Kane used to be one of the great all-purpose monsters in WWE, but these days the Devil’s Favorite Demon has given way to Glenn Jacobs, Mayor of Knox County, TN. As a resident of Knoxville myself, I can attest to how normal it’s become to see the massive figure of Mayor Jacobs, looking exactly as he did in his run as suit-wearing Corporate Kane in WWE, at various local events and around town. These days he only seems to appear on WWE TV when they’re broadcasting from Knoxville, but it’s worth nothing that he’s never officially retired from the ring.
As he explains on Corey Graves’ After the Bell Podcast (transcript by 411Mania), he’s not really interested in retiring, because he never wants to rule out making a return appearance:
Oh, you may [see him in the ring again]. I mean, when WWE came to Knoxville earlier this year, I won the 24/7 Championship and then lost it a short time later. But then I came out on this show as well, so. You know, and this — I’m never gonna leave WWE. Like anyone that’s been there for a long period of time, I don’t think you ever want to. And man, I’d love like one last match with Undertaker, the Brothers of Destruction against someone. That would be so awesome. So yeah, I always — it’s true. In WWE, you never say never. And when it comes to me, that’s how I treat my career going forward.
Jacobs also gave an interview to Sports Illustrated, in which he reminisced about the best time he ever had in WWE, which was working with Daniel Bryan as Team Hell No.
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.
Kane has nothing but nice things to say about Daniel Bryan, and he even hypes up Bryan’s current feud with the Fiend Bray Wyatt:
It’s going to be extremely entertaining. Bray Wyatt is doing a tremendous job with ‘The Fiend’ character, he’s one of the hottest things in WWE. And what can I say about Bryan? He’s the consummate professional and a tremendous performer. That is going to be such a great story.
It’s an interesting interview, in which he also talks about politics, and about how much he enjoyed discussing that topic with Bryan, even though they disagree.
As we head into 2020, Glenn Jacobs is obviously feeling positive about the future, although as he told Corey Graves, he won’t be making a New Years resolution.
I’m not big on resolutions, because I’m like everybody else. I end up breaking them, or forgetting about them anyway. So I’m just gonna keep on keeping on.
