We all remember it like it was yesterday – Kane ripping the door off its hinges as he attacked his brother The Undertaker during the first ever Hell in a Cell match.
It took place at Bad Blood 1996 after weeks of taunting and teasing by Paul Bearer. He knew The Undertaker had a brother and he had found him! He would soon be in the WWF to enact revenge on The Deadman for murdering his parents and trying to kill Kane himself (although Paul Bearer was actually Kane’s real dad but let’s not delve too deep into silly wrestling stories).
After attacking his brother, Kane and The Undertaker feuded for months, with The Phenom refusing to hurt his younger brother. The attacks got worse and worse as Kane revealed more secrets from the Undertaker’s past until they finally faced off at Wrestlemania XV.
But that wasn’t Kane’s first WWE match. In this article, we’ll look at Kane’s debut match in the WWE under the character of Kane, not looking at the matches he wrestled as Fake Diesel or Isaac Yankem.
Kane’s First Match In WWE
Kane’s first match in the WWE was a house show match against Vader on 31st October, 1997. Halloween night saw him first step into the ring the famous red and black mask, but some changes to the character we would come to fear in the years gone by.
He wore a long cape to the ring, evocative of the evil Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. While this cape never made it to TV, the concept images had it as a big part of his character and it added a more “movie villain” look to his already demonic persona. It’s likely it was removed by Vince McMahon before his debut to make the character less ghoulish, knowing the personal storyline’s that he would soon embark on with The Undertaker.
He would win that match, although no footage has been released of the encounter. Kane’s first televised WWE match was at Survivor Series 1997 when he wrestled against Mankind, who had previously feuded with The Undertaker when he first came into the WWE the year prior. Kane won the match in under ten minutes and although was less experienced than he is now, he still showed great potential and played the character of the Devil’s Favourite Demon perfectly.
You can click the link below to read about Kane’s last match in WWE too.