WWE’s Classics page has a great story on Kane as he looks back at the night he was first unmasked … ten years ago on Monday Night Raw on June 23, 2003.
Said Kane of the unmasking, “I felt like I had gone as far as I could with the mask at that point … At the time, the only people behind the decision to remove it were myself and Mr. McMahon.”
He added, “There was no trepidation on my part to lose the mask … The thought on some peoples’ minds was, ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.’ But this created something new for my career. I knew I could do it and the reaction of the WWE Universe was great.”
Kane emerged re-masked in December 2011. On this, he says, “I think the mask adds a lot of mystique, because you never know exactly what I’m thinking … When I was unmasked, you didn’t really get that sense, but since it went back on, you get the best of both worlds.”
