Kane on When He Knew His Gimmick Was Going to Work, Finding Success in Politics and Wrestling

– Kane spoke with KHQA for a new interview and discussed finding success in both wrestling and politics, his WWE character and more. Kane is of course now better known as Glenn Jacobs, the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Looking back on his success, he discussed how his childhood instilled the attributes he needed to find success in some difficult career niches. Highlights from the interview, and the full video, are below:

On how he found success in both wrestling and politics: “I’m stubborn like a Missouri mule, is I think what it is. When I get my mind set on something to do, that’s what I try to do. I live in Tennessee now, and it’s funny because you travel around the world. You travel even around the country, and you find folks that re just really nice and hospitable. And Tennessee folks are wonderful. It’s part of the reason that I live there is people are just so nice. And it’s the same growing up here. I think that we have, here in Northeast Missouri, it’s a great community. People have good values, work ethic is something that is encouraged and promoted. And hard work will take you a long way in life. And I think it’s just that, the fact that as I was growing up and I saw people that worked hard. Not only that but they went out and helped their neighbor. And I think all those things are really important.”

On the Kane gimmick: “I knew from the beginning, like from the very beginning, this was different. Because, I just knew that I could do it. The other characters, I was still learning. And granted, as Kane I had a lot to learn about it as well. But I knew that I could make that successful. And then I had WWE behind it and I had The Undertaker behind it. So I knew that that was gonna be successful.

“And the first night you go out and you have that debut and all of that. I mean, you just know that’s gonna be awesome. For how long, is a very different question. And if you had asked if I’d been able to keep on doing this for going on a quarter of a century I would have said no way, that’s not going to happen. I mean, if I’d have had four or five years, I’d have probably been like, ‘Ah, that’s probably going to be about it.’ But I’ve been very fortunate and very blessed that it has carried on this long. And I’ve reinvented myself a number of times. WWE has always just given me tremendous opportunities and I’ve had great people to work with. So if anybody ever had a great opportunity that they could take advantage of, it would certainly be me.”

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