If Kane won a world title....

[Blade]

Glenn Jacobs has been in the WWE for about 15 years, and he's been Kane for 12 years. He has been one of the most consistant workers in the WWE, I won't spoil the Kane/Batista match on SD, but they put on a really good show. That proves that when he works at it, he can still put of good matches. He's been loyal to the WWE, never went to WCW (where he would've been big) or TNA (where he would've won the world title within months).
In his prime, whether you consider his prime late 97/early 98, 2001 or late 2002/ early 2003, he was one of the most over wrestlers in the WWE. Especially in 2002 and 2003 when he returned from a bicep injury, he was hugely over and most felt that he should've won the title then.
He has a surprisingly large fan following thanks to his great matches back in the day and his great character.
He has had a good career, he will probably be in the HOF and his retirement will be quite a big deal.

But despite all this, he has never won "the big one". Sure, he won the WWF title in 1998, but everyone knew he wouldn't hold that title for long, not with Austin around.
And you think of wrestlers who had long journeys to the title, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Jeff Hardy. Remember the crowd reactions for their title wins? And I've already stated how long Kane has been around without ever being a proper world champion...

So here's my question: Let's say WWE starting building Kane up as a main eventer one more time before he retires. If Kane won a world title, would people mark out for it like they did for the guys mentioned above?

Personally I believe the crowd would be split. Half the crowd would go crazy or at least be happy for him, cause he hasn't been given enough considering how good he's been throughout his career. But I think the other half of the crowd but be like "WTF? Just cause you guys dropped the ball with Kane back in 2003, doesn't mean he should be champion now..."

What do you think?

 

[Mannic]

Sadly I feel its past his time to even think about a title reign.. Tho i even think the undertaker is far past his (but thats a different topic). Yes hes been loyal but back when he was in shape and wore the mask should have been his time for a real title push.. yes he held but it was what a 24 hour holding of the belt?

If he gets a title reign it will be on ECW like he has a few years back.. Yes again the whole "hes been loyal he deserves his shot" can be argued but I've heard hes happy with where hes at nor does he expect a title shot.


Of course I he will be in the HoF eventually he wont retire and go right in by any means.. but anyone who has watched wrestling over the last what 10-12ish years will know who kane is and know how he used to be.. even if he did nothing but job to boring Rey Mystero almost all of last year on raw :/

 

[tLight]

I think the offer has come around for him to become the world champion again, but I think he's turned it down each time. He respects the business and would rather see the younger guys go over, and help build the business up. He's been easily moved into the main event since 2003, he's also helped build up so many of the younger guys, and other vets in the business.

I don't think he needs another title run to solidify himself as a Hall of Farmer

 

[X]

Yeah, I don't think the fans would care. At all. Kane is a terrible face and hasn't been popular with the fans in nearly a decade now. He works much better as a heel, and even as a heel, right now he's nowhere near deserving a World Title. There are much, much better options currently. If he were to win a World Title again, I really doubt the fans would care. Kane is a midcarder at best to most of the fans.

 

[Chill]

Good thread. It's a difficult question to answer but all I can say is that if they were to build up Kane again and have this culminate in a World Title win I would 'mark out' big time (I hate that term, but yeh I would for arguments sake).

You see I'm not a believer in the 'WWE dropped the ball' theory and the 'so and so can't ever recover again from having the ball dropped' theory because I think the WWE can build up a wrestler and make them a star when they want to do that, regardless of said wrestler having been screwed (or mishandled to sound less harsh) over by Creative in the past.

I think it's fair to say that 2003 would have probably been the best year to give Kane a run with the belt but alas that didn't happen, but does that mean they can't make Kane a World Champion now? Well in my opinion the answer is 'no'.

Look at the Big Show...his career was seemingly going nowhere or for use of a better term he was 'coasting' along not really doing anything but now that Creative have gotton behind him again, people suddenly forget his jobber ways of the past and accept him as a dominant force again and now he appears on both Raw and Smackdown regularly...not bad for someone who spent the earlier half of the year losing to Cena.

Okay, so Big Show isn't exactly WWE Champion but I use him as an example of how a wrestler can seemingly be coasting along, only to have Creative get behind them and suddenly find themself in a more prestigious position than they previously were in.

There is no reason why this can't happen with Kane, it's already started happening to a certain degree with his victories over Jeff Hardy, Punk and Khali in recent months...all Kane needs is a few high profile feuds and boom suddenly WWE have another potential World Champion.

So to get back on track, how would fans react? Well, I think a lot of long time fans would be like 'that came seven years too late', others would be like 'good for Kane, it'll be really interesting to see someone different with the World Title' and then some will think 'Kane sucks, he's just a fat, baldy jobber...get the belt of him now!!' I would fall into the first and second categories to be honest, I genuienly would love to see Kane with the World Title...I think he would be a breath of fresh air even at this stage of his career but obviously the chances of that happening are slim, given that there are reports that Glen Jacobs doesn't actually want the belt (that creates a slight problem, eh?).

Overall, it's hard to predict but if WWE handled a Kane title reign correctly I think many fans would be willing to accept him...WWE could do some really interesting things with Kane as champion but at the moment they are going down the CM Punk/Batista as champions route I believe (and that's fair enough, they are more over than Kane without a doubt...why? Because Creative got behind them).

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I think fans won't care because they feel like Kane had plenty of chances ago. I would have rather seen Kane be champion after he came back from injury in 2002 during the Katie Vick angle or when he was first unmasked. I can't buy Kane as a face champion because he doesn't look like anybody you would want to cheer. Who knows if they may reward him for his loyalty to the WWE, but I would he has had a pretty good career.

 

[KANE-A-KNIGHT]

It would be my favorite day in professional history. seriously though it wont happen mabey he will get another title run before he retires but it will be ic us or tag team. but wow i would mark out. i marked out when he won the ecw championship.

 

[Miko]

I'd like it if Kane won the World Title, he only needs to hold it for a month or two before they take it off him. As for most people, well Kane has been consistantly over for about 12 years now, if he was given a glory win there'll obviously be complaints on the net mostly (name one champion who's had a 100% positive reaction) but I think most people would accept it, probably enjoy it even.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

I would mark out if Kane won the World Title just one more time. I hear what you're saying about Kane, when he was in his prime. You said his prime would either be late 1997- early 1998, 2001 or late 2002- early 2003. The problem with each of those time periods are as followed.
In late 1997, he just debuted and shouldn't have even good near the World Title. In early 1998, he was still relatively new, but even though he did win the title, WWE showed that a long reign would be a mistake. In 2001, the main event scene was filled with the likes of Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho (near the end), The Rock, Triple H (before his quad injury), among others. When you had people like that in the main event, Kane was the last person they thought to add it to. In 2003, the World Title scene was dominated by Triple H. Kane had no mothafucking chance! And it's a shame.

I don't care if Kane is 42 years old, I don't care if he's not in the best shape, I don't care if he's past his prime, I don't care if he doesn't want the title. Bottom line is... he deserves it! He doesn't need it... he deserves it.

The difference between Kane, and the people listed (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Jeff Hardy) is that Kane was in the WWE for longer, he hasn't held the title for 11 years, and unlike them, when he isn't champion, he's involved in horrible storylines. WWE has done much better jobs booking Benoit, Guerrero, and Jeff.

Even if Kane doesn't win the World Title, if he's kept interesting, then it'll be a big plus for me. However, now is the best time as ever for WWE to pull the trigger. The main event on Smackdown is not crowded. No Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, Edge (at this point), Chris Jericho (at the moment), Batista (at the moment), or Rey Mysterio in his way. Just C.M. Punk and The Undertaker. Kane could really have a chance to win the title, but knowing WWE...

 

[Proof]

Kane should never, ever win a title, let alone the world title. Kane is absolutely terrible. Even though he isn't as cheesy as the Undertaker, the guy still sucks. There is no way you can rebuild Kane anymore. I'll always see him as a joke. Kane is wasting tv time. The guy needs to retire.

 

[Xbox360]

Unfortunetly for Kane its to late, which is a shame really his gimmick and persona to me was very entertaining.Mabey a few years ago kane could've returned with the mask and been massively over.Now its to late he is way out of shape, his gimmick is so boring, his matches are short and hard to look at.So at this stage there is no way he should be holding a WWE title.

 

[JBK2008]

Kane has been loyal for years and has taken whatever Vince has given him and went with it. He'd have to be built up over a long period of time after all the crap he's taken, but he'd be a dominant champion. He puts fear into his opponents like his brother, The Undertaker before he even gets in the ring. He has a solid move set, but needs to be booked properly. I'd like to see another title reign for Kane.

 

[ManOfSteel]

I've been a Kane fan for as long as I can remember. There have been times when his character wasn't as strong as others, but I think it's kinda BS that he's only won the title once, and held it for a day. Yea, he had Austin to contend with but still. I think Kane needs to be built back up into the main even scene, and given at least one more title reign before "the fire" goes out.

 

[johnbragg]

I think that before you think about how fans would react to a KAne world title victory you have to figure out how to rebuild Kane.

My idea would be to have him go back to the gimmicked-out, full-body-suit, speaks-through-a-voicebox Kane. Have Glen Jacobs start using his name more, with the same lack of success or progress. Bring in an antagonist to start tormenting him, going back and forth between calling him Kane a monster, an unstoppable destructive force, an in human creature of evil and darkness and Glen Jacobs, a worthless weak failure who doesn't have the courage or the strength to embrace his destiny.

At the turning point, Glen JAcobs is broken and accepts the mask from the antagonist. The pyro goes off and he is, once more, Kane, the big red machine, the tortured demon in a human body and starts destroying everything in his path.

I'm not sure that you need to give that Kane a world title--it lives to destroy, not to achieve or defend. (Gimmick point--start calling Kane it.)

 

[RatedY2J93]

interesting... kane with a world title the only reason this will not happen is because the wwe has actually approached him and asked him if he was willing to have another world title reign but he turned it down because he enjoys putting over superstars more than his own personal success so that is why i doubt he will ever hold a world title again

 

[ManOfSteel]

I definitely think that if Kane were going to be pushed in the main event scene again, and pushed towards the world title, I think he definitely needs to be repackaged. I think that he should have a new suit and mask. I definitely like the idea of him going by his real name of Glen Jacobs, and then someone tormenting him and changing him back into the MONSTER Kane.

 

[jake3176]

kane should come out 2 jerishow and say...teddy said i can pick a partner and get a tag team title shot....but ull find out who my partner is at (next ppv). So its the next ppv and everyone has come out. u wait and ur so excited 2 find out who it is u cant stand it. Then out of no where undertakers music hits and bam...the brothers of destruction are back!! They win the titles and kane just become a total monster again and undertaker stays the same. That would be worth watching.

 

[Super Crazy]

If Kane won a world title...hmmmm. I would not care. Unless it was on ECW again. That was the only time I liked Kane having a championship aside from one of the times he had the Intercontinental Championship.

Kane doesn't fit the title picture at all. Who would he feud with? Why would he feud with them aside from the championship?

I am glad Kane is happy in his current role to help put over new talent. I am shocked that someone would turn down a championship opportunity though. For me that just goes to show that Kane truly does love this business and he isn't in it to be the best. He's obviously in it because he loves what he does and he wants to help ready the new generation.

Kane may deserve a championship reign for all his years of loyalty to the WWE but Kane just isn't as big or as popular anymore. No one would scream for him to win and no one would cheer for him to win. Kane was very hard to like as a face and no one would like him if he were to win the belt as a heel either. :

Kane will just stay in his role as the " putting over new talent " sort of jobber and that's that.