Kane Credits Paul Bearer as Instrumental to His and The Undertaker’s Success, Recalls Feud With Pete Rose

During a recent edition of WWE Photo Shoot, WWE Hall of Famer Kane (aka Glenn Jacobs) reflected on his career, how the late Paul Bearer was instrumental to his success, his first WWE World Title win, his feud with Pete Rose, and more. Below are some highlights:

Kane on Paul Bearer

“I would venture to say he was instrumental in helping not only myself, but also The Undertaker achieve the status that we did. All Taker had to say was rest in peace and Paul would do the rest of it. And then with me, even more so, he was the bridge between us that allowed the rivalry to flourish. So I owe him a real debt of gratitude for everything that he helped me with.”

On His First World Title Win in 1998

“My first world championship. Unfortunately, and I’m still upset about this to this day. Mick Foley overshadowed me that night because that was also the night that Mick Foley as Mankind went flying off the top of the cell and then flying through the cell, so no one probably ever remembers that I also won the world championship that night. I lost it the next day in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday Night Raw back to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and, you know, folks will say, ‘Well, you only held it for a night.'”

On His Interactions With Pete Rose in WWE

“Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king Pete Rose. This is my first WrestleMania appearance. This is right before the match with Undertaker, that would’ve been WrestleMania 14 in Boston. Now, the thing about Pete is if he hadn’t been a great baseball player, he’d have been a great heel in professional wrestling. As we all know, his famous World Series play that Billy Buckner basically could have ended the World Series on a ground ball, but it went between his legs, and then the New York Mets end up winning the series. And so Pete Rose says, [‘You know, I left tickets for Bill Buckner, but he couldn’t bend over to pick ’em up. How about it?’] ‘How about it?’ And of course, the crowd just boos him out of the building. It kicked off a little mini storyline that went on for a few years between myself and Pete Rose. It was awesome.”

On the Importance of The Undertaker to His Career

“That’s The Undertaker in all of his revelry there. I will never forget at WrestleMania 14 watching Undertaker come to the ring. Even being in the ring, you got lost for a second. And I’m thinking what the heck have I gotten myself into? You have this guy who has easily the greatest character in the history of our business. And if you think about it, it’s kinda ridiculous because, you know, he’s a Dead Man. He’s this creepy dude, but he goes out there, and he portrays it so well that disbelief is suspended. He’s the guy that can basically get hit by a Mac truck. Double chokeslam! The Dead Man just said nighty night! And then sit back up and chokeslam the truck. Someone of course who’s been very influential on my career even before I got to WWE. And my first match with Undertaker was actually in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Civic Coliseum. Even then, he was working with me and giving me advice. Not only in the ring, but also how to carry yourself out of the ring, and how to be a star in this business. And if it hadn’t been for him in so many ways, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Kane on His Unmasking in 2003

“This is when I first took my mask off. I just had a match for the championship against Triple H, and the stipulation was that if I lost the match, I would take my mask off. I’ll never forget, we shaved my head partway because Bruce Pritchard, you know, thought that was a very unique look of having half a head of hair, and I was like, ‘Dude, that’s ridiculous.’ So we ended up cutting the rest of it off as well. But to my mind, I’d gone as far as I could with the mask on. I mean, it adds a lot of mystique to the character, but it also didn’t allow me to use my face to portray emotion, and our business is all about emotion. It’s about portraying emotion to the crowd and eliciting an emotional reaction from the crowd. I felt that I was limited in that respect. And this is what we did.”

Paul Bearer was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Kane as part of the class of 2014. Kane was later inducted in the Class of 2021.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.