Bruce Prichard reflects on the unmasking of Kane.
In June 2003, Kane took off his mask, revealing the character's face for the first time. In storyline, Kane had been in a terrible fire as a child and used the mask to hide his burns.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Something to Wrestle podcast (via AdFreeShows), Prichard was asked about the decision to remove Kane's mask, saying the following:
"That was -- You know, we were looking at what to do next with Kane. Vince was thinking, 'well shit, let's take off his mask.' When we started talking about that, we started talking about, 'well, what does he look like with the mask off and wondering' -- Then my sick mind took over as far as, 'what if we could simulate the burns on his face and he has this really screwed up haircut from the horrid fire that he was in that his hair wouldn't grow back in certain places.' We start shaving his head a little bit, and Madison Square Garden, and I start really messing with it, bad. Glenn's looking at me like, 'Bruce, you're fucking with me?' I said, 'no, man. I think this is going to be really cool.' I think it was really cool for the first time shock factor. But I don't think that Glenn's lovely wife, Crystal, who is an extremely lovely woman, one of the nicest people that you ever want to meet, she didn't care for it too much and that was enough for me. It was like, 'okay, we'll change it up a little bit.' So, you just shave it and then let it grow out a little for TV and then we can mess it up a little bit when we get to TV and then shave it again when you go home so you're somewhat normal when you go home."
In the years since, Kane has utilized both his masked and maskless look. In 2021, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, with his mask displayed next to him on the podium.
Prichard currently works for WWE as the Executive Director of both Raw and SmackDown.
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