Kane (wrestler)
Glen Thomas Jacobs (born April 26, 1967 in Madrid, Spain, but raised near Nashville, Tennessee, currently residing in Knoxville, Tennessee) is a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment on the RAW brand, best known for wrestling as Kane.
Wrestling Career
Jacobs has portrayed several characters throughout his career since his professional wrestling debut in 1992. He was originally known as Unabomb while wrestling in the United States Wrestling Association, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he was co-holder of the SMW Tag Team Championships with Al Snow, and a few early appearances with the WWF. Jacobs is believed to have debuted in the WWF as the masked Black Knight at the 1993 Survivor Series, though some fans believe that the Black Knight was actually Jeff Gaylord. He later appeared as the evil dentist of Jerry Lawler, Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, in 1995 and 1996 after Bret Hart damaged Lawler's teeth by forcing his foot into his mouth, and as Diesel in 1996 and 1997, replacing the original wrestler to have played the Diesel character, Kevin Nash. In late 1997 Jacobs was repackaged as Kane, the ominous, once-masked character he is now best known for.
Kane is the on-screen half-brother of The Undertaker, with whom he feuded off and on for several years. The characters' histories are that as children, Undertaker accidentally burned down the funeral home in Death Valley where they lived, killing their parents, and hideously scarring Kane. Undertaker's manager, Paul Bearer (who was billed as Kane's father), hid Kane as he grew up, and Kane was thought to be dead until he returned as a 7-foot, 326-pounds, one-eyed monster heel at Bad Blood in October 1997 and attacked Undertaker during his Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels. His first actual match as Kane was against Ahmed Johnson on the November 3, 1997 episode of Monday Night RAW.
The Undertaker initially refused to fight Kane, saying he would not fight his own flesh and blood for show. However, after Kane interfered in Undertaker's WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at the 1998 Royal Rumble which climaxed in Kane locking Undertaker in a casket and setting it ablaze, Undertaker returned to defeat Kane at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998.
He won the WWF Championship at the June 1998 King of the Ring pay-per-view from Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood Match, which is the highlight of his career so far. The title reign was short lived, however, as Austin recaptured the title the very next night on RAW. He went on to win the WWF Tag Team Championship with Mick Foley in July 1998, and with X-Pac in 1999. Kane has feuded with several of the top superstars including Triple H, The Big Show, Kurt Angle, and even WWF owner Vince McMahon. In the process, Kane became one of the premier stars in the WWF. His costume had changed over the course of his career, gradually uncovering his body, and even his face.
During 2002, Kane entered (what is considered by many fans to be the worst storyline ever) a feud with HHH, which had a match at No Mercy 2002 in which the Intercontinental Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. The story involved Triple H claiming that several years earlier, Kane had an unrequited relationship with someone named Katie Vick. After Vick was killed in a car crash, Kane – who was the driver – allegedly raped her corpse. Triple H later made good on a threat to show video footage of Kane completing his "crimes"; however, the footage clearly showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating necrophilia with a mannequin. Fans were not shy about expressing their disgust with the storyline, forcing WWE writers to bring the story to a quick end. Moreover, as far as Kane fans are concerned, this back-story never happened. Kane's second time as face capped a feud with Triple H, and also the "Katie Vick" storyline. With the aid of Evolution, HHH won the match - unifying both titles into one. At Survivor Series 2002 (the PPV after No Mercy) Kane entered the first Elimination Chamber match in history. Although he did not win, he was very impressive throughout the bout, including throwing Chris Jericho through one of the glass barriers. This match also included: Chris Jericho, Triple H, Booker T., RVD, and Shawn Michaels.
In 2003, he unmasked and turned heel once more by turning on his long time friend, Rob Van Dam with a Chokeslam from Hell. Many fans are annoyed at how the current Kane has no scars and much of the psychological depth and established history of the character has been ignored. However, it has since been learned that Kane was burned in the fire, but was not scarred. Paul Bearer had told Kane for all those years he was scarred to help keep him afraid and hidden away as a recluse. This is not an entirely satisfactory explanation, as on June 12, 2000, the McMahon-Helmsley Faction unmasked Kane (his face was not shown on camera) and photographed him, exclaiming in disgust at how horribly disfigured he was (Triple H's plan to blackmail Kane by threatening to expose his "scarred face" to the public by showing the photographs on TV ended in failure when the film did not develop properly).
In December 2003 at the Armageddon PPV, Kane was in a Triple Threat World Title match against Triple H and World Champion Goldberg. Triple H, after the aid of his teammates from Evolution, ended up winning the match and title.
After unmasking nearly a year ago, Kane was still emotionally unstable and started attacking people, which included setting, RAW broadcaster, J.R., on fire as well as Tombstoning WWE CEO Linda McMahon onto the steel entrance way. Due to this action Shane McMahon entered the picture seeking vengeance for his mother. At a "Last Man Standing Match" at Unforgivern in 2003, Kane won after Shane McMahon climbed the arena set up and tried to deliver an Elbow Drop on Kane nearly 40 feet below, but missed as Kane sat up, and with Shane left incapacitated, Kane was victorious. Throughout the build up for the match at Survivor Series, which wa to be the first ever "Ambulance Match"(in which you had to place your opponent into the ambulance and close both doors) Kane had a one on one encounter with Y2J, Chris Jericho, which was interrupted by Shane McMahon, which led to a backstage dumpster scene which saw Kane pouring gasoline into a dumpster, only to light it seconds later. As Kane looked to put Shane into the dumpster, Shane kicked the Big Red Machine into the dumpster, leaving questions unanswered. Many thought that Kane was to leave WWE, while others thought that this was a good time to have kane don the mask again. All were wrong when Kane returned with severe burns on his face, yet determined as ever to destroy Shane McMahon. The match at Survivor Series took place throughout the building including Shane jumping off top of the ambulance to a helpless Kane below. As much as Shane could muster though, the Big Red Machine had that much more, as Kane won the match. This was the end of the rivalry between the two, and was thought that we would not see Kane for the rest of the night due to his last match.
Kane did show up though, during the "Buried Alive" match between Mr. McMahon and Undertaker(Kane's Half-Brother). Just when Undertaker had placed Mr. McMahon into the grave and was going to dump the cran full of dirt, an explosion threw Undertaker out of the crane. It was Kane, helping Mr. McMahon out of the grave. Kane then threw Undertaker into the grave and buried him alive. There was continuous speculation about his return. At Royal Rumble, Kane entered at #11 and was chokeslamming everything in sight until Entrant #12, where the lights dimmed and as the clock rang :00 for the next enrant to arrive, the gong hit, Kane flew around and started screaming, swearing that he had buried him alive - as the lights came up, no sign of the Undertaker was there, but the distraction cost Kane the match. Throughout the time between the Royal Rumble and two weeks before WrestleMania, ominous signs of the Undertaker's return began to happen to Kane. The ring would fill with mist, only to find an urn; it would start to rain in mid match; leaving both contestants scared; the ring levitated with Kane inside. Having had enough, Kane begged Mr.McMahon for the match at WrestleMania XX, wanting to finish his brother off once and for all.
On March 14, 2004 at WrestleMania XX, Kane fought his brother the Undertaker, whom he had "buried alive" just months earlier at the 2003 Survivor Series, in a Raw Vs. Smackdown! match. Kane ended up losing the match.
At present, they are on separate shows with Kane being on RAW and Undertaker being on SmackDown!.
Kane was also involved in a long term storyline with Gene Snitsky that grew out of a previous storyline with Lita.
The first storyline involved Kane falling in love with Lita, but Lita being disturbed by Kane and not reciprocating. At the beginning of May, Kane kidnapped Lita, and supposedly asked her a question before Kane let her go. On the May 17, 2004 episode of RAW, Lita gave an answer of yes to Kane's question. The question was not immediately revealed. On that same night, Kane won a 20-man Battle Royal to earn Number One Contendership to Chris Benoit's World Heavyweight Championship at Bad Blood.
On the June 14, 2004 RAW, Kane mercilessly beat Shawn Michaels after an in-ring promo featuring Michaels and Triple H. He capped off his assault by placing Michaels' neck in a folding steel chair and jumping on the chair. Michaels was carried off-stage in a stretcher, portrayed as having suffered a crushed larynx because of Kane's attack. The larynx injury was worked. The "attack" was used by WWE to write Michaels out of storylines; the promotion excused him for several weeks to allow him to spend time with his pregnant wife, who gave birth to the couple's second child that August.
Later, Lita announced she was pregnant (also a work); Matt Hardy (her boyfriend, both in the storyline and, at that time, in reality) assumed that he was the child's father. On the June 21, 2004 broadcast of RAW, Lita and Hardy appeared together in the ring, and he asked Lita to marry him. Before she could respond, Kane appeared on a video monitor, and claimed to be the father of Lita's child. On the next week's RAW, Kane again made the claim. Kane and Hardy were then booked to face one another at the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event in a "Till Death Do Us Part" match, where Lita would have to marry the winner.
Kane was victorious in the match, and eventually married Lita on the August 23, 2004 RAW. There was a small amount of annoyance among both wrestling fans and the press that Hardy revealed that he would be missing 6 to 8 months after the match; this gave away the fact that he would obviously lose to Kane.
On the September 13, 2004 episode of RAW, a new heel wrestler named Gene Snitsky made his debut, matched against Kane. During the match, Snitsky hit Kane in the back with a steel chair, causing Kane to fall into Lita. The injuries Lita suffered in the match led to a miscarriage. Kane and Snitsky were then booked to meet at Taboo Tuesday; Snitsky won a match in which a steel chain was a legal weapon. Snitsky then continued to injure Kane's neck with a steel chair by crushing his larynx, in exactly the same manner Kane had "injured" Shawn Michaels several months earlier. This injury was also worked, as Jacobs was scheduled to film a WWE-produced movie, See No Evil. Since Kane had a feud with Snitsky, Kane has once more turned face.
After he completed filming on the movie, he was announced as Snitsky's opponent in a match at New Year's Revolution, resuming the storyline. At this event, Kane defeated Snitsky. Later, on the January 17, 2005 RAW, he and Snitsky were booked to compete in a No Holds Barred match.
During this show, Trish Stratus cut an in-ring promo on Lita, referring to a real knee injury Lita suffered in a recent match between the two, and then said that there were many men in the locker room that would love to get her "pregnant" again. The insulted Kane ran in, and proceeded to chokeslam Stratus in the middle of the ring. Then, Kane and Snitsky battled inside and outside the ring in their scheduled match. The Kane-Snitsky match, and the show, ended with Kane chokeslamming Snitsky off the stage, with both wrestlers falling through tables and other paraphernalia set up below the entrance ramp.
Recent events
At WrestleMania 21 Kane participated in the "Money in the Bank" ladder match along with Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin, Christian, and Edge. Kane then continued his pursuit of Trish Stratus, who in turn continued to torment his storyline wife Lita. It was revealed that Kane and Lita were apparently happily married and had been conspiring in order to frighten Lita's rival Trish. On the April 18, 2005 RAW, a feud between Kane and Viscera began with Viscera running in and physically manhandling Kane. Kane went on to defeat Viscera at Backlash.
On the May 16, 2005 episode of RAW, Kane and Edge met in the finals of the WWE RAW Gold Rush Tournament to determine the Number 1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship held by Batista. The finish of the match saw Lita interject herself into the match, first distracting her storyline husband to allow Edge to grab his suitcase and "knock him out" with it, and then reviving an "unconscious" referee so that he could count a pinfall for Edge. The referee counted Kane out, giving Edge the distinction of Number 1 contender. Lita then left the ring with Edge, and the show closed with the two passionately kissing at the entrance ramp to the stage while a dumbfounded Kane looked on. Two weeks later (May 30), Lita and Edge cut a promo on Kane in which she announced that she had filed for divorce, ending with the new couple flushing Lita's "wedding ring" down a toilet. On June 6, it was announced that Edge and Kane would face one another at Vengeance.
Lita and Edge were scheduled to marry in the storyline on June 20. The ring was converted into a wedding chapel, complete with a priest. While all parties were assembled, a Matt Hardy appearance was teased, but did not come about. Just as the priest was set to marry them, Kane, who was hiding beneath the ring, broke through a false floor and started beating on Edge, who quickly departed with Lita. Kane then completely trashed the chapel, and ended by giving the priest a tombstone piledriver in the ring. Kane would go on to defeat Edge at Vengeance, and on the next night's RAW (June 27), he surprised Lita in her dressing room, briefly "choked" her, and promised to "make her life a living hell."
This storyline is generally considered in the smark community to be an attempt to cash in on the real-life affair between Lita and Edge, which indirectly led to the release of Lita's former long-time boyfriend Matt Hardy from WWE (although Hardy would return a few months later). Throughout the storyline, fans cheered for Hardy; "You Screwed Matt" was a commonly-heard chant.
On the July 25 episode of RAW, Kane faced Edge once again, this time in a stretcher match. After losing following interference from Lita, Kane knocked Edge unconscious and Tombstoned Lita. Lita was then placed on a stretcher and in an ambulance by paramedics, who were in turn attacked and incapacitated by Kane. Kane then asked Lita whether she had ever ridden "the highway to hell" before knocking out a police officer and driving away in the ambulance with Lita still in the back. WWE later reported that Kane had been arrested by the Cleveland police force. Kane has since been reported confined in a mental institution.
Personal life
Jacobs is married (to Marissa) with two stepdaughters. He also has a teaching degree and he used to own his own gym.
Trivia
- Jacobs has twice helped to bury The Undertaker in Buried Alive matches, interfering in his "brother's" matches at both Rock Bottom 1998 and Survivor Series 2003.
- On three occasions, Jacobs has formed tag teams with lightweight wrestlers (X-Pac, The Hurricane and Rob Van Dam). On each occasion he and his partner won the World Tag Team Championships.
- Jacobs WWF World Heavyweight Championship title reign was the second shortest in history, only trailing Yokozuna, at twenty four hours.
- Jacobs holds the record for the most eliminations in the Royal Rumble match, having eliminated eleven opponents at the 2001 Royal Rumble.
- In 2005 a book called Journey Into Darkness : The Unauthorized History of Kane was published.
Finishing and signature moves
- Chokeslam from Hell
- Tombstone Piledriver
- Flying clothesline
- Sidewalk Slam
- Big Boot
- Tilt-a-Whirl Slam
- Powerbomb
Championships and accomplishments
- 1-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
- 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion
- 8-time WWE World Tag Team Champion (2-time with Mankind, 2-time with The Undertaker, 2-time with X-Pac, 1-time with The Hurricane, 1-time with Rob Van Dam)
- 1-time WWE Hardcore Champion
- 1-time WCW World Tag Team Champion (with The Undertaker)
- 1-time SMW Tag Team Champion (with Al Snow)
- PWI ranked him # 186 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" (2003)
- PWI Tag Team of the Year Award with X-Pac (1999)
| WWE Championship Reigns | ||
| Preceded by: Stone Cold Steve Austin |
First | Succeeded by: Stone Cold Steve Austin |
| WWE Intercontinental Championship Reigns | ||
| Preceded by: Triple H |
First | Succeeded by: Albert |
| Preceded by: Chris Jericho |
Second | Succeeded by: Triple H (title unified with World Heavyweight Championship) |