Now, before I get started with anything today, let me note what I mean when I say the guys I put in this thread are underrated. I don't mean that many people don't like them, I'm not saying that they are the next Stone Cold and should Main Event, and I'm not saying that they are even lower in the company that they could/should be, although I will attest to that with alot of these guys. What I mean by underrated is they are out there every night, busting their buts, and wrestling better than half the guys in thhis business, yet they always don't get the love, respect, care, or and sometimes pushes they deserve. Now while I'm not saying that the way Tenta interprets this, as in "well, they aren't higher in the company than they should be, so they aren't underrated" can't be used also, and I'll gladly engage in debates against anyone and everyone who interprets this in anyway, I thought I would like to clear up what I mean by underrated.
Now, today's introduction has to do with monsters. yes, we all know about monsters. Monsters are mean, they are nasty, they are ugly. They are the things that scare us, that hide under our bed, that haunt our dreams. Over the history of this great earth, there have been many, many, countless even, stories written and movies made about monsters. They are the epitome of everything big and scary. And today, a monster will be put into this thread. This is a man who has been known as a monster for alomost 12 years. A monster who hgas always been known as big, scary, strong, ugly, and nasty. Someone who fits the general description of a monster, a monster that anyone who watches wrestling should know. He is big, he is evil, he is red, and he is a machine. For those of you who have not figured it out yet, let me finally introduce this man. He is none other than:
Kane
So now for a little background on this man. Kane, whose real name is Glenn Jacobs, made his professional wrestling debut in 1992. He worked early for the United States Wrestling Association, where he won their Heaveyweight Championship, and for Smokey Mountain Wrestling where he won the the SMW Tag Titles with Al Snow as part of The Dynamic Duo. In 1995, he made his WWF debut as Issac Yankem, DDS. The gimmick was of Jerry Lawler's evil dentist. In April 1996, when Razor ramon and Diesel left for WCW, he appeared as Fake Razor Ramon (the ineptitude can be found in the John Tenta Memorial for Terrible Gimmicks, in the old school wrestling section). In 1997, jacobs made his debut as Kane, the Undertaker's younger half-brother, ripping the door off the Hell in a Cell in his debut, attacking Undertaker and costing him the match to Shawn Michaels. He then fueded with The Undertaker through April of the next year, losing matches to him at Wrestlemania XIV and the first-ever inferno match at In Your House: Unforgiven. The story behind the family is simple, that Undertaker "accidently" burned down his family's funeral home as a child, killing his paren't as scarring Kane. Poaul bearer, an employee at the funeral home, returned to manage Taker, while keeping Kane hidden, but bringing him back to gain revenge after mistreatment from Taker. Kane went on to win the WWE Championship at King of the Ring 1998 in a First Blood match against Stone Cold Steve Austin, only to lose it back to him the next night on RAW. He then formed a tag team with mankind, winnign the Tag Titles. In 1999, he joined The Corporation, but turned face after being betrayed and kicked out. He then joined X-Pac in a tag team, and soon had a girlfriend in Tori. When Tori betrayed him and joine D-X with X-Pac, they fueded until Wrestlemania 2000, with Kane and Rikishi defeating X-pac and Road Dogg. He then teamed and afterwards fueded with The Unbdertaker, culminating in a Summerslam match in which Kane lost. He then fueded with Chris Jericho, ending 2000 with a loss against Jericho in a Last Man Standing match against Jericho at Armageddon. Throughout 2001, he teamed with Undertaker as the Brothers of Destruction, and also competed for the Hardcore and Intercontinental Title, winning both at different times. He became the third Grand Slam Champion during this year. In early 2002, he fueded with Kurt Angle, and then the New World Order, before he tore his biceps. He won the World tag Team Championships with Hurricane in September, and also won the Intercontinental Championship during the same time period. He then went on to wrestle Triple H in a unification match at No Mercy for the IC and World Titles, but lost. He went on to team with Rob Van dam in early 2003. During June, he lost a mask vs. title match against Triple H for the World Title at Madison Square Garden, having to unmask. He then proved emotionally unstable in storyline, setting J.R. on fire after an interview and Tombstoning Linda McMahon on the RAW stage, leading to a fued with her son Shane. This match gave us two violent matches, with Kane defeating Shane in both a Last man Standing match at Unforgiven and a Ambulance Match at Survivor Series, thus ending the fued. later that night, he assisted Mr. McMahon in his Buried Alive Match against The Undertaker, helping McMahon to win. He then fueded for the World Title, competeing in a losing effort in a triple threat match at Armageddon. He entered the 2004 Royal Rumble, dominating everyone in the ring until The Undertaker's signature gong sounded, causing him to be distracted then eliminated. Over the next two months, he insisted his brother was "dead", but starnge things kept happening, from videos over the titantron telling of his return to rain directly over kane's head and lights going off followed by the gong. This led to a match atr Wrestlemanai 20, where Undertaker returned under his old gimmick and defeated Kane. The night after Mania, he fell in love with Lita. Lita later announced she was pregnant, with her boyfriend matt Hardy assuming he was the father. It turned out kane was the actual father. Kane and Hardy began a fued, Kane eventually winning a match giving him the right to marry Lita, and then chokeslamming Hardy off the RAW stage during the wedding. But kane accidently fell on Lita due to an attack by debuting Gene Snitsky causing a miscarriage. Snitsky then fueded with kane, crushing Kane's larynyx at Taboo Tuesday. Kane returned at New Year's Revolution, defeating Snitsky. Lita later turned on him for Edge, though, and he fueded with Edge, in a losing effort. He later teamed with Big Show, winning the World Tag Team Titles, and defended them succesfully at Wrestlemania 22. Soon he and Show lost the titles to the Spirit Squad, and began a storyline where he snapped everytime someone mentioned the date May 19th. It was later explained this was the day his family died in the fire. The voices he heard continued, however, and was confronted by an Imposter Kane. The two brawled each week before Vengeance, where the Imposter Kane defeated the regular Kane. He then beat down the Imposter kane the next night, ripping his mask off. He hten disapeared for awhile. When he returned he fueded with Umaga, whihc ended up in a Loser Leaves RAW match, which Kane lost. He then went to Smackdown and engaged in various, non-importent fueds for the next two years. At Wrestlemania 24, he defeated Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Championship, and then joined the ECW Roster. He was drafted to RAW in June however, and lost the title to mark Henry at Night of Champions. He later turned heel, and was once again drafted to Smackdon in 2009, where he fueded with first C.M. Punk and now The Great Khali.
Wow, that is one long history. Now his list of accomplishments.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Worst Feud of the Year (2002) vs. Triple H
Worst Feud of the Year (2003) vs. Shane McMahon
Worst Feud of the Year (2004) vs. Matt Hardy and Lita
Worst Feud of the Year (2007) vs. Big Daddy V
Worst Feud of the Year (2008) vs. Rey Mysterio
Worst Gimmick (1996) Fake Diesel
Worst Worked Match of the Year (2001) with The Undertaker vs. KroniK at Unforgiven
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI Tag Team of the Year (1999) with X-Pac
PWI ranked him #13 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2004
USWA
USWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
SMW
SMW Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Al Snow
WWE
ECW Championship (1 time)
WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) with The Undertaker
WWF Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (9 times) with Mankind (2), X-Pac (2), The Undertaker (2), The Hurricane (1), Rob Van Dam (1), and The Big Show (1)
Eighth Triple Crown Champion
Third Grand Slam Champion
Now, here we can see this guy is a credible veteran. He is known as well-liked throughout the locker room, and is known to like to put younger guys over. He, along with Undertaker and Vader, is probably one of the best three big men of the past twenty years. For his size, he works a great match and has a great moveset, which includes a couple of ariel moves and a dropkick. He is a big guy with a good look, and has one heck of a gimmick. he draws very well as a champion, and when given the chance delivers great promos. he goies out their and busts his but night in and night out. And, while I know he has spoken saying he doesn't want a title, he hasn't been giving a good, credible title run or even a good fued in ages. They have never given hima World Title or WWE Title run, except for the one day he held in in 98'. And his ECW Title run wasn't really that great. He doesn't get alot from the company he works for. The fans don't really recognize him for all the work he does, his great ring skills, and his ability to put over and make young guys look good, which he does without a second thought. I'm not saying there aren't Kane fans out there, but not alot of them recognize him for all that he does and how hard he works, and the WWE won't give hima goo, solid, push, fued, or title run. While he may only be a jobber to the stars, he seems to be etching closer to a full jobber status. He is way, way underrated by both his company and many fans, and it's time he goit the recognition he deserves.
Well that concludes it for today's Underrated Wrestler, I hope you join us again tomorrow for another Underrated Wrestler of the Day. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to any feedback any of you may have.
