6.13.2011

#46: Kane

Real Name: Glenn Jacobs
Other Aliases: Isaac Yankem, Fake Diesel
Biggest Fan: John Rohner "Everyone feared Kane. He is the Undertaker's brother. He took the Undertaker's manager for a while."

If you skim down the list, you will find, at #84, Isaac Yankem the wrestling dentist. Consider this article on Kane to be a continuation of that tale, the next chapter, if you will, in the wrestling career of Glenn Jacobs.

In the fall of 1996, the WWF was still reeling from the loss of scores of its talent to World Championship Wrestling. Two individuals, in particular, left a particularly deep void in the active roster, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. To fill this void, and simultaneously put Jim Ross over as a heel, the WWF recycled the aforementioned defectors' gimmicks, Diesel and Razor Ramon. A man named Rick Bognar became "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon, while Jacobs was tabbed as the new Big Daddy Cool, Diesel. This gimmick lasted for about five months and was tremendously unpopular.

In 1997, Jacobs was gift-wrapped a "can't miss" gimmick: the long-lost, half-brother of The Undertaker. With the new persona of Kane, a severely burned, masked wrestler hellbent on revenge against his brother, Jacobs finally found a character that he could hold on to for the rest of his career. What ensued was a classic feud that raged on for the better part of three years. Afterwards, there would be occasional alliances between the two brothers, but Kane was mostly left to his own storylines and angles from that point forward.

With 16 consecutive years in the World Wrestling Federation, Kane has managed to capture numerous championships in his career. A former WWF Champion, a former ECW Champion, a former World Heavyweight Champion, and a 2-time Intercontinental Champion, Kane has also held tag team gold on eleven different occasions (frequently teaming with X-Pac, Mankind, the Big Show and his brother). If that's not an impressive enough résumé for you, listen to these Royal Rumble records: most Rumble appearances (15), most eliminations in a single Rumble (11), most appearances in the final six (7), and quickest elimination of a competitor (tossing out Santino Marella a mere 1.8 seconds after he entered the ring). Those statistics and his amazing longevity make it no surprise that he's such a highly-ranked superstar on our list.

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