How WWE has failed to understand Kane's kryptonite

Suspending disbelief is probably the hardest thing to do as a professional wrestling fan, and it only gets harder as an adult. Perhaps that's why WWE isn't trying to replace characters like The Undertaker, Kane, Mordecai, and The Boogeyman in its developmental system; this is the Reality Era, after all. Gone are the days of God making appearances on Monday Night Raw, limos blowing up with the Chairman of the Board inside, squash matches (for the most part), and a bunch of other things that made the audience suspend their disbelief. And that's a good thing.

Even with all the sweeping changes WWE has made since entering the Reality Era, Creative has still gotten the itch to turn the Kane character into a hyperbolic evil monster every couple of years. (I think if we added up the total number of turns between Kane and Big Show it'd be over 100). Sure, you could make the case Attitude Era heel Kane was an interesting character that worked at the time, but in 2014 it just requires the audience to suspend too much disbelief.

Perhaps the most irritating aspect surrounding the flip flopping by creative with Kane's character is how well he can play either role; just not as a monster with a mask that climbs out from beneath the ring. Kane has excelled in the babyface role with or without the mask, and excelled as a heel in the corporate sellout role. The one role he just can't make work is the heel role with the mask. Perhaps it's the lines and/or feuds he's given, but it's never clicked and with Kane being just two years younger than his brother, The Undertaker, time isn't on creative nor Kane's side.

It's clear somebody backstage really enjoys the masked Kane persona considering how often they've reverted back to it and how hard they push him when he changes back into the character initially.

Prior to putting the mask back on, again, Kane was playing the role of a corporate sellout, and it was working. Seeing Kane in a suit without the mask was incredibly more terrifying, and more importantly, believable. With Evolution 2.0 ( Although the group is more Legacy than Evolution)  working with The Shield, WWE elected to push Kane back into the Main Event to feud with Daniel Bryan. With Bryan and Kane's colorful and interesting history as a tag team, the feud had all the potential to be a really interesting post-WrestleMania Main Event storyline.

The underdog champion versus the corporate sellout.

Instead, Creative elected to have Kane put the mask back on and started dragging people to Hell again. This time made even less sense than the previous mask revival because of how well Corporate Kane was working. The old adage "If it ain't broke don't fix it" applies here. WWE had finally found a heel Kane character that got heat and fit the era they were in. But they couldn't get out of their own way and the cheesy Evil Masked Kane returned.

Perhaps putting the mask back on makes Kane more appealing to kids. Or maybe the hope is that it brings fans of the Attitude Era crawling back if they're channel surfing and come across Masked Kane, so they tune in. I doubt either to be true, but there has to be a reason backstage as to why WWE really wants Masked Kane to work in an era that can't include it. I just don't know what that reason is.

Trying to elevate Masked Kane into a big-time character is the last remaining archaic strategy employed by the WWE in the Reality Era.

And I don't think I'll ever understand why.