Grilling JR - Kane [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re talking about The man they will eventually call Mayor…but at the top of his career he was Kane…and we’re talking about Glenn Jacobs…

It has been just over 26 years since the first appearance of Kane on our TV screens but his career began well before that.

Glenn Jacobs was born April 26th, 1947 and was born in Madrid, Spain as his father was part of the United States Air Force. He would eventually look into being a teacher and earn a teaching degree before he decided to get into pro wrestling. Could Glenn Jacobs had been a more successful Dean Douglas?

Glenn would be trained by Dean Malenko and Ray Candy - and he would spend time in Puerto Rico, Japan & Florida during the early 90s - with most of his time spent in Memphis using such gimmicks as the Christmas Creature & Doomsday - even working with Jerry Lawler on top in December 1992. When did you first hear of Glenn?

You would somehow miss each other when Bruiser Mastino would put over Sting in WCW in early 1993. He had quite the distinct look early on in his career did he not?

Jacobs would wrestle a dark match at a WWF TV taping under his real name - defeating Mike Bell in October 1993 in Burlington, Vermont. There was even a show where Bret Hart would defeat Jerry Lawler in a steel cage match but there would be interference by Owen Hart & the Black Knight - which was Glenn Jacobs. Bruce would discuss how Jacobs was originally in mind to play one of the Knights at Survivor Series 1993:

“Glenn was greener than grass. Glenn was greener than the Christmas tree outfit that he wore as the Christmas Creature from Tennessee, which was hilarious. Every time that picture would surface we would put it up around the dressing room for the Christmas Creature, which was a green unitard, from head to toe with a tensile and balls hanging down from it. He was just very green.

We had to get him some more experience before we could get him in, but we liked the size and there was potential. Plus, he was a super nice guy. There was something there, but we didn’t have a developmental system; we didn’t have a school, so we just sent him to Memphis where he had an opportunity to work every day.

Glenn was going to be one of the Knights under the mask. He didn’t become a knight because he was too green. Way too green. Not even a year in the business at the time. We brought him up there because we needed bodies,, but we just didn’t know. We didn’t know how green he was at that point.”

Could Glen had benefited from being in that role or was it too early?

Was this the first time you had seen him - or talked with him - or was that still not that relationship yet?

He has everything the WWF was looking for at the time right - size and a look…but just wasn’t ready in the ring was he?

Sadly he wouldn’t get a chance on WWF TV but he would go back to Memphis working as Doomsday until January 1995 when he was hired for Smoky Mountain Wrestling - and renamed Unabomb. He would team with the likes of Eddie Gilbert and Al Snow before getting to feud with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. This was invaluable was it not?

He would get his biggest opportunity on August 4th, 1995 at the Smoky Mountain Superbowl of Wrestling event… by wrestling the Undertaker. This is a real test for him at this point in his career was it not?

Kane would write this about you in his book:

"One guy I owe a lot to is of course Jim Ross.

Jim Ross was on hiatus from WWE, but he was working as Jim Cornette's announcer. Within a month or two, and of course Jim Ross likes big guys, so immediately he got me a tryout with WWE so I was super excited.”

Why did you step up and recommend Glen?

You would write this in your book:

“Glenn was Unabomb with a mask. He had that great look, was college educated, soft-spoken, and classy. I thought if Vince could see this guy he would want him on his roster. Underneath the size and potential, Glenn immediately struck me as a model employee. I knew it would be a benefit to both Glenn and Vince to meet up some day.”

Kane would also write this:

“I had my tryout match with Reno Riggins (at the February 20, 1995 Raw taping), and of course Reno was a great worker, and within literally a couple of days Jim Cornette talks to me and says that they are going to sign me and that they want me. I was really excited and thought this is exactly what I wanted to do.

I received a phone call to meet with Vince McMahon and at the time JJ Dillon was the Head of Talent Relations. They take me to the office in Stamford, Connecticut. I am sitting in the room with JJ and Vince walks in. We are sitting there and having small talk and everything is going well and Vince asked me if I had ever been afraid to go to the Dentist?

I am thinking that this is one of those things where I am going through a personality test, so I said no sir. He said that he has always had this idea of a wrestling Dentist, 'Isaac Yankem’ - that’s

I.Yankem DDS, from DECATUR.”

Did you know the WWF was going to move forward with bringing Glen in?

Were you consulted about any of this?

Did you know the role or gimmick he was going to be brought in as?

The thought process behind a wrestling dentist…why was everything a job or occupation at the time?

Did you think he could overcome it - and did you think it was lame?

Kane would continue in his book…

"I am sitting there at first like I am on top of the world but now it feels like the world is falling down on me. Wrestling Dentist? How am I going to pull this off? I spoke with Jim Cornette and told him that I don't know about this whole Dentist thing. He says to me, 'Oh, it will be fine. That is just his first thought. They will eventually come up with something cool.'

Two months later I spoke with Cornette and he is working in creative with WWE. He tells me that the good news is that you are going to be coming up really soon, but the bad news is you are coming up as the dentist. I was thinking, oh man, but what was I going to do? If I wanted to advance my career basically I had to take a shot”.

"It just got worse. I had to put paint on my teeth to make it look like my teeth were in decay. Everyone else had this cool music but I had this drill and I was thinking, golly. I just wasn't ready to do it.”

This is a real test to show how dedicated Glen is to the business - but was this ever able to be successful?

Kane also wrote a lot about the Undertaker and how he took Glen under his wing…how important was that for Glen in his evolution in the business?

Even in 1995 Undertaker was viewed as a locker room leader - how important was that to the locker room at the time?

Kane credits the Issac Yankem character as getting his foot in the door and it even allowed him to have his first match in the WWF in that character…at SummerSlam 1995 against Bret Hart. Yankem is introduced as Jerry Lawler’s dentist after Bret shoves Jerry’s foot in his mouth at King of the Ring 1995. This is a big role for Glen and a big spot. Was he ready in your mind?

He would main event Raw against Bret in October in a steel cage match where Bret would get the win and the program would end for him when he teamed with Lawler and lost to Bret & Hakushi on Raw. Very quickly you would see Yankem put Taker over on Raw in January of 1996 before being downplayed heavily on TV and even losing to the Ultimate Warrior in one of his final appearances.

Was it the gimmick - or was it Glen?

Eventually…the gimmick is retired - which is best for everyone…but…Glen is going to transfer to…well…

From the Observer:

“Of course there was far more to a weekend where WWF created a story of Razor Ramon and Diesel returning as an attempt, which wound up basically failing, to try and get ratings in a Monday night battle that the company has consistently lost. In running an angle that became the top item of interest in the company, thus overwhelming its hype for the coming PPV show, whatever comparatively small amount of revenue they generated on their 900 line by creating a top angle with a negative reaction payoff to the fans who were teased (a cardinal rule of promotion is to never tease something you aren't going to deliver) at the box office either on PPV or at the arenas paled with the amount left on the table by not promoting its 9/22 PPV well.”

Jim - how are you presented with this idea?

Were you talked to or discussed with who would be the people in the roles - did you know Glenn was going to be Diesel?

Did you think this was going to be a step up from Issac Yankem DDS to the fake Diesel?

The Observer would continue:

On Friday night's "Raw Championship Friday," a much ballyhooed special headlined by a Shawn Michaels vs. Goldust match on USA network, Jim Ross said he had the biggest news story of his 20-year career and would reveal it on the hotline. However, instead of doing so, he revealed later in the show that Razor Ramon

and Diesel were negotiating to return to the WWF. He said he'd have more details on the

hotline and that there would be more information over the weekend on Mania, Action Zone and Raw. On the hotline, which no doubt did near record business, Ross basically said negotiations were taking place and he got this information from his best source. Despite hype to the contrary, there were no updates on either Mania or Action Zone, as both shows are taped the previous Tuesday and Vince McMahon didn't even come up with this angle until Thursday, at which point very few in Titan were clued in on what was going on and most in the company were stunned by Ross' announcement on the show.

Were you worried about the execution - or your credibility in this role?

Were you ever expected to manage Diesel & Razor?

From the Observer

On the Monday afternoon, McMahon sent a post online in continuation of this angle saying that Ross would be forced to apologize for the statements, doing the swerve that they were dropping the angle since most people by this point knew Hall and Nash weren't going back. However, on Raw, Ross said he apologized because his comments upset delicate negotiations with Ramon, but that he was standing by his story and that negotiations with Diesel were going strong. He continued to promise before every commercial break to have more on the story at the end of the show as a way to keep viewers (even with that, there was a minimal change in ratings once the show got going) and hit the angle hard again at the end of the show.

Did you hear from Scott Hall or Kevin Nash during this?

Were people in the company coming up to you asking what was going on?

Did you fight this role - did Glen?

You were 100% fully committed in the role and what you had to do to sell it…and you did your best to sell it. Did you feel uncomfortable trying to get into this type of heel character?

From the Observer

The WWF continued its Razor Ramon/Diesel angle, the first part of which will climax on the 9/23 live Raw from Hershey, PA. It's a definite that Rick Bogner and Glen Jacobs will be Razor and Diesel respectively on the live show, as heels, as Bogner canceled his WAR tour to start in the new role with the WWF.

This week's twist was that Gorilla Monsoon announced that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were under contract to another organization and that while he liked Jim Ross, he said that he felt someone was hoodwinking the WWF fans. So the deal now is that it was all Jim Ross, and not the WWF, so the WWF tries to separate itself from the heat since people are considering this angle a pathetic ratings getting fraud. It appears there is a lot more depth to the angle this week since Ross continued to insist they would be on television next week live even though Monsoon told him not to, and Ross, who has turned into the focal point of the angle and was made almost semi-heel although not completely, sticking to his story in the end. It was played up too strong during the entire show to be just the introduction of new characters that on their own wouldn't be able to get over.

Did you feel like you were left out to dry in this angle - or was this the plan all along?

From the Observer - coming off In Your House: Mind Games…

Jim Ross ended up as the scapegoat for the Razor/Diesel angle, something that had been clear from the bad reaction to the angle from the second week. After a brief glimpse the night before on the PPV where Rick Bogner and Glen Jacobs, dressed as Razor Ramon and Diesel, attacked Savio Vega, the television show was built around teasing their appearance later in the show. It made the WWF come across that much more foolish since Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were shown early on during Nitro, also live, and well before WWF unveiled its new men, they had "taken over" Nitro and were making a joke about accepting no imitations. WCW had its own inside joke during that show, introducing Michael Jones, formerly Virgil in the WWF (a name given as a knock on Dusty Rhodes, who was the NWA booker at the time the character was introduced), as the new Chief of Security for the NWO and named him Vince. Finally Ross came into the ring to "deliver the goods."

With all this going on - did you expect this to fail?

“Instead it was a tremendous one-man performance. Yet another worked shoot angle. Ross turned on the WWF, saying that he left a good job in Atlanta, was also an announcer for the Atlanta Falcons and brought in to be the lead play-by-play man in the WWF. He said his first appearance was at Wrestlemania IX where they had him dress in a toga, and said he left broadcasting the NFL to wear a toga. He said that if you check his call of the King of the Ring that year that it was a level above what anyone else in wrestling is capable of, and said that everyone in the audience knows he's the best play-by-play announcer in the business, which actually got a big babyface pop.”

JR - how much of this was scripted…how much did you go over it with anyone…and why was this the direction?

“He then said he was taken off television because the egotistical owner of the WWF, Vince McMahon, couldn't stand the competition. He got some cheers at that point but more boos. He talked about getting Bells Palsy and then being fired two weeks later and said how he had to tell his new wife and two little girls that their dad had been fired. He said he had to live in Connecticut, which he called an overpriced hellhole. He said when McMahon got indicted, that they brought him back and then let him go again. Finally he was brought back in a front office position for 50 cents on the dollar and basically said that the wrestlers who left and wrestlers who came in were no coincidence, basically implying that the guys who left were the result of him sabotaging the company to try and take the heat off the company itself, similar to his role in the Ramon/Diesel angle. He then introduced Ramon with the original entrance music, which got a big pop, and then when it became apparent it was someone else, the crowd deflated. Almost immediately, Vega attacked him and the show went off the air without introducing Diesel, as if attempting to hold back on what was promised one more week for ratings purposes.”

Was this the goal? To tease Diesel for the next week?

Look at the end of the day - your delivery was everything. The execution behind it is what didn’t work right?

From the Observer

“On the television that airs next week, they taped an argument with Ross and Gorilla Monsoon and Vega had a singles match against Ramon which ended when Diesel interfered, and they did the jackknife and Razor's edge on Vega after the match. The fans didn't boo as the promotion expected, they had a few boos and mainly deflated fans. Lots of people walked out of the building during the attack and apparently it came off really bad live.”

This type of work with Gorilla had to be fun - even if you’re not exactly comfortable in that role am I right?

You wrote this in your book:

“I was just happy that Jacobs got another chance at a storyline. The new Diesel character wasn’t going to stick, but I had a feeling that WWF would have something else for him when the time came. I knew I’d keep him around if it was my call. Soon, it was my call.”

Were you already thinking about the role in talent relations?

Why was Glenn Jacobs in your plan?

Kane would say this on the fake Diesel character:

"Ironically, I think Gerald Brisco told me while we were in South Africa or Kuwait, I can't remember which one, but he told me that Vince McMahon wanted to talk to me when I got home. I came home from overseas and Vince explained to me what they want to do and that I am going to be the fake Diesel. The concept of the storyline was excellent. What had happened was that JR was going to turn heel and that he was going to reveal that he was the creative mastermind of WWE's success and it was going to be me and the fake Razor Ramon. The problem is that JR is not likened to a heel character because people really like him so that didn't work very well. When we are looking at storylines, yes, the concept is great but it just doesn't work in reality because a lot of what we do is based on the audience to accept that and they didn't really accept this whole thing. No matter what, it was the fake Diesel and the fake Razor Ramon. At least I wasn't a dentist anymore."

Fake Diesel was a step up from Issac Yankem for Glen but a step down for you in your role was it not?

The role is not long for the World Wrestling Federation but there are glimmers of hope for Glenn. He would get to team with Rick Bognar and work the likes of Owen & Davey Boy on pay-per-view - but very quickly you are all separated from each other. It just wasn’t going to work was it?

There was enough consideration to have Diesel be one of the last three in the 1997 Royal Rumble which would see Steve Austin win…but seriously within 4 months…the fake Razor & Diesel gimmicks are gone. Was it a mercy killing for Glen in your mind?

Glenn is sent back to Memphis for a few more months, still using the fake Diesel character, and also reprising his early Doomsday gimmick. How much were you involved in keeping Glenn in play and the role itself?

In the meantime on WWF TV, Paul Bearer begins teasing that he will reveal a deep dark secret from The  Undertaker’s past. This is some of the best build to a character’s debut in WWF history is it not?

The slow 6-month build to Kane’s debut began in April 1997.

At In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker, The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of his former manager, Paul Bearer, who had previously had Mankind do the same to The Undertaker a few weeks earlier on Raw.

On the May 12 edition of Raw, Mankind reintroduced Bearer, who attempted to reunite with Taker because of his status as the WWF Champion. As a reminder, Bearer had turned on Taker at the previous SummerSlam to align with Mankind.

Did you know the plan - or the goal was for Glenn to become Kane?

We’ve seen a lot of online video of Jim Cornette & Tom Prichard being heavily involved in Kane’s training to act like, work like, be like the Undertaker - how important were they to getting Kane ready?

Bruce has taken a lot of credit for the build of this character and program - is it fair to say he was heavily involved?

On the June 30th Raw, Bearer publicly revealed that Taker’s long-lost brother, Kane, was coming to the WWF to challenge him.

In sharing this news, Bearer disclosed that The Undertaker had started a fire at his family's funeral home, in effect murdering his family.

Bearer’s “HE’S ALIVE! KANE IS ALIVE!” promo is some of Paul’s best work ever in his career. Did you think this was silly or the right way to introduce this?

We should mention in a throwback, when Taker first debuted for the company in 1990 he briefly used the name “Kane the Undertaker” for a few weeks before the Kane name was dropped.

Kane, who Taker thought long dead from the incident, was left physically and mentally scarred. Undertaker claimed that Kane, a "pyromaniac", was the one who started the fire and could not possibly have survived. What did you think of the name Kane?

Glenn would say this:

The Kane thing came about when Vader got arrested in Kuwait. They had that deal where Leon had roughed up the talk show host and literally got arrested in Kuwaiti jail. They needed someone to work with Mark (Undertaker).

The thought was, ‘Ok, we’ll hotshot this deal. We needed an angle. Well, Glenn can do it. He matches up physically with Taker. What’s the storyline?’ I don’t know if it was Bruce or Vince that initially came up with the thought of, well, he would come back under a mask as the brother who got burned in the fire. Well, Vince liked it so much, he said, ‘Why are we going to waste this on just one match when we can turn this into an actual long-term angle?’  I’m down in Memphis and all this stuff is happening. I get a call, I think from Cornette, or it might have been Bruce, I don’t remember exactly who, and they run this thing by me. ‘Hey, you’re going to be working with Mark.’

How important were the likes of Vince Russo in this build?

Could you imagine anyone besides Glenn in the Kane role?

The big unveiling of Kane to WWF fans came on October 5, 1997 during the Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels first ever Hell in a Cell match at the In Your House: Badd Blood PPV in St. Louis.

As Taker was preparing to hit the Tombstone, the lights went out, and some mysterious eerie music played as Paul Bearer walked his man down the aisle.

We don’t know this is actually Kane at this point, but everyone works out who it is. Vince has the memorable call “That’s gotta be… that’s gotta be KANE! THAT’S GOTTA BE KANE!”

Kane wears a red mask to hide the supposed scars on his face suffered in the fire as a kid, and most of his body is covered to also hide the scars.

Kane easily rips the Cell door from its hinges, goes face to face with Taker, and does what would be his trademark of setting the ring posts on fire, before hitting a delayed Tombstone on the shocked Undertaker, to cost him the match. This is one of the best introductions or debuts for anyone in the WWF - let alone professional wrestling - is it not?

While Taker goes seemingly into hiding for the next 2 months, Kane goes on the ultimate warpath. He shows up randomly every week on Raw, causing destruction everywhere he goes. Whether it be the Hardy Boys, the Headbangers or Ahmed Johnson, Kane leaves them all laying, with Paul Bearer promising continued destruction until Taker agrees to fight his brother. You can say what you want about WWF creative - but Kane just ran through people and looked unstoppable. How did Glen do in the role in your mind early on?

Dude Love puts up the biggest fight, but the damage put on the Dude forces him to bring his darker Mankind character back to challenge Kane at the Survivor Series in Montreal for Kane’s first televised match.

Kane gets the win in a pretty good brawl, where the match is wrestled in the dark with red lighting shining over the ring. When it comes to getting someone over in a big role…why was it always Mick Foley?

Mick has said he took it as a challenge to get Kane in a better spot - is that why Mick was so invaluable to have in a locker room?

In the storyline, Taker initially refused to face Kane and adamantly so while Kane humiliated him, The Undertaker claiming he had promised his parents he would never do harm to his own "flesh and blood".

After what was thought to be a brief partnership on the go-home show for Royal Rumble 1998, Kane betrayed The Undertaker by costing him the WWF Championship, after interfering in Taker’s title Casket match against Shawn Michaels at the Rumble PPV. After the match, Kane locked Undertaker in a casket and set it on fire. Talk about setting the world on fire - but were the special effects too much in your mind? The story itself is quite unbelievable…was it hard for you to sell all this?

Kane’s second PPV match was at No Way Out in February 1998, and Kane would defeat Vader including hitting Vader in the face with a wrench. The push of Kane - was there any fear of having him keep destroying people - the risk of a babyface turn considering the Anti-hero campaigns were beginning around this time?

After a couple more months of absence, Undertaker resurrected on the March 2nd RAW, in which he was reproduced from a coffin that was struck by lightning a bolt, in this moment furiously challenging Kane.

They really up the special effects budget with the Kane and Taker feud as Kane would then do things such as setting a crew member on fire or set a lightning bolt to the monitors at the announcers table, to show he has equal powers to his brother. You knew that Kane & Taker would be married to each other for a long time…did you realize all this time later - they still would be associated with one another?

Finally after 9 months since Paul Bearer first told the world about Kane, he would finally meet Taker at WrestleMania 14 in Boston, proving long-term storytelling pays off.

Before the match Kane memorably tombstones Pete Rose to the delight of the Boston fans.

It also takes three tombstones for Taker to beat Kane. After the match, Kane and Paul Bearer attacked The Undertaker, hitting him with a steel chair and then giving Taker a tombstone on the chair. Kane doing this to Pete Rose turned him a massive babyface to the crowd until Taker’s “dong” hit in the arena - why was this a spot for a heel?

Taker - Kane at Mania…looking back - did it live up to the hype or did it fall short in your mind?

The creative gets more wacky after Mania as we have Kane digging up the graves of their parents, setting fire to his dads casket and chokeslamming Taker through his mother’s casket…

This sets up the first ever Inferno match in the WWF where the ring is surrounded by flames and to win the match you have to set your opponent on fire. It's an amazing spectacle but both Taker and Kane have said the heat was unbearable.

Taker gets the win when Kane’s arm gets caught on fire. Kane’s first two big major matches against Taker are losses. Do you think that hurt him?

The storyline takes another twist when Paul Bearer is revealed to be Kane’s father and the night after defeating Vader in a mask vs mask rematch at the Over the Edge PPV, Kane defeated Taker to become #1 contender to the red hot Steve Austin and the WWF Title. Did we really need to have Paul Bearer be Kane’s dad?

Was Kane ready to take on Steve Austin in a main event for the WWF Title?

The match takes place at the 98 King of the Ring PPV in Pittsburgh and this is also the first time we have a First Blood match in the WWF.

Kane would win the WWF title that night but it’s overlooked thanks to the Taker vs Mankind Hell in a Cell match that took place just before. How much did Hell in a Cell hurt the impact on Kane winning the WWF Title?

Did it mean less because of that in your mind?

It’s a short reign as the next night on Raw, Austin wins the title back in Cleveland after Kane accepts Austin’s challenge to a rematch. This is one of the biggest matches ever seen on cable TV for professional wrestling and it provides one of the biggest pops I can ever remember during the Monday night Wars. Was it too soon for Kane to the drop the title?

To go from Issac Yankem a couple of years before - to defeating Steve Austin for the WWF Title - quite the path for Glenn wasn’t it?

We will discuss more on Kane’s character…career…and more next year!