Everyone has that one story of why they got in to wrestling. For some it is the originals of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan or even going further back. For some it is even more recent, like John Cena, CM Punk etc. For me, it all boils down to one WWE superstars debut, the introduction of Kane. I have the vivid memory of going round to my friends house, as I didn’t own cable or SKY at that time, and my friend mentioning WWE (previously WWF). I knew about WWE, but I’d never ever seen it, but what a journey it would take me on.
I was blessed that my first introduction to WWE was the Bad Blood PPV in 1997. The PPV itself was good, but I wasn’t prepared for the main event. The main event consisted of The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels in Hell in a Cell. This was the first instance of Hell in a Cell in WWE, and what a match it was. Obviously I had no idea of the build up for this, seeing as I hadn’t watched anything previously, so the debut that I was about to witness was shocking to me.
I can honestly say that the debut of Kane is, in my eyes, the greatest debut in WWE history. Not just for how it happened, but its impact on the whole of the Attitude Era. Undertaker was on fire at this point, but with his feud with Michaels coming to an end, the Dead Man needed a new direction. Undertakers support Paul Bearer had been written off as his manager, but he’d been teasing that Undertakers brother, Kane, was returning.
For those who don’t know, Kane is Undertakers brother who Undertaker believed had died in a fire. According to Paul Bearer, The Undertaker accidentally killed his parents by setting the funeral home ablaze and caused his half-brother’s face to be bruised, burned, and scarred. At the time throughout mid to late 1997, The Undertaker denied all this, claiming it was his younger half-brother’s fault.
In a match was that looked clear that Undertaker was going to win, the lights went out, the arena went red, and Kane’s music hit. Appearing at the entrance with Paul Bearer behind him, Kane made his way to the ring. He ripped off the door. Kane went face-to-face with Undertaker in a now iconic shot, and proceeded to make fire appear from the turnbuckles. Kane delivered a tombstone to Undertaker and Shawn Michaels got the win.
So why was Kane’s debut so important for the Attitude Era? In an time that was leaning towards more realistic characters with added attitude, to see the debut of Kane fascinated me. WWE had never stepped away from its over cartoony type characters, but this new era demanded it. With Kane’s debut, we got to see the middle ground of attitude meeting the past. He was darkness and aggressive, but he also had a deep reason for his behaviour. In a world of darkness between the Undertaker and Kane, it was essentially light vs the dark.
This type of storytelling helped pave the way for Mankind and let to some fascinating feuds over the years. Kane joining DX only to be screwed over, the introduction of the Brother of Destruction, and Kane eventually revealing his face and destroying RVD. Kane has not only been of huge importance to the company, but his character and debut was pivotal in the creation of some of the greatest storylines WWE has ever had.
I don’t think that Kane fully gets the appreciation he deserves, and whether that is because his character has always been overshadowed by the presence of the Undertaker, or it’s because of WWE’s handling of the Big Red Machine, I’m not clear.
There is one phrase that will always stick in my mind and that phrase is “That’s gotta be Kane, that’s gotta be Kane” and the shivers that gave me. He is a shoe in for the HOF, but I honestly think WWE have missed a trick on his importance to the whole of the attitude era, and WWE in general.
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