Jim Ross spoke with Glenn Jacobs (Kane) during the Ross Report. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here and below are some highlights:
Jacobs informs that he’s currently running to become the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. At 50 years old, he realized over the last few years that he was in the twilight of his in-ring career and he knew he’d soon have to transition out of the in-ring side of the wrestling business. If he’s successful in his Mayoral pursuit, he admits that he’d have to cut back drastically on his WWE appearances because this Mayoral gig is a full-time job.
He thanks Ross for helping him get his start in the wrestling business many years ago and Ross says that he was so easy to deal with from a talent relations perspective. He says that Jacobs is a credit to the business, and when a booker gets an opportunity to hire a performer with the character and integrity of Glenn Jacobs, that’s a dream come true.
Ross mentions that Jacobs had to deal with some pretty difficult things creatively early on in his career such as the evil dentist gimmick. Jacobs admits that he wasn’t having a lot of fun during that time and he simply wasn’t into that gimmick, which was definitely easy for fans to see. He points out that sometimes you just have to try different things and wait for something to work, and that’s exactly what happened when he found ‘Kane’.
acobs informs that he’s been interested in politics his entire life, but those interests have advanced as he’s gotten older. He hopes to run a positive campaign because there’s already enough negativity in politics nowadays, and he doesn’t think his career in wrestling will be used in a negative light by the other candidates. He says that if grown men use entertainment as a way to bash him, the country is in a very sad state.
Jacobs and Ross send their best wishes to Ric Flair, who was hospitalized over the weekend. Jacobs says that Flair voluntarily flew in to help him campaign several weeks ago, and he was very thankful of Flair for doing that. He admits to being shocked when he heard the news of Flair’s hospitalization, but he’s praying for a full and speedy recovery.
Jacobs says that he agrees with Ross in the sense that Braun Strowman has an opportunity to be the next big thing in WWE. He points out that when Strowman first came up to the main roster he was very green in the ring, but he has put a lot of work in and his improvements have been staggering. Ross says that he spoke with Strowman at WrestleMania, and Strowman told him that one of his goals is to have Ross call one of his matches. Ross says he can’t put into words how much that meant to him that day.
Ross says that he considers himself very lucky to have been around the wrestling business during it’s prime, and Jacobs agrees. Jacobs adds that he probably didn’t appreciate it as much as he should have during that time, but he certainly appreciates it now. He says that life is all about timing, and the attitude era/Monday night war era was a pretty exciting time to be in the wrestling business.
Ross asks Jacobs if he thinks The Undertaker is actually retired for good. Ross thinks that if Undertaker wants to have one more match, WWE will certainly permit that. Jacobs agrees and feels that this decision is all up to ‘Taker, and he assumes ‘Taker’s thought process revolves around the notion of wanting to be the same guy in the ring as fans remember from years gone by.
Ross doesn’t believe that Undertaker will ever work another match if he can’t get back to the level physically that fans are accustomed to seeing him in. Jacobs definitely agrees with that, but he adds that he’d love to team up with Undertaker for one more match as the Brothers of Destruction.
A listener writes into the show and asks Jacobs what it was like working with Steve Austin. Jacobs says the highlight of his career is winning his first WWE Championship from Austin during their First Blood match at King of the Ring 1998, even though their match was over-shawdowed by Undertaker vs. Mankind. He says that Austin was so over, that his opponents didn’t really have to do anything. He considers Austin to be one of the three top stars of all time alongside Hulk Hogan and The Rock.
Ross asks Jacobs about his relationship with Paul Bearer. Jacobs says that he was very good friends with Bearer and if it wasn’t for Bearer, there would have never been a ‘Kane’. He thinks Bearer’s role in the storytelling prior to Kane’s debut was vitally important in getting that character over to begin with, and he ended up travelling with Bearer for years as Bearer took him under his wing.
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