation. This was the foundation of the Corporate Ministry.
The Corporate Ministry set its sight on three people: Steve Austin, due to his interference in the Ministry's plans, The Rock, because of his blaming Shane McMahon for losing his WWF title rematch to Austin, and Vince, to show it was Shane who had the power in the WWF. The Undertaker won the WWF Title, with the help of Shane McMahon as the special guest referee, from Austin at the next Pay Per View.
After the Pay Per View, the 'Greater Power' that the Undertaker had spoken of for the last few months finally surfaced. It was Vince, who had made this plot in order to make Austin lose his WWF title. Triple H showed he had aspirations for the WWF title, which led to his fighting the Undertaker for it. The Rock was the next person to get his title shot against the Undertaker, but lost the match due to interference from Triple H.
The next night, the Undertaker lost the title to Steve Austin. He immediately arranged a 'First Blood' Match for the next Pay Per View. He lost this match, and therefore Triple H became number one contender to the WWF title, who defeated the Rock to become so.
The Corporate Ministry split up the next night. With no-one on his side, the Undertaker looked to link up with his brother Kane. The problem was that Kane was a Tag Team Champion along with X-Pac. The Undertaker therefore attempted to break up the duo, going so far as to beat on X-Pac himself. Kane chose to remain with X-Pac, so Taker made a smart move.
The Big Show, who was defeated by Kane in the King of the Ring tournament courtesy of a chair shot to the head, was seeking revenge. The Undertaker teamed with Big Show, and they attacked anyone who opposed them. Undertaker and the Big Show later won the Tag Team titles from Kane and X-Pac.
The Undertaker and the Big Show later lost the titles to Mankind and The Rock after a title reign of a few months, and won them back in a Tag Team 'Buried Alive' Match. Due to the domineering ways of the Undertaker, they lost the titles again back to Mankind and The Rock. The Big Show told that he felt the Undertaker was holding him back, as the Undertaker was going to use him to win the WWF Title at the next Pay Per View. When Vince ordered the Undertaker to fight Triple H in an Inferno Match, and the Undertaker refused, he was suspended and removed from the Pay Per View's Main Event, the Six Pack Challenge. In layman's terms, the Undertaker got time off to recover from various injuries.
The Acolytes
Viscera
Mideon
Paul Bearer
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