Calm influence of family at center of life for this WWF dynamo
March 26, 1999
By Terry Morrow, News-Sentinel entertainment writer
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.
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.
"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."
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."