By Eddie McDonald, Columnist
Welcome back to part two of my recalling of the versatile and legendary career of Glenn Jacobs, or as most people know him, Kane. Took a week off for some personal reasons, but I’m back and better than ever.
When this story left off, Kane was about to embark in a feud with Shane McMahon. To backtrack just a bit, Kane lost a match to Triple H on an episode of Raw, where he would have to unmask. This turned Kane more into a demonic character, always looking to cause havoc and cast fear over any and all adversaries.
Later in the summer, Linda McMahon was on Raw making an announcement, but before she could leave, she was interrupted by Kane. Naturally, Linda is scared senseless and Kane takes advantage and then does the unthinkable; he tomb stoned Linda! Umm….What?!
As any son would, Shane was enraged and came back looking for a fight with Kane. This rivalry was going on for a few months and things were heating up, so to speak. At one point Shane kicked Kane into a dumpster full of fire. Kane would get back at Shane by hooking his testicles up to a car battery and turning it on. Yikes.
The two would meet in two different gimmick matches, the first Kane defeated Shane in a last man standing match at Unforgiven, but the feud did not end there. Instead it ended in an ambulance match at Survivor Series, but the result was the same. Kane hit the tombstone and threw Shane in the ambulance. However, that would not be the last we’d see of Kane that night.
The Undertaker and Vince McMahon were facing one another in a buried alive match. Just when it looked like Taker was about to be victorious, an explosion went off, knocking The Deadman into the grave. McMahon would crawl up into the backhoe and dumped the dirt on Undertaker, thus burying him alive.
Kane, thinking he finally ridded the WWE of his brother, was on top of the world. That is until The Undertaker started sending messages, spooking Kane. This would ultimately lead to the two facing off yet again at WrestleMania, which of course was won by Taker.
Moving on from his brother, he went to quite the unique family affair. It was revealed to Matt Hardy, by Kane, that he had impregnated Lita, the on-screen and off-screen girlfriend of Hardy. This led to a “Til Death Do Us Part” match where the winner would get to marry Lita. Well of course, Kane won the match. As this newfound “love” was unfolding, Gene Snitsky (I won’t blame you if you don’t remember who that is) emerged and accidentally knocked over Lita, leading to a miscarriage, which incensed Kane. Kane would then transition to the silver screen and star in the movie “See No Evil” for WWE Studios.
Kane would then team up with Big Show and capture the tag team titles and then lost them to the Spirit Squad. After that, Kane was confronted by, well, Kane. An imposter had come to torment that actual Kane and the date “May 19” kept sounding in the arenas. This was to help promote “See No Evil” as it was in theaters that day.
The WWE rolled out their version of ECW, but it wasn’t the same and how could it have been? Kane would form another tag team, this time with CM Punk to take on the duo of Mark Henry and Big Daddy V. After this was over, Kane won a number one contender battle royal to face the ECW champion, Chavo Guerrero, at WrestleMania 24. That match lasted all of 11 seconds and Kane became the new ECW champion. He later lost the title to Mark Henry and then was drafted back to Raw.
At the inaugural Money in the Bank PPV, Kane would win the SmackDown briefcase and didn’t take long to cash in. Rey Mysterio defeated Jack Swagger later in the evening for the World Heavyweight Championship, but that reign would be short-lived as Kane cashed in his briefcase successfully and won the title. Kane would go on to defend the title against Mysterio and then The Undertaker in a trio of gimmick matches. Paul Bearer turned on Taker yet again in Hell in a Cell match and then Nexus helped Kane defeat Taker in a Buried Alive Match. Kane lost the belt to Edge in a fatal four-way TLC match, that also featured Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio.
Sometimes there are tag teams that form that have absolutely nothing in common, and they just work, Kane and Daniel Bryan is a prime example of this when they formed “Team Hell No.” This led to some memorable moments, especially comedic, which Jacobs excelled at, even donning the Kane gimmick. It was highly entertaining and then rewarding when the duo defeated Kofi Kingston and R Truth to capture the tag titles. Went on to lose the titles to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of The Shield.
Kane was the first victim of the debuting Wyatt Family and then lost a Ring of Fire match to Bray Wyatt. Later Kane turned corporate, donning a suit and wrestling in black slacks. He would do the bidding for The Authority and aid Seth Rollins in winning and retaining the WWE Championship.
He has been used in matches against Brock Lesnar to try and impose a threat to the Beast. He is used every now and then and continues to kill it. Outside the ring, Jacobs is the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, which is pretty impressive.
Jacobs has shown he can do it all, even when he was adapting the Kane character to places nobody thought possible. He was a quality guy with various gimmicks in his early days of WWE, but then finally found Kane and everything clicked. This man is a shoe in for the Hall of Fame, whenever he officially hangs up this boots.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @KingEdward15 and let me know your favorite Kane moment or match. Check out my Petty Eddie Podcast available on all streaming platforms.
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