9 Things WWE Experimented With On House Shows But Never Went With

5. Hell, Fire, Brimstone... And A Cape

Brock Lesnar Jesse Ventura
WWE.com

Kane’s WWE debut at Bad Blood ’97 is rightly viewed as one of the most iconic and impactful first appearances in wrestling history.

What some people may not know, is that Kane worked several house shows in the build to causing chaos in that 1997 PPV’s Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels Hell in a Cell bout. And not only did The Big Red Machine work some non-televised live events, but said appearances saw Kane donning a swanky red and black cape.

For the most part, capes make everything cooler. Luckily for Kane, leaving the cape behind did him no harm once he finally landed on main WWE television and was instantly positioned as the most dominant, unstoppable force in the company.

Two decades later, with multiple championships to his name, a Hall of Fame induction simply waiting to happen, and even being the Mayor of Knox County, things worked out pretty well for Kane despite WWE brass deciding that his house show cape wasn’t going to cut it once he made his explosive Bad Blood bow.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.