WWE wrestler Kane’s visit to Dubai, where he appeared as a guest at the 2017 Middle East Film and Comic Com, was his third time the UAE – but he says he is still amazed by the devotion of the fans he meets there.
“They get so excited and exuberant here,” he says, when we sit down for a chat at the convention. “I’ve met people at this event that have said they wanted to meet me their entire lives – which is a tremendous compliment to me but also testament to the power of WWE.
“Everyone here is so respectful, too. It’s always a real pleasure to meet them.”
With more than 20 years of service to WWE since joining in 1995, when it was called WWF, Kane is one of the sport’s longest-serving veterans. He admits he has seen a lot of changes.
“When I started out we were just a small wrestling company,” he says. “The biggest of the small wrestling companies, but a small wrestling company just the same. Now we’re an integrated entertainment juggernaut that spans the entire globe.
“WWE has become a real global product. We go into, I think, 145 countries now, about 30 different languages. The arrival of the WWE Network has broken down even more barriers.
“WWE is like a touchstone, in that it’s usually that classic battle between good and evil that everyone can relate to.
“Now we’re starting to attract stars from all around the world, whereas it used to be just the US and a few from Europe and Mexico. Now we’ve got Indians, Chinese, folks from the Middle East, and that’s really great. We’ve toured everywhere in the world.”
Taking of good and evil, is it true, as is often claimed, that it is more fun playing a baddie, such as his own masked villain, than the hero. He is in no doubt as to his answer.
“It is,” he says without hesitation. “When you’re a good guy you have all these constraints, there are things you can’t do because, well, he’s a good guy. When you’re a baddie you can do whatever you like.
“But I think most of the guys would tell you that ultimately the most important thing is that you have a good connection with the fans, whether you’re good or bad. The reaction is what we really want, good or bad.”
Kane also notes that his mask has been a crucial factor in his character’s enduring appeal.
“Every artist goes through a stage where they get stale and feel it’s time for a change and the mask has allowed me to do that,” he says.
“I can put it on or take it off and it’s like my character has started anew, even though there’s the history there.
“That’s the key to success I think, being able to evolve, and I don’t think I would have been able to do that without the mask – I’d just have been another big guy.”
Kane admits that despite his long and successful career, there is at least one giant, literally, of the wrestling world he regrets never getting the chance to face off against.
"Andre the Giant," he says, referring to the 2.24m-tall French professional wrestler, who appeared as Fezzik in the 1987 film The Princess Bride, and died in 1993 at the age of 46.
“I never got to meet him as he passed away before I got into the business, but I hear stories telling me that watching him on TV doesn’t do him justice, and about what a tremendous athlete he was for a man of such stature.
“I’m not sure I’d want to pick a fight with him, but if I had to choose, it’d be him.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
