thegame
June 3rd, 2003, 12:59:30 PM
Back at it again WWE fans. As always I'd love some feedback on this topic or anything related.
Through Hell, Fire and Brimstone...
Catch the June 2nd edtion of RAW on TNN? If you did then you probably saw a very poinent interview done by Stone Cold Steve Austin in the ring with Kane, one half of the current World Tag Team Champions. In this tirade, Austin challenged the former WWF Champion to choke-slam the him. Austin went on to call out Kane, questioning if "the fire still burns" as Kane's Titantron says. Austin brought up the match between Kane and himself back in 1998 at the King of the Ring where Kane defeated Austin in a first blood match to become WWF Champion. Austin did all he could to get Kane to snap on him, but in the end Austin could evoke no response from the Big Red Machine and then proceeded to give Kane the Stone Cold Stunner.
This whole act, of course, was a work and should be taken in such a context. What is, however, no work at all is the true state of Kane's character. Anyone who has been a fan of the WWF/E since 1997 has known of Kane. His initial rivalry with the Undertaker, leading up to several brutal matches including an Inferno match and a match at Wrestlemania XIV, was one of the most heated and entertaining rivalries in the company's history. In the years that followed, Kane was a former WWF Champion, again at odds with the Undertaker, Mankind, Austin, DX, The Corporation and Chris Jericho in heated fueds that showcased his larger than life character.
In recent years, however, Kane has gone from being the Big Red Machine to the Little Red Joke. His last gasp at greatness came during the 2001 campaign where he and the Undertaker formed the "Brothers of Destruction", one of the most popular and fiercest tag teams in recent memory. After the end of that partnership, Kane was injured and missed much of 2002, after losing a good match to Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania X8 in Toronto. Upon Kane's return, he had new music, a much less impressive physique, and much less credibility as a force to be reckoned with. His two month fued with HHH for the World Heavyweight Championship made Kane out to be a complete joke, as a horribly concieved nechrophelia angle was played out to the obvious destruction of Kane as a main event draw. Unable to get over as a World Champion caliber star as a face, Kane jobbed out his chances to win the gold and has since faded into mediocraty. Currently, he is partnered with RVD and is a wholly uninteresting talent on the mic, where he has completely lost his old inability to speak in favor of a less than comidic routine of saying "freaks are cool" and other ill-fitting catch phrases. Perhaps this challange by Stone Cold is a sign that Kane's character may soon return to his old ways, say in the wake of the eventual loss of the tag team gold (probably to La Resistance at Badd Blodd), but we must wait and see.
Kane's character woes are only a symptom, however, of a more major problem in the WWE. Poor character management of guys like Kane, Brock Lesnar, RVD, Jericho, Goldust, Chris Benoit, Rhyno and even Kurt Angle have made both shows much less interesting. Where Brock Lesnar was once shown as a fierce wrecking machine, he is now all smiles, dancing around on his way to the ring each week. Rhyno and Chris Benoit, both former heels who enjoyed major success in that form have now become facelss, uninteresting jokes who have faded to the midcard on a show desperate for main event talent. RVD, one of the sport's most entertaining stars, works each week to the delight of the RAW crowd, but is never put over as a main event guy on a show that is desperate for athleticism and flair in it's top spot. The list goes on, but at the top of it is still Kane. Once thought to be the next big star of the company, (See JR's comments at Wrestlemania X7 during Kane's entrance) Kane is now a complete nobody. In an era where half of the WWE's talent is without reliable main event power (SMACKDOWN!) Kane would be a perfect fit as a viable heel and main event leader were he still a credible force, but instead is caught in a career black whole that many wrestlers never get out from. But Kane, if you want to see an example of a guy who did escape this same problem, just ask Steve Austin himself, for he is the best example of a guy who was once a joke but is now an ICON. It could be you, too, Kane.
But as always, the ball is in the court of Vince, Stephanie, and the creative control staff at WWE.
I am thegame
Through Hell, Fire and Brimstone...
Catch the June 2nd edtion of RAW on TNN? If you did then you probably saw a very poinent interview done by Stone Cold Steve Austin in the ring with Kane, one half of the current World Tag Team Champions. In this tirade, Austin challenged the former WWF Champion to choke-slam the him. Austin went on to call out Kane, questioning if "the fire still burns" as Kane's Titantron says. Austin brought up the match between Kane and himself back in 1998 at the King of the Ring where Kane defeated Austin in a first blood match to become WWF Champion. Austin did all he could to get Kane to snap on him, but in the end Austin could evoke no response from the Big Red Machine and then proceeded to give Kane the Stone Cold Stunner.
This whole act, of course, was a work and should be taken in such a context. What is, however, no work at all is the true state of Kane's character. Anyone who has been a fan of the WWF/E since 1997 has known of Kane. His initial rivalry with the Undertaker, leading up to several brutal matches including an Inferno match and a match at Wrestlemania XIV, was one of the most heated and entertaining rivalries in the company's history. In the years that followed, Kane was a former WWF Champion, again at odds with the Undertaker, Mankind, Austin, DX, The Corporation and Chris Jericho in heated fueds that showcased his larger than life character.
In recent years, however, Kane has gone from being the Big Red Machine to the Little Red Joke. His last gasp at greatness came during the 2001 campaign where he and the Undertaker formed the "Brothers of Destruction", one of the most popular and fiercest tag teams in recent memory. After the end of that partnership, Kane was injured and missed much of 2002, after losing a good match to Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania X8 in Toronto. Upon Kane's return, he had new music, a much less impressive physique, and much less credibility as a force to be reckoned with. His two month fued with HHH for the World Heavyweight Championship made Kane out to be a complete joke, as a horribly concieved nechrophelia angle was played out to the obvious destruction of Kane as a main event draw. Unable to get over as a World Champion caliber star as a face, Kane jobbed out his chances to win the gold and has since faded into mediocraty. Currently, he is partnered with RVD and is a wholly uninteresting talent on the mic, where he has completely lost his old inability to speak in favor of a less than comidic routine of saying "freaks are cool" and other ill-fitting catch phrases. Perhaps this challange by Stone Cold is a sign that Kane's character may soon return to his old ways, say in the wake of the eventual loss of the tag team gold (probably to La Resistance at Badd Blodd), but we must wait and see.
Kane's character woes are only a symptom, however, of a more major problem in the WWE. Poor character management of guys like Kane, Brock Lesnar, RVD, Jericho, Goldust, Chris Benoit, Rhyno and even Kurt Angle have made both shows much less interesting. Where Brock Lesnar was once shown as a fierce wrecking machine, he is now all smiles, dancing around on his way to the ring each week. Rhyno and Chris Benoit, both former heels who enjoyed major success in that form have now become facelss, uninteresting jokes who have faded to the midcard on a show desperate for main event talent. RVD, one of the sport's most entertaining stars, works each week to the delight of the RAW crowd, but is never put over as a main event guy on a show that is desperate for athleticism and flair in it's top spot. The list goes on, but at the top of it is still Kane. Once thought to be the next big star of the company, (See JR's comments at Wrestlemania X7 during Kane's entrance) Kane is now a complete nobody. In an era where half of the WWE's talent is without reliable main event power (SMACKDOWN!) Kane would be a perfect fit as a viable heel and main event leader were he still a credible force, but instead is caught in a career black whole that many wrestlers never get out from. But Kane, if you want to see an example of a guy who did escape this same problem, just ask Steve Austin himself, for he is the best example of a guy who was once a joke but is now an ICON. It could be you, too, Kane.
But as always, the ball is in the court of Vince, Stephanie, and the creative control staff at WWE.
I am thegame