While Riddle and Randy Orton are WWE’s current ‘odd-couple’ tag team, one of the most famous ‘tag teams that should never have worked’ was the team of Sean Waltman (X-Pac) and Kane.
After Kane had run roughshod over the WWE since his debut in 1997, the ‘Big Red Machine’s’ career took a different turn in early 1999. With the help of Sean Waltman, Kane began to show more personality and even started an on-screen relationship with Tori.
During this time Kane and X-Pac joined forces to win the World Tag Team Titles. However, the union soon came to an end with Waltman turning on Kane and taking Tori with him.
No feud with Kane would be complete without fire, and so proved the case here. Not that the stunt always went smoothly.
On the latest episode of his Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast with Chris Van Vliet, Waltman recalled a couple of occasions where the spot didn’t go to plan.
“Actually, he shot me with fire first. I had a match with Undertaker, and he came out during the match and went to shoot Taker and shot me instead,” Waltman recalled. “So I was just paying him back. That was take two. The first time I went out there, we go to do the same exact thing. I pushed the button, and the battery’s dead on the flamethrower, so it doesn’t work.
“I pushed it over and over again, and finally, we’re all looking at each other. It was this big awkward moment, and all of a sudden, I just ran back. We figured things out. It must have been half an hour later. We figured out how to get that back in there, and the people bought it. When we did it again, the people bought it. That stuff never happens live. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but if anything’s gonna go wrong, it always goes wrong on the taped show usually?”
Waltman went on to explain how Kane was kept safe during the spot by using flame retardant gel. Continuing further, X-Pac said that while performing the spot with Chyna, the Hall of Famer ended up getting burned.
“There was this gel that you could use,” Waltman noted. “He just covered his hair in this flame retardant gel. He had it on his on his costume. It warmed him up a bit. He didn’t catch on fire. That’s crazy, right? Can you imagine doing s**t like that nowadays? When he shot me with the fireball, that burned my damn eye, and I remember one time, Chyna, they did something where she got some fire on her, and it actually burned her a little bit.”
Speaking in a recent exclusive interview with Inside The Ropes‘ Kenny McIntosh, Waltman expressed his desire to return to the ring. The former Tag Team Champion said that he doesn’t know where, but he’ll definitely be back in action at some stage.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.