Column – Leave The Past Buried

by Will Benson on 21st July 2008

 

I’m hearing a lot of hype about the possibility of Kane getting his mask back. I pose to you a simple question: WHY?!

I always hear complaints about WWE recycling storylines and not coming up with anything fresh. Heck, up until this past draft, I was one of those complainers. Before the draft, watching WWE week to week was like watching a rerun. Some days I only watched because nothing else was on in that timeslot. But now things are finally kicking up now and I love it. So why would we want to return Kane to a gimmick he used before, returning him to his suit, mask, persona, etc? You want to talk about recycling storylines, wow, it doesn’t get any more blatant than that.

Besides, the Kane character has grown over the years. Kane has changed, learned from his experiences. He is not the same person he was when he first came to the WWF, standing completely motionless, tilting his head like a curious and mindless animal, never making a sound. He’s grown more ruthless and expressive, but he’s also not a mindless animal anymore. He has a conscience and knows who the ‘bad’ people are. He’s not the Big Red Monster, he’s the Big Red Machine. To just change him right back, to undo all that has happened, to completely regress Kane, would not only make absolutely no sense even by wrestling standards, it’d be pretty stupid. Glen Jacobs (Kane’s real name) has a VERY expressive face that couldn’t be more perfect for his character. If he looked like Kofi Kingston then fine, a mask would be required for the character’s personality, but why cover Kane’s face when it plays the role so perfectly?

Kane wore that mask originally because his face was horribly disfigured and he didn’t want anybody to see. It had nothing to do with Kane wanting to look intimidating. Then they decided that the scars were only mental, even though superstars had recoiled in horror when they saw his face before. Fairly stupid, but ok, whatever, that was years ago and everyone has forgotten about it. But what zany explanation could they come up with for having him put his mask back on? They could say that he wants to get back to his old state of mind, since back then he was more feared, or something. But that wouldn’t make sense because Kane was still feared when he took his mask off, and went on to dominate countless superstars. And besides, we know what he looks like now. The mystery of his face is what made the mask so cool, and what made his motionless stance and head tilt so scary. Now that we know, and now that we have seen just how much his face really makes the character, the mask will quickly grow stale. Plus, if he goes back to his old mannerisms, it’ll make absolutely no sense. Why would he go from ruthless to motionless in the process of becoming more aggressive? But he’ll have to, because if he keeps the mannerisms he has now but wears a mask, we won’t see his face, and that really is the big selling point for Kane.

Kane is perfectly capable of turning heel and going berserk without a mask he wore ten years ago. It’d grow stale incredibly fast, regress his character, hide a face that couldn’t be more perfect for the role, and really just make no sense. If you thought watching WWE was like a rerun before the draft, wait until the pipe organ starts and Kane comes out in a mask and red spandex.

That’s my view from the Great White North. I’m Roxxi Laveaux Fanboy, may the voodoo be with you.

 

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