∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys

Must be Monday. New podcast! Just click on the fancy logo below.
SubpagesAwesome
Funny
Heartwarming
Literature
Main
Tropers
Wrestler
Wrestling
YMMV
main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
new edits
workshops
reviews
YKTTW
tweets
random
Wrestling: Kane
He's Back

"I Tombstoned a priest, set a man on fire, and buried my brother alive. I don't know what your rules are... but I know they don't apply to me."

Kane is one of WWE's longest-tenured superstars, with the gimmick having debuted in 1997 (and the man behind the gimmick, Glenn Jacobs, having worked for WWE a number of times prior to the Kane gimmick); in Kayfabe, Kane is the half-brother of The Undertaker, with Kane's father being Undertaker's (former) manager Paul Bearer (the "Brothers of Destruction" shared the same mother). He was originally thought to be dead by Undertaker, in a fire that claimed the lives of their parents, before Paul Bearer brought him back. Since their initial feud, Kane and Undertaker have both teamed up and feuded again several times. Kane originally wrestled in a mask, but removed it in 2003 (revealing his supposed physical scars from the fire were more like mental ones). As of late 2011, he is wearing the mask again. He is a former WWE Champion, a former 2x WWE Intercontinental Champion, a 9x WWE World Tag Team Champion, a former WWE Hardcore Champion, a former WCW World Tag Team Championnote , a former WWE ECW Heavyweight Champion, a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and a 2x WWE Tag Team Champion, once with The Big Show and once with Daniel Bryan as Team Hell No.

For a detailed look at Kane's in-ring career, you can check out Wikipedia; Kane's kayfabe history is a little more...convoluted...so in lieu of a Wikipedia article, instead you can check out this five part special column on 411mania that does its best to cover Kane's kayfabe history (it even works Glenn Jacobs' gimmicks prior to Kane into the kayfabe) up to 2006.

Tropes associated with Kane include:

  • Aborted Arc: The most confusing of all the myriad examples in Kane's career was that of the Imposter Kane, a mysterious figure wearing Kane's original costume who frequently interfered in his matches and even defeated Kane in a PPV match. The Fake Kane was played up as a man of mystery from Kane's past and possibly his next Arch-Enemy, but the angle provoked minimal fan reaction, so the Fake Kane was simply discarded without his identity ever revealed, and the whole thing is something of a BLAM now. Fans were largely disappointed that when Kane stripped the mask off Imposter Kane at the abrupt end of the storyline, he didn't put it on.
    • His feud with Edge over Lita was discontinued and effectively retconned once Matt Hardy returned and WWE could no longer keep it kayfabe. But nowadays it seems to have gone back to being considered canon.
    • The Katie Vick story was cut short, which was rather a mercy killing (for Jacobs and for fans).
    • His 2010 feud with The Undertaker was promptly forgotten so that Undertaker could fight Triple H at Wrestlemania.
  • Acceptable Breaks from Reality: Kane and the Undertaker's gimmicks have usually been laced with various elements of the supernatural, with both men using Offscreen Teleportation, Playing with Fire, even sometimes Came Back Wrong. This makes absolutely no sense at all and tends to become even more prominent when they feud, but generally it's just accepted as part of the show.
  • Actor Allusion: You could take Kane's promo about how much he loves Christmas as a reference to his old role as the Christmas Creature.
    • John Cena once mentioned Kane gets uneasy during the holidays and hates trips to the dentist, a reference to two of his old gimmicks.
  • Almighty Janitor: One of the best men in the business, but often jobs for other wrestlers.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: An ongoing theme with Kane's character is his desire for a female companion and family. Perhaps the first hint of emotion Kane ever showed was his concern for Chyna after accidentally injuring her in 1999. Later he went so far as to blackmail Lita to bear his child and marry him, then harassed Kelly Kelly, and then stalked Eve Torres during his feud with Cena in order to get Cena to give in to the hate.
    • Ironically, when AJ Lee actually shows interest in him, he's completely befuddled as to what's going on. Though this might be a little bit of Genre Savvy kicking in; it's possible he suspects her of Obfuscating Insanity and is trying to figure out what her game is.
    • In Kane's own words, "I'm a monster. I wear a mask. My only source of pleasure is eviscerating people. And even I find you mentally unstable." Although, in all fairness, he also said he "Doesn't do relationships," which clearly isn't true. Additionally, he seemed to veer into "It's not you, it's me" territory when telling AJ "This may come as a shock to you, but I'm not exactly boyfriend material."
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Apparently AJ does, at least.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Kane has been involved in several ill-fated romance storylines with female wrestlers (e.g., Lita) or Divas (most notably, Kelly Kelly during a short-lived 2008 angle).
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: He once forced Lita to marry him, after Matt Hardy lost a match that stipulated she would marry Kane if Hardy lost. It later became Rape Is Love briefly until, in a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, she dumped Kane for Edge, and it became an Aborted Arc when Matt Hardy returned.
  • Apologetic Attacker: Was very apologetic that he was attacking Josh Mathews, while doing it, on the August 31 episode of Smackdown. He had previously, as part of his anger managemet, apologized to him for the attack at Summer Slam. Then he had a bad match with Alberto Del Rio...
  • Arch-Enemy: The Undertaker and Triple H most notably.
    • Edge is another good contender. If not for his short lived tenure, Gene Snitsky would also qualify. What makes these four stand out is that while Kane is capable of making any feud he's in personal for his enemy, these guys made it personal for Kane. For reference? Lower down on the page, under Unnecessary Roughness? Electro-torturing Shane'o'Mac's testicles was in no way personal for Kane. He just did that for kicks.
    • What about Pete Rose?
    • The Shield, an animosity shared with his tag-team partner, are one of his newest arch enemies.
  • The Artifact: Like Undertaker, Kane is one of the last remaining remnants of a past era in WWE history - in Kane's case, it's the brutality of the Attitude Era and the gimmicks of the Cartoony Era of the WWF in which The Undertaker has his roots.
    • He became an artifact as soon as Undertaker dropped his Deadman gimmick and his kayfabe and became a biker. However he was lucky enough to eventually find his niche even after that, though to do so Badass Decay ensued.
    • Kane's MASK also qualifies as an artifact due to the fact that he wore it well past the end of the more cartoonish era of the 80s and early 90s, and the end of the Attitude Era. He has worn a number of different masks with mostly variations on a singular design that were reconstructed to make them more comfortable for Kane to wear, until his 2003 mask which was a large departure from what was then the standard design for his masks' look.(It was ultimately the fact that the mask was a source of discomfort that he was finally unmasked in 2003) His most recent mask is actually one worn by the Undertaker when he was recovering from a cracked orbital socket, repainted red to match Kane's gimmick and the colors associated with him. Which means the mask he currently wears is something of a Mythology Gag for anyone who noticed it.
    • In one instance, the girl didn't even have to exist — that being the infamous "Katie Vick." See the Aborted Arc entry for the background.
  • Anti-Hero: Assumed to be a Type V as a face given the nature of his character... but careful examination will show that he's more often a Type IV that gradually slides to Type III the longer he stays a face - which inevitably causes some level of Badass Decay before he goes on another murderous rampage.
  • Ash Face: During his first six years in the WWE, the "Big Red Monster" Kane never appeared in public with any part of his body uncovered; the story was that he'd gotten caught in a fire started in his parents' funeral parlor and had barely survived, and his burns were too horrific for the sight of "normal" humans. In 2003, however, he was finally forced to remove his trademark red-and-black mask - and revealed, instead of grotesquely pitted features, a comically mild-looking Ash Face. (It was made even funnier by the Raw commentators speculating on how ugly and deformed Kane would look.)
  • Ax Crazy
  • Badass Bookworm: He won on The Weakest Link.
  • Bald of Evil: After unmasking in 2003. Immediately after unmasking.
  • Bash Brothers: Kane and the Undertaker have fought together as a tag team, calling themselves the Brothers of Destruction. Also with The Big Show
    • As Unabomb, with Al Snow in SMW.
  • Bastard Bastard: As Undertaker's evil, resentful half-brother, Kane is this (at least when he's a heel).
  • Berserk Button: Kane has started feuds over the smallest things, such as when he got spilled coffee on him by Chris Jericho. May 19th qualifies as wellnote 
    • In general, not doing anything to make him angry is a wise move.
  • Big Damn Kiss: AJ Lee planted one on him on the 6/11/12 episode of Raw. The following Sunday at No Way Out, he would return the favor.
  • Big Little Brother: Is a few inches taller than Undertaker.
  • Big "NO!": Kane's reaction to Paul Bearer's 2010 return.
    • Although, not all was as it seemed…
  • Bridal Carry: Kane did this to Chyna after accidentally burning her, in quite possibly the tenderest moment of his career.
    • Recently did this to AJ, picking her up after she took a nasty bump. His intentions were...unclear.
  • The Brute/The Big Guy
  • Bunny Ears Teacher: Was once a high-school English teacher, has his degree in education, and once said he'd probably be teaching if he weren't a wrestler. Not to mention his political blogging.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: During his "Anger Management" segment with Daniel Bryan, the way Kane recounted his indiscretions with various co-workers, family members, and significant others sounded more like he was telling his life story than what made him angry.
    • But, given Kane's history, they would seem to be the same thing.
  • Cain and Abel/Sibling Rivalry: Kane's rivalry with Undertaker.
  • Canon Discontinuity: What's an "Isaac Yankem, D.D.S?" Nor was he the Fake Diesel. Nor was he the Christmas Creature in Memphis (didn't stop Jerry Lawler from making a snide reference to it once, and a more lighthearted allusion to it a few years later).
  • Captain Ersatz: Prior to the Kane gimmick, Glenn Jacobs played a fake Diesel in a really drawn out Take That to WCW.
  • Catch Phrase: As part of Team Hell No with Daniel Bryan: "I AM THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!"
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: In his prime, Glenn Jacobs had a deadlift of 900 pounds.
  • Cool Mask
  • The Comically Serious: Is rather good at this when he's not playing a monster heel - sometimes mixed with a dash of Deadpan Snarker.
  • Composite Character: The 2012 re-masking of Kane seems to land somewhere at the midway point between his two main era-specific personalities: the intelligence and propensity for Breaking Speeches from the unmasked Kane combined with the violence and unpredictability from his mid-90s masked incarnation.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Most of Kane's strikes target the throat/windpipe. Also, on more than one occasion of an opponent trying to come off the top rope, Kane simply kicks the ropes, and whoever happens to be on the turnbuckle at the time loses their footing...and usually lands very painfully. Given that his primary finisher is the chokeslam... there's a certain sense of psychology involved.
  • Continuity Cavalcade: Kane gives a delightful speech about his past while in an anger management class on the 8/27/12 edition of Raw. Hilarity Ensues.
    "I grew up locked in a basement, suffering severe psychological and emotional scarring when my brother set my parents on fire. From there, I shifted around among a series of mental institutions until I was grown, at which point I buried my brother alive ... twice. Since then, I've set a couple of people on fire and abducted various co-workers. Oh, and I, uh, once electrocuted a man's testicles. Years ago, I had a girlfriend named Katie but let's just say that didn't turn out too well. My real father is a guy named Paul Bearer, who I recently trapped in a meat locker. I've been married, divorced, broke up my ex-wife's wedding and tombstoned the priest. And, for reasons never quite explained, I have an unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose."
  • Continuity Snarl: Kane's entire backstory, which eventually resulted in a novel that painstakingly attempted to reconcile all of it.
    • This failed. Spectacularly, as next to nothing' of this backstory made any sense whatsoever nor was it referenced within the WWE's on-air continuity, and contained a few snarls of its own, such as placing Kane and Taker in the midwest, when their parents (or in this case Kane and Taker's mother, as they have different fathers in the storyline) are supposedly buried on LONG ISLAND.
  • The Corrupter: Kane is playing this role to John Cena. By brutalizing Cena and his friends, he is trying to force Cena to give into his rage and hatred.
    • And it seems to be working; Cena was about to clock Ryder in the face on the 2/13/12 RAW after accidentally kissing Eve Torres due to trying to save her from Kane taking her away in an ambulance.
  • Costume Copycat: Of his original gear, resulting in the odd booking of Kane VS Kane at a Vengeance PPV.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He's the (not quite) Dead Little (Half-)Brother of The Undertaker. That says it all, I think.
  • The Dead Can Dance: From the August 26, 2002 episode of Raw: The Kaneroonie
  • Deadpan Snarker: Whenever he does have a funny moment.
  • Death from Above: The setup for Kane's chokeslam usually involves a top-rope flying clothesline. Kane is seven feet tall and over 300 pounds.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Inverted, as - unlike Undertaker - Kane practically exists to be defeated.
  • The Dragon: Kane was used this way while a member of The Corporation, which he had been forced to join in order to avoid being sent to a mental institution.
  • Enemy Mine: Had been working mostly as a heel in late 2010-early 2011, but teamed up with The Big Show to face the growing threat of The Corre.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He pulled The Big Show off of Alberto Del Rio as he was giving Alberto a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, saying "You're going to kill him!"
  • Evil Counterpart: The gimmick started as a way to provide the ultimate credible threat to the Undertaker's face persona; a monster heel who looked and wrestled like the Undertaker, but was driven by sociopathic rage.
  • Evil Laugh
  • Evil vs. Evil: Even when he's a face, Kane is at his best, a Noble Demon, so his feuds against heels tend to be this.
  • Facepalm Of Doom: Does this to John Cena recently.
  • Face Nod Action: In pretty much every battle royale he's ever been in, Kane and the other biggest man in the match will lay everyone else out, square off against each other, nod, and throw down one on one. Whether or not he wins depends on who has more Popularity Power.
  • Fingerless Gloves: Only wears one on his right hand. Recently returned to the full-fingered glove he wore when he first appeared in the company in the gimmick.
  • Finishing Move: Like his half-brother, Kane's chief finishers are the Chokeslam and the Tombstone Piledriver.
  • Fire and Brimstone Hell: In the gimmick's early years, when he would make his way out, Jim Ross would say, "Fire and brimstone personified," "from the depths of Hell, comes Kane," "Through Hell fire and brimstone it's Kane!" or words along those lines.
  • For the Evulz: Sometimes his heel turns have seemingly no impetus at all. And there's no strict reason why he has to be quite as violent and sadistic as he is most of the time.
  • Foregone Conclusion: It was pretty easy to guess who would win that first Inferno Match, given that Kane's (then) full-body costume could be padded and insulated to protect him from the flames (whereas the Undertaker's comparably skimpy ring gear would have left him seriously injured had he tried the same stunt).
  • Freaky Is Cool: WWE did market a "FREAKS RULE" T-shirt for a time.
  • Freudian Excuse: Initially, his violent psychosis was portrayed as the result of his parent's tragic deaths and his own disfigurement. As years went by and some of these elements were retconned (again and again), this has kind of diminished, and these days he's just sort of a dick on his own terms.
  • Genius Bruiser: He holds a teaching degree in real life, and has said that he'd be a teacher if he weren't a wrestler. The ability to be well-spoken allows him to be a rare 7-footer who can handily carry a long promo on his own with the best of them.
  • Genre Savvy: See All Love Is Unrequited. Kane decided he wanted nothing to do with AJ Lee which may point to an awareness that anytime he's involved himself with one of the Divas, it hasn't ended well. Of course, the fact that AJ's totally out of her gourd probably had a lot to do with it, too.
  • The Giant: Though he subverts a lot of the tropes, namely being actually able to wrestle and having charisma, he really is a charismatic performer with a gimmick beyond Squash Match and No Sell, although that was how the gimmick was played in its first few months. It is hard to come up with another 7-footer in wrestling history with equal mic skills as Kane; this may be in part because he is a Genius Bruiser in real life.
  • Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: His character and the way he's booked tend to make him this. As a heel in particular, he'll often show up completely without warning and either attack everyone in sight, or go after someone specific, only making his intentions known after the fact. He started his feud with John Cena like this (especially glaring, as the guy who had put him out of action was right there in the ring). And then on Smackdown 3/2/12 he started a feud with Randy Orton in the exact same way.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: Must be nearing the record of flipping between face and heel in a career, if he doesn't hold it already. It's to the point where he switches multiple times a year, often without even building to it.
    • This has reached ludicrous levels as of March 2011, he did nothing to turn face... but gets cheered by the fans because not only is he teaming with The Big Show, but he is fighting The Corre.
    • The 7/22/11 SmackDown pretty much sums it up. Before his Street Fight with Randy Orton, Kane cuts a promo talking about how he is disturbed by his showing glimpses of humanity in the past few months and that he was going to exorcise it out of him against Orton. Sounds like a heel turn, right? Well, after Orton triumphs in a half-hour-long Street Fight, Kane offers his hand out of respect. [Surely, Kane's gonna use the opportunity to get a post-match drop on Orton, right? Nope, he actually shakes his hand in a sportsmanlike manner with no turn to be found, before being ambushed by Mark Henry, another man familiar with the face/heel door.
  • Humans Are Bastards: His feud with John Cena is centered around him teaching Cena this lesson, and how he should come to embrace The Power of Hate.
  • Humanity Is Infectious: Felt he became too human in 2011 and thought by beating Randy Orton, he would exorcise his humanity. Only he lost to Orton and then was taken out by Mark Henry for a number of months. He now wants a rematch with Orton at the grandest stage of them all to get a closure on that particular subject.
  • I'M THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!
  • I Have No Son: Paul Bearer has disowned Kane for the most part, siding against him at WrestleMania XX; when he returned in September 2010 prior to Hell in a Cell, he sided with Undertaker again. This, however, did not last. Maybe he sees Kane as his son after all.
    Son? You're no son of mine!
  • Implacable Man
  • Iron Buttmonkey: He can dish out and take grievous amounts of punishment. Throughout his career, he's been written into some of the worst angles in recent WWE history. Katie Vick comes to mind.
  • Jack Of All Stats: One of the prime reasons he's so well respected in the wrestling community is his wealth of skills in different areas. In the ring, he has the look of a power wrestler (read: he's huge), and even at his advanced age, may be one of the strongest guys on the WWE roster (see Charles Atlas Superpower). But he's also extremely agile for his size, still uses a top-rope diving clothesline as a signature move to this day, and can also be a striker and dip into Garbage Wrestler when a brawl is required. In terms of his promo skills, he's been a Large Ham and he's been the Voiceless. He can be deadly serious, comic, The Comically Serious, or anything in between.
  • Kill It with Fire: The Inferno match, Kane's signature match where the only way to beat your opponent is to set them on fire.
    • Either he tried to do this to someone, or someone tried to do it to him in his original backstory.
  • Large Ham: Kane's unmasked years made it clear that whatever his characterization at any given time, Glen Jacobs does not do subtlety.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Has red motifs. If that's not enough, look at his "Big" Red Barons below.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In most backstage skits, the wrestlers will never acknowledge that the camera man is right in front of them filming them, even if they're discussing top secret plans. Kane is the exception, usually giving a knowing glare to the camera at the end of the skits.
    • He now does most of his promos without an interviewer, backstage in a dark, moodily-lit area and talking directly to the audience.
  • Lethal Joke Character: Has edged into something of a comedy character in backstage skits with Daniel Bryan. Can still kick your ass six ways to Sunday.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Especially when you compare to other giants, Kane has a top rope move, has done an enzuigiri, and has an awesome ring exit where he uses the ropes to flip himself over, pretty impressive for such a big guy, he's even added a low angle dropkick, to his repertoire. Keep in mind all of that is in his arsenal at age 44, being in terrific shape for a wrestler that size and that age (compared to The Undertaker, who at that point couldn't even work a half-time schedule, while Kane still works a full year-round load).
    • Not to mention the time he performed a Frankensteiner on Albert.
      • Hurri-Kane-rana?
  • List of Transgressions While in anger management, Kane goes into one of these.
  • Made of Iron
  • Malevolent Masked Man: Zigzagged this trope throughout his career. Debuted playing it straight, averted it for a while, and now plays it straight once again.
  • Manly Tears: After Edge abducted Paul Bearer, and Kane searched backstage for him in vain. Poor guy.
  • Man on Fire: Kane doesn't have the best win/loss record when it comes to Inferno Matches.
    • To be fair, that's mainly because he's the only person besides The Undertaker (who defeated Kane both times) who's actually been in more than one of them.
    • He also used to wear sleeves.
  • Mean Character, Nice Actor: Kane is usually regarded as one of these. Fan interaction with him is considered the holy grail of meeting professional wrestlers among smarks.
    • Jim Cornette has said that WWE loved Glen Jacobs because he was "Sid Lite," meaning he had all the size and power and none of the attitude problems.
  • Military Brat
  • Mirror Match: At Vengeance 2006 against an impostor who dressed like the masked Kane (the impostor later showed up in WWE as Festus, real name Andrew Hankinson, later Luke Gallows of CM Punk's Straight Edge Society, now DOC of Aces&8's in TNA). It became an Aborted Arc.
  • Mismatched Eyes
  • Motive Rant: Gave one after burying Undertaker alive in 2003, and putting Undertaker in a vegetative state in 2010. Though they're considered two of his best promos.
  • Mundane Made Awesome/Mundane Utility: Kane's a hit at BBQ's.
  • Name of Cain
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Kane, Unibomb, Doomsday.
  • Noble Demon: Usually as a Face.
  • No Sell: Possibly the only man in wrestling history to no-sell a kiss. AJ leapt onto him and started going to town, and Kane, in response, stood there, motionless, even as she kissed him. Once she was done he said Screw This, I'm Outta Here, tagged in Daniel Bryan, and left the ring calmly without saying a word.
  • Oh Crap: When that big stage pyro goes off, Kane's coming to the ring - and whenever this happens, he is usually not a happy man.
  • Ominous Pipe Organ: Kane's instrumental themes all started with this.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: If Kane's a heel and comes down to the ring to kick some ass, never, ever assume that you're safe because you're a heel like him. You will regret it.
  • One of Us: Is regarded as one of the biggest gamers on the WWE roster. Stevie Richards said that during his time he roomed with Kane on the road, Kane would bring his XBOX to every hotel he was at. He even modded a Civil War FPS he was playing to make his avatar don the Kane costume.
  • The Other Darrin: The Fake Diesel gimmick, of course.
    • Teamed with Al Snow as Unabomb in SMW in 1995. Snow faced Ricky Morton once in a cage match, which can be found here, so that Unabomb, who was masked and supposedly chained outside, couldn't interfere. Unabomb (Jacobs) did. The masked Unabomb here was Barry "Recon"/"Bull" Buchanan.
  • Our Demons Are Different: They're big sadistic monsters that are related to zombies.
    • A book put out years ago by George Napolitano claims Undertaker was half human and half vampire.
  • Out of the Inferno: Kane was alleged to have started - and survived - the funeral home fire that killed his and Undertaker's parents, though this resulted in his face being radically scarred (or so he thought). He also managed to survive getting set on fire in the first-ever Inferno Match.
  • Parts Unknown: While The Undertaker is generally billed from Death Valley, where Kane is supposed to be "from" has never been acknowledged, as only his weight and name, along with whatever his Tag Team/Power Stable affiliation may be at the time and any titles he is holding at a given time, are ever announced. His profile on WWE's website doesn't even list a "hometown" for him.
    • As Unabomb in SMW he was billed from "The Land of the Giants."
    • As Doomsday in Jerry Lawler's USWA in Memphis, he was billed from "The Wastelands."
  • Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: He was originally intended to have this, being scarred by the fire that killed his family, but the makeup didn't work out when the mask came off, so now he just has the psychological ones.
  • Pivotal Wake-up: Like The Undertaker, Kane would sometimes preform a vampire-like sit up to regain more momentum as well as intimidate his opponent
  • Playing with Fire: His ring pyro is amazing. Not only does half the arena light up in flames during the initial entrance, he lights up the four turnbuckles on the ring, too.
  • Popularity Power: Despite not being as popular as Undertaker, Kane remains respected amongst fans, likely due in part to his association with Undertaker (and, in some circles, because of his "company man" image - in that he takes the crappiest angles and runs with them, without complaint, for the good of WWE).
    • Also due to the fact that it's hard to find a nicer wrestler outside the ring, and that he does not seem to have an ego in an ego-centric business. Like Shawn Michaels, he's stated he preferred the world title be held by younger guys who would carry the company in the future than a veteran like himself, who was already firmly entrenched in the company and fanbase (although his loyalty and popularity was finally rewarded with a world title run in the second half of 2010).
    • When Kane cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase against World Champion Rey Mysterio (one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster), he got a largely positive response to his title win. It was Kane's first major title win since his one-day WWE Title reign in 1998 (twelve years earlier).
  • The Power of Hate: His new gimmick in late 2011
  • Put on a Bus: By Mark Henry.
  • Psycho for Hire: A fairly common tactic for heels, especially heel GM's, is to put Kane in a match against whoever their Face enemy is((Triple H, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho have all done this), or threaten to put the Face's girlfriend in a match with Kane if they don't comply with their demands(Both Eric Bischoff and John Laurinaitis have pulled this one). Kane doesn't do it out of any sense of loyalty to the heel in the storyline, or even for his paycheck; he does it because he's bored(it's usually when he doesn't have a feud of his own going on) and wants to hurt someone. Though more than a few of these guys have found that trying to treat Kane as their own personal attack dog can come back to bite them in the ass.
  • Quizzical Tilt: Kane commonly did this while mute and wearing a mask. Ever since AJ Lee entered his picture, he's been known to do this a few times in response to some of her more questionable actions.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Was randomly turned heel on the Undertaker before SummerSlam 2000 because Taker's original opponent, The Big Show, had been shipped off to WWE's developmental league Ohio Valley Wrestling in an attempt to get him to lose some weight.
  • Real Men Love Puppies and Rainbows: HELL NO!
    • Except when puppies are there for snacking.
  • Recurring Riff: In '97, he first appeared as Kane with this theme. Said theme was updated in 2000, with the tune completely retained. In 2002, when he switched to Finger Eleven's Slow Chemical, which again, kept the same tune. He kept this as his theme until late 2008. So that's eleven years of that riff recurring.
    • His 2008 theme, "Man on Fire", still retained elements from his original theme though, but without the guitar riff.
    • The guitar riffs however returned with the re-masking in 2011, by mixing it back into "Man on Fire".
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over
  • Red Baron: The Big Red Machine / Monster and, recently, The Devil's Favorite Demon.
  • Red Filter of Doom: His entrance, in which the lights in the arena go red. Notably, when he first debuted the lights would stay red for the entirety of his matches. Sometimes when he's backstage he's still accompanied by red lighting.
    • Since the return of the mask, his promos have all had the red lighting remain on, until he gets interrupted by someone.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to The Undertaker's Blue, which matches their Color Motif. Interestingly when he was paired with The Big Show he played a stoic Blue to Show's Boisterous Bruiser Red.
    • Seems, curiously enough, to be the Blue Oni to Daniel Bryan's Red as well. While Daniel Bryan has a Hair-Trigger Temper that can be set off at a moment's notice, Kane's anger is a bit more of a focused slow burn, which, if anything, makes him even more dangerous.
  • Redemption Demotion: He was never quite as threatening as a face. While his initial face run as Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds was still threatening and believable on some level, as time went on he progressively got defanged, to the point where he could tag team with The Hurricane and actually fit right in.
    • Although he arguably had his strongest push (prior to his 2010 title run) while he was a babyface in 2002; he held the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles simultaneously, winning the latter in a Fatal Four-Way Tornado Tag TLC match...without a partner' (The Hurricane had been attacked backstage before the match). Then the Katie Vick angle happened, and well...
  • Retcon: Kane's backstory has been rewritten multiple times. Most notable was the reveal that he was never really disfigured at all. Although this created several plot holes in and of itself, it also solved the Fridge Logic of his diminishing ring gear and Suddenly Voiced.
  • Running Gag: His abuse of Baseball great Pete Rose.
    • Rose was the special guest ring announcer for the UT-Kane match at WrestleMania XIV, which was held in Boston, MA. Rose went heel on the crowd, ripping on the Boston Red Sox, making sure to work in a Bill Buckner reference.note  Kane and Paul Bearer came down to no introduction and Kane Tombstoned Rose.
    • The following year, WM was in Philadelphia. However, before the Kane-Triple H match, Kane was attacked by the San Diego Chicken, an advertising mascot most associated with baseball's San Diego Padres. Kane unmasked the chicken, found Rose, and Tombstoned him again.
    • The following year, WM was in Anaheim, CA. Kane and Rikishi d. X-Pac and "Road Dogg" Jesse Jammes. After the match, Rose tried attacking Kane with a bat. He failed, of course. Kane chokeslammed Rose and Rikishi gave him the Stinkface, which Jim Ross compared to Rose's treatment by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.
  • Ryu and Ken: Being kayfabe brothers, Kane and The Undertaker are of the same basic build and use a lot of the same moves. This was especially true during the late 90's when Kane was pretty much Undertaker with a mask and fire fetish.
  • Slasher Smile: If he's a heel, you might be more screwed if he's wearing one of these than if he's scowling.
  • Stalker with a Crush: During the storyline where he forced Lita to marry him and give birth to his child.
  • Straight Man: To Daniel Bryan. No, seriously. Bryan is that over the top.
  • Sociopathic Hero
  • Suddenly Voiced: He debuted as mute, later was able to talk through a voice box, and later still was able to use his voice without any trouble at all.
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky
  • The Stoic/The Quiet One: He's become more like this after his re-masking in late 2011. Also when he was mute when he first debuted.
  • Tragic Monster: The character had some elements of this after his debut, as it seems he was driven to evil by his tragic childhood, his disfigurement, and perhaps most importantly, the manipulation of Paul Bearer. His inaugural face turn played this angle up even more.
  • Unnecessary Roughness: Kane seemingly loves this trope, and is usually on the giving end of said Roughness. One time, he handcuffed Shane McMahon to a ring post, trapped him against the ring using the ring steps, and electrocuted Shane's testicles with a car battery. Guys, you can whimper now.
    • He's used a rather subdued, but brutal method of incapacitating John Cena in their 2012 feud; he holds his hand over Cena's mouth and nose, suffocating him. While it doesn't look to bad to the untrained eye, for those that recognize it as an actual method of murder can find it somewhat disturbing.
      • The first time or two, they used some Hollywood FX to have John coughing up blood the first time or two it happened. Apparently that was a bit too realistic and there were enough complaints that the fake blood (but not the hold) was dropped afterwards.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Ended up in the middle of the Punk/Bryan feud because each of them has used Kane's Hair-Trigger Temper to do damage against the other. Eventually Kane caught onto it and beat the hell out of both of them, temporarily putting himself into the entire affair involving them, the WWE Championship…and AJ Lee.
  • Unrelated Brothers: While half-brothers in kayfabe, The Undertaker and Kane are not related in real life.
  • Villain Protagonist: Often times as a face.
  • Villainous Valour: He may be a heel, but he's no coward.
  • Villains Out Shopping: His Stacker 2 commercials. The aforementioned Chef Boyardee commercial probably also counts.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Kane and The Undertaker, who have both feuded and teamed up with each other at various times since 1997. He also has this kind of thing going on with The Big Show. He and Daniel Bryan are the epitome of this trope.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Particularly after Paul Bearer abandoned him to rejoin Undertaker in 1998 and attempted to have him committed to an insane asylum, Kane's character was portrayed as this. He's also done a promo about how much he loves the holidays and his family, he even said he wasn't a monster and that he's tired of being seen as an outsider, and the audience booed the entire thing, really puts his angle with Edge in a new light.
    • To be frank, they booed the whole thing because they'd just seen him declare himself the Devil's Favorite Demon while usurping Undertaker's power over the last few months, so they probably didn't believe any of it.
    • Everybody who Kane gets attached to or gets close to seems to turn on him. Chyna turned on him. X-Pac, the best friend Kane ever had and the guy who helped Kane feel 'human' turned on him. His girlfriend Tori turned on him to align himself with X-Pac. You can understand why he'd end up bitter and lashing out at a world that doesn't seem fair to him.
  • The Worf Effect
  • Would Hit a Girl:
    • Came close to attacking Sable on the March 17, 1998 Raw, after her match with Luna Vachon went to a no-contest. Sable had injured her ankle and was lying helpless on the mat until Undertaker showed up on the stage.
    • He once gave Linda McMahon a Tombstone Piledriver onto the stage.
    • And then about a couple years later, he did it to Lita.
    • Came close to doing this to Kelly Kelly during a short-lived 2008 angle, whom he thought was flirting with him. He kidnapped her and sequestered her to a back room to interrogate her as to who she was seeing, she claimed she was with The Miz, in order to protect Randy Orton, who in actually was only using her. The angle didn't go anywhere beyond a match on Raw.
    • As of 2012, not much has changed. Kane has made moves for Eve Torres on a couple of occasions, but WWE being PG, someone always showed up to rescue her at the last moment.
    • During the Attitude Era, he attacked Tori and Chyna.
  • WrestleCrap: Four inductions
    • Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS
    • The Fake Diesel and the Fake Razor Ramon
    • Katie Vick
    • The 2006 feud with fake Kane (Andrew Hankinson, aka Festus or Luke Gallows in WWE, currently DOC of Aces&8's in TNA})
  • Wrestling Monster: A self proclaimed example.
  • Xanatos Roulette: Retcon into having everything he's done up to mid-2010 an Indy Ploy version of this, all part of a revenge plan for over 10 years.
KamalaThe NinetiesKanyon
KamalaProfessional WrestlingKanyon
alternative title(s): Kane
new edits
workshops
edit page
view source
random
TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy
108674
33