The WWE career of Kane has seen him playing this iconic character for the past twenty-two years and counting. Glenn Jacobs was a respected person in the WWE landscape, but it wasn’t until Kane that he had a fair chance to break out. From the start of the run being revealed as The Undertaker’s brother that survived a fire to the current era of squeezing in the random appearance as Mayor of Knox County, Kane has had quite a few returns.
Fans have found joy in some of Kane’s returns more than others. We will rank the ten most memorable instances of Kane coming back from time off. The reasoning of injuries, movie filming or just requesting time off would give Kane the stage to have a big return many times in WWE. Find out just which ones had the best impact. These are the top ten returns for Kane in WWE officially ranked!
10 Getting attacked by The Fiend
The most recent instance of Kane making a return to WWE featured him interacting with Bray Wyatt’s Fiend persona. Kane appeared in pre-recorded videos with R-Truth as the Mayor of Knox County, but the Demon version of his character would make itself known later when saving Seth Rollins from an attack.
The Fiend would appear out of nowhere to attack Kane to end the show. WWE has done a great job building up Wyatt’s alter ego with attacks on legends like Kane, Jerry Lawler and Mick Foley. Kane being a monster character makes The Fiend look even better with this return.
9 Comes through the ring to attack Roman Reigns
Kane made a return in the middle of a match through the middle of the ring in 2017. Roman Reigns was the target of Kane when he came from the bottom of the ring to attack the leader of The Shield. It was an unexpected surprise with Kane joining an alliance of heels.
The Miz, Braun Strowman, Cesaro and Sheamus welcomed Kane to their team as they faced off with The Shield in a TLC Match. Reigns ended up missing the show due to an illness with Kurt Angle taking his spot. Kane’s return culminated in a feud with Strowman after the match.
8 Saves Lita from Trish and Snitsky
The storyline of Kane and Lita getting married is one that’s a bit hard to process. Kane forced Lita to marry him against her will following an absurd stipulation that made it happen. The two eventually started to fall in love with Gene Snitsky and Trish Stratus as their main enemies.
Kane returned following time off with an injury to save Lita from their attack. Snitsky and Stratus wanted to place a chair around Lita’s neck to step on it and possibly end her career. Kane made his presence known for the first time in weeks saving his wife from harm’s way.
7 Stops Sheamus from cashing in to attack Seth Rollins
Kane’s feud with Seth Rollins in 2015 came after the two worked together. It was Kane that helped Rollins win the Money in the Bank ladder that eventually won him the WWE World Championship. Kane grew tired of Rollins talking down to him which led to this moment.
Sheamus attempted to cash in his MITB title shot against Rollins at Night of Champions. Kane however made his return with the Demon character for the first time since becoming the Director of Operations for The Authority. Both Rollins and Sheamus were destroyed by Sheamus to end the show.
6 Reunites with Undertaker against Wyatt Family
The Brothers of Destruction found great success together whenever they had their runs as a tag team. Both Undertaker and Kane had legendary singles careers, but the tag team stints would add another element of fun for their characters.
One fun return for Kane came during his brother’s feud with The Wyatt Family. Lightning effects and flames set the scene before the lights went out. Bray Wyatt was left all alone in the ring with Kane and Undertaker when the lights were on which received a massive ovation.
5 Saves Undertaker from DX
One of the first instances of Kane playing a face character of any means came in early 1998. The Undertaker was feuding with Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship just a few months into Kane’s run. Kane made his return from a short absence to save Undertaker from D-Generation X.
Fans reacted with joy seeing Kane help his brother for the first time in WWE. The Brothers of Destruction destroyed DX and did their signature pose together. Unfortunately for Undertaker, it was all a long plan that ended with Kane turning against him in the title match to set up their WrestleMania 14 bout.
4 Stops Test from burning flag
The Un-Americans faction of Test, Lance Storm, William Regal and Christian had one of the most hated acts in wrestling during the early 2000s. One memorable segment came when Test was threatening to burn the United States flag in the middle of the ring much to the audience’s dismay.
Kane returned following a few months away from WWE to make the save. Fans reacted with loud cheers as Kane destroyed them and raised the flag in the air. This was among the better moments from the Un-Americans as the fans reacted to the segment like it was a main event match.
3 Debuts new look to attack John Cena
Kane has experimented with a few different looks throughout the years. This one came for a surprise return during a match between Mark Henry and John Cena. Kane had both a new mask and another mask over that one he’d remove during his entrance.
Cena was the target of Kane as they entered a feud. Kane wanted Cena to embrace the hate as WWE teased the Cena heel turn heading into his WrestleMania showdown with The Rock. Instead, Cena would fight Kane and get the wins by staying true to his character.
2 Saves Daniel Bryan from the Bludgeon Brothers
2018 featured the return of Daniel Bryan to the ring following retirement from injuries. Bryan was finally cleared by WWE to compete and worked as a face. WWE utilized this to reunite Team Hell No for fans to enjoy one of the most popular recent acts.
Kane made a surprise return to stop Erick Rowan and Luke Harper from attacking Bryan. The two embraced with a huge hug as the fans reacted with Yes chants. Bryan and Kane would eventually take the loss in their tag match to put over the Bludgeon Brothers.
1 Massive ovation in memorable Raw match
Many longtime fans will still argue that a tremendous match in 2000 gave us the best main event in Raw history. The heel team of Triple H, X-Pac, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn faced off against The Rock, Too Cool and Cactus Jack in a ten-man tag match in front of a red-hot crowd.
Kane was the biggest story as he returned towards the end of the match. We heard one of the loudest pops in WWE history when Kane came back to get revenge against the heels. Kane destroyed them all and stood tall in the ring for an iconic moment of his career.