8 pictures of Kane that you probably haven’t seen before

#5 Kane has real hair?

No-one was more disappointed than me when Kane unmasked in 2003 to reveal that his hair was not actually real, but attached to the mask. This horrible retcon really annoyed me as I was certain that I had seen Kane with hair before and the next three pictures, including this one, prove it.

The picture of Kane holding his mask with beard and hair in view is a disturbing reminder that Kane was supposed to only have a scarred face. When I first saw this picture, I imagined that this was still the case, and how terrified the photographer would have been in kayfabe whilst taking the picture.

The attire gives us clues that this was taken around the year 2000 just before, or after, Kane returned to dismantle around 20 people in the ring on Raw.

I just wish there was an unedited version so we could see Glenn Jacobs in full Kane gear, with a full head of hair and without the mask concealing his identity...

#6 Kane signing autographs… unmasked?

He might not be wearing his ring attire but this is a picture of Kane without his mask on signing autographs. No burned face as we well know, and seemingly not caring that someone knew who he was and knew that he wasn’t really scarred.

I don’t know whether it’s because I was a child at the time when Kane debuted, but I’m sure that he went everywhere with a mask and was very careful not to get caught wandering around without something covering his face.

There is evidence to back my theory up too as this is the only photo I could find of Kane with hair and without a mask out in public. Either WWE has done a very good job of shutting these pictures down before they got out into the public eye, or my original theory was correct…

Either way, this is an extremely interesting find.

#7 The Undertaker exposes Kane

SummerSlam 2000 was an amazing PPV event. It really opened my eyes to what SummerSlam could be in terms of a Big Four event. The Undertaker was due to meet Kane but when they eventually squared off, no bell was sounded and it was basically an unsanctioned street fight.

I was mesmerised by this match, as The Undertaker kept going for the mask of Kane. The build-up from the commentary team of Good Ol’ Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler really helped build up the mystique around what Kane’s face might look like under the red and black leather.

After a brutal brawl, The Undertaker succeeded in taking Kane’s mask off and held it up like a trophy. No one could quite believe what they’d just seen, but everyone seemed to accept that this meant that the match was over. There was no way Kane would continue with an exposed face.

As he scurried to the back covering his face with his hand, a snap happy fan caught the perfect moment and produced this picture of Kane, unmasked and bleeding profusely from the beating that The Undertaker had just given him.

For most, this was the first indication that Kane wasn’t really scarred, though it’s interesting to note that once again, the hair was real and separate to the mask.

Props to the guy or gal that snapped the photo. Split second timing!

#1 The Caped Crusader

Ironically, the security guard kinda looks like unmasked Kane

I’ve saved the best until last. Before Kane was introduced on the big stage, he made an appearance at a house show, most likely to gauge crowd reaction to the new monstrous Superstar. He was the same in almost every way apart from the more gimmicky cape.

I think WWE decided to get rid of it for a number of reasons, the first being that it was a little too cartoonish for the beginning of the Attitude Era. WWE was at a time in their own programme development where they were trying to move away from the more outlandish gimmicks that had plagued them in the early nineties.

A burnt, scarred monster with supernatural powers was enough, without the cape.

That being said, I think the cape looks incredibly cool but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I’m not sure the crowd would have taken to Kane so well had he turned up like he’d flown there. Not to mention the fact that it probably would have got caught up in the Hell in a Cell structure in which he debuted.

It was a failed experiment by WWE.

An over-zealous fan thought it would be a brilliant idea to tug on the cape of a 6’11” behemoth as he made his way to the ring. Paul Bearer did not look impressed and Kane even less so.

Production was a lot less polished back then so fans were an awful lot closer to the Superstars. If this fan was to be anything to go by, they would have had trouble every night with this attire.

WWE rightly binned it off, but it’s a great bit of history and I’m glad we have a full-colour photo of this once in a lifetime event.