Kane and the Best WWE Mic Mastery for Week of October 5

When Kane first charged into WWE 18 years ago, a masked monster who only spoke with violence, it would have been impossible to imagine him playing the annoying-corporate-tool-at-the-office role and thriving at it.

That's exactly what he's doing, though. On Monday's Raw, he once again unsettled the audience by way of corporate jargon, exuding an eerie calmness and mixing humor into his horror movie character.

It's baffling that WWE isn't letting a fresher face challenge Seth Rollins. The narrative unfolding around these rivals is making the world champ look like he deserves a dunce cap.

Still, Kane is doing his best to make this story flourish. The juxtaposition of his stalking, sadistic self and the excessively cheery executive is the cornerstone of the angle. It's impressive to watch him jump from character to character.

When Boston hosted Raw on Monday night, Kane deftly played up the schism between his two personalities, painting a mental picture of his office, giving his enemy a haunting grin.

The Director of Operations stood in the ring wearing a walking boot. This was meant to be the result of Rollins' attacking him last week. Never mind that the ankle looked plenty healed once Kane put on his mask and assaulted the champ.

This was no longer the monster. The corporate yes man was speaking now.

Continuing his pattern of being strangely positive in the worst of situations, he called Rollins' crushing his ankle with a steel chair a case of the champion getting "slightly carried away."

He then appointed himself Rollins' partner for the night. 

The significance of that move is that despite the cheery way he delivered the news, it was part of a plan to destroy Rollins. He uses his corporate self to bring his demon self closer to his enemy.

And the more Kane plays up his suit-wearing alter ego, the more suspense builds for when the predator part of him emerges. He tried to convince Rollins that the real Kane is the one who sits at a desk by bringing up some of the accoutrement at his workspace.

"On my coffee mug it says, 'World's Greatest Director of Operations," he told Rollins.

With a stiff smile, Kane said he simply wanted to be the best and bring out the best in Rollins. He tried to do the latter in front of the Boston fans, motivating his co-worker and rival with syrupy enthusiasm.

He said, "I have a poster in my office that says, "No one else matters but the man you see when you look in the mirror.'"

Then with seemingly no effort, he switched gears. His expression shifted to a much darker place. "To be the man around here, sometimes you have to go through hell and face your demons," Kane snarled.

In an instant, Kane snapped back to his other self. And this is where one has to salute the WWE veteran. So many wrestlers struggle with just a single gimmick, but Kane is juggling two of them to great effect.

Although he criticized the Demon Kane side of the equation, pro wrestling writer Kevin Berge is among those impressed with Corporate Kane:

Kenny Herzog of Rolling Stone offered similar thoughts, writing, "Happy-place Corporate Kane is very funny, but the more he becomes one with Demon Kane, the less I'm compelled to see what happens next."

The success of this storyline is going to depend on delivering when it comes time for the beast to overtake the kiss-up.

Kane has nailed the comic elements of his Director of Operations role. It's applause-worthy how he can so effectively flash his darker alter-ego while still playing the more buttoned-up one. Fans saw that when medical staff sent him to the back, as he looked back at Rollins with an evil expression smeared across his face:

Still, it's hard to see Kane as a serious threat. That's partly because it's hard to buy that a 48-year-old can do all that much damage to a young gladiator like Rollins. And Kane's recent track record hasn't exactly seen him ravage the competition.

He's spent the last few years being the guy who takes the pin in tag matches, the guy whom Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and others have conquered on their way to bigger things.

WWE has its work cut out for itself as it tries to convince the audience that Kane could in fact dethrone Rollins. It has to be creative and deliver powerful storytelling in order to take full advantage of the virtuoso performance Kane is bringing to the stage.