What If Kane Didn't Take Off His Mask?
RAW: June 23, 2003. Kane lost his World Heavyweight Championship match against Triple H with help from Evolution. Eric Bischoff included that Kane would have to unmask, should he lose.
"Kane! You know the stipulations and you gave your word! Now, take that mask off!" Kane gets up and attempts to take it off as Bischoff watches.
"He's gonna do it! This is it!" says Jerry Lawler, enthusiastically. From behind, Triple H nails Kane in the back of the head with the belt.
"What the hell is going on? Evolution, now beating the hell out of Kane.... They just screwed the man out of the championship..." says JR as Evolution attacks Kane with repeated stomps.
"I think they want to do the honors! I think THEY want to unmask Kane!" replies Lawler. All of a sudden, Rob Van Dam, Kane's tag-team partner, comes out of nowhere and beats the crap out of Evolution as Kane recovers and helps out. Randy Orton is the only one left in the ring. Kane chokeslams him and RVD hits the frog splash. Kane, about to do his pyro, realizes what he needs to do. Van Dam sits and watches painfully. He tries to talk Kane out of it. Kane gets frustrated on how he needs to unmask, but he just cannot do it.
"C'mon! Do it, Kane, do it!" says Lawler, seemingly impatient.
"I don't think we wanna see it..." warns JR.
"Yeah! Yeah! We DO wanna see it!" replies Lawler, "Here it comes!" Kane takes it off about halfway, and puts it back on. The fans erupt. Kane turns around and stares at Rob Van Dam, still sitting in the corner, watching. Van Dam walks up and starts talking and pointing to the mask, as if saying,
"You need to do this, Kane, it's only fair." All of a sudden, Eric Bischoff interrupts.
"Kane! You agreed, Bucko!" screams Bischoff, "Take that mask off, now!" He asks.
"C'mon, Bischoff, give him a break!" says JR.
"Well, he did lose, JR..." says Lawler. Kane looks at RVD for support. RVD hops out of the ring, grabs a mic and says,
"Kane...I'm sorry, man. You agreed to the match stipulation. Like I said, it's only fair." The fans have a mixed reaction, with some saying 'Take it off!', but others saying 'No, Kane, no!' Finally, Bischoff starts walking towards the ring, saying,
"Kane, if you don't take that mask off right now, by God, I'll take it off myself!" Kane continues to stand, doing nothing. Bischoff makes a full-blown run to the ring, runs in, and stands right in front of Kane.
"Okay, tough guy, how about this? Next week, here on RAW, you'll be facing Evolution. That's right, you in a 1-on-4 handicap match. If you lose...heh...guess what? You'll be fired!" Bischoff's music plays again as he walks away. Kane continues to stand as Rob Van Dam also walks out...