That Time Kane Wore A Cape At A WWE House Show, Explained
Kane once had a cape in WWE. Maybe readers already knew this fact, maybe this is the first time hearing about it, but either way fans have to live with the idea that there was a point in the history of Earth that the Big Red Machine, the Devil’s Favorite Demon himself, was meant to have a long flowing cape adorned with the flames of hell. When, where, why, and what do you mean Kane had a cape?
When Did Kane Where A Cape?
Kane only wore the cape for a single appearance at a Madison Square Garden house show in 1997. Despite years of echoed rumors that the picture in question was taken at a house show from before he debuted at Badd Blood, ripping the door off of the Hell In A Cell, modern day internet sleuthing points more toward this event being from the November 15, 1997 MSG show that took place six days after Kane defeated Mankind at Survivor Series, and a little over a month after the masked man’s television debut. Other rumors insinuated that the cape was worn for a whole loop of house shows.
Recently, on an episode of A&E’s original show WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures, Kane and The Undertaker come across the long-forgotten cape while going through Kane’s well-maintained attic of nostalgia and novelty. Labeled as an “Extra Find”, as the concept of the episode is to actually look for items pertaining to when Undertaker originally wrestled Glenn Jacobs as “Unabom” in Smokey Mountain Wrestling in 1995. With this discovery, Kane doesn’t give us much about the lore of the cape but does mention it only being worn a single time.
“That is the Kane cape. Only worn once. I have not worn this in 23 years. This is what you will see in the conceptual art for the character.” -Glen Jacobs
Why Didn't Kane Continue To Wear The Cape?
It would seem that despite concept art existing of a mask-less Kane with aforementioned cape, he would debut without the cape. It wasn’t until a later non-televised appearance that WWE truly experimented with the idea, and overall passed on it. In a fan-posted video clip of the event, we can see a small child tugging at the cape and Kane pulling it away. There is a possibility that this is one of the contributing factors to the death of concept altogether.
The mystery of why Kane was originally slated to where cape, and why the decision was ultimately made to not do so is not one that is currently solved with confidence. Kane did come along during a time when WWE was turning away from the cartoonish characters of the early 90’s, and moving more towards the darker and edgier times of the “Attitude Era”. Glenn Jacobs had previously been blessed with the Issac Yankem character, an evil dentist that thankfully wasn’t the lasting impression he left in the world of wrestling. Despite having the honor of fighting Bret Hart in the blue steel cage, the dentist character was the epitome of the New Generation Era Occupational Wrestler and is more or less forgettable despite it being so weird.
Kane would wrestle for the WWE for twenty more years after the night he wore a cape in front of paying Madison Square Garden fans, winning three different world championships during his tenure. So, it is safe to say he did fine without it. Fans are left to wonder though, what could have been when it comes to a caped crusader variation of Kane? Would Kane and Hurricane have had matching capes during their 2002 Tag Team Championship run? The world will never know.
