Kane became one of the most terrifying characters WWE ever created, but the original idea in his head was apparently way different from what fans ended up seeing on television.
While speaking on WWE’s Photo Shoot YouTube series, Kane looked back at the early concept for his character and explained how WWE built the entire thing around The Undertaker’s dark family history. The story was simple enough on the surface: Kane was The Undertaker’s half-brother, there had been a house fire, and Kane had been locked away for years while Undertaker had no idea he was still alive. Kane laid out the backstory while looking at the original character concept.
“So we all know the story about Kane. He’s The Undertaker’s half-brother. There’s some controversy about what happened, but evidently there was a house fire, and Kane was in the house and ended up being institutionalized unbeknownst to The Undertaker. Kane is alive, Undertaker! He’s breathing! Kane’s alive! I swear! And this was the concept for the Kane character.”
When Kane first saw what WWE had in mind, he admitted he expected something much closer to a straight-up horror movie monster. Instead of the red-and-black superhero-style gear fans came to know, Kane thought the look might lean more into Jason Voorhees territory.
“When I first saw it, I was like, man, you know, I thought something kinda like Jason Voorhees or something like that. This was opposite of that.”
That is when Vince McMahon stepped in and explained the bigger idea behind the character. Kane said Vince was open to input, but he also had a deeper vision for why Kane looked the way he did. It wasn’t just about putting a giant monster in a mask. It was about showing a damaged man hiding behind something larger than life.
“And I remember I called Vince, and, you know, we talked about it. And Vince is very good about taking input. And he realizes that things that we do are collaborative.”
Kane said Vince explained that WWE could go the simple horror route, or they could dig into Kane’s mind and make the look part of the character’s trauma. Since Kane was scarred and disfigured from the fire in the storyline, the bright and over-the-top outfit became a way for him to cover that pain.
“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.”
Kane made it clear that Vince’s idea was the right call in the end. The character did not need to be Jason Voorhees in a wrestling ring. WWE already had something better — a monster with a tragic backstory, a connection to The Undertaker, and a look fans would never forget.
“It was brilliant. In the end, it worked.”
That decision helped turn Kane into one of the most recognizable characters in WWE history. The mask, the fire, the red gear, and the connection to The Undertaker all came together at the perfect time, and it gave WWE one of the greatest debuts the company has ever pulled off.
Do you think Kane would have worked better as a Jason Voorhees-style horror character, or did WWE make the right call with the version fans got? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
