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The Undertaker appeared in many memorable segments at the start of WWE's Attitude Era in the late 1990s. In a recent podcast episode, the wrestling icon admitted he initially had concerns about dressing as Kane as part of an unexpected storyline development.
On July 6, 1998, fans thought Kane had defeated Mankind on RAW before The Undertaker revealed his face under the mask. A similar segment occurred on March 15, 1999, when The Deadman removed a Kane mask again during his rivalry with Vince McMahon.
The Undertaker said on Six Feet Under w/Mark Calaway that he thought he might not be big enough to make people believe he was Kane:
"I don't know whose idea it was, but it was genius. It was just funny because you're with these people all the time, but then when you have to emulate them to do their mannerisms and everything, it does become kinda pressure-filled to sell it without being tipped off. When we did that, I think Kane was probably like 25 pounds heavier than I was, so I was like, 'Oh, man, I'm gonna look like anorexic Kane in this suit.'" [58:07 – 58:50]
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Glenn Jacobs' Kane character debuted in WWE in October 1997 as The Phenom's storyline brother. The two men worked together dozens of times over the next two decades as both rivals and allies.
How The Undertaker felt about the Kane segments
Despite having reservations, The Undertaker is proud of how well the two Kane lookalike segments turned out.
The 2022 WWE Hall of Famer believes the unmaskings were "iconic" and he enjoyed the fact that everyone thought he was Kane:
"Both times, it came off without a hitch, nobody had a clue, and it was just one of those iconic moments with me pulling the mask off and hearing Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler flipping out," The Undertaker added. "It was fun. It was creative booking and good stuff, man." [58:52 – 59:14]
In 2003, Glenn Jacobs removed his mask as the Kane character for the first time after losing a Mask vs. Title match against Triple H. He switched between performing with and without a mask over the next 15 years before winding down his full-time in-ring career in 2018.
Do you have any favorite memories of the unmasking segments? Hit the discuss button and let us know.
Please credit Six Feet Under w/ Mark Calaway and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
