From April 1997, the WWF "slowly and meticulously" built to the debut of Jacobs' new character. At , The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of former manager, Paul Bearer, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist his protege, Mankind to victory in their WWF Championship match. On the May 12 episode of "Raw", Mankind reintroduced Bearer, who attempted to reunite with Undertaker after a long period of mutual hostility, using the ultimatum of revealing The Undertaker's "biggest secret". When Undertaker continually refused to once again align with Bearer, Bearer began tormenting him by telling him that his long-lost brother, Kane (later revealed as Bearer's illegitimate son and the Undertaker's half-brother), was coming to the WWF to challenge him. In the ensuing months, Bearer implied that The Undertaker had murdered his family by starting a fire at their funeral home, except for Kane, who was left physically and mentally scarred by the event. Undertaker claimed that Kane, a pyromaniac, was the one who started the fire and could not possibly have survived (however, in October 1998 Undertaker confessed to purposefully burning down the home).