Big Show and Kane

Big Show and Kane are two professional wrestlers currently signed to WWE, who have formed a tag team during five periods: 2001–2002, 2005–2006, 2011, 2014–2015 and 2016. The duo used their gigantic statures and power to dominate opponents, and they were successful in winning both the World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship once.

History

First term (2001–2002)

Big Show and Kane would first team together on the November 29, 2001 episode of SmackDown! when they defeated The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff).^[3] They would face The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) at Vengeance for the WWF Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful in their challenge.^[4] Their feud with the Dudley Boyz continued with a loss in a Tables match on the January 24, 2002 episode of SmackDown!^[5] Big Show and Kane would then face each other on the January 28, 2002 episode of Raw, which Kane won.^[6] Big Show and Kane would once again team together to finally beat the Dudley Boyz on the 24 March episode of Sunday Night Heat.^[7]

Reunion (2005–2006)

Big Show and Kane reunited on October 31, 2005, when they defeated the Heart Throbs in a Texas Tornado match on Raw.^[8] At Taboo Tuesday, Big Show and Kane defeated Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch to win their first World Tag Team Championship teaming together on November 1, 2005.^[9] Cade and Murdoch then challenged Big Show and Kane to a title rematch with Hardcore rules, which Big Show and Kane won. Leading up to Survivor Series, the duo would attack various SmackDown members such as Batista and Bobby Lashley.^[10] At Survivor Series, Big Show and Kane represented Team Raw along with Shawn Michaels, Chris Masters and Carlito, but they were defeated by Team SmackDown! which consisted of Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Batista, John Bradshaw Layfield and Bobby Lashley.^[11] Big Show and Kane ended their feud with Batista and Mysterio at Armageddon when they defeated them in a non-title Champions versus Champions encounter as Batista and Mysterio were the WWE Tag Team Champions at that time.^[12]

The duo would hold on to their tag team titles until April 2006, successfully retaining their titles against a variety of opponents such as Snitsky and Tyson Tomko, Val Venis and Viscera, as well as the Heart Throbs.^[10] In 2006, the duo would feud with Carlito and Chris Masters, culminating in a successful title defense at WrestleMania 22 on April 2.^[13] The next day at Raw, Big Show and Kane lost the World Tag Team Championship to Spirit Squad members Kenny and Mikey after interference from the rest of the Spirit Squad.^[14]

One week later, Big Show and Kane faced Spirit Squad members Johnny and Nicky in a title rematch, but were disqualified after Kane lost his mind and attacked all the Spirit Squad members. Big Show tried to calm Kane down, but Kane attacked him, ending the partnership.^[15] Kane losing his mind was part of a storyline to promote Kane's upcoming movie at that time, See No Evil.^[16] Big Show and Kane would then feud with each other, but both matches pitting the men against each other ended in a no-contest.^[16][17][18]

Feud with the Corre and New Nexus (2011)

On the March 4 episode of SmackDown, The Corre aided Kane by interfering in Kane's match against Big Show and attacking Big Show. However, a miscommunication between Kane and the Corre led to Kane turning on the Corre instead.^[19] Big Show and Kane would then reunite to take on the Corre, challenging them for the tag team title belts and saving other wrestlers from the Corre's attacks.^[10] At WrestleMania XXVII, Big Show and Kane would team together with Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston to beat the Corre.^[20] The following week, a WrestleMania rematch took place with Big Show and Kane's team victorious over the Corre once again in a two out of three falls match.

On the April 22nd episode of SmackDown, the duo defeated Corre members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, their second championship win as a team.^[21] As tag team champions, Big Show and Kane would enjoy successful title defenses with wins over Gabriel and Slater in a rematch, the Corre's Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson, as well as The New Nexus members CM Punk and Mason Ryan.^[10]

On the May 23 episode of Raw, New Nexus members David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty defeated Big Show and Kane to win the Tag Team Championships following interference from CM Punk and Mason Ryan. After the match, Big Show was run over by Alberto Del Rio's car, causing a storyline injury.^[22] When Big Show returned, Kane prevented him from further brutalizing Ricardo Rodriguez.^[23]

Kane and Big Show would then go their separate ways. Both of them would feud with Mark Henry, but Henry came out top in both feuds, using a steel chair to crush Big Show's and then Kane's leg on two separate occasions to cause storyline injuries, resulting in their inactivity from WWE programming.^[24][25] Both Big Show and Kane would return separately before the end of 2011, but did not reform their team.^[26]

Aligned with The Authority (2014–2015)

After Big Show turned on Team Cena against the The Authority at Survivor Series 2014, Show joined the stable with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. At the 2015 Royal Rumble event, Kane and Show teamed up to eliminate several superstars. They were ultimately attacked by The Rock, which allowed The Rock's cousin Roman Reigns to win the Rumble match by eliminating Rusev. On the February 12, 2015 edition of SmackDown, during a Tag Team Turmoil match as heels for the first time against the team of Daniel Bryan and Reigns, Big Show knocked out Kane with a KO Punch after bickering throughout most of the match. At Fastlane, The Authority (Big Show, Seth Rollins and Kane) defeated Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback when Kane pinned Ziggler. Big Show and Kane entered the 2nd annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. Kane was eliminated while Big Show won the Trophy.^[27]

Sporadic teaming (2016)

After leaving The Authority, Big Show and Kane were once again reunited in February 2016 as faces, when they, along with Ryback, began a rivalry with The Wyatt Family. A confrontation on Raw led to a six-man tag match at Fastlane, which they would win. The following night on Raw, The trio lost to The Wyatts in a rematch, after Ryback walked out on Show and Kane.

On the March 21 episode of Raw, Kane would save Big Show from The Social Outcasts, but would chokeslam Show from the top rope afterwards. On March 28 episode of Raw, Big Show and Kane aided each other in taking out the entire WWE locker room to promote the 3rd annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. During the battle royal, Both Big Show and Shaquille O'Neal double choke slammed Kane. On the April 19 episode of Main Event, Big Show and Kane successfully defeated the team of Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan.^[28] On the July 4 edition of Raw, Big Show and Kane teamed up alongside Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Zack Ryder, Apollo Crews and The Dudley Boyz to form Team U.S.A. and compete against The Multinational Alliance (Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus & The Lucha Dragons), in a 16-man elimination tag team match in the main event where they succeeded.^[29] During the 2016 WWE Draft, Big Show was drafted to Raw while Kane was drafted to SmackDownLive, ending the team once more.

In wrestling

Big Show and Kane performing double chokeslam on Braun Strowman

• Double-team finishing moves
  • Double chokeslam, sometimes in stereo^[10]
• Nicknames
  • "The Giant" (Big Show)
  • "The World's Largest Athlete" (Big Show)
  • "The (Big Red) Monster" (Kane)
  • "The (Devil's Favorite) Demon" (Kane)
• Entrance themes
  • "Big (intro)^[30] Slow Chemical^[31] (theme) mix" by Jim Johnston and Finger Eleven – 2005–2006
  • "Crank It Up (intro)^[30] Man on Fire^[32] (theme) mix" by Brand New Sin and Jim Johnston – 2011
  • "King of Kings" by Motörhead (2014–2015; used while part of The Authority)
  • "Veil of Fire" by Jim Johnston^[33] – 2014–2015; 2016
  • "Crank It Up" by Brand New Sin – 2014–2015; 2016

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[34]
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[35]
  • André the Giant Memorial Trophy (2015) - Big Show
  • Slammy Award (1 time)
    • Match of the Year (2014) – Team Cena vs. Team Authority at Survivor Series

References