My next Attitude Award goes to Kane. What an incredibly powerful and complex man.

No other Federation Superstar has kept us so riveted. His story, his history, is both fascinating and heart wrenching. Behind the mask is a man the world is slowly coming to know and to understand. This past year we have learned about him through his relationships.

Everyone who has been close to the "Big Red Machine" has hurt him. His own father, Paul Bearer, kept him locked away for most of his childhood after Kane's step-brother, Undertaker, set the fire that killed their mother and burned Kane's face. Adding insult to injury, the Undertaker has attempted to manipulate Kane during their time in the Federation--leading him along, using and taking advantage of Kane. And let's not forget that the Federation owner, Vince McMahon, also used Kane to further his own ends, only to turn on him and attempt to have him committed.

And then came Chyna. The Ninth Wonder of the World led Kane--and the viewers--to believe that she appreciated him, only to stab him in the back at WrestleMania XV.

The most intriguing--and revealing--relationship Kane forged was with X-Pac. Successful as tag team partners, X-Pac and Kane shared other traits that welded their newfound partnership. Both had tasted the bitterness of abandonment and betrayal and with each other, both became stronger individuals. Kane found his voice...and used it. Also with X-Pac's help, he found his humanity and heart. When X-Pac was down, Kane went after the perpetrators.

Kane had previously been thought of as a sociopath and mentally deficient. This year the world learned that Kane has feelings, and that he possesses something uncommon these days--loyalty. He also displayed courage in it's most authentic form. True, Kane has always used his physical prowess to intimidate, but speaking in front of the world without his voice device took real courage.

Kane is in fact more human and more of a man than most in his ability to display raw emotion. With the new millennium fast approaching, there is no telling what this masked man will accomplish--both as a superstar and as a human being.

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