To suggest Kane has had one of the most unique careers in WWE history would be akin to claiming Ric Flair was kind of good at the rasslin'.

The masked monster of Vince McMahon's traveling circus routinely found himself in some of the most ridiculous, over-the-top and bizarre situations of any Superstar ever. He has set fire to fellow Superstars, married reluctant brides, Tombstone piledrove legendary baseball players and even admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend.

But to focus only on the absurd would be doing the big man a great disservice.

One of the most talented and enduring giants to ever tower over the wrestling industry, The Devil's Favorite Demon earned the respect of his peers and the admiration of the WWE Universe through his innate ability to take on the most asinine angles and do everything he could to make them successful.

On his 53rd birthday, relive the matches, moments and head-scratchers that helped The Big Red Machine entrench himself in wrestling lore as one of WWE's greatest characters.

13. WWE Champion

Just nine months into his run, Kane entered the 1998 King of the Ring as the No. 1 contender to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's WWE Championship. Their match, a high-stakes First Blood match in which Kane vowed to set himself ablaze if he lost, headlined an event that saw Undertaker brutalize Mankind in the most jaw-dropping display of violence in WWE history. For that reason alone, Kane's first heavyweight title match has been largely forgotten.

In the main event, a valiant Austin fought through a staph infection in his elbow in an attempt to defend his title. Interference from a battered Mankind and the champion's own tag team partner, The Undertaker, cost The Texas Rattlesnake his title. Kane's triumph would be short-lived, though, as he dropped the title back to Stone Cold the next night on Raw.

Still, any Superstar's first title win is a monumental moment and deserves recognition when documenting their greatest matches and moments.

12. For the Kanenites

Shortly after WrestleMania X-8, nostalgia ran wild as fans threw their support behind Hulk Hogan. Together with The Rock, The Hulkster found himself in a war with the New World Order. On the March 28, 2002, episode of SmackDown, those industry icons were slated to partner with Kane in a six-man tag team match against the NWO.

The Big Red Monster caught up with his teammates backstage and cut the single most electrifying promo of his career, channeling his partners' energy and tone. He dedicated the match to his millions of "Kanenites" and left his partners speechless by his sudden outburst. 

In the grand scheme of things, it was a one-night occurrence that did not have any sort of immediate effect on his character. What it did, though, was showcase Kane's ability to captivate the audience comedically, something he would heavily rely on later in his career.

11. Going It Alone in TLC

Upon returning to WWE following a biceps injury 2002, Kane was as hot a star on the Raw brand as any. He was incredibly popular, and most figured if anyone could end Triple H's reign of dominance, it would be him. He started off hot, capturing the tag team titles with The Hurricane. They were slated to defend against three teams in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match but injury prevented Kane's partner from competing.

His response? Fight on his own.

Kane withstood the onslaughts of Chris Jericho and Christian, Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley and Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy to ascend the ladder and retrieve the tag titles by himself.

The win continued to build momentum for the character, showed he could survive despite numbers disadvantages and set him up perfectly for a feud with Triple H over the world title.

Though, in hindsight, it is a rivalry he probably wishes never happened. 

10. The Monster and His Bride

The summer of 2004 brought with it Kane's latest bizarre storyline as our favorite Big Red Monster sought to form a family and picked out Lita to carry his child. To ensure Matt Hardy would not interfere, he battled the former tag team champion in a Till Death Do Us Part match at SummerSlam. At stake? Lita's hand in marriage.

The unstoppable force bowled through Hardy, defeating him after a chokeslam from the top rope. The date set, Kane proceeded to marry Lita in a wedding that was every bit the sports-entertainment spectacle one would expect, complete with another massive chokeslam that would sideline Hardy for months.

The union became relatively mutual, running all the way into 2005, when Lita's real-life affair with Edge forced a drastic change in storyline plans.

9. The Shane McMahon Rivalry

Shortly after unmasking in June 2003, Kane became an unstoppable force. He was unhinged and unleashed hell on anyone around him, including Linda McMahon, at the behest of Raw general manager Eric Bischoff. 

The vile and vicious Tombstone piledriver uncorked by Kane on the matriarch of the McMahon family on to the steel entrance ramp understandably drew the ire of Shane McMahon and sparked a rivalry that would become of the most intense and absurd of the year.

Kane answered an attack by Shane-O-Mac by handcuffing the prodigal son to the ring post and then electrocuting his private parts with a car battery. McMahon later kicked Kane into a flaming dumpster, only for The Big Red Monster to awaken in a hospital showing no signs whatsoever of the injury and agony such an action would have caused.

The feud stretched five months, running through a Street Fight at Unforgiven in September and concluding in November at the Survivor Series, where Kane made it 2-0 against McMahon in an Ambulance match.

As is the case any time a McMahon is involved, there was a ton of television time for Kane to benefit from, and he enjoyed his most substantial run in years. The win catapulted him into world title contention, and by the end of the year, he would be headlining PPVs in contests for the gold.

8. Katie Vick

The most surreal storyline in WWE history came to us courtesy of Kane and Triple H in the fall of 2002.

The Game, recognizing the very real threat The Big Red Machine posed to his reign as world heavyweight champion, emerged from the locker room and revealed to the world that Kane murdered a girl he loved called Katie Vick. Worse yet, he not-so-subtly implied that Kane had committed necrophilia.

The look on Kane's face was not one of distress or sadness. It was not one of disbelief or emotional agony. It was the same look painting the faces of fans as they watched this latest attempt to pop a television rating play out on live TV. It was one of, "WTF?!"

The storyline only got more absurd, culminating with the world champion of the world's pre-eminent wrestling company simulating sexual intercourse with a mannequin he inferred was Vick.

The ordeal was complete and utter garbage, a dark period for creative efforts in WWE. Worse yet, Kane never avenged the claims and emotional torment Triple H inflicted, losing their pay-per-view match despite being as hot as he had ever been as a babyface.

Still, it is impossible to tell Kane's story without the sordid storyline.

7. Hug It out

The rivalry between Kane and Daniel Bryan strangely segued into an unlikely partnership between the Devil's Favorite Demon and the best wrestler in the world. On the September 3, 2012, episode of Raw, the latest chapter in their story would be written when the WWE Universe voted via social media for the Superstars to...hug it out.

For several minutes, Bryan and Kane had the fans in the palms of their hands, leaving them teetering on the edge of an explosive pop as they teased the warm embrace. Finally, they paid off the fans' anticipation with a hug that cemented their partnership and set them up for a run with the tag team titles.

As Team Hell No, the tandem would become the measuring stick for tag team wrestling in WWE and even teamed with Randy Orton to deal The Shield their first loss the following spring.

6. Burn Your Fire

The Undertaker's quest to dethrone WWE champion Shawn Michaels at the 1998 Royal Rumble played second fiddle to the latest development in his relationship with Kane. Six days before the hotly anticipated encounter, Kane rescued his brother from a beating at the hands of D-Generation X.

Most important was the sign of unity displayed between them, suggesting they were on the same page for the first time since childhood.

As it turned out, it was a despicable mind game perpetrated by The Big Red Machine and the dastardly Paul Bearer. At the Royal Rumble, Kane attacked his brother, chokeslamming him into a casket and aiding Michaels to victory. From there, he set alight the casket, attempting to do away with The Phenom once and for all.

The angle served as the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, driving Undertaker to revoke the promise he made to his parents never to fight his brother and set up a match between the siblings at WrestleMania XIV in Boston.

5. Mr. Money in the Bank

His brother assaulted and left in a "vegetative state" by an unknown assailant, Kane sought to avenge The Undertaker. The 2010 Money in the Bank ladder match provided him the opportunity to seek out the assailant while also advancing his own career, with the promise of a guaranteed championship opportunity awaiting him if he could climb a ladder and retrieve a briefcase.

He achieved his goal, defeating Big Show, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy and a young Drew McIntyre. Had his night ended there, the possessor of a championship opportunity at any time over the next year, it would have been a successful one. But it did not.

Instead, Kane appeared just moments after Rey Mysterio's successful world championship defense against Jack Swagger and delivered a wicked Tombstone piledriver to win the title. The Devil's Favorite Demon hoisted the world title and let out a menacing laugh, knowing full well what his win and reign would mean for the SmackDown brand.

Beyond the mat, the title victory jumpstarted what would be Kane's most successful run atop WWE. Winning the title in July, he held the gold until December and wreaked havoc on the blue brand. He was remorseless about the chaos he caused and eventually admitted he was the one who attacked his brother.

Of course, Undertaker rose and sought revenge, but unlike years past, Kane got one over on his elder sibling, defeating even the almighty Deadman to extend his reign. All things considered, it may rank as his greatest stretch from both a creative and success perspective, even if it has inexplicably been forgotten over the decade since.

4. 'That's Pete Rose!'

Pete Rose is one of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball, and at WrestleMania XIV, his competitiveness got the best of him when he cracked a few jokes about the Boston Red Sox that earned him jeers from the crowd.

Those same fans understandably popped when Kane made his way to the ring, stalking toward the squared circle with malice in his eyes, and came face-to-face with the disgraced ballplayer. Not amused, Kane delivered a Tombstone piledriver to Rose as Jim Ross exclaimed on commentary, "That's Pete Rose! That's Pete Rose!" in disbelief at the events unfolding before him. 

The moment made ESPN's SportsCenter and other media outlets, though it would be far from the last time the pair's paths would cross.

At the next two WrestleManias, Rose showed up attempting to get revenge on Kane, and in both instances, he was again laid out by The Big Red Machine.

Over the years that followed, Rose encountered Kane in a pay-per-view commercial for No Mercy 2002 and in 2010, when the should-be baseball Hall of Famer returned to the company as guest host of WWE Raw.

Each time, the interactions have been met with sheer glee from fans and created fun, harmless moments in the most unlikely rivalry of Kane's career.

3. Anger Management with Dr. Shelby

In 2012, Kane was stuck in the midcard abyss along with any number of talented individuals, not the least of whom was former world champion Daniel Bryan. Their paths crossed when they both appeared in a court-ordered anger management class, overseen by Dr. Shelby.

The masked Superstar, known for the terror he spread across the WWE Universe, matter-of-factly ran down his laundry list of offenses to the extent that it turned out to be rather hilarious. By the time Kane and Bryan began interacting, with a cameo from AEW's Scorpio Sky, the vignettes proved creative gold.

That Kane excelled as the straight man to Bryan's over-the-top fool and actor Michael Aspinwall (Shelby) totally got what the writing team was going for and had superb comedic timing only helped to make the segments the overwhelming success they were.

Kane, for all of his serious and horrifying work, repeatedly demonstrated a knack for comedy, making him even more valuable to a company that prided itself in blending sport and entertainment.

2. The Demon Is Unmasked

By the summer of 2003, it was clear Kane could use considerable refreshing. For years, he had been the masked maniac of WWE, an unstoppable force who occasionally flirted with comedy when the opportunity presented itself.

WWE Raw, though, was in need of a high-profile heel, and the decision was made to turn the Big Red Monster. To do so, it would rely on one of his greatest foes to necessitate the change: Triple H. The Game issued a challenge to Kane for a World Heavyweight Championship match, with one stipulation: If Kane lost, he would have to unmask for the world to see.

As history tells us, he lost and unmasked, revealing a charred and disfigured face.

Or so it was sold to us as.

In reality, it looked a lot like Dr. Isaac Yankem had painted part of his face black and shaved half of his head. It was a bad look, but to this day, due largely to the magic and aura of the character that Glenn Jacobs had created over the first five years of its existence, it resonates with fans of that particular era of WWE programming.

Above everything else, that one moment sparked a new, more unhinged and unpredictable Kane than ever before. He was dangerous, terrifying and hellbent on destruction. At that particular time, it was a character that needed the rebirth unmasking provided it.

1. 'That's Gotta Be Kane!'

After months of Paul Bearer insisting he was alive, the masked sibling of The Undertaker stalked toward the squared circle in October 1997, interrupting a hotly anticipated Hell in a Cell match pitting The Deadman against Shawn Michaels, as Vince McMahon exclaimed one commentary, "That's gotta be...that's gotta be KANE!"

The call, one made in awe of the monstrosity Bearer had unleashed on the company, ushered in a reign of terror over WWE that would last 23 years and counting.

On that night in St. Louis, Kane ripped the door off a steel structure, stood face-to-face with the brother who left him to burn in their family's funeral home and struck him down with a Tombstone piledriver.

Michaels won the match, but the wrestling world buzzed only about the shocking debut of a Superstar who went on to have his name associated with many, many more unforgettable moments.