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

Kane, real name Glenn Jacobs, has been with the WWE for 20 years now. He made his debut in 1997 at In Your House: Badd Blood by impressively ripping the door off the Hell in a Cell structure. His persona has undergone multiple changes since then.

He has made it his life’s work to terrorise the roster for his entire tenure and he’s been extremely adept at doing so. We’ve seen him with a mask, without a mask, with a towel, with championships, on fire, you name it.

An imposing figure, whether he’s posing for a photo or when he is in action in the ring, Kane is an impressive athlete and good pictures of him are really not hard to find. WWE’s cameras have captured a lot of pictures of the Big Red Machine over the years and you’ve probably seen quite a lot of them.

But, I have discovered 8 photos that you’ve probably never seen before. There are a few hidden gems in here including candid pictures of the Devil’s favourite Demon both masked and unmasked. You will see Kane as you’ve never seen him before.

So without further ado, sit back, relax and enjoy the trip down memory lane! or not, as the case may be!

#1 WWF Champion

At King of the Ring 1998, Kane became WWF Champion by beating Stone Cold Steve Austin in a first blood match. It was a match that wasn’t without controversy as Mankind and The Undertaker both interfered, despite competing earlier in the night in the infamous Hell in a Cell match.

The Undertaker levelled Austin with a chair accidentally and the Rattlesnake was busted wide open.

The referee did not see the interference and awarded Kane the win and the WWF Championship. Even if the referee would have seen that The Undertaker busted Austin open, I’m not sure there wasn’t anything he could have done about it as there are no disqualifications in a first blood match.

Kane would only hold on to the top title for a day as he would lose it back to Stone Cold Steve Austin the next night on Raw.

Due to Kane’s reign lasting less than 24 hours, there aren’t many pictures of the Devil’s favourite Demon with the Championship in hand and most of them are just Kane on his own or with Paul Bearer, but I stumbled upon this rare little beauty of Kane, Mankind and Paul Bearer all posing with the title.

The quality isn’t great but the rarity makes up for it. Father, son and the deranged maniac.

#2 Kane outside

I don’t know a great deal about the background behind this photo but you have to admit that it’s awfully strange to see Kane swanning about outside without a care in the world.

When I was growing up and didn’t know any better, I always wondered how Kane would look amongst the general public. Going about his daily business with a mask to cover his scars. This is the closest I’ll probably come to seeing what that looks like.

I have found no other photo like it and it’s strange to see the suit and mask without the atmosphere created by the lighting in the arena, or the pyrotechnics that add that an otherworldly dimension to his character.

Normal Kane. Very strange.

#3 Kane is stitched up

I have a feeling Kane is about to sit up...

This picture is taken straight from WWE.com, though it lacks a description so I am unsure as to when or why Kane would have needed stitching up. However, judging from the attire, one would have to assume that it is taken from around 1998.

It would make a lot of sense if this picture actually followed the 1998 King of the Ring, but based on the hair, I am not 100% sure I am right. If any of you eagle-eyed readers out there have any more clues on when this rare photo might have been taken then I’m all ears!

One thing this picture does go to show is that even if you wear a leather mask, in the WWE, injuries can still occur. Kane must have taken one mighty knock to the head, just above the protection of the mask, to incur such a horrific gash on his forehead.

You know things are bad when WWE are forced to use the black and white filter.

Just for the insatiably curious among you, I found a colour photo, which I’ll post below!

#4 The strongest link

Kane appeared on The Weakest link back in the early 2000s. Not only did he make an appearance, but he actually went on to defeat Bubba Ray Dudley in the final round to become the strongest link!

Kane went up against possibly the only person that is scarier than he is, Anne Robinson, and came out on top! He saw off some stiff competition, although I think if I’d have been on the same show as he was, I would have avoided voting him off for fear of what he might do to me.

He did set Jim Ross on fire after all…

It’s a good job Kane had learnt how to talk by this point, to be honest with you, or I don’t think he’d have gotten very far. However, I think the episode would have been more interesting if he’d have had to use his voice box throughout.

I still find it weird that he wore his wrestling attire while everyone else was in normal clothes. Maybe he wore it just in case Anne deserved a chokeslam. Who knows?

The video of his triumphant win is below. Enjoy.

#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.

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Edited by Staff Editor