I love finding creative Ls that some of my favorite wrestlers suffer and Kane is rich with them. Last time we went into the Attitude Era storyline with X-Pac and Tori but now let’s go a little more recent. This time, we’re talking about Kane’s wrestling gear.
Now, discussing wrestling gear is pretty insignificant since it doesn’t enhance the quality of a match or a storyline but it’s totally important to a wrestler’s gimmick or persona.
The Big L Machine: What in the Hell Was Kane Wearing?
You want wrestlers to look like wrestlers or brawlers and bruisers to look like brawlers and bruisers. High flyers should look as close to superheroes and supervillains as possible without being cartoonish—luchadores being the exception.
Then we have the gear decision for Kane late into his active career.
Kane’s Gear Used to Be Iconic and Awesome
Starting with his October 1997 debut at Badd Blood: In Your House—perfect—Kane showed up in this badass red and black singlet with studded wristbands and a glove. Honestly, the large ass glove was unnecessary but I get it since one side had one sleeve and the other side had this long red sleeve. I give it a 9.25/10.
The most significant part of his gear was always the full mask. It added this mystery of what his face looked like after being left behind in a burning funeral home. Throughout the Attitude Era and into the Ruthless Aggression period, Kane benefited from great gear design.
Possibly the most epic of Kane’s ring gear
Not only that but the changes started out subtle—like changing the colors from red and black to black and red—before more was added. There was a strap-like design, mesh was added, the sleeves were ditched, and he started wearing a fingerless glove. It was exactly the same as when comic book characters are redesigned to be more modern for the time.
Finally, the most iconic part of his gear was ditched as Kane got rid of the mask to reveal that he wasn’t burned at all but had lost an eye or something. This was the true badass Kane period. The guy just had a skinned head, a glove, red and black tights, and a desire to beat some ass.
This is where it should’ve ended but…
Then WWE Ruined the Design
I don’t know who made the decision but Kane eventually ended up with a modernized mask which wasn’t bad at all but it was the Attitude Era classic. Plus, there was no good reason for him to put it back on when he was the one to take it off. It’s not like he lost a match unfairly, had to on a mask, and decided “F*** this, I’m putting my sh** back on!”
No, he removed his own mask—then beat best friend RVD’s ass. So, here we have a masked Kane again. Fine. Whatever. However, we also have WWE doing whatever this is with his singlet. At first, it wasn’t particularly bad or anything but the 2010s Kane gear with the cool colored flame on the leg was fine.
Then WWE went straight minimalist and changed it to all black with a meh red flame and this weird-ass “stitch” design. Kane isn’t meant to have drip but his 2001 sleeveless mesh-flame gear and the red straps-design gear later in the 2000s were truly drippy.
The gear last wore as Kane was just awful and I don’t know how we got here. It’s as if Kane the character woke up one morning and said “Time to do this Big Red Monster thing, I guess” and just took one of The Undertaker’s SmackDown era singlets and retailored it.
Seriously, what IS this? Did someone try to make a “cool” Kane in WWF Attitude 64?
I’m going to assign the Big Red Monster an L for this. It’s not even his fault but he wore it and won a title in it. On that note, let us know what your favorite Kane gear is in the comments below!
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