Kane's Unmasking

[thebowtiekiller]

im bored an thought id make a thread its just wondering peeps thoughts about when kane unmasked and didnt see anything concerning it in the forum surprisingly but anyways.

im guessing it was somthing most fans wanted to see since he debuted and it was considered a big moment but did it live up to your expectations? i think it seemed a bit of a not very thought through mess.its probally not reallistic to have him wrestle in fake burns every week but when he showed up the next week with none it kinda killed his elaborate backstory imo even though it was explained away as mental scars or somthing daft.

creative must have had a tough time on this one to be fair no matter what they did it would expose big holes in the story but i would of at least had it happen at a big ppv mayby even mania and undertaker should def have been involved at some point.

so questions are how would you have booked it? and did you actually enjoy it?also any other thoughts on the subject.sorry if its been covered before.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I had no problem with the way it was done (Kane putting his mask on the line for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship), and I enjoyed the result. Unmasked Kane was much more interesting to me, and he would go on to have the majority of the better matches of his career after losing the mask, not to mention he was actually able to give better promos. Kane without the mask will always be FAR better than Kane with the mask to me. I hated when he went back to it last year, it was like taking ten steps backwards.

 

[drobs85]

I had no problem with the way it was done (Kane putting his mask on the line for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship), and I enjoyed the result. Unmasked Kane was much more interesting to me, and he would go on to have the majority of the better matches of his career after losing the mask, not to mention he was actually able to give better promos. Kane without the mask will always be FAR better than Kane with the mask to me. I hated when he went back to it last year, it was like taking ten steps backwards.

Your way in the minority. His losing the mask pretty much put his career in the ground and yeah he did go way backwards once he lost the mask. I would have never allowed Kane to lose the mask. And mental scars WTH. His unmasking made and confirmed whomever was behind it look like a dumb-ass. Kane went from a monster to a complete joke. Yes he's had a HOF career but he could have surpassed Undertaker if done right. You can only wonder what could have been.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

I liked the idea of unmasking Kane when it first happened. I remember his unmasking got attention outside of the wrestling bubble. I even read an article comparing Kane to Doctor Doom and how the masks didn't hide physical deformities but psychological scars.

I've also read that there was a practical reason for ditching the mask. Like the mask shifting and obscuring his vision. And I do notice that masked wrestlers spend half the match adjusting their masks.

But after a while, unmasked Kane lost its cool factor. Undertaker went through the same thing. The American Bad Ass was cool for a while, but the Deadman gimmick is the OG.

I'm glad they went back to mask. Kane still has consistently good matches with or without the mask. But the mask is a big part of the character and makes the gimmick stand out from the crowd more.

 

[louchratis]

Unmasking Kane was a great idea in principle but it was terrible in practice. I still remember JR telling the audience to "cover your children's faces" before he took the mask off only to see...some charcoal lines. Creative had the opportunity to utilize some gross-looking make-up and have the people who did the unmasking be so horrified that they requested the mask stay on him. However, in my opinion when he came back the next week with no burns or residue of any kind and a really weak reasoning behind why, Kane went from a unique monster to just another big guy.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Your way in the minority. His losing the mask pretty much put his career in the ground and yeah he did go way backwards once he lost the mask.

Kane losing his mask actually made him more relevant for a short while. He had this mean streak that he didn't have since his 1997/1998 run. The things he did after he lost his mask (Tombstone Linda, Put down Austin, and his dominance to RVD at Summer Slam) suggest a nice monster run. Unfortunately his next feud was against Shane and he was fed to the return of the deadman and it was all downhill from there.

 

[dirtymagic]

Totally agreed. He was awesome without the mask at first. When he burned JR I was on the edge of my seat.

Disagreed on his feud with Shane though. I loved it. He dominated him, but Shane got in good offense too. They had some pretty good matches.

 

[LascoX]

I thought they handled it ok , and for a while it worked. I didn't mind the whole psychological scars thing and it was the only realistic way they could do it given the physical contact in the matches. I was glad when he went back into the mask though and the new mask was badass so it set the whole return to being the masked monster over the top.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

Unmasking Kane was a great idea in principle but it was terrible in practice. I still remember JR telling the audience to "cover your children's faces" before he took the mask off only to see...some charcoal lines. Creative had the opportunity to utilize some gross-looking make-up and have the people who did the unmasking be so horrified that they requested the mask stay on him. However, in my opinion when he came back the next week with no burns or residue of any kind and a really weak reasoning behind why, Kane went from a unique monster to just another big guy.

agree with the make up it looked like he had been in a fire just before the show they could have gone twos ways with this i guess the way they chose or have him wear the burns make up on every appearance problem is i bet it would look differant every time and come off in matchs especially if they made a more detailed attempt at it.but yeah for a while after unmasking he was bad ass but it soon fizzled out and sadly became a generic big guy for a long time.kanes one of my favourites and has had a great career but ive always felt wwe have missed so many oppertunitys with him he could have been so much more.

 

[HBsam31]

Of course there were parts of it that didn't come off too well. They were trying to make a guy out to be burned when he actually wasn't. There were going to be holes. It has already been mentioned about JR saying to covers your kids faces. I thought it was amusing how his hair was cut in patches, and then next week his head was completely shaved. That being said, when they told us the deformities were just in his head it made him look even more crazy which I think was a good idea. Kane was a beast after he lost him mask. He burned JR and then chokeslammed (i think) Linda McMahon. I think he got new life without the mask, and they did the best job they could with the whole thing. There isn't really much or anything at all that i would have changed.

 

[blue_moon]

I didn't mind the unmasking. I thought it was done quite well but I think he should have then put the mask back on from then on instead of him coming out without any scars or burns. This just made a mockery of his whole back story.

Kane without the mask just lost all of his coolness for me. He may as well been Isac Yankam. I am glad he now has his mask back

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Let's face it, even now there is no prosthetic that would look good and take even a basic bump, much less a brutal, Kane style match.

The idea itself worked in 97 of Kane being horrifically burned but by the time he ditched the mask 99 percent of viewers knew he wasn't really. So even if they'd hired Rob Bottin there was no possible effect that could live up to that image they had set in 97. He'd have had to look like Harvey Two Face in Dark Knight for it to fly... If he'd come out looking like Cropsy from The Burning it"d have been lame or like Freddy a rip-off.

So they did the best they could and ret-conned it to mental damage. That in itself was not a bad thing and the feuds Kane got into did bear that out... That the monster was always inside Kane's mind... Think back to the Lita stuff, sure the "baby loss" stuff was contrived but it added to the torment and would never have worked masked.

Also remember the main reason for the unmasking was nothing more than a movie...they wanted Kane in See No Evil and he needed to be recognisable.

The nearest they got to prosthetics was Jillian's mole...and we all know what happened to that...

Could it have been done better? Only if the character was gone afterwards or as someone said forced to stay masked...then make him look as gruesome as possible as you'd only see it once.

On the whole though unmaskings are always let downs...remember when Rey unmasked and the sad realisation that he'd probably be arrested for truancy destroyed any coolness he had.

 

[Gavschenko]

Unmasking Kane was a great idea in principle but it was terrible in practice. I still remember JR telling the audience to "cover your children's faces" before he took the mask off only to see...some charcoal lines. Creative had the opportunity to utilize some gross-looking make-up and have the people who did the unmasking be so horrified that they requested the mask stay on him. However, in my opinion when he came back the next week with no burns or residue of any kind and a really weak reasoning behind why, Kane went from a unique monster to just another big guy.

I thought it was a good idea at the time, i agree with your idea make it so gross that they have the mask stay on him he should have dominated for the whole year and main evented mania were he would lose the belt to the person who they want to be the next star. Instead he does nothing and has a feud with a non wrestler really? thats the best they came up with.

 

[oldschool123]

I had stopped watching wrestling for a few years and missed his unmasking. When I started watching again and he didn't have his mask anymore I thought he looked weak.

He has been much better since he got his mask back.

 

[Jack G]

I remember when he was in a first blood match - I think with Austin? He was covered head to toe in costume, only his arm showing skin. That was quality booking, somehow Austin had to make his arm bleed haha! Correct me if I'm wrong on this?

Anyway, yeah - I think Kane was so much better without EVER knowing what he looked like, he lost his edge. Even now, we see too much of his face, his perfectly normal face, his non-burned, non-scarred, not scary, normal face (with funny contact lenses).

 

[oldschool123]

I remember when he was in a first blood match - I think with Austin? He was covered head to toe in costume, only his arm showing skin. That was quality booking, somehow Austin had to make his arm bleed haha! Correct me if I'm wrong on this?

Anyway, yeah - I think Kane was so much better without EVER knowing what he looked like, he lost his edge. Even now, we see too much of his face, his perfectly normal face, his non-burned, non-scarred, not scary, normal face (with funny contact lenses).

Actually if I'm remembering it right while Kane usually had one arm bare he had both arms completely covered for the first blood match so there was virtually no way he could lose.

EDIT: The only skin he had uncovered was one hand.