Kane Talks About Daniel Bryan Challenging His Political Beliefs

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Kane spoke about how conversations with Daniel Bryan challenged his political beliefs and forced him to grow. Kane, serving as the mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, ran as a Republican but has shown to have Libertarian beliefs in the past. Here are highlights:

On talking politics with Daniel Bryan: “Bryan and I are on such opposite ends of the political spectrum. But we respect each other as human beings and value each other’s opinions, so we had conversations and learned from each other. I learned a lot from Bryan, even if we didn’t always agree.”

On embracing comedy in his team with Bryan: “Working with Bryan was probably the most fun I had in my entire wrestling career. That was because I was working with Daniel Bryan. I can’t say enough about the guy and his talent. Kane was a very dark, serious character, but Daniel Bryan changed all that. That was such a refreshing change for me. If you told people in 1999 that Kane was going eventually going to be in some of the funniest segments of the show, they wouldn’t have believed you. I was able to show off a side of Kane that wasn’t so dark, and that was all due to Bryan.”

On his new book: “It’s all about my life, so there is a significant amount of wrestling in the book that will make WWE fans happy. It was really fun to write, especially the stories of wrestling and traveling, and there is some really good stuff from my career. The ‘Attitude Era’ is one of the most memorable times in all of WWE’s history. I was right in the middle of all that, so I have a perspective on a lot of the events and individuals involved. I hope it’s a very entertaining read.”