Kane is one ofWWE's longest-tenured superstars, with the gimmick having debuted in 1997 (and the man behind the gimmick, Glenn Jacobs, having worked for WWE a number of times prior to the Kane gimmick); inKayfabe, Kane is the half-brother ofThe Undertaker, with Kane's father being Undertaker's (former) managerPaul Bearer (the "Brothers of Destruction" shared the same mother). He was originally thought to be dead by Undertaker, in a fire that claimed the lives of their parents, beforePaul Bearer brought him back. Since their initial feud, Kane and Undertaker have both teamed up and feuded again several times. Kane originally wrestled in a mask, but removed it in 2003 (revealing his supposed physical scars from the fire were more like mental ones). As of late 2011, the mask is back on.

For a detailed look at Kane's in-ring career, you can check outWikipedia; Kane's kayfabe history is a little more...convoluted...so in lieu of a Wikipedia article, instead you can check outthisfivepartspecialcolumn on 411mania that does its best to cover Kane's kayfabe history (it even works Glenn Jacobs' gimmicks prior to Kane into the kayfabe) up to 2006.

• Aborted Arc: The "May 19th" / "fake Kane" angle, and also the angle in whichLita left Kane forEdge, which was discontinued and effectivelyretconned onceMatt Hardy returned and WWE could no longer keep it kayfabe.
  • The Katie Vickunrequited crush angle, the reason behind Kane's feud withTriple H in the fall of 2003. More or less, speeded up after near-universal negative criticism over several storyline elements. (Background:Triple H began, to play head games with Kane, began claiming that a homecoming queen-type teen-aged cheerleader named Katie Vick had died in a car accident ... and Kane, driving the car in which she was a passenger, deliberately crashed the car, all this because Katie had supposedly told a love-struck Kane she did not want to date him and wanted no further contact.) The plotline's downfall: A video was later shown, atTriple H's request, showing a man resembling Kane having sex with "Katie's corpse" at the mortuary (actually, "Katie" was a mannequin ... andTriple H was the rascal who put on the Kane mask and outfit). When the outcry was so great, the WWE was forced to end the angle, with HHH coming out on top of the feud at No Mercy that year.
  • His 2010 feud withThe Undertaker was promptly forgotten so that Undertaker could fightTriple H at Wrestlemania.
  • AlsoMark Henry taking him out was promptly forgotten.
    • Actually this was acknowledged several times.Mark Henry was very fearful when Kane arrived and was relieved that he attackedJohn Cena instead of him. The commentators themselves acknowledged this expressing confusion as to why Kane attacked Cena instead of Henry, as did Cena the following week in his promo. Apparently the only one who forgot about it was Kane himself.
      • Although, Kane could have during his time off, found a way to eradicate his humanity and find his true self, which he was trying to do prior to Henry's attack. When he had done that, he saw how Cena was living a lie with not embracing the hate, that came from the fans. UnlikeMark Henry that is angry all the time and does what he damn well pleases, Kane saw no need to go after him just then, and focused on Cena.
• Actor Allusion: You could take Kane's promo about how much he loves Christmas as a reference to his old role as the Christmas Creature.
  • John Cena once mentioned Kane gets uneasy during the holidays and hates trips to the dentist, a reference to two of his old gimmicks.
• Almighty Janitor: One of the best men in the business, but often jobs for other wrestlers.
• All Love Is Unrequited: An ongoing aspect to Kane's character is his desire for a female companion and family. Perhaps the first hint of emotion Kane ever showed was his concern forChyna after accidentally injuring her in 1999. Later he went so far as to blackmailLita to bear his child and marry him, then harassedKelly Kelly, and lately has been stalkingEve Torres.
  • Although it's arguable that stalking Eve wasn't out of such desire, but merely part of his ploy tobreak John Cena.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: He once forced Lita to marry him, afterMatt Hardy lost a match that stipulated she would marry Kane if Hardy lost. It later becameRape Is Love briefly until, in a case ofReal Life Writes the Plot, she dumped Kane for Edge, and it became anAborted Arc whenMatt Hardy returned.
• Arch Enemy:The Undertaker andTriple H most notably.
  • Edge is another good contender. If not for his short lived tenure, Gene Snitsky would also qualify. What makes these four stand out is that while Kane is capable of making any feud he's in personal for his enemy, these guys made it personal forKane. For reference? Lower down on the page, underUnnecessary Roughness? Electro-torturing Shane'o'Mac's testicles was in no way personal for Kane. He just did that for kicks.
  • What about Pete Rose?
• The Artifact: Like Undertaker,Kane is one of the last remaining remnants of a past era in WWE history - in Kane's case, it's the brutality of theAttitude Era and the gimmicks of the Cartoony Era of the WWF in whichThe Undertaker has his roots.
  • He became an artifact as soon as Undertaker dropped his Deadman gimmick and his kayfabe and became a biker. However he was lucky enough to eventually find his niche even after that, though to do soBadass Decay ensued.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Kane has been involved in several ill-fated romance storylines with female wrestlers (e.g., Lita) or Divas (most notably,Kelly Kelly during a short-lived 2008 angle).
  • In one instance, the girl didn't even have to exist—that being the infamous "Katie Vick." See theAborted Arc entry for the background.
• Ax Crazy
• Badass Long Hair: With the mask on...
• Bald of Evil: After unmasking in 2003.Immediately after unmasking.
• Bastard Bastard: As Undertaker's evil, resentful half-brother, Kane is this (at least when he's a heel).
• Berserk Button: Kane has started feuds over the smallest things, such as when he got spilled coffee on him byChris Jericho. May 19 qualifies as well.
• Big No: Kane's reaction toPaul Bearer's 2010 return.
  • Although, not all was as it seemed…
• Bridal Carry: Kane did this toChyna after accidentally burning her, in quite possibly the tenderest moment of his career.
• The Brute /The Big Guy
• Bunny Ears Teacher: Was once a high-school English teacher, has his degree in education, and once said he'd probably be teaching if he weren't a wrestler. Not to mention his political blogging.
• Cain and Abel /Sibling Rivalry: Kane's rivalry with Undertaker.
• Canon Discontinuity: What's an "Isaac Yankem, D.D.S?" Nor was he the Fake Diesel. Nor was he the Christmas Creature in Memphis (didn't stopJerry Lawler from making a snide reference to it once, and a more lighthearted allusion to it a few years later).
• Captain Ersatz: Prior to the Kane gimmick, Glenn Jacobs played a fake Diesel in a really drawn outTake That toWCW.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: In his prime, Glenn Jacobs had a deadlift of900 pounds.
• Cool Mask
• Composite Character: The 2012 re-masking of Kane seems to land somewhere at the midway point between his two mainera-specific personalities: theintelligence and propensity forHannibal Lectures from the unmasked Kane combined with the violence and unpredictability from his mid-90s masked incarnation.
  • His entrance musicrepresents this.
• Combat Pragmatist: Most of Kane's strikes target the throat/windpipe. Also, on more than one occasion of an opponent trying tocome off the top rope, Kane simply kicks the ropes, and whoever happens to be on the turnbuckle at the time loses their footing...and usually lands very painfully.
• Continuity Snarl: Kane's entire backstory, which eventually resulted in a novel that painstakingly attempted to reconcile all of it.
  • This failed. Spectacularly, as next tonothing' of this backstory made any sense whatsoever nor was it referenced within the WWE's on-air continuity, and contained a few snarls of it's own, such as placing Kane and Taker in the midwest, when their parents (or in this case Kane and Taker's mother, as they have different fathers in the storyline) are supposedly buried onLONG ISLAND.
    • MaybeZack Ryderdesecrated her grave as a kid or something...???
• The Corrupter: Kane is playing this role toJohn Cena. By brutalizing Cena and his friends, he is trying to force Cena to give into his rage and hatred.
  • And it seems to be working; Cena was about to clock Ryder in the face on the 2/13/12 RAWafter accidentally kissingEve Torres due to trying to save her from Kane taking her away in an ambulance.
• Costume Copycat: Of his original gear, resulting in the odd booking of Kane VS Kane at a Vengeance PPV.
  • The Undertaker has also worn the original Kane outfit in an effort to fool McMahon, and on an earlier occasion Kane fooledStone Cold Steve Austin by dressing as theMinistry-era Undertaker, but with his mask on.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He's the (not quite)Dead Little (Half-)Brother ofThe Undertaker. That says it all, I think.
• Deadpan Snarker: Whenever he does have a funny moment.
• Death From Above: The setup for Kane'schokeslam usually involves a top-rope flying clothesline. Kane isseven feet tall andover 300 pounds.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: Inverted, as - unlike Undertaker - Kane practically exists to be defeated.
• The Dragon: Kane was used this way while a member ofThe Corporation, which he had been forced to join in order to avoid being sent to a mental institution.
• Enemy Mine: Had been working mostly as a heel in late 2010-early 2011, but teamed up withThe Big Show to face the growing threat ofThe Corre.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He pulledThe Big Show off ofAlberto Del Rio as he was giving Alberto aNo-Holds-Barred Beatdown, saying "You're going to kill him!"
  • Kane also washorrified whenfire ball hitsa diva in thisclip. The thing… she wasn’t thetarget.
• Evil Laugh
• Face Palm of Doom: Does this toJohn Cena recently.
• Fingerless Gloves: Only wears one in his right hand. Recently returned to the full-fingered glove he wore when he first appeared in the company in the gimmick.
• Finishing Move: Like his half-brother, Kane's chief finishers are the Chokeslam and the Tombstone Piledriver.
• Foe Yay: WithThe Big Show ("You complete me"),Rob Van Dam,his own brother,Rey Mysterio, Jr....Kane's an intense guy, and when he's teaming with them, he has straight upHo Yay.
• The Giant: Though he subverts a lot of the tropes, namely being actually able to wrestle and having charisma, he really is a charismatic performer with a gimmick beyondSquash Match andWon't Work On Me. It is hard to come up with another 7-footer in wrestling history with equal mic skills as Kane; this may be in part because he is aGenius Bruiser in real life.
  • Really the only other Wrestler on the same level as him isThe Undertaker, and on good days,The Big Show.
• Genius Bruiser: He holds a teaching degree in real life, and has said that he'd be a teacher if he weren't a wrestler. The ability to be well-spoken allows him to be a rare 7-footer who can handily carry a long promo on his own with the best of them.
• Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: His character and the way he's booked tend to make him this. As a heel in particular, he'll often show up completely without warning and either attack everyone in sight, or go after someone specific, only making his intentions known after the fact. He started his feud withJohn Cena like this (especially glaring, asthe guy who had put him out of action was right there in the ring). And then on Smackdown 3/2/12 he started a feud withRandy Orton in the exact same way.
• Hannibal Lecture: His new promo after returning with his mask.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: Must be nearing the record of flipping between face and heel in a career, if he doesn't hold it already. It's to the point where he switches multiple times a year, often without even building to it.
  • This has reached ludicrous levels as of March 2011, he did nothing to turn face... but gets cheered by the fans because not only is he teaming withThe Big Show, but he is fightingThe Corre.
  • The 7/22/11SmackDown pretty much sums it up. Before his Street Fight withRandy Orton, Kane cuts a promo talking about how he is disturbed by his showing glimpses of humanity in the past few months and that he was going to exorcise it out of him against Orton. Sounds like a heel turn, right? Well, after Orton triumphs in a half-hour-long Street Fight, Kane offers his hand out of respect. Surely, Kane's gonna use the opportunity to get a post-match drop on Orton, right? Nope, he actually shakes his hand in a sportsmanlike manner with no turn to be found, before being ambushed byMark Henry, another man familiar with the face/heel door.
• Heroic Sociopath
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: His feud withJohn Cena is centered around him teaching Cena this lesson, and how he should come to embraceThe Power of Hate.
• Iron Butt Monkey: He can dish out and take grievous amounts of punishment. Throughout his career, he's been written into some of the worst angles in recent WWE history. Katie Vick comes to mind.
• Humanity Is Infectious: Felt he became too human in 2011 and thought by beatingRandy Orton, he would exorcise his humanity. Only he lost to Orton and then was taken out byMark Henry for a number of months. He now wants a rematch with Orton atthe grandest stage of them all to get a closure on that particular subject.
• I Have No Son:Paul Bearer has disowned Kane for the most part, siding against him atWrestlemania XX; when he returned in September 2010 prior toHell in a Cell, he sided with Undertaker again.This, however, did not last. Maybe he sees Kane as his son after all.

Son? You're no son of mine!

• Implacable Man
• Kill It with Fire: The Inferno match, Kane's signature match where the only way to beat your opponent is to set them on fire.
  • Either he tried to do this to someone, or someone tried to do it tohim in his original backstory.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Has red motifs. If that's not enough, look at his "Big"Red Barons below.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In most backstage skits, the wrestlers will never acknowledge that the camera man is right in front of them filming them, even if they're discussing top secret plans. Kane is the exception, usually giving a knowing glare to the camera at the end of the skits.
  • He now does most of his promos without an interviewer, backstage in a dark, moodily-lit area and talking directly to the audience.
• Lightning Bruiser: Especially when you compare to othergiants, Kane has a top rope move, has done an enzuigiri, and has an awesome ring exit where he uses the ropes to flip himself over, pretty impressive for such a big guy, he's even added a low angle dropkick, to his repertoire. Keep in mind all of that is in his arsenal at age 44, being in terrific shape for a wrestler that size and that age (compared toThe Undertaker, who at that point couldn't even work a half-time schedule, while Kane still works a full year-round load).
  • Not to mention the time he performed a Frankensteiner on Albert.
    • Hurri-Kane-rana?
• Made of Iron
• Malevolent Masked Man: Zigzagged this trope throughout his career. Debuted playing it straight, averted it for a while, and now plays it straight once again.
• Manly Tears: After Edge abductedPaul Bearer, and Kane searched backstage for him in vain.Poor guy.
• Man On Fire: Kane doesn't have the best win/loss record when it comes to Inferno Matches.
  • To be fair, that's mainly because he's the only person besidesThe Undertaker (who defeated Kane both times) who's actually been in more than one of them.
  • He also used to wearsleeves.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Kane is usually regarded as one of these. Fan interaction with him is considered the holy grail of meeting professional wrestlers amongsmarks.
• Military Brat
• Mirror Match: AtVengeance 2006 against an impostor who dressed like the masked Kane (the impostor later showed up in WWE as Festus, who is now Luke Gallows). It became anAborted Arc.
• Mismatched Eyes
• Motive Rant: Gave one after burying Undertaker alive in 2003, and putting Undertaker in a vegetative state in 2010. Though they're considered two of his best promos.
• Name of Cain
• Oh Crap: When that big stage pyro goes off, Kane's coming to the ring - and whenever this happens, he is usuallynot a happy man.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Kane's instrumental themes all started with this.
• Omnicidal Maniac: If Kane's a heel and comes down to the ring to kick some ass, never,ever assume that you're safe because you're a heel like him.You will regret it.
• One of Us: Is regarded as one of the biggest gamers on the WWE roster. Stevie Richards said that during his time he roomed with Kane on the road, Kane would bring his XBOX to every hotel he was at. He even modded a Civil War FPS he was playing to make his avatardon the Kane costume.
• Our Demons Are Different: They're big sadistic monsters that are related to zombies.
  • A book put out years ago by George Napolitano claims Undertaker was half humand and half vampire. So on this oneYour Mileage May Vary on whether or not Kane's related to a Zombie or a Dhampir.
• Out of the Inferno: Kane was alleged to have started - and survived - the funeral home fire that killed his and Undertaker's parents, though this resulted in his face being radically scarred (or so he thought). He also managed to survive getting set on fire in the first-ever Inferno Match.
• Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: He was originally intended to have this, being scarred by the fire that killed his family, but the makeup didn't work out when the mask came off, so now he just has the psychological ones.
• Playing with Fire: His ring pyro isamazing. Not only does half the arena light up in flames during the initial entrance, he lights up the four turnbuckles on the ring, too.
• Popularity Power: Despite not being as popular as Undertaker, Kane remains respected amongst fans, likely due in part to his association with Undertaker (and, in some circles, because of his "company man" image - in that he takes the crappiest angles and runs with them, without complaint, for the good of WWE).
  • Also due to the fact that it's hard to find a nicer wrestler outside the ring, and that he does not seem to have an ego in an ego-centric business. LikeShawn Michaels, he's stated he preferred the world title be held by younger guys who would carry the company in the future than a veteran like himself, who was already firmly entrenched in the company and fanbase (although his loyalty and popularity was finally rewarded with a world title run in the second half of 2010).
  • When Kane cashed in the Money In The Bank briefcase against World Champion Rey Mysterio(one of the most popular wrestlers on the roster), he got a largely positive response to his title win. It was Kane's first major title win since his one-day WWE Title reign in1998 (twelve years earlier).
• The Power of Hate: His new gimmick in late 2011
• Put on a Bus: ByMark Henry.
  • The Bus Came Back:Wearinga mask.
• Quizzical Tilt: Kane commonly did this while mute and wearing a mask.
• Recurring Riff: In '97, he first appeared as Kane withthis theme. Said theme wasupdated in 2000, with the tune completely retained. In 2002, when he switched toFinger Eleven's Slow Chemical, which again, kept the same tune. He kept this as his theme until late 2008. So that'seleven years of that riff recurring.
  • His 2008 theme, "Man on Fire", still retained elements from his original theme though, but without the guitar riff.
  • The guitar riffs however returned with the re-masking in 2011, bymixing it back into "Man on Fire".
• Red and Black and Evil All Over
• Red Baron:The Big Red Machine / Monster and, recently, The Devil's Favorite Demon.
• Redemption Demotion: He was never quite as threatening as a face. While his initial face run asWoobie, Destroyer of Worlds was still threatening and believable on some level, as time went onIt Got Worse, to the point where he could tag team with The Hurricane and actually fit right in.
  • Although he arguably had his strongest push (prior to his 2010 title run) while he was a babyface in 2002; he held the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles simultaneously, winning the latter in a Fatal Four-Way Tornado Tag TLC match...without a partner' (The Hurricane had been attacked backstage before the match). Then the Katie Vick angle happened, and well...
• Red Filter of Doom: His entrance, in which the lights in the arena go red. Notably, when he first debuted the lights would stay red for the entirety of his matches. Sometimes when he's backstage he's still accompanied by red lighting.
  • Since the return of the mask, his promos have all had the red lighting remain on, until he gets interrupted by someone.
• Ryu and Ken: Being kayfabe brothers, Kane andThe Undertaker are of the same basic build and use a lot of the same moves. This was especially true during the late 90's when Kane was pretty much Undertaker with a mask and fire fetish.
• Slasher Smile: If he's a heel, you might bemore screwed if he's wearing one of these than if he's scowling.
• Stalker with a Crush: During the storyline where he forcedLita to marry him and give birth to his child.
  • Again withKelly Kelly, as aface, some how (mainly because the guy she was really interested in wasRandy Orton, though this became anAborted Arc.
• Suddenly Voiced: He debuted as mute, later was able to talk through a voice box, and later still was able to use his voice without any trouble at all.
• Tall, Dark and Snarky
• Took a Level In Dumbass /Plot Induced Stupidity: One angle he's revealing a massiveIndy PloyXanatos Roulette to wait for weakness in his big brother so he can take advantage and destroy him, ending up as World Heavyweight Champion with Undertaker buried alive. The next he's faced withEdge kidnapping his father for a couple months, has Teddy Long standing before him at least 2-3 times, and doesn't even take enough time out of scrambling around in desperation toforce Teddy to make Edge give Paul back by threatening to walk with the title.
  • Would you really expect somebody like Kane to do that, though?
  • If he could mastermind taking the demonic seat of power fromThe Undertaker, yes. And even if he didn't do that, there's still other options. Like raiding the home of then-injuredChristian and threatening to destroy him.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Kane seemingly loves this trope, and is usually on the giving end of said Roughness. One time, he handcuffedShane McMahon to a ring post, trapped him against the ring using the ring steps, andelectrocuted Shane's testicles with a car battery.Guys, you can whimper now.
  • He's used a rather subdued, but brutal method of incapacitatingJohn Cena in their 2012 feud; he holds his hand over Cena's mouth and nose, suffocating him. While it doesn't look to bad to the untrained eye, for those that recognize it as anactual method of murder can find it somewhat disturbing.
    • The first time or two, they used some Hollywood FX to have Johncoughing up blood the first time or two it happened. Apparently that was a bit too realistic and there were enough complaints that the fake blood (but not the hold) was dropped afterwards.
• Unwitting Pawn: Ended up in the middle of thePunk/Bryan feud because each of them has used Kane'sHair-Trigger Temper to do damage against the other. Eventually Kane caught onto it and beat the hell out ofboth of them.
• Unrelated Brothers: While half-brothers in kayfabe,The Undertaker and Kane are not related in real life.
• Villains Out Shopping:His Stacker 2 commercials. The aforementioned Chef Boyardee commercial probably also counts.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Kane andThe Undertaker, who have both feuded and teamed up with each other at various times since 1997.
  • He also has this kind of thing going on withThe Big Show.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Particularly afterPaul Bearer abandoned him to rejoin Undertaker in 1998 and attempted to have him committed to an insane assylum, Kane's character was portrayed as this. He's also done a promo about how much he loves the holidays and his family, he even said he wasn't a monster and that he's tired of being seen as an outsider, and the audience booed the entire thing, really puts his angle withEdge in a new light.
  • To be frank, they booed the whole thing because they'd just seen him declare himselfthe Devil's Favorite Demon while usurping Undertaker's power over the last few months, so they probably didn't believe any of it.
• The Worf Effect
• Would Hit a Girl: He once gave Linda McMahon a Tombstone Piledriver onto the stage.
  • And then about a couple years later, he did it to Lita.
  • Came close to doing this toKelly Kelly during a short-lived 2008 angle, whom he thought was flirting with him. He kidnapped her and sequestered her to a back room to interrogate her as to who she was seeing, she claimed she was withThe Miz, in order to protectRandy Orton, who in actually was only using her. The angle didn't go anywhere beyond a match onRaw.
  • As of 2012, not much has changed. Kane has made moves forEve Torres on a couple of occasions, but WWE beingPG, someone always showed up to rescue her at the last moment.
  • During theAttitude Era, he attacked Tori andChyna.
• Xanatos Roulette: Retcon into having everything he's done up to mid-2010 anIndy Ploy version of this, all part of a revenge plan for over 10 years. Whether this makes him aMagnificent Bastard or just anAss Pull,Your Mileage May Vary.

• Creator
• The Nineties
• Professional Wrestling
• Kane
• Wrestling