The Big Red Machine known as Kane has destroyed everything in his path for almost two decades. While the man behind the mask — Glenn Jacobs — is busy with his mayoral campaign in Knox County, Tennessee, that doesn’t change the fact that he is an undisputed legend of wrestling.
One of the reasons why he is considered among the all-time greats is his selfless attitude to the business — highlighted by the fact that he’s never afraid to take a loss to put over a young star, even if it hinders his own character. In fact, this week marks the 19th anniversary of arguably his most selfless act ever — the week in which he won, and lost the WWE Championship in a 24 hour period. While this may have made Stone Cold Steve Austin seem like even more of a badass at the time, in hindsight, it didn’t seem like the logical move. Kane had dominated WWE from late 1997 up until the 1998 match with Austin. Thus, he absolutely should have held the title for a lot longer than one day.
While he did subsequently win the ECW Championship in 2008 and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010, there were countless missed opportunities in between when the Devil’s Favorite Demon could have claimed the gold. Let’s take a look back at some of them.
The 2000 Rampage
From the moment Kane turned on his American Badass brother, the Undertaker, the character underwent a transformation which saw him become even more unhinged than ever before. He brutally attacked the Undertaker again, began roaring into the microphone on a weekly basis, tried to disfigure Chris Jericho’s face and found himself in countless WWE Championship matches. Between the terrifying monologues and the brand new attire, it seemed like WWE really had big plans for Kane in 2000, and they executed them almost perfectly.
With both of his huge biceps on display, his raspy voice emanating from under the new darker mask in his promos, and his new desire to destroy everything, this was undoubtedly one of the most frightening times of Kane’s career. After a year of being humanised through his relationship with X-Pac, the monster of ’98 had returned in a huge way. And with his constant appearances in main event storylines, it feels like WWE missed a major opportunity to put the WWE Championship on Kane and give him the run he deserved two years prior.
The People’s Freak (2002)
After returning from injury in 2002 with a leaner physique, brand new attire and a shorter mask, Kane became more over than ever. Whether he was teaming up with Hurricane or RVD, or taking on all of Evolution, fans loved this newer, cooler version of Kane. In fact, he even branded himself a freak and coined the catchphrase “freaks are cool!”
While he only maintained this look for just over a year, he became the number 1 babyface on RAW and won numerous championships, including the Intercontinental Championship and the Tag Team Championships. Undoubtedly, his standout moment during this era was when he retained the Tag Team titles by himself in a TLC match, after The Hurricane was injured by Triple H. It not only put Kane even more over with the fans, but it also proved that he could hang with high-flyers and younger superstars, and still manage to steal the show.
But his rivalry with Triple H had us all thinking that another major title reign was due. The Big Red Machine put his Intercontinental Championship on the line against Triple H’s World Championship in a “Winner Take All” match which The Game eventually ended up winning. This stalled Kane’s momentum, and sent him back into the mid-card. And after enduring the Katie Vick storyline, this was another injustice for the Devil’s Favorite Demon.
Of all the times on this list, this was definitely WWE’s biggest missed opportunity. Kane’s in-ring work was some of his best, his persona was cooler than ever and he had never been more popular than he was at this time — there was no WWE Universe back then, there were only the Kaneanites.
The 2003 Rampage
Despite the vast majority of WWE fans believing that Kane’s unmasking was a mistake, it immediately produced one of the Big Red Monster’s strongest storylines yet. Far more unhinged than he had ever been, the newly unmasked Kane went on a rampage of destructive proportions when he took out Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tombstoned Linda McMahon on the stage, and even set Jim Ross on fire.
While we did get the extreme and entertaining feud with Shane McMahon, it feels like he should have capped off this unhinged era with a championship reign.
The reign of terror would finally end when the Undertaker returned to his Deadman persona and took him down a few pegs, but it was without a doubt one of the strongest periods of Kane’s career, and really highlighted how the demonic character could flourish when allowed to.
The 2011 Rampage
After eight years of the unmasked Kane, WWE finally decided to repackage the Big Red Monster. Using a real-life injury as a jump-off, they began airing “Kane Resurrected” promos during his absence, featuring a shorter version of his original mask. When he finally returned at Christmas time, he wore a Predator-like visor over the top of a new demonic red mask.
While he could have went after Mark Henry for injuring him, WWE inexplicably made him turn on John Cena instead, wanting him to “embrace the hate” before his battle with the Rock. While the rivalry ended like most of Cena’s — with him predictably victorious — those first few weeks were golden and really made the Big Red Monster feel monstrous again.
It could have led somewhere really great — including a championship reign — but this rampage was ended swiftly by John Cena and again a few months later by Randy Orton.
Looking back, it feels like WWE really wasted the Kane Resurrected storyline just to put Cena over one more time, when in the long run, it really could have added another legendary chapter — and perhaps title reign — to the iconic monster’s incredible career.
Kane has easily had one of the most successful WWE careers in history. While there have been more than a few times when his loyalty should have been rewarded with WWE Championship gold, that doesn’t take away from the legendary Big Red Machine.
When do you think Kane should have been WWE Champion? Let us know in the comments below!
