The Tennessee State Senate has recognized Glenn Jacobs, also known as Kane, shortly before he gets inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Jacobs, the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, was announced as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2021, as Kane was one of the most influential figures of the Attitude Era. He enjoyed a lengthy career that spanned over 20 years. He still occasionally makes appearances on WWE programming.
The full Tennessee State Senate’s full proclamation is as follows:
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 384
By Massey SJR0384 006124
A RESOLUTION to honor Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs upon his Kane character being inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame.
WHEREAS, the members of this General Assembly take great pleasure in recognizing an exceptional public servant who, in a previous career, created and played one of the most dynamic and most popular characters in the history of professional wrestling; and
WHEREAS, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs’s wrestling persona, Kane, will be inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Fame during WrestleMania festivities in Tampa, Florida; and
WHEREAS, Kane, or The Big Red Machine, became a popular WWE wrestler from his very first appearance in the squared circle in 1997; after cycling through several characters earlier in his career, Mayor Jacobs assumed the persona of Kane, who was very popular with aficionados and quickly became one of the most iconic figures in professional wrestling history; and
WHEREAS, Kane’s shocking debut during a match between The Undertaker and Shawn “The Heartbreak Kid” Michaels is considered by many wrestling fans to be the greatest of all time; and
WHEREAS, Kane began his career feuding with The Undertaker, his fictional brother and another popular WWE character; their intertwined storyline eventually created a friendship between the two, and they became twelve-time tag-team champions as The Brothers of Destruction; and
WHEREAS, Kane also held the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, and Intercontinental Title belts at various times; and
WHEREAS, Kane’s character has become almost synonymous with the yearly Royal Rumble pay-per-view event, as he holds the record for most cumulative eliminations in the event’s namesake match; and
WHEREAS, Glenn Jacobs has continued to make appearances at WWE events since being elected Knox County Mayor in 2018, including at a string of international pay-per-view events that resulted in WWE making donations to benefit Knox County first responders; and
WHEREAS, his Kane character appeared at a live WWE Raw event in September 2019 in Knoxville; he conducted a tour of the University of Tennessee campus and then won the WWE 24/7 Championship inside Neyland Stadium, all in a day’s work; and
WHEREAS, Kane extended his record for most appearances at the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2021, and Mayor Jacobs generously donated his appearance fee to the Applied Technology Scholarship Fund for the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Knoxville; and
WHEREAS, as Knox County Mayor, Glenn Jacobs has earned the respect and admiration of his constituents through his honesty and integrity, but no matter what measure of popularity he achieves in Tennessee, he will never match the approbation and adoration that wrestling fans have heaped upon Kane; and
WHEREAS, when he is inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Kane will take his rightful place alongside such legends as Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Dusty Rhodes; both Kane and his real-life alter ego, Mayor Jacobs, are worthy of our praise and recognition on this special occasion; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, that we honor and congratulate Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs upon his Kane character being inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame and extend to him our best wishes for much continued success in the political arena, in the wrestling ring, and in life.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that an appropriate copy of this resolution be prepared for presentation with this final clause omitted from such copy and upon proper request made to the appropriate clerk, the language appearing immediately following the State seal appear without House or Senate designation.
