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" The Gravel Pit "
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Wrestling
The Dames Explains All: Kane's Story Arc Makes SENSE
Posted by The Dames on Jul 16, 2003, 00:03
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This past Monday on Raw, Kane�s character changed forever during his sit down interview with Jim Ross. It had nothing to do with the hilariously bad �burning� of J.R., but with the revelation that Kane has never been truly disfigured and everything is all in his mind. This set off tons of conversation all over the net about the character of Kane and the (lack of) continuity in respect to his overall story arc.
Now, occasionally on the TSM Forums, as a means of entertaining myself and the masses, I take some time to try and answer the most absurd questions regarding plot holes and try to make some sort of macabre sense of them.
The Kane storyline seems PERFECT for this�however, when I took the time to think about it, I realized that even with all of the tidbits of seemingly contradictory information that we�ve learned about Kane and The Undertaker, if we simply fill in the pieces�it CAN make sense.
Hence, the inaugural edition of �Dames Explains All�, where I�ll try to make as much sense of this angle as possible, give it a semi-decent explanation and possibly make it a successful angle.
Hey, if it bombs�I�ll just stick to reviews.
The following is based on facts that we�ve learned from WWE TV as well as some tidbits that I�ve added for dramatic effect to add to the storyline.
So let�s think about this...
Many, many moons ago, The Undertaker set his parents funeral parlor on fire accidentally, killing them and burning his little brother Kane. Paul Bearer, a mortician working there who was having an affair with The Undertakers mother and fathered Kane, finds his son and sees that he's burned and psychologically screwed in the head. Since Bearer didn�t want the affair to be revealed publicly, especially with the mistress now deceased, he allowed the world to believe that Kane was indeed deceased as well and secretly took him under his own care. He�s privately taken to the doctors, who fix him up physically with various skin grafts, but mentally, the kid is broken. Paul Bearer realizes this and begins to manipulate Kane's mind, hiding him and keeping him a secret for years, telling him that he's ugly and disfigured to be in total control of his son. He gives Kane a mask to wear and tells him that no one loves him except for Paul himself, since he is his real father and no one will accept him because he was a burned freak.
He listened to Paul because to him, he was someone that he knew, someone that he trusted and all that Kane had left...but Paul had other intentions for little Kane.
Kane did want to see the real world, however, and would sneak out late at night to meet up with some people who were friendly to him, although apprehensive because of his enormous size and of course, the mask. One of them being Katie Vick, a girl he liked, but she wasn't interested in him...because he was so closed and wouldn't reveal his true face to her. He did love her though as she treated him like a regular human being and he suffered immensely when she was killed, accidentally at his hands. After finding out that he was responsible for Katie's death, his "friends" turned on him, calling him an idiot, a monster and a freak, reinforcing all of his old feelings. With his first real interaction with other people an unmitigated failure, he rejects all desire to sneak out at night and interact with �normal� humans.
During this time period, Paul Bearer was in the then WWF with Kane�s brother, The Undertaker and lead him to greatness. But eventually, they split up and Paul Bearer vows revenge. He enlists the help of Mankind and others and eventually tosses a fireball at The Undertaker. Several weeks later, The Undertaker tosses a fireball at Paul Bearer in retaliation. Paul then vows to bring his long lost brother Kane out of seclusion, who he burned and mutilated years ago and for all intents and purposes, he believed to be dead for quite some time. Kane, who is so mentally screwed up at this point, refuses to speak at all without the help of a voice box that he THINKS he needs and only listens to Paul...and when Paul reveals to his son that his brother The Undertaker was the one responsible for the fire, he goes after him.
They battle several times, including a match at Wrestlemania 14 and Undertaker wins. The feud is far from over, however and the battle rages on for months. Eventually, The Undertaker is able to get through to his younger brother and Kane realizes Paul Bearer is merely using him as a puppet and joins his brother, who he now can see didn't mean to start that fire and still loves him.
He begins to open up more and allows people into his life, such as X-Pac and Tori, who eventually told him that he didn�t need a voice box to speak...but closes up again after they betray him and in his fragile mind, he believes it is because he's a burned freak.
Once again, he's all alone and believes that he's physically scarred. All these years, he's never looked in the mirror...afraid of the image that will come back at him and has always tried to keep his face hidden, even going so far as to throw dirt and gunk on it to conceal it from himself, which is why everyone such as DX and Jim Ross were scared of his �real� face when he was unmasked. Through the strands of the hair that we now realize was a wig, the dirt and grime on his face, from a distance appears to look like charred skin.
Fast forward to now...he's been unmasked. He believes that he's a hideous, ugly monster and he remembers everyone that's made fun of him, including X-Pac and Tori. He snaps at the slightest thought that someone will be making fun on him. What he doesn't realize is that he's been lied to all this time by Paul Bearer.
He still doesn�t realize this at press time, going as far as lighting Jim Ross on fire this past Monday.
Now, a part of me believes that if written well, this storyline can really go far and make Kane a true sympathetic babyface if they truly want to go that route.
I know what you�re thinking. What in the WORLD could they possibly do to salvage this?
Now, I know how you guys can be�read the whole thing before you judge it.
Where is The Undertaker in all of this? You figure that he would have been on the first plane back to see Kane once he was unmasked. Let�s forgive that for now.
Let�s say that The Undertaker asks Stephanie McMahon for some time off for personal reasons and shows up on Raw to help his brother...flabbergasted at the realization that his brother isn't really burned. Kane, with all of his emotions at a boiling point at that moment then attacks his brother and challenges him to some sort of No DQ, Hardcore match at SummerSlam in a non-sanctioned match.
SummerSlam comes and during their match, Kane is destroying Taker left and right, putting Kane over as a monster. They brawl around the arena, brawl in the back, anything goes, hitting each other with various weapons. I never said the match would be any good....but it IS leading somewhere.
It doesn�t really matter who wins the match, although it would be ideal if Kane were to be the decisive victor, which I don�t believe has happened yet. After the match is where things get interesting.
After the match, Kane gets a blowtorch and goes to use it, but being that they are in a Hardcore match, The Undertaker reaches under the ring and grabs a mirror nearby...and holds it up to Kane's face.
He sees his face for the first time in years and drops the torch. He starts to realize that it's all been a lie and breaks down crying as Taker continually says �You�re Normal! You�re Normal!�. Taker puts his arms around him, but Kane refuses to be calmed down. Taker persists until Kane can't control his weeping anymore and collapses to the floor. Taker hugs him and they go to the back... Kane goes away for about a month to undergo massive psychiatric counseling with the help of his brother, The Undertaker.
This allows Kane to grow out his hair and change his facial appearance in time for his return and gives the Undertaker some more time to recover from any nagging injuries that he may be facing at the time.
I�d like some feedback about this part right here. How would YOU bring Kane back from the psychiatric counseling? In the mean time, this is my proposed scenario.
During the absence of both men, Paul Bearer (who isn�t doing anything right now) returns to the WWE and says that he will soon tell his side of the story, in heelish fashion of course. They build it up for about two weeks before Bearer comes down to the ring towards the end of the show and spews out some excuses and curses The Undertaker�s name for helping Kane. Kane makes his return to WWE, looking normal with a new video package and music, but still retaining some semblance of his former character with fire as his pyro, etc. Paul Bearer starts to try and manipulate him again mentally, but Kane snaps and chokeslams him to (hopefully) a big pop. Paul Bearer is in just for a few shows to bring some closure to this situation.
Now, I�m sure that some of you out there are thinking to yourself��How will this draw money?!?� (I'm looking at YOU, Ravishing Rick Rudo)
Well, by going through all this and finally chokeslamming Paul Bearer, he�ll be solidified as a babyface. Even Jim Ross, who was burned this past week on Raw by Kane, would probably cheer him on, seeing as how J.R. continually sang the praises of Triple H (as a babyface) although he broke his arm in �99 and STILL kisses Austin�s ass on camera, despite being beaten to a bloody pump by Stone Cold in Oklahoma.
The following week, he�d come to the ring and cut a promo, thanking the fans for their support during this very difficult time as well as The Undertaker. Undertaker then goes back to SD to do whatever it is he�s going to do. Kane continues his promo and says that for the past few years, the only thing he�s ever been any good at was professional wrestling�so he�s decided that he�s going to stay in the company and move up the ranks until he�s the World Heavyweight Champion.
This brings out Triple H (let�s face it�he�ll STILL be champ) and he begins to cut a promo on Kane about how he�ll never be the World Champion. He lists some reasons, but emphasizes that Kane was and always will be nothing more than a freak and a monster. This enrages Kane who plows past all of the members of Evolution and chokeslams Triple H off the stage�setting up a World Title feud with the fans solidly behind Kane again. It would be smart business if Kane were to defeat Triple H for the title clean, but then again, this is fantasy booking and not real life.
Am I missing any plotholes? What do you think of the soap opera finish in the proposed SummerSlam match? Am I as bad as Tommy Fierro was with his fantasy booking??
Why do I have a feeling this isn�t going to be received well� Maybe I will just stick with reviews...
The Dames, Damian Gonzalez
Leave me feedback or I'll BURN YOU ALIVE!
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