5 Reasons Kane is not the big red monster anymore
Can you imagine what would have happened if the Isaac Yankem, DDS character actually took off in WWE?
It’s fortunate that the company saw the light and traded in Glen Jacobs' dentist gimmick for a darker, more evil character in Kane. The move obviously paid off as Kane was one of the more evil, dark characters of the Attitude Era and enjoyed great success as both a babyface and a heel.
Fans to this day still like the man who wrestles with or without a mask, but his popularity in recent years seems to have waned a bit. While the WWE Universe still has a close affinity with The Undertaker, the same cannot be said about the “brother” of one of the most popular characters in wrestling history.
Right now, Kane, at 49 years old, is in that state of purgatory wrestlers hope and pray they don’t face at some point in their career. His current situation – in a partnership with Randy Orton against the Wyatt Family, is only a pacifier of sorts.
Its seems like he will never be part of a main event angle again, and there isn’t a lot of leeway with programs for him to show his true dominance. His days as a day-to-day star are numbered.
There isn’t much he hasn’t done in this company. Kane has won 18 total championships during his WWE career, including being a three-time world champion (having held the WWF Championship, ECW Championship, and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship once each) and a 12-time world tag team champion, having held the (World) Tag Team Championship, WCW Tag Team Championship, and WWE Tag Team Championships with various partners.
He is also a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a 2010 Money in the Bank winner. Kane is the third man to win the WWE Grand Slam. Kane also holds the all-time record of eliminations at Royal Rumble with 44 eliminations.
For now, however, it looks like his best days are behind him. Fans still like watching him in the ring, but his connection with the new generation of fans is lost. Here are a few reasons why.
#1 Timing is everything
While WWE has moved forward, Kane’s character hasn’t moved with the times.
His direction as Raw General Manager during the Authority angle proved he could still play a solid role in storylines, but the character itself is a bit boring and predictable. When he first burst onto the scene in 1997, there had never been such a destructive force in the company.
That carried over into the Attitude Era and beyond. But can you look at the last four years and say Kane has been a true monster? The last time he was any form of “beast” was his angle with Zach Ryder and eventually John Cena in 2012.