The story behind the origin of one of WWE’s most famous characters has come out in a surprising way. Kane, whose real name is Glenn Jacobs, revealed that his gimmick came about because of an unexpected real-life arrest involving another WWE star.
Kane emerges as one of WWE’s most successful stars and earned his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021. He is also a Grand Slam Champion and was the first wrestler to win all three major world titles in WWE- the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, and ECW Championship.
When he made his debut in WWE, his gimmick was all about mystery and a dark past. Recently, Jacobs revealed he came up with one of the most famous masked characters ever in pro wrestling.
Kane Explains How His WWE Character Came Together
Speaking on the Going Ringside podcast, Jacobs said Kane was never planned to be a long-term character. The origin of his character emerged as a backup plan after the arrest of Big Van Vader in Kuwait during a WWE tour.
At that time, Vader was in a big storyline with The Undertaker. But things went wrong when a talk show host in Kuwait questioned whether wrestling was fake. Vader didn’t react well.
“The talk show host said something to Vader, the old ‘is wrestling fake. So Leon kind of roughed him up a little, not terrible, but kind of grabbed him. Which led to his arrest in Kuwait, not the place you want to be. Middle Eastern country, probably not the most progressive criminal justice system,” Jacobs said.
This left WWE in a tough spot. Vader was gone for about a week, and no one knew when he would return. Since he was an important part of the story, WWE had to quickly come up with a replacement.
Jacobs said the company needed a new opponent for The Undertaker, and that’s when the idea for Kane came up. The character came to light as The Undertaker’s mysterious brother. He wore a mask and hid his identity, adding to the lore and mystique.
“They come up with this idea of Kane, who was the Undertaker’s long-lost brother. Put me under a mask, because obviously I’d had those two characters that we should not talk about,” Jacobs said.
What started as a quick fix turned into something much bigger. Vince McMahon liked the idea so much that he decided to build a full storyline around it.
“What ended up happening is Vince liked the idea so much that he’s like, ‘Why are we wasting this on one match? This is much more of a storyline than that. And that’s kind of where the whole thing took, for me especially, a very good turn. They decided to really invest in the Kane character. In the end, it became a standalone character, even though the Undertaker obviously was a very important part of that. It wasn’t just as an opponent for Undertaker. It became more than that,” Jacobs said.
That decision changed everything. Kane became one of WWE’s most iconic characters and stayed relevant for almost 30 years.
Read More: Bayley Says Popular Indie Star Would ‘Fit in Great’ in WWE
