WWE Producer Bruce Prichard Reflects On Vince McMahon's Decision To Unmask Kane

After years of hiding his face under a mask, Kane was forced to unmask after losing the final clash in his lengthy feud against then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H at the height of his infamous 'Reign of Terror,' leading to his signature bald head look that many argue was his most fearsome run.

In the past, Glenn Jacobs has admitted that he appreciated being able to emote better as Kane without the mask, but there was more behind the angle, according to Bruce Prichard. 

"Vince wanted to grow that character, he was like, 'You know, he's got facials, and the mask hides all of that. His face is so expressive. We're taking half of his emotion away from him.' You know, in the mask," he noted in an episode of "Something To Wrestle."

Prichard recalled that the original story was that Kane's body was disfigured by the mask and couldn't originally talk, but that these things were slowly walked back to the point where he had half a mask. 

"I think that Glenn was a little apprehensive by taking the mask off, because he had an anonymity as Glenn Jacobs," Prichard guessed, "and with the Kane mask, he could take the mask off and a lot of people didn't know who he was."

As Bruce Prichard continued his story, he noted that while Glenn Jacobs was apprehensive about the angle and how it would change his life, he wasn't at all unwilling to go through with it, and gladly stepped up for the challenge. However, this led to WWE Creative having to figure out how they could make him look twisted underneath the mask without going into special effects.

"Somebody might have asked the question: 'Okay, we take the mask off? What does he look like?' 'What do you mean: what does he look like?' 'What does he look like under there!' 'Cause, he's been wearing a mask to hide something..." Prichard recalled. "[We] wanted to mangle him up some way, so that the mask was still hiding something that when you took that mask off you went 'Oh! That's hideous, now I understand why he wore the mask all this time!'"

Prichard then recounted how they ended up giving Jacobs the infamous haircut he'd don under the mask for the match against Triple H, and shaved his eyebrows too. "It was – again – it was an evolution of the character Kane, to give him another dimension," he added. "You could see his face, you could see that when he'd scrunch his face up and he would get, you know, see him thinking, and it was scary!"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Something To Wrestle" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.