Glenn Jacobs Says The Kane Character Was Initially Going To Be Called Inferno

Glenn Jacobs (Kane) made a key contribution during the creative development of the Kane character. 

Appearing on the latest episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Jacobs detailed why the Kane character emerged when he did and how he went from being fake Diesel to portraying the Undertaker’s long-lost brother. He said the following:

“So after the fake Diesel deal, I was actually back working, — I was always under contract with WWE from 1995 when I signed that developmental deal throughout Issac Yankem and then the fake Diesel and finally Kane. So I was back working with Lawler, and I was under a mask because they didn’t want anyone to know that this was Isaac Yankem and the fake Diesel guy.

The Kane thing came about when Vader got arrested in Kuwait. You know they had the deal were Leon had roughed up the talk show host and then literally got arrested in a Kuwaiti jail. They needed someone to work with Mark. So the thought was okay, you know, we’ll just hotshot this deal. We need an angle, you know, we need someone — well, Glenn can do it. He’s a big guy, he matches up physically with Taker. What’s the storyline? I don’t know if it was Bruce or Vince that initially came up with the thought of, ‘he comes back under a mask, and, you know, the whole thing with the brother that has been burned in the fire.’

Well, Vince liked it so much. He’s like, ‘why are we gonna waste this on just one match when we can turn this into an actual, you know, long-term angle,’ thank goodness. So I’m just down in Memphis and all this kind of stuff is happening and then I get a call, I think it was Cornette, might have been Bruce, I don’t remember exactly who, and they run this thing by me, you know, ‘hey, you’re gonna be working with Mark.’ 

Initially, the character was called Inferno. That was kind of my contribution to it, along with Bruce. You know, Bruce had always liked the name Kane. I thought that Inferno just sounded very comic book character-ish for where we’re going with this. So, we suggested the name Kane, which not only, you know, Undertaker when he initially came in was Kane The Undertaker, and then they dropped the Kane part as he became The Undertaker. But also with the biblical story of Cain and Abel. We thought that that fit.”

Jacobs debuted as Kane at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, 1997. He would go on to have a legendary career, being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2021. 

Now, Jacobs serves as the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.

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