From Demon to Corporate Stooge, and back again.
Kane is back in WWE.
He reintroduced himself in classic Kane fashion, by busting out from beneath the ring before chokeslamming Roman Reigns. He's been on a tear ever since. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, he stuffed Braun Strowman into the back of a garbage truck. And on the October 23 episode of Raw, Kane pinned Finn Balor (cleanly!) after delivering three chokeslams.
In all likelihood, the Big Red Machine will be Braun Strowman's next opponent. And as one of the few Superstars remaining from the Attitude Era, Kane will likely pass the figurative torch, from one big, agile man to another.
Strowman has quite the legacy to live up to. Here's a brief history of Kane, WWE's most fearsome, fiery monster.
The Debut
The Kane character is performed by wrestler Glenn Jacobs, who went through a series of failed gimmicks before he became Kane. Most infamous was his brief run as Dr. Isaac Yankem, D.D.S., who was billed as Jerry "The King" Lawler's personal dentist.
But then, WWE began a multi-month storyline, exploring the rift between the Undertaker and Paul Bearer. The premise was that Kane was The Undertaker's kayfabe brother, and when Kane was a young boy, he started a fire in their parents' funeral parlor. The blaze killed his parents and left Kane scarred, both physically and mentally. (Fans would later discover that Undertaker had started the fire and that Paul Bearer was Kane's father, among other, sordid revelations.)
Undertaker believed his brother had died in the accident. But Bearer claimed that Kane had survived, and at Badd Blood '97, Bearer escorted Kane to ringside, where the big man ripped the door off the steel cell and Tombstoned the Undertaker inside.
It was quite the impressive debut. Jacobs would later say, in multiple interviews, that hiding his face behind a mask helped him to hone his physical performance--that he learned to express his emotions through body language, because he could not do so with his face.
WWE Champion
Kane held the WWE Championship for a day--he won it at King of the Ring from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and he lost it back to Austin the following night on Raw. Still, that's one day longer than most wrestlers get to hold the biggest prize in the industry.
Kane's first two years were marked by his long, recurring feud with the Undertaker. They fought each other multiple times, most notably at WrestleMania XIV--where Undertaker needed three Tombstone piledrivers to put Kane down--and an Inferno match at Unforgiven: In Your House, where Undertaker lit Kane on fire to earn the victory.
Throughout their feud, both brothers engaged in increasingly macabre stunts--Kane, for example, locked Undertaker in a casket and set it on fire. This was more than a fight for a title. It seemed that both men wanted to kill each other--a symptom of the extreme Attitude Era that was slowly gaining momentum.
Fiery Dominance
After dropping the WWE title, Kane took his place in the upper midcard, where he took on his emeritus role as gatekeeper, known in wrestling circles as being a "jobber to the stars." In other words, if a wrestler wanted to be in the main event, defeating Kane would be a necessary step on the path there. Anyone who was able to defeat Kane was "made," in a sense, because Kane destroyed anyone who was not a main eventer. A win over Kane was a badge of honor, reserved for top talent and potential top talent.
Because of this, Kane was more a force of nature than a good guy or a bad guy. Among the highlights from this era: Kane held the Tag Team titles with Mankind. Later, he allied with D-Generation X and won the Tag Team titles again by teaming with X-Pac. Kane also became more relatable. Once mute, he now spoke through an electrolarynx. And of course, he always kept his on-again, off-again feud with The Undertaker going.
Sibling Love
2001 was a banner year for Kane. He broke the existing Royal Rumble record by eliminating 11 other wrestlers over the top rope. At WrestleMania X-7, Kane won the Hardcore championship from Raven. But the most memorable moment of the evening belonged to Steve Austin, who turned heel and later formed the Two-Man Power Trip with Triple H.
Partially in response, Kane and Undertaker stayed allies for two years, calling themselves the Brothers of Destruction. They remained a united front throughout the Invasion angle, when WCW and ECW "invaded" WWE. Their signature was to perform dual chokeslams, side-by-side. If one of them got jumped in the ring or backstage, the other one would not be far behind.
As always, title or not, Kane maintained his mystique. His fiery entrance, combined with his physical stature (he was incredibly ripped in 2001, even for a wrestler) made him a perennial contender, even if he never closed the deal.
Self-Parody
It was during Invasion and post-Invasion eras that Kane started working self-referential humor into his segments. The character, by that point, had become increasingly weighed down by melodramatic backstory, and WWE found opportunities for the Big Red Machine to poke fun at himself and at how ridiculous his character had become.
Here's a brief, incomplete sampling: Kane performed his version of Booker T's Spin-A-Roonie. Kane performed the Wassup taunt with the Dudley Boyz. Kane helped a kid win a prize from a video arcade claw machine.
But the funniest parody moment--which ranks as one of the funniest moments in WWE history-- is when Kane performed an incredible Hulk Hogan impression during a backstage segment. If you haven't seen it already, click the link above. It'll be the best thing you'll see all day.
Unmasked
It was around this time that Kane also started wearing a half-mask. Fans could now see his jaw and part of his facial expression. He began talking to other wrestlers in a conversational manner. He was an unabashed crowd favorite. A lot of what had made him intimidating for so many years had disappeared. And so, in an effort to keep the character fresh, WWE made the decision to unmask Kane.
This became one of the most controversial WWE angles of 2003. Some fans trashed the decision, and saw it as the ruination of a classic character. But Jacobs supported the decision. He wanted to try something new after so many years behind the mask.
Unmasked Kane was mentally unhinged, and he attacked people for the smallest offenses; it turned out that all of the scars from the childhood fire were mental, not physical. The worst offense was when Kane set Jim Ross on fire--proof that Good Ol' J.R. is one of Vince McMahon's most loyal employees.
Faithful Husband
From nearly the very beginning his run, the WWE writers played with the idea of giving Kane a love interest. First it was Tori. More recently, AJ Lee gave Kane a big smooch that left him dazed and confused. But when Kane forced Lita to marry him, it was particularly bizarre.
The wedding, like all WWE weddings, was a mockery and a disaster. Lita wore black. Little people formed the wedding procession, which would never, ever fly in today's cultural climate. And Matt Hardy crashed the proceedings and paid dearly for the attempt.
But it didn't end there. Kane got Lita kayfabe pregnant. And then she kayfabe miscarried when Kane accidentally fell on her. He would later crash Edge and Lita's kayfabe wedding. Like the Katie Vick storyline--where Kane allegedly killed his girlfriend and had sex with her dead corpse--some storylines are best forgotten and buried deep. Way, way deep.
World Heavyweight Champion
Kane would pass several years in his regular upper midcard spot, fulfilling the same gatekeeper role that he always filled. He fought the Undertaker. He fought Edge. He fought The Big Show. He fought CM Punk. Most storylines were some variation on his new, unhinged persona, although even that evened out as the years passed.
And finally, after so many years of loyal service, WWE Creative pulled the trigger on their long-tenured employee in 2010. He won the briefcase at Money in the Bank and cashed in the contract on the same night, defeating Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight championship. And this time, he held the title for almost half a year before dropping it to Edge.
Hell No!
Eventually, WWE remasked Kane; the new face covering looked like stitched-together human skin, a la Leatherface. And after placing him in a few midcard feuds, WWE decided to pair Kane with Daniel Bryan. They formed Team Hell No, and they became the ultimate odd couple. There hadn't been a weird pairing this consistently entertaining since Booker T and Goldust.
The best Team Hell No segment is when the two of them went to anger therapy, and Kane introduced himself to his support group. Never has a truthful account of a career been so dark and funny:
"I grew up locked in a basement, suffering severe psychological and emotional scarring when my brother set my parents on fire. From there, I shifted around among a series of medical institutions until I was grown. At which point, I buried my brother alive. Twice. Since then, I've set a couple of people on fire and abducted various co-workers. Oh, and I once electrocuted a man's testicles. Years ago, I had a girlfriend named Katie, but let's just say that that didn't turn out so well. My real father is a guy named Paul Bearer, who I recently trapped in a meat locker. I've been buried, divorced, broke up my ex-wife's wedding, and tombstoned a priest. And, for reasons never quite explained, I have an unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose."
Corporate Suit
Kane took some time off, and when he returned, he was Corporate Kane, with a well-pressed suit and an eager-to-please attitude. He allied himself with the McMahon Authority, which meant that he spent the majority of his time helping Seth Rollins win and making Roman Reigns' life miserable.
Out of all of Jacobs' different personas, Corporate Kane was probably the least entertaining and the worst characterized, though that was by design. The Authority kept his mask in a literal glass case, likely for when they might need that extra level of Demon Kane support. But one fateful day, the mask went missing...
The Future?
So where, exactly, does Kane, newly masked, go from here? Well, next up is Braun Strowman; the two of them will no doubt collide for monster supremacy. And Strowman, of course, will win the feud. But that's the entire point--Kane will make Strowman look extremely powerful by losing to him, and he will put the younger Superstar on the path to greater things.
Because that's the beauty of a wrestler like Kane. He holds no record number of title wins. He's not mentioned in the same breath as The Rock or John Cena. But he's always there, in the background, pushing guys like those to be the iconic Superstars they became.
No doubt, Kane is back to fill that supporting role once again, of making good wrestlers look great, and making great wrestlers look legendary. And if this is his last WWE run before Jacobs becomes a full-time politician (he's running for Mayor of Knox County), it's been one "hell" of a winding, compelling career.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.