Kane says he initially envisioned his iconic WWE character looking much different than what fans ultimately saw on television, but a conversation with Vince McMahon completely changed his perspective.
Speaking on WWE Photo Shoot for WWE Vault, Kane recalled first seeing the concept art for the character and admitting his initial reaction was to go in a different creative direction. However, after discussing the idea with McMahon, he quickly realized the WWE Chairman’s vision added far more depth to the character.
“When I first saw it I was like, man, you know, I thought something kind of like Jason Voorhees or something like that. This was opposite of that.
I remember I called Vince and we talked about it. Vince is very good about taking input, and he realizes that things that we do are collaborative.
What he explained to me was that, yeah, we could do that with Kane, or we could go deeper into his psyche.
We would discover that this over-the-top cool look is compensating for what he feels. He’s scarred in the fire and disfigured and all those sort of things, so he compensates for it by essentially donning a superhero outfit.
It was brilliant. In the end, it worked.”
Kane also reflected on his debut at Bad Blood in 1997, crediting months of storytelling for making the moment one of the most memorable debuts in WWE history.
“Some people say it’s the best debut in the history of WWE. I tend to agree with them—not because of anything that I did, but because the table had been set.
Paul Bearer had been talking about Kane for months. You have a character that the people already know, but they hadn’t seen him up until this point.
So, of course, when I debuted at Bad Blood, everybody knew who it was.”
Kane added that even one of his signature taunts was intentionally designed to contrast his storyline brother, The Undertaker.
“The pyro cue that I use where I raise my arms and throw them back down, that was his idea because it was the opposite of what Undertaker would do.
He would raise his hands and bring the arena lights up. I was the opposite of him, so I’d throw my hands down.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit WWE Photo Shoot with a h/t to WrestlingHeadlines.com for the transcription.
