Shane McMahon Ruined Kane's Career

[Little Jerry Lawler]

During the summer of 2003, Kane faced HHH in a Title vs. Mask match. With the help of Evolution, HHH won the match and Kane was forced to show his face. He did so and reverted back to the monster we all knew and loved. Torturing RVD and setting Jim Ross on fire was just a taste of what he did. He also tombstoned Linda McMahon which led her son Shane to defend her honor.

They faced at Unforgiven in a Last Man Standing match in which Kane won. You think that would have been the end but Shane had to antagonize Kane more which led to their final confrontation in an Ambulance Match at Survivor Series in which Kane won as well.

The main problem I had was that Shane was booked to be almost Kane's equal in their entire feud. By all means Kane should have destroyed Shane and gone on to bigger and better things but that didn't happen. To me it killed the invincibility and fear that Kane had when he removed his mask and relegated him to what he was for a couple of years before 2003.

Kane did get his chance at a world title at Armageddon against Goldberg and HHH but failed to win. He would go on to feud with Undertaker, Matt Hardy, and Snitsky and would later become a jobber to the stars. If they would have kept the momentum Kane had and destroyed Shane, I believe they should have let Kane win the title even it was for a few months. That period was the hottest of his career other than his return in 2002 and we would never get that chance to see it because of the name Shane McMahon

1. Do you think Shane had a hand or is the main person responsible for ruining Kane's career?

2. If not, who is responsible and if you could have done things differently, what course of action would you have taken to "save" Kane's character?

 

[Bernkastel]

I don’t feel that Shane had a negative influence on Kane’s career. Considering what you’ve said, Kane still went on to have multiple feuds and title shots. He had a feud with Chris Beniot over the World title. In that feud, Kane proved too much or even the crippler crossface to handle, regularly powering his way out of the hold again and again.

After coming out on the winning end in his feud with Shane, Kane still went on to become the most dominating, and arguably most feared, superstar on the RAW roster. Even Goldberg, as overwhelmingly intense as he was, couldn’t defeat Kane. Though Kane never pinned Goldberg either, it was the chokeslam that put Goldberg down for the three count when HHH capitalized to win the title during their triple threat match.

If anything killed Kane’s momentum, it was following his match with the Undertaker at Mania, not his feud with Shane McMahon. Why this happened, I'm still not sure; I can only speculate. Though I do know that, based on the quality of Kane's career following his feud with Shane, that it wasn't anything he did that hindered Kane's career in the long run.

 

[Chill]

They faced at Unforgiven in a Last Man Standing match in which Kane won. You think that would have been the end but Shane had to antagonize Kane more which led to their final confrontation in an Ambulance Match at Survivor Series in which Kane won as well.

The key thing to remember here is that Kane ultimately won this feud. No matter what Shane McMahon did to Kane he couldn't stop him, whether that was throwing him into burning dumpsters, throwing him off the stage, crashing him in a limo etc. The simple fact of the matter is, Shane did all these crazy things to Kane that would have destroyed anybody else yet each week Kane kept coming back and kicking Shane's ass. Now, had Kane have lost to Shane during their program, then I might have had bigger issues but all in all I have to say I quite enjoyed their feud and don't see it as hindering Kane's momentum or career.

The main problem I had was that Shane was booked to be almost Kane's equal in their entire feud. By all means Kane should have destroyed Shane and gone on to bigger and better things but that didn't happen. To me it killed the invincibility and fear that Kane had when he removed his mask and relegated him to what he was for a couple of years before 2003.

See in my eyes I thought Kane feuding with a McMahon was a positive, some say you haven't made it until you've had a 'McMahon feud' and in 2003, Kane got his which he won. I don't think it killed his invincibility because again, Shane did all this crazy stuff to Kane yet he kept coming back, if anything I would argue this feud maintained the aura of invincibility or in the least it didn't kill it in my view.

Kane did get his chance at a world title at Armageddon against Goldberg and HHH but failed to win.

True, which shows that the McMahon feud didn't kill his momentum as he would still go on and be involved with the World Title. Instead of regressing after the Shane saga, he progressed to fighting for Raw's main belt.

He would go on to feud with Undertaker, Matt Hardy, and Snitsky and would later become a jobber to the stars.

Now this is where we begin to see Kane's ultimate fall from grace in my opinion. I loved the build up to his feud with Undertaker at Wrestlemania 20, of course I never thought there was a chance in hell that Kane could be allowed to win but I think it's fair to say that he was defeated with relative ease and in my opinion Kane at least deserved to put up more of a fight. In a way, this match completely killed his monster aura, especially when any fan who had been watching for any considerable amount of time compared this match to his earlier one with 'Taker at Wrestlemania 14, an event where Kane truly looked unstoppable, despite losing. Then following the Undertaker Wrestlemania 20 match, Kane's career took it's ultimate U-turn for me when he began feuding with lesser stars in Matt Hardy and Snitsky especially.

If they would have kept the momentum Kane had and destroyed Shane, I believe they should have let Kane win the title even it was for a few months.

I am willing to agree with you here for sure. If ever there was a time to put the belt on Kane, it was during 2003 after he unmasked. I'm not saying that he shouldn't have feuded with Shane, but following that a title run would have still been believable to me.

As far as Kane goes these days, I've always contended that they just need to put him in some meaningful high profile feuds and that will begin the process of re-building him. Despite his character assassination, Kane still remains massively over and he is one of the few WWE talents who actually has a character, which is a positive in itself...

 

[mena707]

i think this just killed kane's character. the best thing about the masked kane was how mysterious he was. it added like a scare element to his character and as the years went on the loosened his character up and made him slowly say more and more, also his mask slowly covered less of his face. kane was never really a main eventer he one the title for one night. they should make a story line where kane gets his face badly "burned" and has to put a mask on again but im talking the first kane, the badass one. idk if theyll do this since kanes pretty old but just an idea

 

[Checkmate]

I actually feel the complete opposite here. Shane's rivalry revitalized Kane's career. Against Shane, Kane was booked to be a near unstoppable monster that could take any amount of punishment and keep coming. This was the first time Kane could do this since his initial debut and feuds.

While it could be argued that the Shane/Kane rivalry dragged on a bit long, Survivor Series 2003 - Armageddon 2003 was the peak of Kane's push. He soundly got rid of Shane, betrayed and buried the Undertaker, and was thrust into the WHC title picture with Triple H and Goldberg. Even his loss at Armageddon was a monster's way to lose. He didn't get pinned, was held back by several guys, and even delivered the "finishing" blow that ended the match.

What I really think killed it for Kane was his inevitable feud with the returning Undertaker. We all knew it was coming, and we all knew Kane was going to lose. What really overdid it was the way the character almost seemed to cower away from The Undertaker, this being the same Undertaker that Kane ate 3 Tombstone Piledrivers from a few years back, the same Undertaker that used to shy away from a confrontation with Kane. Why?

Ok, so since the feud was inevitable, I'll say that I just don't like the way it was booked and move on. However, the Kane character was just never recovered. He got a title shot against Benoit and lost. Then he proceeded into mediocrity, where he remains. The Lita/wife/child angle attempted another way to recover the character, but it ultimately failed and turned Edge into an opportunist, Kane into a sucker, and Lita into a ****e.

I don't think there really is any 1 person to blame here. More so, I just think the gimmick dried up and no one ever cared to breathe life into it again.

 

[Miko]

Kane's career was already on the downturn, the mask should never have come off really, Kane should've won that match, even if he only held the title for a week. He was a dominant monster who still had HHH, the top heel on RAW running scared, it took 4 men and a Sledgehammer to beat him, Kane was still on top form.

While taking the mask off gave him a brief resurgance as a scary monster, Undertaker soon put paid to that, in what was the shittest match of WM20, yes, worse than Lesnar vs Goldberg. It was basically a squash, all that build up, for a squash match. Kane's career died then, it's just been on life support since, and for some reason no one wants to turn the machine off.

Or you could look at it the other way and say that that was the first step towards Kane becoming the put over man he is today, and therefore still serving a purpose. I prefer to remember the old masked Kane myself.