10 times Kane won when he should have lost

#7 vs. Rob Van Dam (SummerSlam 2003)

Kane dives from the top rope onto RVD

2003 was a weird year for Kane. And that’s saying something because in 2002 he had a feud with Triple H that accused him of being a murderer and necrophiliac -- and he never got his comeuppance! But in 2003, Kane would be unmasked for the first time (by Triple H, no less), set Jim Ross on fire, and later in the year he… well… electrocuted Shane McMahon in a very sensitive area using a car battery.

It was also an important year for Rob Van Dam. He was wildly popular as the only good guy on the heel team of The Alliance in 2001. In 2002 he became Intercontinental Champion and had a series of good matches with the likes of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, and then looked to move up to a higher level.

He was at an all-time high (no pun intended) only to be defeated easily by Triple H (and Ric Flair with the help of a sledgehammer) to lose his shot at newly minted World Heavyweight Championship. He continued to fail to win the title that year, and in 2003 he ended up teaming with Kane (the other victim of Triple H at the beginning of the “reign of terror).

They won the Tag Championship and held the belts for a few months. After losing the titles, Kane also lost his mask to Triple H (as mentioned above) and turned on his partner and friend, becoming a heel and sparking a rivalry with RVD.

Kane won their match at SummerSlam and then beat Van Dam again on an episode of RAW the following month in a cage match, sealing his victory in their feud. Kane would go on to have a bad match with Shane McMahon at Survivor Series (the electrocution incident) and then failed a few times to win the World Heavyweight Championship as the year came to a close.

WWE spent a bunch of time making Kane look strong in the second half of 2003 specifically so he could lose to a returning “Dead Man” Undertaker at WrestleMania XX in 2004. Oh, and RVD would go on to do nothing important for almost 3 years when he defeated John Cena in the Hammerstein Ballroom to win the WWE Title before getting fired for getting busted with drugs. Talk about a waste.