10 Precise Moments Wrestlers Should Have Retired
3. Kane - WWE Royal Rumble 2018
Christ, remember when Finn Bálor worked a total banger with AJ Styles at TLC 2017, a match so good and serendipitous it was felt that fate had intervened to reverse the rotten luck Bálor had endured since SummerSlam 2016?
And then a clearly ancient Kane, in piss-poor shape, attacked him on RAW the next night? And it deprived fans of what they liked about Bálor? And then Kane won the feud to set him up as a challenger for Brock Lesnar's WWE Title?
Jesus Christ.
Kane was at least an inessential character in the years prior to that, and a mildly amusing one, as part of the Authority. That sort of sucked sh*t, too, because Seth Rollins when he was really, really good had to deal with him for too long, but at least we weren't meant to receive him as the monster of old.
Kane was completely past it. Known as a "night off" for years, working that slow and regimented WWE style with metronomic muscle memory precision, this dynamic was woefully uninspiring, boring, destructive, and should have only been arrived at on the condition of his retirement. He's a mayor anyway! He's fine.
r/SquaredCircle reckons auras can be transferred by simply having a younger supernatural dude beat an older one, so let's go with that, at the 2018 Royal Rumble.