by Hatter X
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

“Quoth The Raven... Nevermore: Scott Levy’s Rise To WWF Dominance”

…Or

“Whatever happened to baby Kane?”

“I am Raven… and I will put you through a table, and I will bash your brains in.”

-Raven, ECW 1995

“He’s alive… Kane’s Alive!"

-Paul Bearer, WWF 1997

What do these two quotes have in common? On the surface, nothing… however, when one looks deep into the realm of possibility, they actually have a quite a bit in common. During the spring of 1997, Vince McMahon and his creative team decided to invent a younger brother for their leading gimmick wrestler, The Undertaker. This character would be the thorn in Undertaker’s side, a powerful, fearless creature, hell bent on revenge for his tortured youth. A leading candidate for the role was ECW mainstay, Scott Levy, a.k.a., Raven. Raven had left the WWF in mid-’94 following a depressingly sad stint as manager/wrestler, Johnny Polo. While in ECW, he forged a new identity, an identity that rekindled his dying creative light. The birth of Raven revitalized a career and gave life to a character that would intrigue millions of wrestling fans. Intriguing enough to catch the eye of the WWF, Raven was courted at portray Kane, a spin-off of the successful Raven gimmick. Kane would be the tortured younger brother, who never got his shot at a dream, partially due to his size and thanks to an older brother that hogged all the spotlight and glory. However, Raven signed with WCW for a larger amount of money. So the WWF went with contracted talent, Glen Jacobs, currently doing a monster gimmick in Memphis, called Doomsday. In turn, Kane became an overly gimmicked monster, burned as a youth and out for revenge. Today, Kane is a successful, and extremely popular top name for the WWF, and Raven, while employed, hasn’t seen near the success during his WCW tenure, his return to ECW and eventual signing with the WWF in 1999, that he saw during his initial ECW run. But would things have turned out differently had Raven taken the WWF offer and became Kane? Would Scott Levy be sitting on the sidelines today? Would the Kane gimmick have been any less successful when saddled on a smaller, yet more verbally talented wrestler? That is the question before us today. Today we explore a world in which Scott Levy rose to the top of the WWF. Today we ask ourselves, whatever happened to baby Kane?

Timeline: October 5, 1997

Location: Kiel Center, St. Louis, MO

The WWF’s October Pay-Per-View, “Badd Blood” was nearing its end, as The Undertaker had just delivered a brutal chair shot to his opponent, Shawn Michaels. The two superstars had waged war for nearly 20 minutes inside the first ever “Hell In The Cell” and The Undertaker was on the verge of winning the battle, when suddenly, the lights in the arena go out. A huge blast of flame is followed by an eerie, pipe organ theme, not unlike The Undertaker’s himself. Then we see him. Lead to the ring by Paul Bearer, a grungy, leather clad figure, medium-sized, but powerful in his walk. The figure heads to the door of the cell and pulls the handle, which does not budge. The unknown warrior begins to climb the cage as Vince McMahon screams, “That’s, that’s gotta be Kane!” Once at the top of the cage the assumed Kane throws his arms out to the sides and screams, bringing the lights up and revealing himself to the world. Fans of the underground wrestling organization, ECW recognize immediately the person McMahon has labeled as Kane. He is Raven. He was their champion not just a few months ago.

REWIND

In the office atop Titan Towers, Vince McMahon signs off on a deal that he has been working on for months. Across the table from him sits Scott Levy, a former employee of McMahon and current main event talent for Extreme Championship Wrestling. McMahon worked hard to secure Levy, as the rival WCW had offered Levy twice what the WWF had to offer monetarily. But Vince McMahon, in his own special way, offered Levy the one thing WCW hadn’t promised him. Main Event glory and the chance to become a star… something Levy wanted badly. Levy’s quest for stardom within the ranks of the WWF goes back to late 1993, when signed from WCW; Levy entered the promotion as Johnny Polo, a manager/wrestler that never took off. Levy, instead, floundered in the WWF and never reached the potential that most of the industry saw in him. Not until his travels brought him to ECW, where owner/booker Paul Heyman, known to long time fans as Paul E. Dangerously, gave Scott Levy the creative freedom to explore his talent to the fullest. Vince McMahon knew he was getting an established star, with a cult following. McMahon’s plan was to bring in Levy as the younger brother to The Undertaker, a character that was sorely in need of a twist to stay fresh. McMahon knew that Levy was the man that could breathe new life into The Undertaker.

FAST FORWARD

As The Undertaker looked upwards at the individual that stood above him, Shawn Michaels took the opportunity to nail the distracted “Phenom” with a well placed groin shot, turning the tide of battle. Michaels then regained his footing and waited as The Undertaker got to his feet to deliver “Sweet Chin-Music”, taking the match and securing his spot in history as the first man to win a “Hell In The Cell”. Meanwhile, Kane, standing high above the ring, raised his arms above his head and brought them down with a fury, causing all four ring posts to explode in flame. Fans of the WWF had just witnessed the debut of a man they would come to know as Kane, but a man that would eventually rule as Raven.

In the coming months, Kane would continue his feud with The Undertaker, along the way plowing over many established stars, such as Mankind, Goldust and Faarooq. During the latter months of 1997 fans and WWF officials alike began noticing Kane’s main talent, which was his work on the microphone. It was not unusual for the WWF to allow Kane 10 minutes worth of time to cut promos on his storyline brother. The WWF produced more vignettes for Kane than any star in the past. The use of Paul Bearer as a manager, always the mouthpiece for a wrestler, became obsolete, thus Bearer was turned face and programmed once again with The Undertaker. Leading into early January 1998, the WWF was preparing for the Royal Rumble. The Undertaker was scheduled to get a shot at Shawn Michaels’ WWF Title, but Vince McMahon decided to speed up the WWF’s plans for the Kane/Undertaker feud and scheduled a Casket Match for the two at the Rumble. Meanwhile, Kane was developing a cult following, much like he had in ECW. Scott Levy approached Vince McMahon with the idea of starting a “flock-like” on screen cult, made up of mid-card wrestlers with no storyline. McMahon balked at the idea, since during much of 1997 the WWF had relied on the concept of on screen gangs with no real pay-off.

The Rumble came and went, with the highlight of the show being the moment that Kane locked Undertaker inside the casket and set the casket on fire. Meanwhile, Undertaker’s previously scheduled opponent, Shawn Michaels defended and lost the WWF Title to the “Soul Survivor” Owen Hart. Hart’s brother Bret, and his brother’s-in-law British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart had fled the WWF for WCW in recent months, following a major rift between McMahon and Bret. With Michaels not having an opponent, in light of the recent storyline revamp for Kane and The Undertaker, Owen was given the opportunity to shine and defeated Michaels, the man who “beat” his brother at Survivor Series the previous November, after Austin interfered in the match. The next night on Raw, Michaels and his DX brethren, Triple H and Chyna, would “screw” Owen out of the WWF title and put the belt back on Michaels. Also on Raw, Kane cut a fabulous promo about beating his brother and setting him on fire. That night Kane received mostly a face reaction to the promo, which surprised McMahon and opened McMahon’s eyes to giving Kane a little more presence on the show.

In the coming weeks, the WWF would hold their February PPV, No Way Out of Texas. The Main Event featured DX, The New Age Outlaws and a mystery partner, taking on Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Vader, Cactus Jack (formerly Mankind) and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk). Kane was given the spot on the heel team, and helped the team gain a victory as Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie turned on their teammates and aided Kane. “The Flock” was born and Kane’s status as a true Main Event player was secured. Leading up to Wrestle Mania 14 the WWF focused on two core storylines, which saw DX fending off the duel threat of Austin & Hart; while Undertaker was fighting to drive back the challenge of Kane and his Flock. As hard as the WWF pushed the scheduled Michaels/Austin conflict for Wrestle Mania, with Mike Tyson being the special ref, the Kane/Undertaker story had gained a massive following; so much in fact that the last Raw prior to the PPV ended with Kane & Undertaker in a face off, instead of the Champion and Challenger.

The Official card for Wrestle Mania 14 looked like this:

*Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin for the WWF Title

*The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock for the IC Title

*The New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie in a Dumpster Match for the Tag Team Titles

*Kane vs. The Undertaker

*Triple H vs. Owen Hart for the European Title

*Marc Mero & Sable vs. Goldust & Luna Vachon in a Mixed Tag

*Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila for the Light Heavyweight Title

*15 Team Battle Royal for a shot at the Tag Team Champions

During the show, Kane aided Owen Hart to defeat Triple H, bringing Owen into The Flock. Cactus & Charlie defeated The Outlaws, winning the Tag Team Titles for The Flock, and Kane defeated The Undertaker, crucifying him in the middle of the ring with help from The Flock. This would be the last appearance of The Undertaker in the WWF for nearly two years, as he took an extended vacation for surgical and recreational reasons. Austin won the WWF Title from Michaels in the championship finale, but was watched from the rafters by Kane & his Flock to end the show.

The next day, backstage at Raw, Vince McMahon laid out his plan for the next three months of TV and PPV. McMahon told the crew that Shawn Michaels would be leaving the WWF for a short time to have work done on his back. In the mean time, The New Age Outlaws would be joining Triple H and Chyna, and the debuting Sean Waltman (who had just signed on to return to the WWF following a release from WCW), in forming a new DX. The stable would feud with the Nation of Domination, while Austin, would begin a lengthy feud with Kane and The Flock, which would cumulate in a title win for Kane at King of the Ring, inside the Hell in the Cell. Vince revealed that Kane and The Flock would be the central villains in a storyline that would see Vince use The Flock to get revenge on Austin, who Vince was not happy to see represent the WWF as its Champion. Vince was also very receptive to the suggestion that the Flock’s numbers be increased, so Vader, Goldust and Luna Vachon were added to the group as supporting players. Some of the talent seemed disappointed with the plans, especially Triple H, who had worked very hard to raise his game following a year of punishment for the curtain call incident. But McMahon was dead set on going in this direction. The post-Wrestle Mania Raw went off without a hitch, and the crowd was extremely receptive to the ending segment, which featured an attack by The Flock on Austin and Vince McMahon endorsing Kane as his next World Champion.

The next two months featured the PPV’s Unforgiven and Over the Edge, both of which saw Austin face off against Flock members, Owen Hart and Vader respectively, each time defeating his opponents, only to have Kane appear from the darkness and lay him out. King of the Ring featured the Hell in the Cell Match between Austin & Kane that saw Kane win the WWF Title. After the match, Kane and his Flock crucified Austin and lifted him up above the arena on a large metal cross. The next evening prior to Raw, Vince McMahon received word that Scott Levy was at his hotel and unable to work. McMahon and a few associates got Levy to the hospital and discovered that he had nearly overdosed on drugs. Many in the locker room knew of Levy’s jaded past with substance abuse, but no one had any reason to suspect he was using recently. After all, why would anyone who had been disappointed so many times in their career, mess up as good a run as Levy was currently having? With Levy out of commission and in no shape to perform, McMahon decided that Levy’s on screen character of Kane would be stripped of the title, as a result of a suspension for the crucifixion the previous night. The title was put up for grabs in a match between Austin & Triple H, which saw Austin win after The Nation interfered and helped him, out of hatred for the leader of DX. With Levy suspended from the WWF in real life, and his character written off of television, The Flock was disbanded and it’s members returned to their previous positions on the roster.

1998 rolled forward with Austin defending the WWF title against a variety of opponents, including Mankind (who returned to his former character after the departure of Terry Funk from the federation), Triple H, Faarooq and Ken Shamrock. At Survivor Series 1998, The Rock was given the WWF Title and Vince McMahon’s Corporation became the top heel stable, while The Nation was disbanded and DX was turned face. 1999 dawned with Austin, Mankind and DX collectively facing off with The Corporation, lead by Vince and The Rock. Meanwhile, Scott Levy attended rehab and worked for ECW, with the blessing of the WWF, reprising his Raven character. During his ECW revival, Levy handed the majority of the booking and worked behind the scenes with Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer to build ECW into a viable number two promotion just behind the WWF. ECW would achieve national TV coverage and increased its PPV and house show revenue 1999. Levy’s WWF tenure, while only brief, gave enough clout and credibility to his ECW character, which translated into huge numbers for ECW. WCW was on it’s last legs and falling fast, having lost enough money in 1999 to cause the release of Eric Bischoff from power, and the desperate attempt on the behalf of the WCW hierarchy to boost interest by brining in the WWF creative team of Vince Russo, Ed Ferrera and Bill Banks. WCW talent soon began making its way to ECW, including Vampiro, Billy Kidman, Disco Inferno and the returning Perry Saturn, Mickey Whipwreck and Sandman. ECW’s September 1999 PPV, Anarchy Rulz outdrew WCW’s Fall Brawl PPV by a buy rate of .50, as ECW drew a .85 to WCW’s .35. With a huge victory under their belt for the young promotion, ECW decided to take things a step further and positioned itself to strike a deal with Fox, which they got, debuting a new one-hour TV show on Fox Sports. But ECW was about to receive a few blows, which would put some noticeable chinks in their new armor.

On September 13, 1999, Tazz, Raven and The Dudley Boyz jump to the WWF. The Dudley’s debut on TV immediately for the WWF, they recognize their past from ECW and foreshadow the impending debut of “Him”. Tazz debuts at No Mercy, carrying with him the ECW World Title and choking out Steve Austin… allowing World Champion Triple H to retain the title. Tazz and The Dudley’s recruit Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie and Al Snow, all of whom are currently working for the WWF and have ECW pasts, to join their gang. The group continues to spread the word of the “arrival” of their leader, focusing their cryptic messages on Steve Austin. Survivor Series 1999 arrives and Austin is scheduled to face Triple H and Rock in a 3-way Match for the WWF title. But prior to the title match, an unknown assailant runs down Austin in the parking lot. Tazz demands to be added to the match, being the ECW Champion, and wins the match after interference by the surprise return of Kane! The next night on Raw, Kane leads his faction down to the ring, and proceeds to run down the WWF and denounce his gimmick to the public, claming that he is Raven and no one will make him do or say anything he doesn’t want to. Tazz then presents Raven with the WWF Title, by lying down in a sanctioned match and allowing Raven to win the gold. Raven then reveals that he is the one who ran down Steve Austin, and when Vince tries to fire him, Shane McMahon reveals that he signed Raven and the other ECW stars to come to the WWF to take down Vince and his stars. Shane also upholds the title change that just took place. Scott Levy had returned to the WWF in exactly the same position as he left, as the top heel and as the World Champion.

2000 dawned in the WWF with Raven and his Flock, alongside Shane McMahon, fending off the challenge the Vince McMahon lead, Corporation X, a re-vamped DX reunion. Shane McMahon & Raven bring in the newly signed Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero and Perry Saturn to join The Flock and succeed in turning back the challenge of Corporation X. At The Royal Rumble, Raven defeats Triple H in a match that sees the surprise return of The Undertaker, making his first appearance in a WWF ring since his defeat at the hands of Raven, then known as Kane, at Wrestle Mania 14. Over the next few months, The Undertaker makes his way through the Flock, defeating each member on his way to facing Raven in the Main Event of Wrestle Mania 16. The Undertaker defeats Raven to take the World Title, only to join with Raven the next night on Raw to form The Ministry of Darkness.

But that is another story…

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Amarillo, TX, is home to Hatter X, a wrestling fan for 25 of his 30 years.  He enjoys pure wrestling, but its the edgy drama and quality storytelling that really frosts his donut.  E-mail Hatter X at [email protected]. 

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