How would you have booked Kane's unmasking?

[wewantchange]

imo this was one the freakiest storylines i have ever witnesed in my entire life. the way Kane unmasked in 03' was BRILLIANT. of course he didnt do much from 2005-2009. but i bet he could have been a bigger player if they would have booked the unmasking of kane storyline alot better. the shane o'mac vs kane fued was amazing they had the best fued in 2003 imo. why didnt kane ever get anything from the unmasking he could've dominated in WWE but of course they dropped the ball on him and never won the wwe or world heavyweight title until Money in the back 2010. Tell ne how u would have booked the kane unmasking in 2003..

 

[Flip36]

I agree with you 100%, Kane had to be unmasked at that time (i was at the RAW in MSG), and I think it worked well at the time. Over the years he lost his steam, and although they refereed to him as the "big red machine", he just wasn't, at least in my view. I can't think of a real creative way I would have booked Kane unmasked, because it was the mask that made Kane dominant and fearful. Issac Yankem without hair isn't scary IMO, and the fire and brimstone went out the window along with the unmasking. The resurrection angle as of now with Kane possibly coming back masked is interesting, but why is he wearing the mask? I mean, we know his face was supposed to be burnt from the fire his "brother" the undertaker set when they were younger, but why return with the mask now? what can they possibly come up with for him returning with his mask? I can't wait to find out!

 

[wewantchange]

yea me too i mean i think it will be an interesting angle. the WWE can not and i mena CAN NOT! drop the call on him again hes bringing his mask back im sure hes in great shape he done nothing but work hard his whole career so why not make this mask angle something big for him and the WWE. Kinda like Mark henry right now, He can't lose matches easy tho either by DQ OR something else. they gotta make him actually relivant again!

PIPE BOMB!!!

 

[legendkiller1979]

I agree the storyline was great. It was done very well. The only issue I had was the actual unmasking. When he took the mask off, he had this black soot on his face and he had HALF is hair shaved. I guess this was done in an effort to show he had been in a fire. It made it look like he had been in a fire a few hours before. Unfortunately the WWE spent years building up Kane being a freak that was burned in a fire. When it came time to take the mask off, they knew they had to do something to acknowledge this. What a disaster. I think it only took a couple weeks for him to shave his head completely and wash that crap off his face. Then it was switched quickly to the grotesque Kane being in his head. Jim Ross brought this up and was "set on fire" for his effort. I don't know what they could have done different but the actual unmasking was a disaster.

 

[TM Punk]

Two things could have made the kane unmasking better, and I'm leaning heavily in favor of one of them. Either:

A) don't unmask him and immediatly turn him heel.

B) DON'T UNMASK HIM AT ALL!!!

Kane was at his peak leading up to his unmasking. 02' and 03' saw kane become a legit player on raw during the period right after rock and stone cold left/were calling it quits. He was arguably the top babyface on raw if you don't count commisioner austin. He, RVD, and shawn michaels were leading the charge against the newly formed supergroup Evolution. And it was evolution that caused the unmasing, and imo kane's downfall. What was always a topic of curiosity. Something that added a certain mystique, became a complete joke in the span of three minutes. When the mask finally came off and the rumors finally became fact the man known as kane was just... well... issac yankun dds... or... fake deisel. And to top that off, instead of using the fact that it was HHH and company whom caused your true identity to be uncoveredto seek revenge. He instead attacks RVD and turns heel.

The best way to book this would be for it to have never happened. Or for the undertaker to do it somehow, for some reason. He will now forever be a joke. Especially if he comes back with the mask and a stupid wig.

 

[Foshinzo]

I'm with the people who say don't unmask Kane. It was really all he had that separated him from the crowd. Without the mask, he was a lame, ugly bald guy. His gimmick suddenly became cornier, too.

Imagine if you had to watch a Friday the 13th film while looking at Jason try and make intimidating/scary/dumb faces the whole time. When you didn't see his face, he kept that air of mystique to him. When you saw every stupid frown Glenn Jacobs could make, the whole thing just got lame as well as stupid.

I like Kane best in 2001, especially when he went bananas at the Royal Rumble and got eliminated last by Stone Cold. That was a good time, for him.

He doesn't need the fake hair back, but the mask would be cool. Maybe he could regrow the beard? In my eyes, Kane needs that mask. That was when he was best. I would never have had him take it off, at all.

 

[HamSwissman]

I think the unmasking was booked brilliantly. It was the period afterward that they dropped the ball. I still can't believe people preferred masked Kane over unmasked Kane. He should have been booked to be unstoppable for much longer than he was after the unmasking. Oh well, it was still cool to see Kane interrupt shitty segments (like diva contests).

 

[GrandSword]

I think the unmasking of Kane should have had Paul Bearer and the Undertaker involved somehow. The Brother storyline was attitude era greatness, and when it came time to take the mask off, they should have been part of the story.

This could have been a huge opportunity to make Kane a huge superstar and had Taker pass the torch to Kane as the top side attraction in the WWE. Although Glen Jacobs doesn't have the inring ability and charisma that Mark Caolloway does, but the Kane character really could have taken off from here if Taker could have put him over during his unmasking, and then creative and Vince really getting behind the Big Red Machine...

 

[Wald]

I think the unmasking came too soon. Kane was the most over face they had at the time, but instead of him destroying Triple H for the title like they should have booked they had HHH defeat him. This was at the height of Triple H's selfish booking though, that can't be forgotten.

That said he would have needed to be unmasked at some stage, so I would have had him win the title, only to get screwed out of it by Triple H at Wrestlemania. Have him go through Evolution to get back to challenging Triple H only for H to screw him again. At Summerslam have him put his mask on the line and have Triple H mess with his head in the run up to the event.

HHH wins and Kane unmasks, only this time Evolution don't laugh at him, have them show they suddenly realise it was a huge mistake as they've now awoken the demons inside in Kane.

For the next year I would have booked Kane as a monster tweener, just cutting through everyone, be they face or heel. Move him to Smackdown and have him win the world title and book a running angle alongside it about the Undertaker being out of action (give him some time off for to heal up in reality) and have the WWE plead with Taker to come back to face down Kane and stop his reign of terror at Wrestlemania that year (so this would be 2005). Taker wins and captures the gold, in the rematch Taker goes over again and Kane disappears for a number of months.

Summerslam main event Undertaker it getting picked apart by whatever heels he is up against, Kane makes the save and he spends the next 2-3 years as an over face that isn't near the title (basically his role for most of the time after his unmasking).

That sets up him to eventually turn heel and bring the mask back for one last monster run around 2009/10 and after that he could have retired

 

[kokoBawesome]

Kane's legacy in the WWE is forever tied to the Undertaker. It's shameful that Paul Bearer or the Taker weren't involved in the angle somehow. The fact that someone as engrossed in the booking as triple h was responsible, and it was on free TV, reeks of late era WCW behavior. They took a character that spent five years as a mute deformed monster and within a few weeks he was just some ugly tall guy. Remember how he had a voice box he used to hold up to his throat? Suddenly without the mask he can speak clearly? Ugh!!!

I actually don't mind Glen Jacobs as a wrestler, my only beef was that in the early days he had roughly the same moveset as 1997 Undertaker. Than the Undertaker started including new moves and submissions to his arsenal, and Kane was still doing chokeslams like it was the 98' Royal Rumble.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

Unmasking Kane killed all interest I had in the character and up to that point from the moment he ripped the door off the HIAC he had been one of my favorites. Like someone else stated already when he lost the mask he became just another ugly big guy. He lost all the mystique and eerieness that made him cool and scary and intimidating. I liked that he began to talk and changed the mask so that he could talk more easily, but removing the mask totally was one of the worst ideas to ever come in the WWE.

 

[Cookie14]

Personally, I think the best way to have booked it would have been for it never to have happened, Kane was always so much better with the mask. I also think the way they did it sucked big time, it was typical at that time that it had to be HHH who was able to unmask him.

However, if I was able to book it, and the mask had to go, I would have done it in the build up to WM XX after Kane helped Vince McMahon bury Undertaker, (killing off his biker persona). I would have had them carry out that storyline as they did with Taker playing his mind games. Then at WM, Taker wins and leaves the ring, Paul Bearer and the druids go to the ring and rip the mask off an 'unconcious' Kane. Kane then sits up and starts tearing through the druids, but PB is able to get the mask to Taker and they leave together.

Then the next night on Raw Taker and PB are in the ring with Kane's mask and Taker says something to the effect of 'You didn't like what I had allowed myself to become, and you knew the monster within myself had to be unleashed again and you did what you had to to make it happen. Now I've done the same to you. Join forces with us and as a family we can dominate WWE'.
Instead Kane comes out and destroys Taker, leading to a fued for a few months where Kane eventually comes out on top after proving to be just as evil and demonic as when he first made his debut.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I never wanted to see Kane unmasked, I loved that part of his character. It was fucking cool! However, Kane himself wanted to take the mask off as it was uncomfortable and was difficult to breathe in, which is why he was wearing smaller and smaller versions of it until he finally took it off.

If he HAD to unmask, I definitely think Undertaker or Paul Bearer should have been involved somehow as they had been such a big part of his career up to that point, both allies and enemies and Undertaker was meant to be the one who had burned Kane in the fire in the first place, forcing him to wear the mask. I am unsure how they could have booked it, but anything with 'Taker/Bearer would have been an improvement on a match with HHH that had the stipulation that Kane had to unmask if he lost. That really sucked.

Plus, I would have done everything to make him look more disfigured when removing the mask. The shitty shaven head and crap black soot on his face was an insult. They could have done better for sure.

 

[adam0lfc]

i totally agree that shane and kane's feud was one of the best in the last decade imo, cos im a sucka for a good storyline and this provided it and i belived it was time for the unmasking of kane because he was becoming stale and like at the royal rumble 2002, i think it was, when undertaker turned on kane and eliminated him, and kane just walked out, this new side of kane would probably have got back in and beat the crap out of him(or bury him alive and the fact that he beat rvd aswell, added to the fact that he could engage in great matched but also win them using the tombstone on the steel steps, sp the commentators can continue to call him sick, and the things i would improve would probably say make his face look allot scarier than it turned out to be, and that he would destroy evolution and triple h and win the title but then who could forget the triple threat match for the title at wm 20, and i would have like him to overpower the take at wm20 just like he did in 2010

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

It was booked good the way it was booked. HHH was the top guy in 2003 and him unmasking Kane made sense.

Kane's match with Undertaker at Wrestlemania 20 sucked like his fued with Undertaker in 2010 (which included background music playing during promos )

Unmasked Kane was good till 2005 but after that they started booking Kane into weak fueds and hence Kane became a mid-carder.

And now Kane is wearing a mask again without any reason. I think it would have been better if he remained unmasked.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

They should have booked Kane the way Paramount booked Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th movies.

That was what Kane always reminded me of, and I absolutely loved him for it. Should have never changed that character. There were tons of places they could have taken his storyline had he remained the silent, masked, unstoppable killer, including a world title main event push that could have lasted.

If anything they should have had his mask ripped off in a Wrestlemania match just so everyone can get a good look at his face for a brief moment before he puts the mask back on for the rest of his career.

That would have been much more effective just to give everybody a short little 10 minute look at his face, and the only time anyone ever seen it.

 

[HBsam31]

I was one that never wanted to see Kane unmasked, but if they were going to do it I think it went down how it should have. He was fine for a while, and then they just didn't book him as well. He drifted to the mid card for a while after that.

 

[UFOcalling]

Personally, I wish Kane never would have unmasked. I think the way the story was booked after his mask came off was done poorly (at least for the story in the long-run), and Kane's character didn't get a kick in the pants like many of us hoped the character would. This is all just my opinion, of course.

As far as the "black soot" on Kane's face, I think that may have just been the black makeup he wore around his eyes (so that you wouldn't see any skin tone underneath the mask). If you look at old closeups of Kane with the mask, you'll see that he's got black makeup around his eyes (kind of like Michael Keaton had for the 1989 Batman movie). I don't think they tried to make it look like he was physically burned, because they said the burns were "psychological" or whatever soon after the mask came off. Why would they have tried to make him look burnt just for the reveal, if they were going to say he never was burned a week later? ...I dunno.

I was thinking about Kane's unmasking recently as well, because of the way TNA has handled the whole Abyss/Joseph Park angle. Personally, I love the way that TNA has done it so far, and I wish something similar would have been thought of for Kane. A dual personality thing would have been great...the WWE tried doing something like that with the whole "imposter Kane" thing a few years after his unmasking anyway, so it could have been cool. I think it would have been better than having Bischoff order him to remove the mask, at least.