The Divas' Favorite Demon

Maybe it’s his dark and mysterious aura. Maybe it’s the muscles. Maybe, as he once said himself, “chicks dig the mask.” Whatever it is, Kane has always had a strange way with the ladies of WWE. Despite his general aura of madness and his M.O. of utter destruction, Divas have been drawn to the animal magnetism of The Big Red Monster for the better part of his 15-year career in WWE.

The latest in Kane's series of would-be suitors? The crazy-eyed pixie AJ, who may be full-on in love with Kane as he prepares to face Daniel Bryan (her ex) and WWE Champion CM Punk (the guy who “digs” her) at No Way Out in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title. In any case, she gave Kane one heck of a smooch on Raw SuperShow during the foursome’s Mixed Tag Match. While Kane’s current romantic entanglement plays out its course, WWE.com looks back at the various romantic exploits of Kane: lover, fighter, champion of women, and most of all … The Divas’ Favorite Demon.

The Big Red Machine’s first brush with Cupid came at the height of the Attitude Era, when he caught the eye of the vixen-like Diva Tori. Their unlikely romance gave The Devil’s Favorite Demon a chance to prove himself as an oddly valiant Superstar in defense of the woman he loved. After Tori spent Christmas weekend with X-Pac (as a result of a stipulation to a WWE Title Match Kane lost) she began to grow hysterical at the slightest bit of contact with other WWE Superstars. Kane would show his devotion and dispatch her would-be suitors at the slightest provocation. While The Big Red Monster continued to champion his girlfriend’s honor, tragedy struck when Kane’s cohorts in the McMahon-Helmsley Faction turned on him and tied him up in the ring ropes while Tori revealed the truth: that she and X-Pac had been carrying on an affair behind the demon’s back since that fateful weekend.

Kane would go on to get the last laugh at WrestleMania 2000, when he scored the deciding pinfall in a tag team match against X-Pac and Road Dogg, while his partner Rikishi administered the cherry on top by smothering Tori with a Stink Face. Hell hath no fury indeed.

 
Kane has done a lot of things the WWE Universe surely wishes they could do. Among them was certainly this moment in 2002, seconds after winning the World Tag Team Championships with The Hurricane. Riding high off the throes of his victory, Kane paused the duo’s post-match interview with Terri Runnels and planted a big wet smooch on her lips before throwing his head back and screaming “YEEEAAAAHHH! NOW I’M READY TO GO CELEBRATE!” while The Hurricane stood stunned in response.

Truth be told, the celebration would come next week, when Terri returned the favor by passionately locking lips with The Big Red Monster after he interrupted her interview with Chris Jericho, then departing without another word. Kane’s reaction was typically stoic, as he shared a shrug with a nearby backstage reporter and said, “What can I say? Chicks dig the mask.”

Turns out, though, the Divas dig him just fine without the mask as well. In 2004, Kane began a bizarre relationship with Lita that took The Devil’s Favorite Demon all the way to the altar of holy matrimony when he defeated Matt Hardy in a “Till Death Do Us Part” Match for the right to marry Lita. In what J.R. dubbed “the wedding from hell,” Lita said her vows to The Big Red Monster, who dressed in a white tux while a string quartet provided classical music for the occasion. The relationship was rocky – Lita wasn’t exactly ecstatic over marrying Kane at first – though not without its tender moments. The two even reconciled for a time; Lita stood in Kane’s corner at Backlash 2005 when he faced Viscera, the bodyguard of Lita’s rival Trish Stratus, and it looked for a while like the crazy kids might just work it out. Alas, matrimony wasn’t strong enough to keep them together, as Kane lost Lita to the tattooed clutches of The Rated-R Superstar, Edge.

This was an odd one. For one wild series of events at the end of 2008, Kane got it into his head that the blond bombshell was harboring some secret feelings for the demon in red, going so far as to abduct Kelly backstage to try and persuade her to confess her love. Kelly didn’t bite, though, with Kane eventually formulating that she was protecting another Superstar who she actually did have feelings for. The Devil’s Favorite Demon seemed to think it was The Miz and acted accordingly, planting The Awesome One with a chokeslam and a Tombstone, but his brutal attempt at courtship ended before it began when he was forced to apologize for his actions by Stephanie McMahon one week later. He can’t win ’em all, apparently.

(PS: The mystery Superstar turned out to be Randy Orton, but he wasn’t interested in a relationship. Chalk it up to a rough patch for Kane and Kelly).

 
We suppose it’s only fitting that a self-styled “Geek Goddess” would have a thing for a man in a mask. As Kane became involved in the WWE Title rivalry between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in summer 2012, he also found himself entangled in their romantic struggle over the affections of AJ, who had been spurned by Bryan and found herself gravitating toward a hesitant Punk. On the June 4th episode of Raw SuperShow, AJ threw yet another monkey wrench into the equation by fixing Kane with a flirty look that seemed to stun The Devil’s Favorite Demon. She later upped the ante by stalking him through the halls of SmackDown the following Friday and full-on kissing him the next Monday on Raw. The kiss sent Kane into a near catatonic state while the WWE Universe roared “YES! YES! YES!” and lead him to abandon the Mixed Tag Team Match he was embroiled in at the time. That match ended with AJ & Punk claiming victory over Kane & Bryan, as Kane stared in disbelief at AJ from the stage.