Why hasn’t Kane gotten credit for ending Punk’s career, or for hurting Daniel Bryan?

[HBK89Bill]

http://wrestlingnewsdepot.com/2014/...ane-gotten-credit-for-punk-or-bryans-absence/

Why hasn’t Kane gotten credit for ending CM Punk’s career, or for putting Daniel Bryan on the shelf? You’ll see the evidence and the missed opportunities, and then you’ll be wondering how “they” didn’t capitalize on the momentum to use two bad situations to turn Kane into one of the top heels in the industry today. Right now, Kane is only protecting Seth Rollins and is a stooge for The Authority. For all of 2014, he’s either run into roadblocks, missed opportunities, or he’s been a stepping stone and a shield for new young talent. Kane should have been WWE Champion and he should still be the best heel in the industry not named Brock Lesnar right now.

Let’s go back to January. Kane is in a feud with Punk. The two are eventually going to have a match to lead up to the Triple H/CM Punk match at Wrestlemania 30. At the Royal Rumble, Kane eliminates Punk in the final four and then puts him through an announce table. We haven’t seen Punk since. Punk obviously left behind the scenes, but in the context of the show and on television, Kane’s chokeslam through the table ended Punk’s career. Why didn’t they capitalize on that momentum? Remember March 3rd in Chicago, also known as the Hijack Raw when people actually thought fans would control the show? Paul Heyman ended up coming out to handle the situation, but what if Kane had come out later on and today everyone that he ended Punk’s career and you’ll never see him again. That would have been incredible heat for him. Kane would have had so much heat on him that he would have been the top heel until Lesnar broke The Streak. Kane would be a made man, and he certainly wouldn’t have had to job to The Shield at Wrestlemania with the Old Age Outlaws.

Kane going after Daniel Bryan’s title would have completely made sense after that. He’s the top heel and Bryan is the top face. The feud could have gone exactly the same, but the intensity would have been much higher. When Bryan got hurt and had to forfeit the championship, why wasn’t the title given to Kane? On paper, The Authority wanted Punk gone, and they wanted Daniel Bryan on the shelf after embarrassing them at Mania. Kane was batting a thousand for The Authority. Why wouldn’t they reward him for his service by making him the champion after taking out the last champion? Kane was even in The Authority already. Why would The Authority as characters want to put the title up for grabs when they had someone in their click who got the job done? It makes no sense and it wouldn’t have forced Cena/Lesnar. Cena could have taken down Kane on his way to fight Lesnar and you’d believe Cena had a better chance against Lesnar because he just took down the other biggest heel.

Roman Reigns beating Kane would have been a big deal instead of using him like a stepping stone. Kane wouldn’t be following and being a human shield for Seth Rollins right now? He’d be a monster with a ton of heat. That is what Kane is supposed to be. He shouldn’t be in a suit, cleaning up other people’s messes. Kane is The Authority’s monster. He’s their biggest gun. When they have an issue, they use him to solve it. What’s crazy is Kane could still capitalize on all these opportunities if “they” wanted to, but they aren’t. It doesn’t make sense. Hell, if “they” wanted to, they could turn Kane face by now and take on Brock Lesnar. The monster Kane decides he is too powerful to be controlled by The Authority, he rebels and eventually Lesnar has to be hired to end the monster. Kane should have just cause to fight Lesnar anyway. Lesnar took out The Undertaker and broke The Streak. Kane doesn’t want justice for his brother, or to defend his brother’s honor? They have always had a weird dynamic haven’t they? Either way, the creativity is there for Kane.

Kane should be doing so much more than what he is doing right now. Kane should have been WWE Champion for at least a few months after the Bryan injury. It just doesn’t make sense that no one with the power to suggest this thought of it. There were two gigantic opportunities for Kane to build a huge heel character again and they are still being ignored. It is throwing away great material and not utilizing the surrounding to capitalize on a wrestling year that has been lackluster overall because of injuries and back stage politics. It is a shame. It really is.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Because Kane has stayed with the company too long, and not married Stephanie. Historical evidence shows that if you are able to maintain a 13+ year career with WWE, you will be used in numerous character-killing comedy angles, be used as a corporate stooge, and in rare cases get a short lived WWE title run as a thanks for your longevity, before becoming basically what is nothing more than a heavily featured jobber, until you finally arrive at a well-deserved HoF induction.

Look no further than the careers of: Billy Gunn, JBL, Hardcore Holly, Mark Henry, Big Show, etc. as evidence of this.


Personally, I think it was a colossal mistake to unmask Kane again. I think he should've had one final monster run, where he got the title, and retired at Mania, but at this point he's just kind of "there". I like him, but in his current role, I'm not even sure I'd notice if he wasn't there.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

Thats a really good point. Kane should have benefitted from taking 2 beloved faces in such a short amount of time but WWE decided to "keep it real". In a world full of social media, being told that someone ended someone`s career doesn't really have the same impact or believability anymore. Punk left WWE and that is well known by most fans casual or IWC. On Bryans case, Kane did took him out with all those tombstones but WWE once again chose to pin it on his real life issues after years of a physically demanding wrestling style.

TBH i don't think WWE wants to even try or put effort into Kane. He is in his mid 40s, his career must be on his last legs. He already received his thank you world title reign back in 2010. His believability as a monster ended back in 2004 and with so much young talent is there really a place for kane as the main event guy? I don't think so....

 

[Chicago1989]

While I've always been a fan of Kane's work, in 2014, Kane should have already retired. He doesn't add much to the product like he used to. His "Big Red Monster" days are way behind him and he's past his prime.

He's also flipped-flopped with being masked and unmasked too many times to where the Kane character has lost its value and looks unrealistic in this day and age. Just like Big Show and Mark Henry, he's a big guy from the Attitude Era that's been overstayed his welcome.

 

[HBK89Bill]

Thats a really good point. Kane should have benefitted from taking 2 beloved faces in such a short amount of time but WWE decided to "keep it real". In a world full of social media, being told that someone ended someone`s career doesn't really have the same impact or believability anymore. Punk left WWE and that is well known by most fans casual or IWC. On Bryans case, Kane did took him out with all those tombstones but WWE once again chose to pin it on his real life issues after years of a physically demanding wrestling style.

TBH i don't think WWE wants to even try or put effort into Kane. He is in his mid 40s, his career must be on his last legs. He already received his thank you world title reign back in 2010. His believability as a monster ended back in 2004 and with so much young talent is there really a place for kane as the main event guy? I don't think so....

I actually just gave you an entire argument saying exactly why Kane is still useful? His career is on it's last legs? Great, why not go out on top?

 

[shafe_41]

Because he didn't do either of those things that's why.

Even the dullest of WWE fan can see that Kane pulling CM Punk over the top rope at the Rumble is hardly a "career ending" move. Even the WWE isn't stupid enough to insult the intelligence of their own fans who all know that Punk is a little piece of sh*t that took his ball and went home because he didn't get to play pretend the way he wanted.

As for Bryan, what good would it do? He was back on TV at one of the PPVs (Money in the Bank I believe) during the preshow talking about his surgery. At no point was it ever being sold as that Kane was the one responsible. What traction would it give Kane? What would he stand to gain from it? A title run because he hurt the champion? Dumb idea.

 

[HBK89Bill]

Because he didn't do either of those things that's why.

Even the dullest of WWE fan can see that Kane pulling CM Punk over the top rope at the Rumble is hardly a "career ending" move. Even the WWE isn't stupid enough to insult the intelligence of their own fans who all know that Punk is a little piece of sh*t that took his ball and went home because he didn't get to play pretend the way he wanted.

As for Bryan, what good would it do? He was back on TV at one of the PPVs (Money in the Bank I believe) during the preshow talking about his surgery. At no point was it ever being sold as that Kane was the one responsible. What traction would it give Kane? What would he stand to gain from it? A title run because he hurt the champion? Dumb idea.

You're talking about the whole picture. What you're forgetting is the context of the show and the weekly programming is all we are talking about. In that light, Punk hasn't been seen since Kane put him through a table after eliminating him. On TV, Kane was the last one to hurt him. Same goes with Daniel Bryan. On TV, they could have booked Kane to take those bad situations and turn them into something good for the product. Kane would gain everything from it don't you see that?

 

[Slash-LN]

Punk I'm guessing is they don't want to draw a huge amount of attention towards him. We on the internet know the deal. The casuals may have picked up on it by now.

With Bryan I blame Total Divas. He's on there talking about his injury and all that stuff. If the idea of Vince not wanting to put the Divas title on any of the Total Divas girls because it would be confusing I could see his mentality with Bryan's injury being the same deal. It would be confusing to say on Raw Kane took out Bryan and on Total Divas Bryan talking about longtime injuries he'd been ignoring.

 

[MERPER]

Because Kane is absolutely awful at this point in time and the less anyone talks about him the better.

The guy is slow, old, can't pull off any decent moves anymore. And seriously, watch his matches closely and watch how many moves of his are an epic fail. Sometimes they hide them with a good camera angle or change but my god he doesn't come close to selling ANYTHING anymore.

 

[snazzy]

Because Kane is absolutely awful at this point in time and the less anyone talks about him the better.

The guy is slow, old, can't pull off any decent moves anymore. And seriously, watch his matches closely and watch how many moves of his are an epic fail. Sometimes they hide them with a good camera angle or change but my god he doesn't come close to selling ANYTHING anymore.

Him going over the top rope is hilarious to watch.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

I actually just gave you an entire argument saying exactly why Kane is still useful? His career is on it's last legs? Great, why not go out on top?

The fact that his career is on its last legs does not warrant this level of a push (being the man who took out both Punk and Bryan) is for someone who can make the most out of heat like that. Kane 10 years ago could have used this heat. 2014 Kane does not. He has suffered way too many bad feuds that his believability is down.

Although he is greatly respected, Kane is not in the Edge, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker level where the last few times we will see them before they go away for good it will be the most important think going on at the time. Sadly i guess the writers don't want to take the effort with Kane

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As for CM Punk, it's one of those situations where it'd be futile to pass it off as being because of Kane. Everyone knows that Punk quit WWE, everyone knows that Punk was allegedly unhappy and decided to throw in the towel. Trying to pass it off as Kane "ending" his career is something that nobody would believe or buy into and WWE management knows it.

Besides that, there were reports of ongoing negotiations over the course of the year between Punk & WWE, rumors of both sides possibly seeking legal action against the other for various reasons and reports of bad blood between both parties over the course of the past few months. For all we know, both sides may have signed some sort of binding, legal agreement in which they can't publicly trash one another in interviews or as part of wrestling angles.

As for Daniel Bryan, I'm thinking that it probably wouldn't have the sort of impact WWE would be hoping. Kane has been in WWE for the better part of 20 years, he's ultimately in the twilight of his career, he's gone as far as he's going to go, people are well aware of it and they're just not all that excited about the prospect of Kane as a feature player in one of THE top storylines. A lot of people weren't happy about Kane challenging Bryan at Extreme Rules for the title, even though it was a great match, nor were they thrilled at the prospect of their feud continuing past Extreme Rules.

In short, there's not really much of anything for WWE to gain by making claims of Kane ending Punk's career or putting Bryan on the shelf.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Kane should be doing so much more than what he is doing right now.

I suppose the key to this is why they took Kane out of the mask this time. I can't even remember exactly when he had gone back to it the last time, but it was surprising as hell when he took it off again, making me think he was truly ready to slow down on his career.

Like Big Show and Mark Henry, Kane is still appearing all the time....and they're all getting involved physically more than I thought was intended, given their new "paths" in WWE....but in Kane's case, it seemed that putting him in a suit and having him act as an enforcer rather than a threat in his own right meant he was throttling back on the in-ring portion of his career.

The OP makes good points about the opportunity loss afforded by the company not stressing Kane's involvement with the "demise" of both Punk and Bryan. But if their intent is to use him as an official for the Authority, it's understandable why touting his destructive achievements would be tabled. "Ending" someone's career is a headline for a warrior, not an administrator.

Still, as Kane himself said Monday night, if he's an executive in charge of discipline, how come he has to keep getting in the ring to discipline them physically?

Maybe the true direction for the character of Kane hasn't been finalized yet.

 

[shafe_41]

You're talking about the whole picture. What you're forgetting is the context of the show and the weekly programming is all we are talking about. In that light, Punk hasn't been seen since Kane put him through a table after eliminating him. On TV, Kane was the last one to hurt him. Same goes with Daniel Bryan. On TV, they could have booked Kane to take those bad situations and turn them into something good for the product. Kane would gain everything from it don't you see that?

I meant both in terms of the overall quality of the product... but you have to build week to week for the overall quality.

WWE isn't going to insult the intelligence of the fans that the last time Punk was on TV, he was pulled over the top rope by Kane. How in the hell are you going to turn that into something credible for Kane to build on? You can't. Especially when Punk isn't around to seek retribution. Kane has been around for almost 20 years. They aren't going to march him out there and say "I eliminated Punk from the Rumble and he was never to be seen again." That's pointless and stupid. Especially when the entire world knows Punk quit like a bitch. Since he quit, they aren't going to use his name for any type of build. They won't reference him at all nor should they. Plus, name one superstar that's ever gone through a table and not seen again. Especially a top tier guy like Punk. You'd be insulting the intelligence of the fans trying to pass that off because again... EVERYBODY knows he took his ball and went home like a baby.

As for Bryan... sure building off putting the champion out of commission would be great heat for a heel. But we're talking about Kane here. Kane. Not Rollins. Not Ambrose. Hell... not Rusev. It wasn't anybody with anything to gain. It was Kane. I don't really have to go into a giant explanation there on why Kane is the poorest choice of pretty much anybody on the roster as someone to be put in position to gain off those two events. The fact that it's Kane should tell you all you need to know.

 

[EnoughIsEnough]

His "Big Red Monster" roll was dead after the comedy act in Team Hell NO, its just not the same. That's the type of character you have to stick with, even after seeing him as plane/boring corporate Kane there's just no way to bring back the "Big Red Monster". I hope he retires soon just for his legacies sake.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

Kane is old, boring, and a major inconvenience on TV. Nothing can make him exciting or relevant again. Bringing back the mask in 2011 was his last ever chance, and WWE blew it spectacularly.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Pushing Kane gets them nowhere because Kane is not the future of the WWE. He's likely to retire sooner than later, and his role should be to put on good matches with the up and comers and help them get over, which quite honestly, he's done an outstanding job of doing. Kane's feud with Bryan was on its last legs when Bryan got injured, and there'd be little reason to continue it at this point. There's simply too many guys on the roster who need the onscreen time and the feuds than Kane. Nothing against the guy -- he's just at a point where he needs to be used to augment talent rather than be highlighted in a feud.

 

[Mudlup50]

Can we think about this for a second. When Bryan returns the casual fans at least expect him to win back the world title. Could you imagine if we had the match Bryan v Kane at 2 PPV's, then Bryan gets injured comes back at Rumble to feud with....Kane some more. He's feuded with Kane what 2-3 times already in his career? I'd rather not have this feud at all

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Many reasons for this; most notably; when or if they return; they don't want them being focused on Kane. Additionally; they don't mention Punk at all as a general rule.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Simple - Kane isn't the guy they want to push. wwe has always done weird things like this when it doesn't fit into their "master" plan. We all remember Austin catching fire and becoming the big thing overnight back in the day but how many remember that even while fans were cheering him, he was left off of ppvs and has silly angles because wwe didn't plan for him to be successful and therefore didn't want to push him. Plus wwe's Reality Era (if you still can call it that) creates a problem since everyone knows Punk walked and wwe has pretty much acknowledged that and that Bryan's issues have been long term. Had they been smart, they wouldn't have said much and let Kane take the credit as it helps make him seem stronger which makes The Authority stronger. Also makes anyone who beats Kane seem better. And it gives either Punk or Bryan a built in feud when they return. But they didn't and a good opportunity is wasted.

 

[WBL]

Kane getting credit for getting rid of Punk would give him far too much credibility and far too much of a push for his current role. Although he was a dominant beast for most of his career, even on par with The Undertaker early on, his current role is that of cannon fodder. Much like Rollins and Orton, he's just cannon fodder right now, someone to job to Cena and whoever is the revolving seat that is #2. Bringing up ending Punk's career would almost give him too much heat, and take the focus off of The Authority.

 

[Jacjac]

In the "business" of wrestling it's not considered a badge of honor to hurt another wrestler. In the entertainment of wrestling I agree that it would help further certify that Kane is such a monster. In reality we don't know the specifics on the wear and tear and injuries of the wrestlers bodies. Kane is a veteran and I've never heard of him being careless with the other wrestlers. Their jobs are to protect one another and entertain us.

 

[WimpyKid4Life]

I think the WWE is appreciative of everything Kane's done for them, but they won't reward him with a dominate WWE championship run last hurrah type of thing... they've been rewarding him by keeping him in the main event. He was in 3 straight WWE World Heavyweight championship matches in the summer!!! He's the Triple H of Smackdown when the COO isn't there. There have been plenty of Raws this fall where we see him, alongside his brethrens, standing tall and smiling at the closing seconds of the Main Event. Anyways, I'm glad you posted this because I posted something similar to this months ago on another site and they accused me of "trolling". It proves that there are still fans who view Kane as something that could be bigger than what he is right now. I agree with everything you wrote. Still, atleast Kane is still in the Main Event scene doing big boy things. : )

 

[FromGlasgow]

With the internet I think most would still know the real reason CM Punk left and how Daniel Bryan needed surgery anyway but I do miss those sorts of storylines and I think it would have worked well suspending your belief and blaming Kane for both of those wrestlers, Maybe because there was too many wrestlers infront of Kane and WWE had no interest in a Kane push at that particular time.

 

[Judah's Lion]

I suppose the key to this is why they took Kane out of the mask this time. I can't even remember exactly when he had gone back to it the last time, but it was surprising as hell when he took it off again, making me think he was truly ready to slow down on his career.

Like Big Show and Mark Henry, Kane is still appearing all the time....and they're all getting involved physically more than I thought was intended, given their new "paths" in WWE....but in Kane's case, it seemed that putting him in a suit and having him act as an enforcer rather than a threat in his own right meant he was throttling back on the in-ring portion of his career.

The OP makes good points about the opportunity loss afforded by the company not stressing Kane's involvement with the "demise" of both Punk and Bryan. But if their intent is to use him as an official for the Authority, it's understandable why touting his destructive achievements would be tabled. "Ending" someone's career is a headline for a warrior, not an administrator.

Still, as Kane himself said Monday night, if he's an executive in charge of discipline, how come he has to keep getting in the ring to discipline them physically?

Maybe the true direction for the character of Kane hasn't been finalized yet.

I'm thinking this is what's going on. it's gotta be a combination of Kane's age and the lack of true direction for the character.

and that's not limited to Kane either. like almost everyone else has stated in response, look at Big Show and Mark Henry also. these are three names that have been around like 15+ years each, since the Attitude Era, that are still around. they're all older. they're all slowing down in the ring. they're all over-exposed. and they've all been given the "complimentary title run" as a thanks for their longevity.

keep in mind, I love all three of these guys a lot. seeing them live has been a highlight of my fandom. and they usually get some of the loudest pops of the night. clearly they're loved by the fans.

but I think it's just a matter of slowing down for all of them. and the lack of creative direction/continuity isn't helping. all three of these guys have gone from heel to face and back again -- and add to that the mask with Kane coming on again and off again -- it's hard to believe that the writers know what to do with them week to week.

also, with the rise of social media, it'd be impossible to hide why Punk and Bryan are not in the WWE at the moment. Punk is pretty outspoken and wouldn't allow it to stay hidden if WWE tried to make his departure a storyline. but way too many people knew why he really left. as for Bryan, the WWE did more than just make it known why he was gone... they turned it into multiple angles. it's a part of the Total Divas episodes, Bryan was part of a ppv pre-show to discuss it, and the whole arc even led to a SummerSlam match between his wife and the Authority in Stephanie McMahon.

so yeah, lots of reasons Kane didn't get credit.