QOTD #5: Childhood Tastebuds

“Off topic” topics have been hotly discussed since I started on the blog, but since I love to give you exactly what you want; once weekly we’ll run an off-topic discussion. So bearing that in mind …

Off topic Wednesday: What food did you love as a kid/teenager that is simply no longer available?

Answers tomorrow. If you want to jump right into the discussion, please scroll to the bottom of this post.

Yesterday, we were talking all about the Big Red Machine. Always a stand-by to beef up PPV matches, and always handy as fodder to tomorrow’s stars, Kane has been a cog in the wheel for nearly 2 decades. I asked you what your favorite moment was. As always, these are your answers. No replies today, these are simply your memories.

Matt Hayden: Me and my best friend have always gotten a kick out of any of the straight-out-of-a-cheesy-horror-movie story lines that Kane has been in, being big cheesy horror movie fans ourselves. If it was anyone but Kane, I'd hate it, but I've just grown to expect it from him, he's shown he can be thrown in any insane storyline and still recover/stay over, and his character's history almost demands it at this point. Also, I sometimes like to imagine Glen Jacobs' reaction when they pitch the idea to him.

Mar Solo: When him and Big Show were a tag team, Carlito and Chris Masters locked Kane in a room with a crane in front, with Big Show frantically trying to push the crane out of the way. By the time Show gets the crane away from the door, Kane walks up behind him and says there was another door in the room they didn't block.

Uncruisimatic Buck Nasty: remember that time he referred to his fans as kanenites?

dwaters: All the good ones have been mentioned. The debut, the anger management sessions, and the "Kanenites" promo. That promo was made all the more special by Rock's mouthing of "Kanenites??".

BooBoo1782: I love the "Kanenites" promo as much as the rest of this crowd, and Team Hell No was awesome, but it doesn't seem like the Pete Rose arc from WM XIV to WM 2000 is going to get its due unless I write something about it. The start of the angle in Boston was great, if only for the glorious cheap heat promo that Pete Rose cut on the Boston crowd, right down to the Bill Buckner joke. By the end of that promo, he was the most hated man in the building, and then Kane got a huge pop for that Tombstone. I watched WM XV at a friend's house, and I remember marking out from the surprise when Rose showed up in the chicken suit, leading to yet another tombstone. And yeah, the gimmick had lost its steam by WM 2000 - largely because the surprise was gone - but it was still fun.

Chris Hirsch: His debut, when he ripped the cage door of Hell in a Cell and McMahon's legendary call of, "That's gotta be Kane!!!!!"

Mister E Mahn: My favourite early Kane moment was his debut. Coming down and ripping the door off of the cage immediately let you know that he was for real. That really set him up for a strong early run.

David Anderson: For me, its still the moment in the first Hell in the Cell, when Undertaker absolutely destroyed Shawn Michaels with a very vicious char shot, gave the throat slitting gesture, the crowd is going nuts, and all of the sudden the arena goes red, cue ominous music, and out comes this behemoth dressed in red head to toe, accompanied by Paul Bearer, who walks right up to the cage and proceeds to rip the cage door off its hinges, come face to face with a dumb struck Undertaker, and hit the Undertaker with his own finisher, and leave the ring, allowing Michaels to drag his blood soaked carcass over just enough to get the pin. I know some people loved DX during their beginning, but I found them to be obnoxious jerks and was excited to see Michaels get his arse kicked, only to watch in horror as Kane cost him the match...

Magoonie NOT Teddy Belmont: The whole mystery of Kane and Paul Bearer building him up was so well done. You didn't know what the hell he was going to look like but you got the feeling from Paul he was dangerous and crazy. Paul sold that whole storyline beautifully.

Devin Harris: Undertaker and Paul Bearer kidnapped Austin and took him to some undisclosed location. They had him tied up and were going to embalm him or something equally stupid. All of a sudden Kane kicks the door down and saves Austin. The whole thing is wrestlecrap worthy. Oh yeah, the camera man follows all of this.

Dirty Dave Delaney: I remember marking out when he returned to Raw in September 2002 sporting a new look and really thought it wouldn't be long before he won the World Heavyweight title setting off a successful main event run... but the whole Katie Vick angle killed him dead in the water.

placetobepodcast: Love the opener to No Mercy 2002 when he sits next to Taker, looks over and just says "so, how was your week".

Andrew Champagne: I remember Kane doing a Slammy presentation with some diva (Kelly Kelly, maybe?) where she spent time praising couples and weddings, and his response recalled him chokeslamming a priest on RAW. I found that hysterical; when Kane is allowed to showcase his deadpan sense of humor, he's pretty funny.

Garth Holmberg: I'm not going to lie... I'm probably the biggest Kane mark of all time, and the only person who gleefully purchased a 3-disc DVD set of him. He's had TONS of stinker moments, thanks to "invisible heat" where he can be used in any role and never really lose face. The best moments I can think of, other than the debut at Badd Blood, obviously... His in-ring debut against Mick at Survivor Series, Armageddon '99 and the flying clothesline off the top of the cage, the early weeks of the unmasking where he was a rekindled fire, laying out Stone Cold, Jim Ross, and anyone who stood in his path, and the Wedding From Hell. Come on, THAT WAS AWESOME. Just off the top of my head.

Eric Von Erich: I don't know why, but the Kane moment that sticks out for me is when he grabbed a toolbox from under the ring, pulled out a wrench, and absolutely clobbered Vader with it. I think it was after their match and Vader was due for eye/orbital bone surgery so he needed an on-screen injury to justify the absence.

Basscase: No one mentioned him shocking Shane McMahon's testicles with a car battery?

daveschlet: I enjoyed all of the early Kane stuff. From his debut up until early 1999 or so. His ring gear was cooler then, and he was portrayed as an unstoppable force, similar in a way to Michael Myers from Halloween. Early masked Kane was the best.

Stranger in the Alps: That moment with D-X when he got on the mic and said "Suuuuuuck iiiiiiiiiiit!" It had a Special Olympics-style feel-good moment to it.

UmmahSports: Back around 2000, there was a 10-man tag match on RAW: Heel D-X and the Radicalz vs. Rock, Mankind, Rikishi & Too Cool. Kane had been gone for a few weeks/months after X-Pac stole Tori from him. The match itself was as wild and high-energy as any RAW match you've ever seen, and I think D-X got DQ'd. Then the lights go out and Kane comes back with Paul Bearer, whom he'd been estranged from for a while. Kane gets in the ring and just destroys everybody while the crowd was going insane.

Beardmoney: I was a big fan of the Kane/X-Pac team, thought their overall story arc was tremendous. I particularly loved the promo where X-Pac threw away his electrolarynx and told him to start speaking for himself. It was a great moment for the character because he needed to be humanized somewhat in order to start evolving. Also, it demonstrated the strength of their friendship, which made their feud all the more brutal by contrast.

Extant1979: Easily Kane's best moment, especially in recent years, has been the therapy session where he went into all of his history - with a straight face. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time, and it really sold the Dr. Shelby segments.

I’m going to make mention of a spot I didn’t see in the thread; his appearance at the 2001 Royal Rumble. His timing was perfect, the ring needed to be cleared of deadweight. Then out comes celebrity entrant Drew Caray, who attempts to bribe Kane with money. Now, of course, Kane is still in his monster role, who has no earthly concern with money, and goes to kill the man. Unfortunately, Raven saves the day – leading to hardcore mayhem through the next few guys.

After about 15 minutes of that, Kane has enough and clears the second batch of midcarders – just in time for the Honky Tonk Man to make a surprise appearance. Kane watches him, curiously, do his “Cool Cocky & Bad” routine, then decides to make better of it by smashing a guitar over his head and moving along.

I’ve never been a particularly big Kane fan, but he helped make the early stages of that Rumble enjoyable. He’d go on to set the record of eliminations at 11; only broken in 2014 by Roman Reigns.

We’ll wrap it up here, but I’ll be back tomorrow with more. Cheers.