I was asked by a reader, who goes by the moniker of Beersy, about what I think the WWE can do with Kane to make him relevant again. I have heard from friends and I have read columns that talk about how great Kane really is and that the WWE should be doing something big with him.
And I agree.
The problem with today's WWE is that if you are not holding a title, or if you are not the number one contender for the title (or if you are not DX), than your status is irrelevant.
When I started watching wrestling 25 years ago, there were three titles: The WWE World Heavyweight, the Intercontinental, and the Tag Team Championships. Every now and then the Women's and yes, even the Lightheavyweight Championship would pop up. Yet, there were plenty of wrestlers who still had Main Event and Relevant status when no title was involved.
Kane could be one of those wrestlers that could be involved in a program without any championship involvement. His character doesn't need a title to be relevant. But he does need the right storyline. Involving him in a storyline with The Great Khali did nothing for him or even Khali. Yet Kane being involved in the World Title Triple Threat Match without actually being physically involved in the match could do wonders for him.
It would be nice to see Kane turn babyface right now and have him feud one-on-one with Chris Jericho. The problem is, Jericho is involved in two separate, yet connected storylines already. First, he is a co-owner of the Unified Tag Team Championship. Second, he is involved with the Undertaker and his tag partner in a World Title Match at Survivor Series. Yet somehow, he is also involved with a storyline with Kane, which I can only guess will lead to a Tag Team Titles Match that involves JeriShow vs the Brothers of Destruction (following a simple storyline progression). Of course, WWE is not known to follow logical storyline progression, and usually goes off on a tangent.
It would be too complicated to get Kane and Jericho involved in a one-on-one storyline right now. Jericho would have to drop the Tag Team Titles, then feud with The Big Show for at least one PPV. Then he has a built in feud with Edge waiting for him when Edge returns, so Jericho would need a mini-feud in between. Jericho vs Kane is much bigger than a mini-feud.
So, how would I handle Kane? Bring back the masked Kane.
But I would not have the Glenn Jacobs' Kane (the current Kane) go back into a mask, I would have someone else portray the Masked Kane to mess with Kane's head. You say this has already been done with the Undertaker years ago? Okay, sure, but give the task to someone new this time. But this is how I would have it unfold:
Place Kane in a long-time feud with CM Punk. Have both Kane and Punk involved in the World Title Elimination Chamber Match at the WWE's February PPV, Elimination Chamber. Place Kane and Punk in the ring at the same time during the match, but then have a masked Kane come out of nowhere to attack Kane.
Then for several weeks, every time Kane goes to destroy CM Punk in the ring, the Masked Kane appears, causing Punk to pull off a victory (thus legitimizing Punk's Main Event status, which he should rightlfully hold). Then have a final match between Punk and Kane at Wrestle Mania 26 in some sort of a stipulation match (maybe a #1 contender match) and have Kane lose because of the Masked Kane.
On the very next Smackdown, CM Punk reveals that the Masked Kane to be Festus. Recent reports have suggested that Festus is sitting at home and could be involved in a storyline where he comes in as Punk's bodyguard. Storyline would have it that Festus was under the stupor of drugs and now he is clean and normal and owes his new life to CM Punk making him clean.
Now the story has come full circle. Kane can now be involved with a series of matches with Festus through WWE's May PPV, Extreme Rules. Here, they could end their feud in a Casket Match, Buried Alive Match, or Inferno Match. Now Kane has been involved in PPV-level, non-title, legitimate matches for six months.
Kane could then be drafted or traded to Raw or ECW for more, new feuds, or stay on Smackdown and become the Big Red Menace again, causing havoc to Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison, or he could finally start a new feud with Chris Jericho, which they could take to Summer Slam.
I do not think Kane needs a manager, and I do not think Kane needs to be Masked Kane again. He just needs a storyline that makes sense for his character, while putting over young guys. The storyline could come full circle again by having Kane feud for the World Title at Survivor Series 2010 with a match against the would be World Champion (in my book) at the time, CM Punk.
Now, I understand that there was a Masked Kane storyline where Festus was in the mask, but that storyline was dropped. And, according to WWE creative, we are supposed to forget anything that happened over 6 months ago. Hahaha. But again, the storyline could come full circle since they decided to drop the story.
So there you have. I could be a creative team member for the WWE! After having studied the wrestling industry for 25 years (since the age of 5), I think I have picked up a thing or two.
So, what do you think?
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for future postings, please email me at bobbyl.nodq@gmail.com. I am thinking about doing a Q&A Session once a week, so send me any questions you might have. And don't forget to check out NoDQ.com for all of your wrestling news, columns, and forums.
Bobby L
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