Complete Monster: The Undertaker was probably at his most evil in this era (even more than his Big Evil persona), as he admitted to killing his parents and burning his brother, attempted to kill Austin, and abducted many people to perform satanic rituals on them.
His "Higher Power" was hyped up to be even more evil and demonic than The Undertaker. It was revealed to be Vince McMahon himself. Setting up his own daughter's kidnapping just to screw Austin was the moment Vince became a Complete Monster and, rare face angles aside, he never turned back.
The Undertaker's issue was being demoted to the role ofVince McMahon's Dragon, however it would have happened regardless of who the Higher Power wound up being, as even before The Reveal the story become centered around the Higher Power rather than Undertaker. Not to mention that there are also many fans who felt that Vince was the best choice for the Higher Power and feel that any of the other potential candidates wouldn't have worked out too well and would have been examples of this trope.
It was more the fact that Vince being the Higher Power negated the entire Stephanie kidnapping angle, as it was revealed that Vince was just "acting" worried about Stephanie and faking his Villainous Breakdown the entire time (which of course he was in Real Life, but it was harmful to kayfabe).
In short, most people feel that the Ministry would have been much better if there was no Higher Power..
Memetic Mutation: "IT'S ME AUSTIN!!!! IT'S ME AUSTIN!!! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG AUSTIN!!!"
Moral Event Horizon: If The Undertaker didn't cross it when he admitted that he killed his own parents and burned his brother, or even when he tried to embalm Austin alive, he certainly did when he abducted people such as Ryan Shamrock and Stephanie. Vince McMahon being the mastermind of the whole thing was HIS crossing of the Moral Event Horizon.
Injuries might have been the main factor in this storyline ending not too long after the Higher Power was revealed. The Undertaker was working with a groin injury, Vince McMahon would get injured towards the end of the storyline from a motorcycle accident, and judging from how quickly his reign ended afterwards and that only months later he would have to get neck surgery, I imagine that Stone Cold Steve Austin's neck injury played a role as well. So you had The He- errr..Anti-Hero (Austin), the Big Bad (Vince), and The Dragon (Undertaker), who were the three major players in the storyline, injured which required them to take breaks shortly afterwards, so you can't really continue the storyline without them. It had nothing to do with fans whining about how the Higher Power wasn't someone they had guessed/wanted it to be. And did you just compare Paul Burchill's pirate gimmick to two huge WWE storylines?