Broken Skull Sessions Report: Kane On The Origin of His Character, Working With Undertaker, Run With Daniel Bryan

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions: Kane

-Original air date: 01/12/20
-Run Time: 1:19:32

-We are back for the 3^rd edition of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, but this one doesn’t have the hype behind it like the previous two. It was also just dropped in the middle of a Sunday afternoon during the NFL playoffs, instead of coming after a WWE PPV like the previous two shows. I guess Kane just isn’t a big enough name like Taker and Goldberg are. Oh, and speaking of the NFL playoffs: GO NINERS!

-Austin welcomes us to the Broken Skull Sessions and puts over Glenn Jacobs, otherwise known as Kane, for being one of the baddest men he ever wrestled and also one of the nicest guys on the planet. As note I will just refer to him as Kane instead of going back and forth between that and Glenn.

-Show intro!

-They immediately start talking politics and Austin makes sure to plug Kane’s new book, “Mayor Kane.” Austin says the book teaches life lessons and about living the American Dream. Kane says the American Dream is being able to make a life for your self and talks about how he played football and injured his knee. He thought he had the mindset for pro-wrestling and it gave him a life of which he could only dream.

-Kane’s father was in the military and he was taught you can be anything you want. He grew up in the 70s when the economy wasn’t booming, but his parents provided.

-They talk about Kane living in St Louis and being a pro-wrestling fan. St Louis was a hotbed for wrestling in the territory days. He would watch all the local stuff and when his family got cable he was able to watch NWA and WWF.

-Austin jumps to Kane blowing out his knee and deciding to get into wrestling. Kane talks about the first major show he ever saw was a WWF event in the Checker Dome. It was when Hogan was at his peak and his entrance blew the roof off the place. He had never seen anything like that and knew that is what he wanted to do. He found a local group to train him and it was in a ring that was in a hayloft in a barn. He trained for a few months and then went to Nashville and learned some from Jerry Jarrett in USWA. What really helped was when he went to the Malenko school. Austin jumps on that and wants to know what he got from The Malenkos. He credits them for building him back up and then putting him in front of fans to learn psychology.

-They jump to WWC in Puerto Rice and we get some footage of Kane working down there which is pretty sweet. Kane talks about Dutch Mantell being the champion and having a stable of heels called La Familia. He tells a story of how the Mantell split his head above his eye falling on the corner of a bleacher. They heat for the whole segment was so crazy that a SWAT team had to show up and Kane calls it a hairy night. Austin says that is what you call money drawing heat.

-From there Kane went and became the Unabomber and Kane says that Cornette just thought the name was cool. They talk about Taker facing The Unabomber in Smokey Mountain and of course we have footage of that as well. Taker wins with The Tombstone to pop the crowd. Austin calls it a really good match and Kane says that even back then Taker was really good to him. They always got along well.

-Kane finally gets the phone call from the WWE and he is given Isaac Yankem. Kane says he had the meeting with Vince and JJ Dillon was still the head of talent relations. Vince asked Kane if he was ever afraid of the dentist. Kane thought Vince was testing him and he said no. Vince told him great as he always had an idea for a wrestling dentist. He was so happy to get the call, but at the same time was uneasy. He asked Cornette and Jim told him that they (WWF) would figure it out. He says the gimmick took a ton of wind out of his sails. Kane says he had heard that the idea was originally Bobby Heenan’s and Vince had wanted to do it for a long time. Austin says he remembers watching it and hated the gimmick.

-Before getting to the next gimmick, they jump to the Kuwait trip. This is where Vader got in trouble for grabbing a talk show host who asked him if wrestling was fake. Kane says that Leon was working with Taker and when he got in trouble they needed someone else to work with him. They brought up using Glenn under a hood and Vince like the idea but felt they could tell a longer story and not just blow it off on one match.

-Now they jump to fake Diesel and Austin says it was what it was. Kane says it was another step in the right direction. He was committed to the role and says it did help him get his confidence back. He says it kept him in the game as it showed Vince that he would work hard and try. They laugh that if a guy is willing to be Yankem and Fake Diesel then he is probably a keeper. They talk about how some guys come in with great characters and are given the rocket push, but don’t work hard and aren’t professional and they are gone in months.

-Austin wants to talk about the origin of Kane. It was Bruce and Cornette who pitched the idea to him and it played out over several months. Kane went to New York for a TV taping and he thought he was going to be like Michael Meyers but is shown drawings of what looks like a superhero (which they show here and again, all this stuff is awesome). He is told that if he wants to pitch something else he can call Vince. He pitches his idea for the character, but Vince tells him they have done things like that in the past. The idea is that Kane is dressing like a superhero to overcome his inadequacies. In Vince’s mind, Kane was a cool character and not an evil one. It was JR who came up with the idea for one eye to be different and got it from Marilyn Manson (who had both eyes done).

-Austin has one of the Kane masks and says they had a hard time finding people to make them. The wardrobe department had to get them made from an S&M place until they could make their own. Kane says the problem with the mask was it was leather and lost it’s shape. He says that a mask would last about 4-5 months and sometimes they would have one just for TV. Kane says he would spend 30 minutes after the match just trying to get the tangles out of his hair. That was his long hair back then before he had to start shaving his head.

-Austin wants to know how it was working behind the mask. Kane says he over exaggerated his facials and learned body language. He learned the head tilt from his St Bernard. That is awesome! Bruce told him he got more out of that head tilt than a 20 minute promo.

-Austin now talks about working with your character. When he was Stunning Steve that was just a name and he was trying to be Ric Flair. When he became Stone Cold that was different and he had to become that character. Kane says the same happened for him and says he had a template to work from as he had to somewhat mimic Taker. Soon he did things that became natural to him and realized that was him getting into the Kane character,

-The debut happened at Bad Blood near his home in St Louis. He tells the story we heard before on the Untold episode where he nearly missed the show because his friend’s car broke down on the way to the show. We now get footage of the debut and Kane says the first time he heard the music was when it played right before he debuted. This was his favorite version of the character and puts over Earl for taking a great bump. He also puts over Taker’s facial reactions helping to get the character over. Austin talks about the quiet from the crowd, but that is the great quiet as it’s because the crowd is in shock instead of being bored.

-They talk about the communication he had with Taker. Kane says that Taker was always on him to be more aggressive and that went back to when he was still Yankem. It was back then when they had that conversation that made him realize he was there for a reason. They were really wanting someone to work with Mark. Kane talks about how Kane setting off the pyro by lowering his arms was Taker’s idea as he was supposed to do everything opposite of Taker.

-Austin brings up The Inferno match and asks if anything got hairy. Kane says it was as safe as can be, but they were supposed to rehearse it the previous night. They had a limo that was to take them to Fayetteville, but the limo driver drove 2 hours the wrong way. It was for a house show and Kane was advertised, so he got there and did 30 seconds with Vader and then back in the limo for the Inferno Match rehearsal. The rehearsal didn’t happen as they canceled it. They both met with stunt people who were kind of amazed they were doing it in real time and did a test burn on Kane’s arm. Kane says the match was visually spectacular, but they couldn’t do false finishes because it was too hot near the flames. Kane says he did burn himself on the finish as he was selling the arm that caught fire and accidentally swung the other arm back and hit the apparatus. It was basically like touching a hot stove and we have video of that as well. That had to suck!

-They jump back a month with the first meeting between Taker and Kane at Mania XIV. Austin mentions that was the same night he won the WWF Title where he wasn’t sure if Shawn was going to make it to the ring. Kane talks about marking out over Taker’s druid entrance with the torches and Paul Bearer told him to calm down as he was going to have a heart attack. Austin calls it a fantastic match and they knocked it out of the park.

-Austin relates a story of where he had all this planned to do with Taker and when he made his entrance with all the smoke he was so caught up that he forgot everything. Kane says it is intimidating and says most thought that match at Mania was the last of Kane. He talks about kicking out of 2 tombstones at a time when Hogan was the only one to kick out of 1 of them. He says he lost the match, but Taker made him by letting him kick out of the finisher twice and then letting him lay him out after the match.

-Kane talks about his relationship with Mark and how he always saw something in him. He was the guy that pushed everything and is the reason Kane lasted so long. There were times he doubted if he wanted to do wrestling and he went to Taker for advice. He talks about how much it meant to see Taker come out to help when he was on the campaign trail. He was told by Vince before that Mark worries more about Kane than he does himself.

-Now we get to the Kane/Austin feud and Austin, TX RAW where Austin had blood dropped on him. Austin calls it one of his favorite angles he ever shot. Kane talks about how their angle had threads with Taker and Foley and it all intertwined. Austin was wearing his white t-shirt which showed off the blood even better.

-That leads to the First Blood Match at Hell in a Cell in Pittsburgh. Before we get there Austin brings up they had a show in Houston, TX and his parents were there to see him. He asks Kane if his parents ever attended a show and Kane says his mom took a sign that read “I raised Kane.” After the show in Houston, Austin started shaking and was taken to a hospital where he stayed for 3 days with a staph infection in his elbow. He told them he needed to leave as he had a match with Kane coming up, so they had that going against them plus they had to follow Taker/Mankind Hell in a Cell.

-Austin brings up having to follow that match and Kane says he is still hot at Mick. He won his first World Title that night and nobody remembers. He talks about how Mick wasn’t supposed to break through the roof and when it happened he thought he was dead. He brings up that Mick was part of their finish and as their match was happening Vince told Kane if Mick couldn’t go, then he would need to come up with a finish. Kane was stunned as he had no idea what to do and says he was the most relieved person when he saw Mick coming down the aisle for their match. Austin says they worked their assess off in that match as it was a brawl. They show footage from the match as Kane and Austin talk over it. We get Mick doing his limp-in and Austin could only think that Mick was coming through as the toughest guy in the business. Taker limps down as well as he had a broken ankle. Kane mentions it happened when they were at RAW and doing a pre-tape with Taker chasing Paul Bearer and it broke when he kicked a TV. The finish sees Taker blast Austin in the head with a chair to split him open and that’s it.

-Kane is the New WWF Champion and Austin says he isn’t a mark for belts, but being The World Champion is being The World Champion. Kane remembers getting back to the hotel room and he had twin beds, so he gave the belt one of the beds for the night. The next night they are in Cleveland and they run the rematch because Austin’s beef was that Taker caused him to bleed and not Kane. They talk about how Kane wanted to proof that he was better than Taker and the only reason he had the belt was because of Taker, so he needed to show he could beat Austin. Again, he had to get this point across without saying a word.

-Now we get footage from that match and Austin tells everyone that yes, it does hurt when you get hurt with the steps. Paul Bearer hits Austin with a shoe and Austin laughs at how heavy he is when guys try to get him up for moves. Austin hits the stunner and the crowd reactions is crazy as he wins back the WWF Title. Austin says he didn’t have a ton of energy as he was still getting over being in the hospital. Kane says that losing the Title to Austin was a bigger deal to him than winning the Title. He mentions they booked themselves in a corner as everyone figured Austin was winning at KOR and they were all figuring out how Kane was going to get out of setting himself on fire. The rematch had a crazy energy and all the fans wanted was to see Austin win the Title back. Kane mentions that was also the start of the Brothers of Destruction.

-Austin laughs about them being booked as heels, but the visual of two monsters destroying people made them cool. Kane talks about how Taker and his character had a mythology about them and that people always wanted to see them fight and figured it would always happen.

-They discuss tag wrestling and Austin says he liked tagging with HHH, but he is a singles guy. Kane says he gives the same answer Malenko did, it depends on your partner. He likes the different dynamic in tag wrestling, but mentions he hates Triple Threat Matches and such, but loves tag wrestling. Austin hates that you are so dependent on someone else and if something happens to them, you are kind of stuck.

-Austin brings up that he was managed by Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer). Kane says Paul was his manager when he didn’t have to be. All Paul wanted Kane to focus on was the matches, so he take care of his plane tickets, hotels, etc. The only time was in San Diego with a red cadillac. Kane would wear a ski mask so fans wouldn’t recognize him and on this loop, Paul got them a red cadillac. As they were pulling into the arena, Paul rolls down the window and screams “It’s a miracle, Kane can drive. Kane can drive.” The fans swarmed the car.  Awesome!

-Back to discussion of the mask and the decision to get rid of it. Kane thought he had gone as far as he could with the mask and wanted to reinvent himself. He also wanted the chance to show off his face and show a new layer. Vince was behind the idea while others didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken. He was willing to take the risk and it happened at MSG. Footage from that show as Kane shows his face and then choke slams RVD. Kane mentions he did feel naked as it was really weird. Austin talks about seeing the rage and pain in Kane’s face when the mask was gone. He felt it made Kane look scarier when he lost the mask. Kane agrees and says that losing the mask showed who Kane was and took away the superhero look. The only thing that made him nervous was losing all his long hair. They were supposed to shave him bald, but Bruce told them to stop halfway through and got Vince. They loved the look of the half shaved head and after just a day, Kane told them he had to shave the whole thing and they agreed.

-Austin says he has a bone to pick with Kane and that’s from when he set JR on fire. We get the segment and Austin asks Kane how it felt. Kane says it finally gave him a chance to let loose with that character. He was able to delve in the mind of the character and unleash his age. He says his focus was on the character, The Red Dragon, from the Hanibal Lecter series. The thing was Kane never had any scars, but he wore the mask because mentally he thought he did.

-Next they discuss promos and Kane says he was good at internalizing and they had to do the JR segment a few times. It was written out for him and JR wasn’t happy about the situation and they have a great photo of JR flipping off whoever had the camera. Kane says there was a can of gasoline there and it’s the WWE so you had to know something was happening.

-We jump ahead to Dr Shelby and Kane telling group about himself. That is just fantastic as Kane deadpans the craziness of his character while everyone looks on in awe.  “I once electrocuted a man’s testicles,” and “I have an unhealthy obsession with torturing Pete Rose” are just a few of the winners.  Kane talks about the Team Hell No stuff being a departure from his character and it gave him new energy after doing the same thing over and over again with the dark character. Doing the comedy stuff with Daniel was what he needed and it got him out of being bored.

-Austin brings up the famous video of Kane cutting a promo backstage with Rock and Hogan as he imitates both of them. Classic! The crowd reaction to Kane posing was amazing! Kane says he loved that and people still bring it up to him all the time. He knows every person has done the Hulk Hogan imitation and Austin mentions he has done it. Kane says he was standing with The Rock and Hulk Hogan and yet he got to be the star.

-We stay with the comedy and focus on Pete Rose. Kane says he found out the day of WrestleMania XIV. Pete goes out in front of fans in Boston and heels on them and the Red Sox. It was fantastic, but kind of turned Kane face for a few minutes. Kane brings up this was before the big match with Taker and he was super nervous. He drills Pete with the tombstone and Austin brings up Kane went from heel to face and then back to heel again. Kane says Pete would have made a great heel manager. They quickly go through the next 2 Manias and Pete autographed the bat for Kane and gave it to him.

-Austin asks Kane how much longer he wants to wrestle. He brings up how he won the 24/7 Title and had his dream match of him and Taker against DX and he would be down for that again. He likes popping in here and there and won’t say he is done.

-Austin wraps things up by thanking Kane for coming out for the interview. He puts him over for having a career that most don’t and wishes him and the folks of Tennessee the best.

-As expected this was another fun interview even if some of the stories have been told. We did get some great insight into the various gimmicks and characters played by Jacobs and I like that they continue to have Austin and his guest talk about the videos as they play them. Kane was great here as he is obviously very comfortable in front of a camera in an interview setting. They touched on all the major stuff and even got in some stuff I had forgotten about. Again, just another fun interview and I look forward to the next one. As always, thanks for reading!