Through Hell, Fire and Hulk Hogan in the Third Round: Official Kane HQ

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Seeing as Kane is in my Top 5 Wrestlers of all time list, and he seems to have a fair amount of fans on the forum, most notably Echelon, I figured we'd try to get him to at least Round 3, where he'll be facing Hogan in a gimmick match. Until then, Kane has Yokozuna in a fairly easy first round draw provided we ignore any nonsense about Kane being unable to chokeslam Yokozuna, and then the winner of Bruiser Brody and Dory Funk Jr, which should also be a winnable fight with our support. If by some miracle we pass Hogan by drawing a first blood match, we reach the last 16 to face either Punk, Lesnar, Dusty Rhodes or Stan Hansen, which again with our support could be argued, so we can finally get Kane into the final 8.

Hogan is certainly the biggest obstacle in this tier for everyone, but other than that, we're quite comfortable in a top 4 position in this tier. Don't get your hopes up against Hogan, but we should make it through the first two rounds to get to him without any hassle if we have support.

So let's show our support for the Big Red Machine!

 

[Bernkastel]

I'm on board. Although TBH he shouldn't get past Dory Funk. If he meets Brody instead then I hope he gets the first blood match against Hogan.

Kane to the Sweet 16!

 

[WarroBODFan]

Count me in. Kane is my all-time favourite wrestler. While I'm not a fan of the current Corporate gimmick, Glenn Jacobs has done nothing but impress me with the way he's been able to evolve Kane if/when necessary throughout the years, and give Kane some deserved longevity.

Though of course, nothing will ever top original Kane for me. As a child growing up, while Kane was, yes, intimidating, he had a presence in and out the ring that very few other wrestlers had. Not to mention I think his attire was awesome too.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Always in this camp.

 

[Blade]

This campaign will be getting some of my focus, sharing it with the CM Punk campaign.

Kane should beat Yoko. He's beaten Vader, and Taker and Big Show after all. Brody and/or Funk shouldn't be difficult either.

Hogan is going to be a tricky one. What gimmicks could Kane actually beat Hogan in? First blood, sure. Inferno. Tables perhaps, since Kane has many move in his repertoire that aren't table-friendly.

After that it gets tricky. Kane has won a ladder match, Hogan hasn't. But I don't know if he can win in cages or last man standing matches.

Either way, Hogan vs. Kane will be the greatest no-selling match of all time.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I don't know about Kane beating Hogan in a Tables Match. Hogan bodyslamming Kane through a table would be a visual that wouldn't be passed up.

Inferno and First Blood are good. Maybe the cell, but that's stretching.

 

[Con T.]

Kane has competed in five inferno matches, in my records. Twice against Taker, once against Triple H, once against Bray Wyatt, once again MVP

Kane is 1-4. Guess who's the 1?

All I'm saying is, this doesn't necessarily sound like a good idea, to want the inferno match. You'll likely want a match with a quick, decisive finish. Something Hogan can't rally around, and use his underrated stamina to come out on top.

And I don't know if the inferno match, where Kane's kind of had a subpar showing, is that good an idea.

 

[Bernkastel]

Kane has competed in five inferno matches, in my records. Twice against Taker, once against Triple H, once against Bray Wyatt, once again MVP

Kane is 1-4. Guess who's the 1?

All I'm saying is, this doesn't necessarily sound like a good idea, to want the inferno match. You'll likely want a match with a quick, decisive finish. Something Hogan can't rally around, and use his underrated stamina to come out on top.

And I don't know if the inferno match, where Kane's kind of had a subpar showing, is that good an idea.

The obvious answer is ladder match. Since Hogan can't climb them and Kane can. Seeing as he's won 2 of them.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

The ladder matches were all against multiple opponents but I'm not sure if that helps or hinders the big man.

Kane-a-nites unite!

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Hey Ech, do you have a list of the matches that Dory fought to defend his title during his peak? I'm having a bit of difficulty looking for them.

From what I can gather, his reign seems to draw some parallels with Pedro Morales's reign with the WWWF belt, albeit a year longer.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

I don't have a list off hand but I can give it a go and tell you who he beat to win the title and some of the men he defeated defending it. Dory Funk Jr. beat Gene Kiniski to win the NWA championship. He would later defend it and beat the likes of Jack Brisco (defended it against him a few times), Harley Race, Gene Kiniski, Mil Mascaras, Mr. Wrestling, Lou Thesz Dusty Rhodes, and Nick Bockwinkel to name a few.

 

[Bernkastel]

Hey Ech, do you have a list of the matches that Dory fought to defend his title during his peak? I'm having a bit of difficulty looking for them.

From what I can gather, his reign seems to draw some parallels with Pedro Morales's reign with the WWWF belt, albeit a year longer.

Here...

http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=179&page=5&reign=10

From the controversy in which Race won the title, you can see that they drew their rematch.

http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=179&page=5&reign=11

And not only did Race draw Sammartino in his next defense but he dropped the title to Brisco, whom Funk had defeated numerous times before.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

To be fair, Race was probably used as a transitional champion so Brisco could get the belt without getting heel heat (like Sammartino, Koloff and Morales)

 

[Bernkastel]

To be fair, Race was probably used as a transitional champion so Brisco could get the belt without getting heel heat (like Sammartino, Koloff and Morales)

Probably, but the fact that they had to use "controversial fashions" just to get the belt off Funk is noteworthy. Kane lost his in a fatal fourway ladder match. But it wasn't like he didn't already have experience or success in those. He wasn't the underdog.

The deck wasn't stacked against him like when Kane beat Stone Cold. The deck on the other hand was stacked against Funk.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

It's hard to read into that though, like the Buddy Rogers case because nobody can make a judgement on what happened, although it's a little more reliable because Dory didn't have a reputation of being a bastard and he was never outright proved wrong.

Or do you mean heel tactics from Race in the actual match?

 

[Bernkastel]

It's hard to read into that though, like the Buddy Rogers case because nobody can make a judgement on what happened, although it's a little more reliable because Dory didn't have a reputation of being a bastard and he was never outright proved wrong.

Or do you mean heel tactics from Race in the actual match?

You could use either or. Both suggest that Dory was a more reliable guy and a much bigger deal if they had to go to such lengths to protect both him and the title. With Kane it was like... meh, he and Edge stalemated... lets throw them both into a ladder match with two other people.

 

[Blade]

Ech. You fucking traitor!!

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Falling to probably the best wrestler of all-time is perfectly acceptable. I'm very happy that we managed to get past Dory Funk, a viable competitor in his own right.

Next year perhaps we can get to the final 16.