First Interview
Calm Influence of
Family at Center of Life For This WWF Dynamo
Jefferson County man is World Wrestling Federation's mysterious Kane.
Knoxville
News-Sentinel, March 26, 1999
Glenn Jacobs has had one of those weeks. Monday, he caught on
fire. Tuesday, he had a dental appointment. Wednesday, he did his
first-ever interview.
Fire and dentists he can handle. The interview is different
altogether for the behemoth whom Monday night cable TV devotees
know better as the World Wrestling Federation's masked
man-monster, Kane.
There's a flesh-and-blood 31-year-old married man under the
red-and-black leather and Spandex. Kane is a spawn of hell;
Jacobs lives a tranquil life with his wife, two teen
stepdaughters and five dogs in sleepy Shady Grove, Tenn., off
Highway 139 in Jefferson County.
"A lot of what has happened to me ... has been about
timing," he says with a deep bass voice that would command
respect even if he weren't 6 foot 8 inches and 310 pounds of
almost pure muscle. "It's been about someone who has a
God-given gift and an athletic background. I have determination
and perseverance."
Sunday night as Kane, Jacobs will enter the ring for WWF's
extravaganza "Wrestlemania XV," expected to set a
Pay-Per-View record for a nonboxing event. With ratings of USA
network's "WWF Monday Night Raw" nearly doubled over
the last year, TV wrestling is once again enjoying pop culture
praise, and Jacobs is one of its biggest -- if reluctant --
stars.
RAISING KANE
Jacobs was always big for his age, a tall and lanky basketball
scholarship student at Northeast Missouri State, where he earned
a degree in English.
His father was in the Air Force, so Jacobs and his siblings moved
around a lot. He was born in Madrid, Spain, but grew up near St.
Louis, Mo., where he later worked at a group home for mentally
challenged adults.
A co-worker who wanted to break into professional wrestling
persuaded 25-year-old Jacobs to give it a try, too. Close to 150
saw Jacobs lose his first match at a small banquet hall.
"It was in my personality" to wrestle, he says. "I
was a little nervous at my first match, but I think I did OK. I
went home after the match and watched the tape of it over and
over. I wanted to do it again."
He continued working at the group home and wrestled on weekends
under the name "Doomsday." When his bookings increased,
he quit his job and hit the small-time wrestling circuit. He
learned the ropes at a Florida wrestling school.
Jacobs was soon wrestling in Japan, Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic --nicer in theory than in practice.
"My first few years," he says, "I'd make maybe $10
for a match. Sometimes I wouldn't even get paid at all, but we
were all in it because we loved it.
"The worst was when ... this promoter flew me to the
Dominican Republic, and he didn't show up. It was my first time
in a foreign country, and I was nervous. I didn't even get paid.
We had to fend for ourselves. On that one, I almost gave up
altogether."
Jacobs didn't know how much his six-month stint with Smoky
Mountain Wrestling would change his life. It brought him to
Tennessee, where he met Maurisa, who would become his wife. They
were introduced by WWF wrestler DeLo Brown. Jacobs also gained a
contact: Jim Cornette, who took him to the World Wrestling
Federation in August 1995.
With Smoky Mountain, he assumed the name "The Unibomb"
and wrestled with Al Sarves, better known as the WWF's Al Snow.
Cornette's eye for talent took Jacobs and Sarves to WWF and
stardom.
NOVA KANE
"I was intimidated when I started with WWF," Jacobs
says. "I would see all these people I used to watch on TV,
and I thought, 'Wow! Look at them.
Jacobs began his WWF career as wrestling dentist "Isaac
Yankem," but the powers-that-be realized fans weren't crazy
about dental visits.
"Kane was an idea presented to me," he says. "It
was the idea of a (WWF) committee," which included the boss
man himself, Vince McMahon, whom Jacobs calls "a very easy
guy to work for."
The concept: Kane would be introduced as the brother of the evil
Undertaker. Half man, half monster, he unexpectedly survived a
house fire started by the Undertaker in which their parents were
killed. To the Undertaker's chagrin, Kane survived but was
scarred (thus the mask), unable to talk -- and thirsty for
revenge.
The character would pop up and thwart the Undertaker's evil deeds
within the ring. Since his introduction, Kane has faced other
challengers and even taken the championship belt from fan
favorite "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for one day.
The real measure, though, has to do with action outside the ring.
"Kane has the ability to draw a crowd," says Jacobs.
"...The action figures have been successful. Kids like him
because he looks like a superhero."
Though marketed toward children, TV wrestling has assumed a more
adult theme with sexual overtones and frank language. Jacobs
dismisses its critics.
"(Critics) talk about the sex and everything we present, but
this isn't the same old wrestling anymore," he says.
"People need to accept it for what it is."
Jacobs, who wrestles 200 dates a year around the world, gets a
cut from sales of toys, posters and apparel.
But the greatest thrill, says Jacobs, who is "hooked"
on the role-playing PC game "Might & Magic 6," is
"to see Kane in a video game."
KANE IS ABLE
If you ever wondered how "real" TV wrestling is, ask
Jacobs about his battle scars. Kane is supposed to be
"invincible." Getting hurt shouldn't happen in front of
millions of viewers.
"I had a cage match on TV, and this cage door slammed on my
head," he says. "A piece of handle swung around and hit
me. It knocked me dingy.
"It also opened a pretty deep cut, about four inches on top
of my head. There was a lot of blood. You do the best you can in
those situations. You can't just stop the match. You try to get
through it. So I did the best I could until the show went off the
air.
"I've had matches where I've had cuts to my face, thanks to
some head-butts. They required stitches. I've had problems with
my knees and my lower back. I've thrown my shoulder out a few
times. It all goes along with the beatings our bodies take."
By Terry Morrow, Knoxville News-Sentinel entertainment writer