Jim Ross
Ross in 2007 at the No Mercy 2007 pay per view
Ring name(s)	Jim Ross
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight	240 lb (110 kg)
Born	(1952-01-03) January 3, 1952 (age 60) [[Westville,Oklahoma ]][1]
Resides	Norman, Oklahoma
Billed from	Westville, Oklahoma[2]
Debut	1974
Website	JRsBarBQ.com

James William "Jim" Ross (born January 3, 1952^[1]) is a professional wrestling commentator, referee, restaurateur, occasional wrestler, and former company executive of WWE, where he currently works as a talent relations consultant and on WWE NXT as a Play-by-Play announcer. Ross was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest commentators in wrestling history.^[3] He is known affectionately by wrestling fans as Good Ol' JR.^[3][4][5] In recent years, he has developed his own brand of barbecue sauces and cookbooks.^[6]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

While attending Westville High School, Ross was the first baseman on the Westville baseball team. Ross was a two-time all-conference football player for the Westville Yellowjackets in 1968–69. His maternal grandparents owned a general store in Westville, Oklahoma and his paternal grandfather Dee Ross owned an off-sale beer store and was a carpenter. Ross was also President of the Student Body, a 4 year letterman in basketball, and State Vice President of the Future Farmers of America where he was State Speech Champion in 1968. Ross was also named Honorable Mention on the 1969 High School All State Football team by the Tulsa World as a center.

During his time in college, Ross had spent some time commentating on college radio. With this experience, Ross was given a chance to be a sideline commentator when an announcer in one territory was unable to show up one night.^[7] Jim first worked in the NWA Mid-South area as a referee in 1974. He stayed as a referee there until 1977.

Shortly after Bill Watts bought out the Mid-South territory on 1982, Ross returned to work there,^[8] becoming their lead play-by-play man and Vice President of Marketing. The first World Title match he called was between Ric Flair and Ted DiBiase. When Jim Crockett, Jr. bought the Mid-South (since renamed the Universal Wrestling Federation) and merged it with his Jim Crockett Promotions group, Ross joined the new company and teamed up doing color commentary with David Crockett and Tony Schiavone as lead play-by-play man for the National Wrestling Alliance.^[8] Ross continued to hone his skills and build his legacy as Jim Crockett Promotions became NWA World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1991 the promotion left the NWA and became WCW. Jim was teamed with long-time NWA/Crockett broadcaster Bob Caudle for a couple of years. In 1992, he also spent one season as a commentator on Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts.

Ross worked his way up the ladder, yet along the way had a contentious relationship with WCW's newest commentator (and future WCW executive) Eric Bischoff. According to Ross, Bischoff, who reported to him, did a really good job of "selling himself" to executives of WCW's owner Turner Broadcasting. According to Bischoff, Ross mistreated him and others (mostly in deference to Ross' then-supervisor Bill Watts), and when Eric was promoted to executive producer in 1993, Ross demanded, and received, his release.

Ross had a three year contract with Turner Broadcasting, but he took an immediate buy-out for fear that he would not get work elsewhere if he was taken off television for a long period of time. Mick Foley claims that Ross resigned from WCW's booking committee.^[9] Ross left WCW after being taken off the air by Eric Bischoff.^[10]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment[link]

Early career in WWF (1993–2002)[link]

Ross was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (later known as World Wrestling Entertainment and eventually shortened to WWE). He made his on-screen debut at WrestleMania IX and taking over for Gorilla Monsoon on WWF Wrestling Challenge the next weekend. Ross worked alongside Bobby Heenan on that show until Heenan left the WWF in December 1993. Ross was originally the main voice of the WWF's pay-per-view events when he was first brought in, calling both WrestleMania IX and the King of the Ring with Heenan and Randy Savage in 1993. Vince McMahon took his position at pay-per-views starting with SummerSlam 1993.

Ross was then made host of Radio WWF, alongside Gorilla Monsoon (the man he replaced at WrestleMania IX), which lasted under a year. In this role, Ross was joined by co-hosts such as Johnny Polo, and talked to various WWF Superstars and fans. Ross and Monsoon called SummerSlam and the Survivor Series at the end of 1993 and the Royal Rumble for Radio WWF.

Ross was fired by WWF on February 11, 1994 two weeks after suffering his first attack of Bell's palsy. He subsequently became an announcer for Smoky Mountain Wrestling and the NFL's Atlanta Falcons (the second time he was with the Falcons as an announcer). In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Ross was reunited with former NWA/WCW announcer Bob Caudle. The promotion was owned by longtime NWA Manager Jim Cornette and featured many former NWA/WCW wrestlers such as the Rock and Roll Express, Eddie Gilbert, and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.

When Vince McMahon was indicted by the United States federal government in 1994, he was unable to continue commentating on Monday Night Raw. After a few weeks of Gorilla Monsoon on play-by-play, the WWF rehired Ross to fill in for McMahon alongside Randy Savage throughout that summer. When McMahon was acquitted, Ross was let go by the WWF again. Ross returned to Smoky Mountain Wrestling. The WWF rehired him in early 1995 in time for WrestleMania XI. Relocated to the syndicated WWF programming for the majority of the next two years, Ross would rejoin the primary announce team in the summer of 1996. In September 1996, Ross turned heel in WWF storylines for the first and only to date time in his career. Following Diesel and Razor Ramon leaving the WWF for World Championship Wrestling and debuting there as The Outsiders, Ross began to proclaim on television that he was still in touch with "Diesel" and "Razor Ramon" and claimed that he would be bringing them back to the WWF soon. Other announcers were skeptical, and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon said that Hall and Nash were under contract with "another organization", and ordered Ross to cease and desist mentioning them on the air. On the September 23, 1996 episode of Monday Night Raw, Ross delivered a worked-shoot promo during which he ran down WWF Chairman Vince McMahon (outing him as chairman and not just a commentator for the first time in WWF storylines) and debuted his "new" Diesel and Razor, claiming that while working in the WWF "front office" he had been the man responsible for so many people leaving the company as part of his "revenge" against the WWF for how they treated him in the past. While he was kept on the air by McMahon, Ross portrayed himself to be bitter and spiteful, with repeated potshots at McMahon. However, the "New Diesel-New Razor" storyline was poorly received by fans, and Ross' heel turn was quickly dropped.

Ross was mainly used as a commentator, but occasionally hosted in-ring interviews such as here with Ken Shamrock.

After this angle, Ross went on to host various WWF programs such as Superstars, Action Zone, Raw Is War, and Shotgun Saturday Night. Ross again became the main voice of the WWF beginning at the 1997 Survivor Series. At the end of 1998, Ross took a break from Raw Is War, due to another attack of Bell's palsy which came the day after the death of his mother. He eventually returned to Raw Is War as part of a storyline alleging that Vince fired him because of his condition, but that he would not go down quietly and enlisted the services of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams as his personal "enforcer." The storyline went as far as to have Jim Ross set up his own announce table in front of the official announce table labeled "JR Is RAW." Shortly after that, Jim Ross confronted his replacement, Michael Cole, in the ring. After minutes of Cole trying to convince that he was not trying to steal Ross' job, Ross kicked Cole in the crotch and left the ring. The storyline was soon dropped as the attempt to turn Ross heel failed (the fans ended up cheering Ross and booing Cole) and he took his seat back as "official" commentator of Raw Is War starting with the main event of WrestleMania XV. Ross' Bell's palsy proved fodder for ridicule by WWF's competitor, World Championship Wrestling, in late 1999. Ed Ferrara parodied Ross, including doing a full impression including mockery of his modified voice due to his medical condition. This was received negatively by fans and wrestlers alike, with Jim Cornette threatening legitimate physical harm against Ferrara. Ferrara ceased mocking the medical condition after the first week. The angle was soon dropped by WCW, but not before "Oklahoma", Ferrara's parody of JR, won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, even defending it on Pay-Per-View, at WCW Souled Out in 2000 against female Wrestler, Madusa.

Raw (2002–2008)[link]

Ross was the "voice of Raw Is War" throughout the Monday Night Wars alongside Jerry Lawler and cemented his legacy as one of the great wrestling commentators as WWE became the sole major wrestling promotion in North America. After the WWE Brand Extension, Ross worked exclusively for the Raw brand, cutting down to doing play-by-play on Raw-only pay-per-views, while SmackDown!-only pay-per-views were announced by SmackDown!'s announce team.

Jerry Lawler (left) and Jim Ross (right) at the Raw commentators table.

For most of the next six years Ross was involved in very few storylines. Also during this time, Ross served as an Executive Vice President of Talent Relations for the WWF/WWE, a codified extension of his long-time backstage role (dating back to the mid-'90s) as a key individual in charge of hiring new talent. By 2005, Ross had stepped down from his executive and management roles. According to repeated statements on his official blog, the move away from management proved beneficial in terms of decreased work-load, giving him more time to focus on his health, his family, and his entrepreneurial endeavors.

Still working as the voice of Raw, Ross was again "fired" (kayfabe) from his play-by-play job by Vince and Linda McMahon on October 10, 2005. Doctors had discovered a serious issue with Ross's colon, and his storyline termination provided an explanation for his absence. While recovering from his colon surgery, Joey Styles (best known for his commentary work for Extreme Championship Wrestling) called the weekly Raw. After recovering, Ross helped produce the Raw announcers from backstage, and was brought back for Saturday Night's Main Event in 2006, then the Raw-brand matches at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago, before taking back his play-by-play job on Raw on May 8, 2006, after Styles quit Raw in the storyline, declaring his hatred for "sports entertainment".

Ross' contract with WWE expired in October 2006. At that point, neither side had signed a new contract and instead worked week to week under the terms of the expired contract. In November 2006, Jim Ross stated on his official blog that he had signed a new one-year contract with WWE and would continue to work year-to-year.^[11] On March 31, 2007, Ross was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

SmackDown (2008–2010)[link]

On June 23, 2008 during the 2008 WWE Draft, Ross was drafted from Raw to the SmackDown brand while Michael Cole was drafted from SmackDown to Raw, trading positions as commentators on each brand.^[12] This ended Ross' position as Monday Night Raw's play-by-play commentator after a nearly 12 year run. The following day Ross posted a blog on his official website saying initially he was not happy with the move and considered quitting the company since he was not told beforehand about the move, but that he will work "to make Smackdown the best program the WWE produces".^[13][14]

On September 23, 2008 episode of ECW, Ross made an appearance on the ECW brand filling in for a sick Todd Grisham along side Matt Striker.^[15]

On April 5, 2009, WrestleMania XXV, Ross commented on Rey Mysterio's mask which had been made to represent Heath Ledger's role as The Joker. His comment was, 'I think Rey's career is alive and well King'. Jim Ross has apologized on his JR's BBQ website explaining that, "it was the wrong choice of words to use and on live television mistakes can happen."

Ross (right) during his run on SmackDown with fellow commentator Todd Grisham.

On April 8, 2009, Ross announced on his WWE Universe blog that with the departure of Tazz from World Wrestling Entertainment, he would assume the role of SmackDown's color analyst, with ECW announcer Todd Grisham moving over to the brand as the play-by-play announcer.^[16] At Backlash, Santina Marella, Santino's "twin sister" revealed that she loves Ross rather than The Great Khali. Ross was not told about the joke but posted in his blog "Let bygones be bygones". October 6, 2009 was his last broadcasting as a full-time announcer for the WWE.

Ross missed the SmackDown tapings on October 13, 2009, as he asked for a day off due to an anniversary. This was the first time he ever asked for a day off. Seven days later, on October 20, Ross suffered his third Bell's palsy episode en route to Columbia, South Carolina for a SmackDown taping. After initially planning on working the tapings and reuniting with Lawler, Ross instead flew back to Oklahoma, missing the show—Lawler and Cole commentated SmackDown—and leaving his plans for WWE Bragging Rights in the air. On October 21, 2009, Jim Ross announced that he would not be commentating the WWE Bragging Rights pay-per-view, but Grisham mentioned that SmackDown would give Ross the Bragging Rights trophy as a "get well" gift. According to Ross in his personal blog, he will be out of action, recovering from his current bout with Bell's palsy. On March 31, 2010, Jim Ross confirmed on his Twitter page that his health is in good order. On May 1, 2010, his talent contract with WWE expired but recently has had his contract renewed. He still works for the WWE and is a consultant for the Talent Relations department dealing with talent payroll, scouting and talent development.

Sporadic appearances and feud with Michael Cole (2010–2011)[link]

On the November 15, 2010, live three hour special Old School Raw from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Ross made a guest appearance on commentary with Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole, calling a match between Daniel Bryan and Jack Swagger. This was Ross' first television appearance in over one year. Cole would insult Ross throughout the match, which resulted in Ross hitting Cole over the head with his hat after the match had finished.

On the March 14, 2011 episode of Raw from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Ross made another guest appearance, trying to talk some sense into Cole, who over the last few months began a feud with Jerry 'The King' Lawler. Ross would get insulted some more by Cole,^[17] which made Ross challenge Cole to a fight, only for Jack Swagger to come out and attack both Lawler and Ross.

Ross came back at WrestleMania XXVII to call the final four matches on the card, including the Cole/Lawler match. He also made an appearance on the following night's Raw program, alongside Jerry Lawler, whom he called the last three matches of WrestleMania with the night previous. He left Raw later that night after Cole squirted him with his BBQ sauce, which legitimately got in his eye and caused Ross to need one of his eyes flushed by the Medical Trainers backstage.^[18]

Since returning to the Announce Table the night after WrestleMania XXVII on Raw, Ross once again became an unofficial Raw commentator, reuniting with Jerry Lawler, then the next week, managing Lawler in his re-rematch with Jack Swagger. Following the match, which King won, thus gaining the right to pick the type of match and stipulation for a rematch between him and Michael Cole at Extreme Rules, he chose a tag team match, where he and JR would face Michael Cole and the man Cole pushed, poked and slapped after losing to King that night, Jack Swagger. JR then called the rest of the show with Lawler and Josh Mathews, serving in the role he portrayed when he was last a full-time commentator on WWE programming providing a mix of both color and play-by-play commentary.

On the April 18 episode of Raw eminating from the United Kingdom, during Michael Cole's knighting ceremony, Ross was forced to kiss Cole's fungus-infected foot and miss the remaining two matches that night after also, once again, receiving an Ankle lock from Jack Swagger.

The next week on Raw, the 2011 WWE Draft version of the show, Ross faced Michael Cole in the only match of the night not worth a Draft pick for a Brand. The match was almost five minutes long, most of which was Cole taunting Ross, most notably with the Kamala belly pat and wearing JR's hat, only to take it off and step on it in the ring and kick it out of the ring. Ross legitimately broke his hand, as well as cut himself on his right knuckle and bust Cole's lip, causing Cole to bleed from inside his mouth. Ross won the match by disqualification when Swagger came in and attacked him. Lawler, who was at ringside with Ross to counteract Swagger's being at ringside for Cole, got in after being attacked by Swagger on the outside of the ring earlier and took out Swagger after Cole whipped Ross' back with his belt, which Swagger took off of him before putting him in the Ankle Lock. Lawler whipped Cole on his behind with the same belt, which prompted the Anonymous Raw General Manager to make the Tag Match between the four at that Sunday's Extreme Rules a Country Whippin' Match, the second of Ross' career. Cole ran off holding his behind as JR showed Lawler his busted knuckle, as well as the blood on his right cheek. Lawler & Ross ended up losing at Extreme Rules, when Cole pinned Ross with a roll-up.

At Over The Limit on May 22, Ross showed up to gain revenge on Cole for squirting him with his own BBQ sauce a couple of months before on Raw. JR brought his own bottle of sauce to the ring with him and proceeded to pour it all out over Cole's face, hair and clothes. Things only got worse from there for Cole, as Bret Hart made a surprise appearance and locked in the Sharpshooter, while Lawler made Cole kiss his foot.^[19] After that, he joined the announcer's table alongside Josh Mathews and Booker T to call the "I Quit Match" of John Cena and The Miz.

Brief return to Raw (2011)[link]

On July 25, 2011, the new COO of WWE, Triple H re-hired Ross to a full time commentating position on Monday Night Raw to reform the partnership between himself and Jerry "The King" Lawler (alongside Michael Cole). On September 19, Jim Ross interviewed Mark Henry on winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Randy Orton at Night of Champions, but only to be attacked by him. Jerry Lawler tried to stop him but he received a World's Strongest Slam. Ross and Lawler were replaced by Josh Mathews for the rest of the night.

On the October 10 episode of Raw, Ross was fired by the new RAW Interim General Manager, John Laurinaitis, for walking out on Triple H the week before. Ross later revealed that he was given no prior notification that he was to be publicly fired like he was. On the October 17 episode of Raw, Ross returned in a tag team match with John Cena in a win over Michael Cole and Alberto Del Rio.^[20] A week later, Cole would challenge Ross to a "Michael Cole Challenge" match, where if Cole would lose, he would quit.^[21] Despite this, on the Halloween special episode of Raw, Ross "no-showed" the "Michael Cole Challenge" due to inflammatory bowel disease.^[22] The Michael Cole challenge was rescheduled for the following week, but again was cancelled.^[23] The challenge was yet again scheduled for the November 14 episode, and was slated to kick off that night's episode. In the episode Ross won two of the three challenges which were arm wrestling and dancing but lost the final challenge which was who weighed less. Subsequently, he was "fired" again.^[24]

On April 1st 2012, at WrestleMania XXVIII, Ross returned to call the 'End of an Era' Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and The Undertaker per Undertaker's request behind the scenes.

WWE NXT (2012- )[link]

On May 17th at the first taping of the rebranded WWE NXT at Full Sail University JR returned to WWE programming as the new Play-by-Play Announcer working alongside William Regal, Byron Saxton and Chris Russo.

Wrestling career[link]

Although Ross' career has predominantly been as a commentator, Ross has participated in matches, with some notable success, including a victory over Triple H in a no-DQ match (albeit with help from Batista).

Ross' most notable wrestling appearance was in a tag team match with broadcast partner Jerry "The King" Lawler against Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman at the 2003 Unforgiven pay-per-view, with their Raw broadcast jobs on the line. They lost the contest to Snow and Coachman due to interference by Chris Jericho, however two weeks later Ross and Lawler regained their jobs when Ross defeated Coachman in a Country Whippin' match, using a stunner finishing maneuver. Ross has participated in more contests alongside Lawler and has appeared in a few extreme stipulation matches. Ross competed against Michael Cole on the April 25th episode of Raw, where he defeated Cole by disqualification after Cole's manager for the match, Jack Swagger, attacked Ross while he had Cole mounted and was landing punches on him.

Jim Ross has been involved in multiple conflicts as well with superstars such as Triple H, Val Venis, Jack Swagger, Vladimir Kozlov, Mankind, Stone Cold Steve Austin, bloodied in a Match by then-RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff, and was even set on fire by Kane. Ross even main-evented the WWF's first-ever show from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA, an episode of Raw is War that took place on October 11, 1999. Ross teamed with Stone Cold Steve Austin to take on WWF Champion Triple H and his partner Chyna.

As part of storylines, Ross has been regularly targeted by Vince McMahon in rather harsh circumstances throughout his time with WWE: most notably in 2005 when Vince McMahon's character, Mr. McMahon, featured in a series of segments which made fun of Ross' legitimate colon surgery.

In 2011, after his firing as an announcer by John Laurinaitis, he returned to team up with John Cena to face Michael Cole and Alberto Del Rio in a tag-team match on Raw in a winning effort. This was the first time Raw had been broadcasted in Mexico.

Personal life[link]

Ross is married to his wife Jan and has two daughters (from a previous marriage) and two granddaughters.^[25][26]

He suffers from Bell's palsy, which sometimes results in temporary paralysis of Ross' facial muscles. In late 1998, following the death of his mother, Ross took a break from Raw as the effects of his grief reportedly worsened his Bell's palsy, and Michael Cole filled in for Ross. Despite his condition, Ross has established himself as one of the all-time greatest wrestling commentators, often compared to Gordon Solie.^[27] J.R.'s influence was Gordon Solie and Bill Watts.^[28]

In 2007, spurred on by sales of his line of barbecue sauces and beef products, Ross opened up J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q, a barbecue restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma.^[29] The restaurant was closed as of May 2010.

He is an avid Oklahoma Sooners sports fan and is a regular football season-ticket holder; this is reflected in his entrance music, which is "Boomer Sooner" (OU's fight song). He can be spotted at every OU home game and when the Sooners play top teams around the country.^[30]

In other media[link]

Ross has provided his voice for many WWE Video Games and is also a playable character in WWE 12.

In wrestling[link]

Finishing moves

• • • JR Stunner (Stunner)
    • The Sauce It (Hip Attack)

• Nicknames
  • "J.R."
  • "Good Ol' J.R."
  • "The Voice of Raw"
  • "The Voice of the WWE"
  • "Hambone McGraw"
  • "J.R Is Wrestlemania*"
  • "Rossie" (During his days with World Championship Wrestling)
  • "Buckethead" (During his days with World Championship Wrestling)

• Signature Phrases
  • "Boomer Sooner"
  • "Good God (Almighty)"
  • "Slobberknocker"
  • "Business is about to pick up"
  • ".... is being whipped/beaten like a government mule"
  • "Stone Cold, Stone Cold!"
  • "He's stomping a mudhole, and walking it dry!"
  • "Rock Bottom, Rock Bottom!"
  • ".... is running like a scolded dog"
  • ".... is as crazy as a pet 'coon"
  • "Spine on the Pine" (spinebuster)
  • "Through Hellfire and Brimstone" (When referring to Kane making his entrance)

• Job titles
  • NWA Mid-South referee
  • UWF/Mid-South play-by-play announcer
  • UWF/Mid-South Vice President of Marketing
  • WCW Executive Vice President of Broadcasting
  • WCW play-by-play announcer
  • Atlanta Falcons play-by-play announcer
  • Radio WWF host
  • WWE Raw Former play-by-play announcer and color commentator
  • WWE NXT Current play-by-play announcer
  • SMW play-by-play announcer
  • XFL play-by-play announcer
  • WWE SmackDown play-by-play announcer and color commentator
  • WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations
  • WWE Executive Vice President of Business Strategies
  • WWE Talent Relations Consultant

• Wrestlers managed
  • Kane
  • "Doctor Death" Steve Williams

• Entrance themes
  • "Boomer Sooner" by The Pride Of Oklahoma '98

Awards and accomplishments[link]

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award (2010)^[31]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Stanley Weston Award (2002)^[32]
• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)
  • Slammy Award for “Tell me I didn’t just see that" Moment of the Year (2011) dancing during the "Michael Cole Challenge"
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Television Announcer (1988–1993, 1998–2001, 2006–2007, 2009)
  • Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic (2011) mistreatment by WWE despite their anti-bullying campaign.
  • Worst Feud of the Year (2005) vs. McMahon Family
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1999)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Foley, Mick (2000). Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. p. 511. ISBN 0-06-103101-1. 

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jim Ross

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jim Ross

• J.R's Family Bar-B-Q
• WWE profile
• Jim Ross on Twitter
• Jim Ross at the Internet Movie Database

Kane
Kane at a 2011 Raw house show.
Ring name(s)	Kane[1] Angus King Bruiser Mastino[2] Christmas Creature[2] Doomsday[2] "Fake" Diesel[2] Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.[2] Mike Unabomb[2] Unibomb[2] [2]
Billed height	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)[1]
Billed weight	323 lb (147 kg)[1]
Born	(1967-04-26) April 26, 1967 (age 45)[3][4] Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain[3][4][5]
Resides	Knoxville, Tennessee
Billed from	Parts Unknown[1]
Debut	June 18, 1992

Glenn Thomas Jacobs^[2][6] (born April 26, 1967) better known by his ring name, Kane, is an American professional wrestler and actor signed to WWE and appearing on its Raw brand.^[7]

Born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain, Jacobs began his wrestling career in 1992 working in independent circuits. He wrestled in Smoky Mountain Wrestling as Unabomb where he won the SMW Tag Team Championship as a member of The Dynamic Duo, and in the United States Wrestling Association where he won the USWA Heavyweight Championship as Doomsday. He later joined the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995, where he wrestled under various gimmicks before debuting as Kane, in 1997. The character's half-brother is The Undertaker, with whom Kane has teamed up as the Brothers of Destruction.

Jacobs has accumulated 17 championship accolades during his WWE career. He is a three-time world champion, having won the WWF Championship once, the ECW Championship once, and the World Heavyweight Championship once (tied for third longest reign in history, record which also belongs to Chris Benoit). He is the first of only three men (including CM Punk and The Big Show) to hold all three of WWE's world titles. He is also a two-time WWF/E Intercontinental Champion, a one-time WWF Hardcore Champion, and an 11-time Tag Team Champion; winning the WWE Tag Team Championship (once with The Big Show), the WCW World Tag Team Championship once (with The Undertaker), and the World Tag Team Champion nine times (twice with Mankind, X-Pac, and The Undertaker; and once with The Hurricane, Rob Van Dam, and The Big Show). Jacobs is the third Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. In addition to championships, he is a one-time Money in the Bank winner, also he has become the quickest man to cash in the briefcase. Kane holds several records in the Royal Rumble match, including: most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble with eleven, most Royal Rumble match appearances with fifteen, most consecutive appearances in the match with thirteen from 1999 to 2011, and the quickest elimination of another competitor.

Early life[link]

Jacobs was born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid to an Air Force family stationed in Spain.^[8][9] Jacobs earned a degree in English Literature at Truman State University (known then as Northeast Missouri State University) where he played both basketball and football. Jacobs is also a former third grade teacher.^[10]

Professional wrestling career[link]

Early career (1992-1995)[link]

In the ring, Jacobs was first known as Angus King^[11] when he debuted in the St. Louis, Missouri area with the CSWA. Jacobs later moved south and began wrestling as Doomsday, appearing in the United States Wrestling Association as The Christmas Creature and as Unabomb in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he held the SMW Tag Team Championship with Al Snow in a team called The Dynamic Duo.^[12][13][14] During his time in the United States Wrestling Association, Jacobs (as Doomsday) held the USWA Heavyweight Championship. He briefly wrestled for WCW under the name Bruiser Mastino. Jacobs also worked a brief tour in the UWFI under his real name.^{[citation needed]}

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment[link]

Debut and early gimmicks (1995–1997)[link]

Jacobs made his first television appearance as a heel with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as Dr. Isaac Yankem DDS, Jerry Lawler's private dentist, in a vignette on the June 26, 1995 episode of Raw.^[15][16] Placing emphasis on Jacobs' imposing height and weight, Yankem was portrayed as a monsterous figure whom Lawler had hired for the purpose of ridding the WWF of his longtime nemesis, Bret Hart. His in-ring debut occurred at a Superstars taping on August 15, where he lost to Hart by count-out.^[15] At SummerSlam, Jacobs was disqualified when he hung Hart by twisting him in the top and middle ropes by his neck. He lost to Hart in a steel cage match in the main event of the October 16 episode of Raw, and finally in a tag team match against Hart and Hakushi, in which he was partnered with Lawler, on the November 6 episode of the show.^[15] After his initial run with Hart, Jacobs' push dwindled. His team was unsuccessful in an elimination match at Survivor Series. He participated in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, but spent the majority of the year as a jobber to the stars, including televised losses to The Undertaker, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Marc Mero and The Ultimate Warrior. Jacobs sported the Yankem gimmick until September.^[17]

Later that month, play-by-play announcer Jim Ross introduced Rick Bognar as "Razor Ramon" and Jacobs as "Diesel" as part of a storyline mocking the departure of former employees Scott Hall and Kevin Nash respectively, and also as an attempt to portray Ross as a villainous character. The idea proved unpopular and was dropped almost immediately, and despite receiving a WWF Tag Team Championship match against Owen Hart and The British Bulldog at the In Your House 12: It's Time pay-per-view, the gimmick's television lifespan lasted only until the 1997 Royal Rumble, where Jacobs was the second-to-last participant (with the exception of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was previously eliminated by Bret Hart but the officials did not witness the elimination, so he re-entered the ring). He continued to work live events as "Diesel" through April, but would not make any WWF appearances from then until October, as the character of Kane was gradually introduced.^[18]

Feud and teaming with The Undertaker (1997–2001)[link]

At April's In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker pay-per-view event, WWF Champion, The Undertaker launched a fireball into the face of former manager Paul Bearer, who had unsuccessfully attempted to assist his newest protege, Mankind to victory in their title match. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Foley reintroduced Bearer, whose face was heavily bandaged due to the burns The Undertaker had inflicted. Prompted by the injury, Bearer attempted to reunite with The Undertaker after a long period of mutual hostility, using the threat of revealing The Undertaker's "biggest secret"; during the cryptic interview, Bearer likened the fire that had burned his face at Revenge of the 'Taker to a fire that had occurred during The Undertaker's childhood. When The Undertaker continually refused to once again become aligned with Bearer week-after-week, Bearer began tormenting him by telling him that his long-lost brother, Kane (later revealed as Bearer's son, and the Undertaker's half-brother), was coming to the WWF to challenge him.^[16] In the ensuing months, Bearer implied that The Undertaker had killed his family by starting a fire at their funeral home, with the exception of Kane, who was left physically and mentally scarred by the event; The Undertaker claimed that Kane, a pyromaniac, was the one who started the fire, and could not possibly have survived.

Six months after the angle began, Jacobs made his first appearance as Kane at Badd Blood: In Your House on October 5, costing The Undertaker the victory in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels. In keeping with the notion that Kane had been scarred by the fire — and to conceal Jacobs' identity — the character wore a mask, sported long hair, and wore red and black ring attire that almost covered his entire body. Kane and The Undertaker feuded with one over another the following year, during which time their history vis-à-vis one another was expounded. Jacobs won his first match as Kane against Mankind at Survivor Series. In weeks prior on Raw, Kane had randomly attacked other wrestlers including Ahmed Johnson, Road Warrior Hawk, the Hardy Boyz, Flash Funk, and Cactus Jack/Mankind's alter ego, Dude Love. The Undertaker initially refused to face him, saying he would not fight his own "flesh and blood". After a brief partnership, Kane betrayed his brother when he cost him the WWF Championship; he made a run-in in The Undertaker's WWF Championship title match with Shawn Michaels at the Royal Rumble. After the match, Kane locked The Undertaker in a casket and set it on fire, though it was later revealed that Undertaker managed to escape the casket without being seen before Kane set it on fire. This provoked The Undertaker into returning to face Kane at WrestleMania XIV on March 29. Kane was defeated by The Undertaker after three Tombstone Piledrivers. After the match Kane and Paul Bearer attacked The Undertaker.^[19] They continued to feud until Unforgiven on April 26, when The Undertaker defeated Kane in an Inferno match. In this match, Paul Bearer tried to help Kane by attacking The Undertaker; however, at one point of the match, as Kane was retreating backstage, Vader forced Kane back towards the ring, and The Undertaker attacked them both by jumping over the ring ropes surrounded by fire.^[20]

On May 19, Bearer was revealed to be an employee at the funeral home in Death Valley owned by The Undertaker's parents. When Kane and The Undertaker were children, claimed Bearer, The Undertaker "accidentally" burned down the funeral home, killing their parents and leaving Kane with physical and mental scarring, although The Undertaker thought that Kane had perished in the fire also. During an episode of Raw taped in Long Island, Kane and Bearer ostensibly exhumed the parents' bodies and brought them to the arena. Bearer, who survived the fire, hid Kane in a mental asylum as he grew up and went on to form an alliance with The Undertaker. After suffering mistreatment at the hands of The Undertaker, Bearer opted to bring Kane into the WWF in order to gain vengeance upon The Undertaker. Kane is portrayed as being psychotic, demented, extremely violent, twisted, disturbed, unstoppable, isolated and at peace with insanity. Like his half-brother, Kane is supposedly able to summon fire and bolts of lightning at will, which is displayed as pyrotechnics during shows.

After defeating The Undertaker to win a WWF Championship title shot, Kane won the WWF Championship at the King of the Ring, defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood match after being helped by his brother. However, Kane lost the title back to Austin the next night on Raw.^[21][22] He went on to form a tag team with Mankind, with whom he won the WWF World Tag Team Championship twice.^[23] After losing the titles and turning on Mankind, Kane formed a short-lived tag team with his brother. The brothers fought one another for the vacant WWF Championship at Judgment Day: In Your House, with the match ending in a no-contest.^[24] During the match, The Undertaker betrayed Kane for Paul Bearer. Kane went on to take part in the "Deadly Games" tournament for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series but was eliminated by The Undertaker in the quarter-finals.^[25]

At Rock Bottom: In Your House, Kane interfered in the Buried Alive match between Austin and The Undertaker by giving The Undertaker a Tombstone Piledriver. As a result of this, The Corporation had Kane committed to an insane asylum. However, in 1999, Kane joined The Corporation to stay out of the insane asylum. He was later betrayed by The Corporation and thrown out of the alliance. Shortly afterward, Kane formed a tag team with X-Pac and acquired a girlfriend, Tori. While teaming with X-Pac, Kane evolved from being mute to aided speech through an electrolarynx to speaking unaided. He also became associated with D-Generation X, the faction of which X-Pac was a member. His first unaided words were the DX slogan "suck it".^[26] The duo won the WWF World Tag Team title twice.^[23] The tag team broke apart when X-Pac turned on Kane and rejoined D-Generation X. Kane and X-Pac then were engaged in a lengthy feud against each other. Late in their feud, in early 2000, Tori betrayed Kane and joined X-Pac and D-Generation X, and the former partners' feud eventually ended at WrestleMania 2000, where Kane teamed with Rikishi to face X-Pac and Road Dogg. Kane and Rikishi came out victorious after Kane pinned X-Pac following a Tombstone Piledriver.^[27]

Shortly after WrestleMania, Kane suffered a hand injury that kept him out of action for a month. When he returned, it was to help The Undertaker and The Rock fight off the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. His involvement in this feud culminated in a main event match at King of the Ring against Vince and Shane McMahon, and then-champion Triple H.^[28] The Undertaker and Kane's rivalry resurfaced during the match,^[28] but they patched their relationship up soon after. Kane assaulted the Undertaker, leading to a match between the two at SummerSlam. The match ended when The Undertaker removed Kane's mask, causing him to flee the ring, covering his exposed face.^[29] Kane stayed in contention for the WWF Championship for the remainder of the year and ended 2000 in a feud with Chris Jericho; he ultimately lost a Last Man Standing match to him at Armageddon.^[30]

Kane reformed his alliance with The Undertaker immediately before the Royal Rumble, in which he eliminated a record number of 11 wrestlers which included Raven, Al Snow, Perry Saturn, Steve Blackman, Grand Master Sexay, The Honky Tonk Man, The Rock, Tazz, Albert, Crash Holly, and Scotty 2 Hotty, and was the runner-up, after being eliminated by Steve Austin.^[31] In early 2001, Kane competed for the Hardcore Championship, defeating Raven for the title at WrestleMania X-Seven in a match that also featured Big Show.^[32][33] At the same time, Kane began teaming with The Undertaker as the "Brothers of Destruction". In the course of the year, they feuded with Edge and Christian, Rikishi and Haku, and The Two-Man Power Trip. While feuding with The Two-Man Power Trip, Austin and Triple H broke Kane's left arm. At Judgment Day, Kane defeated Triple H to win the Intercontinental Championship.^[34][35] He would become the third Grand Slam Champion, and the first person to win the Grand Slam championship by winning the WWF, Intercontinental, Tag Team, and Hardcore Championships. He later lost the title to Albert on an episode of SmackDown! following interference from Diamond Dallas Page.

During The Invasion, Kane and The Undertaker feuded with DDP and Chris Kanyon after Page began stalking The Undertaker's wife Sara. The feud culminated at SummerSlam, when Kane and The Undertaker defeated Page and Kanyon in a Steel Cage match, resulting in them holding both the WWF World Tag Team Championships^[23] and the WCW World Tag Team Championship.^[36] Kane and The Undertaker went on to defeat KroniK at Unforgiven,^[37] and both participated in the ten-man Winner-Takes-All match at Survivor Series as members of "Team WWF".^[38]

Unmasking and various storylines (2002–2004)[link]

Kane wearing his half mask, weeks before his unmasking on Raw.

In 2002, Kane began a small feud with Big Show, after Kane single handedly eliminated him at the Royal Rumble. On the January 28 episode of Raw, Kane displayed his true power by scoop-slamming and chokeslamming the 500-pound Big Show, who he defeated that night. Kane then began feuding with Kurt Angle, to whom he lost at WrestleMania X8.^[39] On March 25, the WWF was divided into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, with Kane being drafted to Raw. Kane went on to feud with the New World Order until tearing his biceps. Kane returned to the renamed WWE as part of the Raw roster in the Summer of 2002, with a new half-mask.

In 2002, Kane won the World Tag Team Championship with The Hurricane on the September 23 episode of Raw from Lance Storm and Christian.^[23] On October 7, Kane successfully single-handedly defended the World Tag Team Championship in a four-team Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, as The Hurricane had been attacked earlier that evening by Triple H and Ric Flair and was thus unable to compete. That match was later nominated WWE 2002 "Match of the Year". They would hold on to the titles until the October 14 episode of Raw, where they lost them to Christian and Chris Jericho.^[40] On September 30, Kane won the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Jericho despite interference from Triple H and Ric Flair.^[34]

In October 2002, Kane began feuding with Triple H, leading to a match at No Mercy on October 20 in which both Kane's Intercontinental Championship and Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship were at stake. In the weeks preceding the match, Triple H claimed that, several years earlier, Kane had an unrequited relationship with a woman named Katie Vick.^[41] He went on to claim that, after Vick was killed in a car crash, Kane's (driver) had sex with her. Triple H later threatened to show video footage of Kane committing the act in question; however, the footage that finally aired showed Triple H (dressed as Kane) simulating mock sex with a mannequin in a casket;^[41] Kane's tag team partner The Hurricane responded the following week by showing a video of Triple H (rather, someone wearing a Triple H series of masks) getting an enema. The angle was very unpopular with fans,^[42] and was de-emphasised before the title match. Triple H went on to defeat Kane at No Mercy, unifying the two titles.^[43]

Kane then formed a tag team with Rob Van Dam, with the duo eventually winning the World Tag Team Championship.^[23] After they lost their World Tag Team Championship to La Résistance at Bad Blood, Triple H offered Kane a spot in his stable Evolution. Raw co-general manager Stone Cold Steve Austin offered Kane the opportunity to face Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship if he rejected Triple H's offer; however, co-general manager Eric Bischoff insisted that Kane unmask because he lost the match. Kane accepted Austin's offer and went to challenge Triple H the following week in Madison Square Garden. Triple H won the match following interference from his stablemates, and on the June 23, 2003 episode of Raw, Kane removed his mask. He then chokeslamed Rob Van Dam and went on to defeat him at SummerSlam.^[44] In an interview with Jim Ross at Conseco Fieldhouse, it became apparent that Kane's facial scars were actually mental scars. At the end of this interview, Kane, believing that he was being mocked, attacked Ross and set him on fire. The unmasking rendered Kane emotionally unstable, on one occasion drove him to Tombstone Linda McMahon on the Raw stage. This action sparked a feud between Kane and Linda's son, Shane, with Kane defeating Shane in a Last Man Standing match at Unforgiven^[45] and an ambulance match at Survivor Series.^[46] During the latter event, Kane interfered in a Buried Alive match between Vince McMahon and The Undertaker, helping McMahon bury The Undertaker and win the match.^[46] The following month at Armageddon, Kane competed in a Triple-Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H and defending champion Bill Goldberg, a match which Triple H won.

In January 2004, Kane took part in the Royal Rumble match. He was eliminated after hearing the bell toll from The Undertaker's entrance music, distracting and distressing Kane and enabling Booker T to eliminate him. Over the following weeks, Kane repeatedly insisted that The Undertaker was "dead", only to be met with various paranormal incidents such as a rainstorm localized over the ring in which he stood. The Undertaker finally returned at WrestleMania XX with Paul Bearer at his side, defeating Kane.^[47]

Relationship with Lita and teaming with Big Show (2004–2006)[link]

Following his defeat at WrestleMania XX, Kane fell in love with Lita, but was spurned. This led to him kidnapping Lita in May and asking her an unknown question, to which she replied in the affirmative later that month. On the same night, Kane won a twenty-man battle royal to receive a World Heavyweight Championship title shot against Chris Benoit at Bad Blood. Lita later announced that she was pregnant, with Matt Hardy her then-boyfriend both on- and off- screen, assuming that he was the child's father. On 21 June, episode of Raw, Kane claimed that he was the father. The following week, Kane explained that he had impregnated Lita in order to continue his legacy and justified a vicious attack on Shawn Michaels several weeks earlier by claiming that Michaels had stood in the way of him winning the World Heavyweight Championship. In order to appease Kane, General Manager Eric Bischoff gave Kane a rematch with Benoit, instructing Benoit that he could only win by submission, whereas Kane could win the title by any means. Despite dominating much of the match, Kane again lost to Benoit. Following the match, Lita came to the ring and low-blowed Kane, who initially went to chokeslam her in revenge but stopped when he realized that she was trying to force him to cause her to miscarry their child.

Kane in a steel cage match against Edge.

Kane and Matt Hardy faced one another in a "Till Death Do Us Part" match at SummerSlam, with Lita obliged to wed the victor. Kane defeated Hardy,^[48] and "married" Lita on the August 23 episode of Raw. Although he was attacked by Hardy during the ceremony, he gained the upper hand and ultimately chokeslammed Hardy off the stage (in reality, Hardy needed time off because of a knee injury and later a staph infection). On the September 13 episode of Raw, Kane accidentally fell on Lita during a match with the debuting Gene Snitsky, who hit him on the back with a steel chair, ostensibly causing Lita to miscarry. Kane sought revenge against Snitsky for causing the death of his child. He lost to Snitsky in a steel chain match at Taboo Tuesday,^[49] and he was sidelined for several months after Snitsky crushed his larynx with a chair following the match. This attack was a repeat performance of the storyline where Kane "injured" Michaels in the same exact manner. The "injury" gave Kane time to complete his starring role in the film, See No Evil. Kane returned in January 2005, defeating Snitsky at New Year's Revolution.^[50] After WrestleMania 21, Kane and Lita reconciled with one another and began antagonizing Lita's rival Trish Stratus. This led to a match between Kane and Stratus' hired bodyguard Viscera at Backlash that was won by Kane.^[51]

Lita later turned on Kane and sided with Edge, leading to a feud between Kane and Edge. Kane was able to defeat Edge at Vengeance, despite interference from Snitsky. The feud ended when Edge defeated Kane in a Stretcher match on the July 25 episode of Raw.^[52] Lita's allegiance with Edge resulted from the couple's real-life affair while she was still romantically involved with Matt Hardy.^[53] Hardy was later rehired and Kane was dropped from the angle, with Matt and Edge having a feud over Lita.

Kane returned to WWE television on October 17, 2005, winning an eighteen-man battle royal.^[54] As a result of his victory, he, along with Big Show and Shawn Michaels, was featured in an Internet poll to decide who would receive a shot at the WWE Championship at Taboo Tuesday. In the weeks before Taboo Tuesday, Kane and Big Show teamed together on several occasions. The poll was won by Michaels, and Kane and Big Show teamed together to face Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, defeating them for the World Tag Team Championship.^[23] The duo successfully retained their titles throughout the remainder of 2005, during which time they engaged in an inter-promotional feud with members of the SmackDown! brand. He and Big Show feuded with Carlito and Chris Masters throughout early 2006, culminating in a successful title defense at WrestleMania 22 on April 2. On the following evening, Kane and the Big Show lost the World Tag Team Championship to Spirit Squad members Kenny and Mikey.^[23][55] One week later, Kane and Big Show faced Spirit Squad members Johnny and Nicky in a title rematch, but were disqualified after Kane "snapped", ostensibly due to "voices in his head".^[56] In subsequent weeks, Kane began attacking anyone who mentioned the date May 19. During the match between Kane and Big Show at Backlash, Kane's voice began echoing throughout the arena saying "May 19", "It's happening again" and "They're all going to know" leaving Kane visibly shaken. Big Show then struck Kane with a chair, resulting in a no-contest ruling.

On May 19, Kane appeared on SmackDown! as John "Bradshaw" Layfield's hand-picked opponent for Rey Mysterio.^[57] After both the aforementioned voices and mask video began playing, Kane chokeslammed both Layfield and Mysterio before leaving the ring.^[57] On the following episode of Raw, he claimed that May 19 was the date on which his mother and adopted family were killed in a fire. The voices continued on to the May 29 episode of Raw, when Kane was confronted by the source of the voice, an impostor Kane (Drew Hankinson); wearing Kane's old mask and ring attire, he chokeslammed Kane during his match against Shelton Benjamin for the Intercontinental Championship. Kane and the look-alike continued to fight one another in subsequent weeks, leading to a match between the two being scheduled for Vengeance, in which the real Kane lost to the impostor.^[58] On the June 26 episode of Raw, Kane threw the impostor out of the arena and removed his mask, saying "I believe that this is mine."^[59] Kane was absent from WWE television for several weeks thereafter as he toured Europe to promote See No Evil. Upon his return, he faced his former partner Big Show for the ECW Championship in a losing effort. When he returned to Raw, he engaged in a major feud with Umaga that concluded October 9 in a "Loser Leaves Raw" match, which Kane lost.

Brothers of Destruction reunion (2006-2007)[link]

On October 13, Kane moved to SmackDown for the first time since the 2002 brand extension. On November 3, Kane reunited with The Undertaker as the Brothers of Destruction to defeat Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Mr. Kennedy. Kane continued a feud with MVP competing in several gimmick matches. The end result of the feud was an Inferno match at Armageddon; Kane won by setting MVP's back on fire which resulted in first degree burns. Kane continued to have matches throughout the year with MVP.^[60]

Kane was reunited with The Undertaker when he returned to SmackDown.

On the SmackDown! before the Royal Rumble, Kane was involved in a six-man elimination over-the-top-rope battle royal, with King Booker, MVP, The Miz, Chris Benoit, and Finlay. This match would go to a no-contest as The Undertaker interrupted after Kane had been eliminated and punished the remaining opponents. At the Royal Rumble, Sabu was infamously eliminated by Kane, after he was chokeslammed through a table on the outside that Sabu had set up before he entered the ring. Later in the match, Kane eliminated King Booker.^[61] Booker then came back in the ring and eliminated Kane, even though he had already been eliminated.^[61] A couple weeks later on SmackDown!, while receiving the key to the city in his hometown of Houston, Booker was attacked by Kane starting a feud between the two. At No Way Out, Kane defeated King Booker.^[62] On February 23, Kane lost to King Booker in a Falls-Count Anywhere Money in the Bank Qualifying match after interference from The Great Khali,^[63] sparking a feud between the two.

Pursuit of the World Heavyweight Championship (2007)[link]

On February 26, Kane interrupted Chris Masters' Master Lock Challenge to The Great Khali when Masters was unable to apply the Master Lock. Kane delivered a chokeslam and a chair shot to Masters then clotheslined The Great Khali over the top rope. Prior to WrestleMania 23, Kane started to walk around with a hook, similar to the hook he used as Jacob Goodnight in See No Evil. At the event, Kane was defeated by Khali. During the match, in homage to Hulk Hogan slamming André the Giant twenty years earlier at WrestleMania III, Kane picked up Khali for the first time and body-slammed him to the mat. After WrestleMania, he began to feud with William Regal and Dave Taylor. The Boogeyman then joined the feud, teaming up with Kane. On the May 4 episode of SmackDown!, Kane competed in a Number-One Contender's match for the United States Championship held by MVP. Kane lost due to interference by Regal and Taylor. On the May 25 episode of SmackDown!, Kane competed in a Fatal Four-Way Number-One Contender's match for the World Heavyweight Championship which was won by Batista. Kane then entered a short feud with Mark Henry. Kane was defeated by Henry in a Lumberjack match at One Night Stand due to interference from lumberjacks Kenny Dykstra and Chavo Guerrero^[64] and would take a short hiatus thereafter.

On the July 6 episode of SmackDown!, General Manager Theodore Long announced that Kane would face Edge for his World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash. After Edge was attacked and injured by Kane and the title was vacated, Batista faced Kane in a Number-One Contender's match. During the match, new World Heavyweight Champion The Great Khali interfered by attacking Batista; the match was ruled a no-contest and both men were ruled the number one contenders. The scheduled match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Great American Bash became a Triple Threat match between Batista, Kane, and The Great Khali due to Edge's injury. In the beginning of the match, Kane and Batista teamed up to send Khali through an announcer's table, by a Chokeslam-Spinebuster combination. Kane started dominating Batista back in the ring but instead chokeslammed Khali, but Batista broke up the count. The end came after Khali slammed Batista's head into the steel steps, before which Batista had decimated Kane with a thunderous Batista Bomb. Khali then nailed Kane with a Khali Bomb, which was too much for Kane to kick out, and thus Khali remained the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. Kane later teamed up with Batista on the August 18 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event to defeat Khali and Finlay.^[65] Kane then entered a storyline with Finlay, which led to a match at SummerSlam, which Kane won after chokeslamming Finlay.^[66] On the following episode of SmackDown!, Finlay and Kane competed against each other in a tournament to name the challenger for Khali's World Heavyweight Championship at Unforgiven. After interference from Hornswoggle, Finlay managed to defeat Kane and advance in the tournament. Finlay and Kane met again during the following week's episode of SmackDown! in a rematch of the previous month's Saturday Night's Main Event. Once again teaming with Batista, Kane defeated Finlay and The Great Khali when Kane pinned Finlay off a chokeslam.

ECW Champion (2007–2008)[link]

Kane as ECW champion.

He then made an appearance on the October 16 episode of ECW as the hand-chosen partner of ECW Champion CM Punk, helping him defeat John Morrison, The Miz, and Big Daddy V in a 3-on-2 handicap match.^[67] In retaliation, Big Daddy V attacked Kane on the October 19 SmackDown, igniting a feud between the two.^[68] The two continued to battle in following weeks.^[69] Kane was voted to face the defending champion MVP for his United States Championship at Cyber Sunday, which Kane won by countout and thus did not win the title.^[70] After this, he continued to feud with Big Daddy V, with the two ending up on opposite teams at Survivor Series, where Kane's team won.^[71] Big Daddy V eventually began to team with Mark Henry, while Kane teamed with CM Punk. The feud concluded at Armageddon, where Kane and Punk lost to Big Daddy V and Henry after Big Daddy V pinned CM Punk.

Kane with a portrait during SmackDown/ECW Road to Wrestlemania Tour in 2008.

In a battle royal before WrestleMania, Kane won by lastly eliminating former rival Mark Henry which meant he would face ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero later in the night. At WrestleMania XXIV, Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero in the fastest-ever WrestleMania match with a record-setting eight seconds to win the ECW Championship.^[72][73] Shortly after winning the championship, Kane left SmackDown! and officially joined the ECW roster. At Backlash, Kane successfully defended the ECW Championship against Chavo Guerrero. He then continued teaming with CM Punk to earn a WWE Tag Team Championship match at Judgment Day,^[74] which the duo did not win.

On June 23, 2008, Kane was drafted from the ECW brand back to Raw, as a part of the 2008 WWE Draft, in the process making the ECW Championship exclusive to Raw.^[75] By taking the title to Raw, Kane became the first and only man to hold a specific title on all three brands; he won the ECW Championship as a member of the SmackDown! roster, and shortly after winning it he became an official member of ECW, and then took the title with him when he was drafted to Raw. Kane lost the ECW Championship to Mark Henry at Night of Champions in a Triple-Threat match that also involved The Big Show, thus moving the title back to ECW.^[76]

Various rivalries, Money in the Bank and World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2011)[link]

On July 7 episode of Raw, Kane was not granted a World Heavyweight Championship match at The Great American Bash, Kane attacking both color commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, Kane become a villain for the first time since 2006. On July 20 at The Great American Bash, Kane interfered and attacking both the champion CM Punk and the challenger Batista during the event. In September 2008, Kane began a feud with Rey Mysterio that lasted until Survivor Series 2008. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Kane pinned Mike Knox in a Triple-Threat match, also involving Rey Mysterio, to earn a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV, a match that would be won by CM Punk.^[77]

During the 2009 Draft Kane beat The Brian Kendrick for a draft pick, and later in the night, Kane himself would be drafted back to SmackDown!. After this Kane feuded with CM Punk and then defeated him at Backlash thus ending the feud. After that, Kane took a break to tour India and also heal injuries, returning at The Bash to assist Dolph Ziggler in his match with The Great Khali by hitting Khali with a steel chair allowing Ziggler to win, starting a feud with Khali, whom he defeated at SummerSlam and in a Singapore Cane match at WWE Breaking Point, thus ending the feud as Khali needed toe surgery.

Kane at a WWE SmackDown event in 2008.

In the next two weeks, Kane defeated R-Truth and John Morrison. Then he started a brief feud with Matt Hardy, defeating him at two separate occasions at SmackDown! and at Superstars. Kane then confronted Chris Jericho, declaring himself to be the co-captain for Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights, Jericho then agreed to Kane's co-captaincy. The match was won by Team SmackDown. Kane then faced Chris Jericho in a #1 Contender's match for an opportunity to face (World Heayweight Champion) The Undertaker and Big Show in a Triple-Threat match at Survivor Series, but lost. On the November 13 episode of SmackDown!, Kane saved the Undertaker from Chris Jericho and The Big Show. In 2010, at WrestleMania XXVI during the Money in the Bank ladder match, Kane was unsuccessful in claiming the briefcase. Over the next few months, Kane was involved in sporadic singles matches on episodes of SmackDown!.

Kane as the World Heavyweight Champion in July 2010.

On the May 28 episode of SmackDown!, he lost to CM Punk in a qualifying match for the World Heavyweight Championship for the WWE Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view event. The following week on SmackDown!, Kane claimed that he found his brother The Undertaker in a "vegetative state" over Memorial Day weekend and vowed revenge on whoever was responsible. Because of The Undertaker's injury, it was announced that there would be a Battle Royal between the whole SmackDown! roster to replace him for the WWE Fatal 4 Way event, which Rey Mysterio won by lastly eliminating Kane.

In Kane's quest, he participated in his fourth Money in the Bank ladder match at its first eponymous pay-per-view. Kane would then win the Money in the Bank ladder match and later on in the event, cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Rey Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship after Mysterio had just retained the title against Jack Swagger. On the following SmackDown! on July 23, Kane accused Mysterio of putting The Undertaker in a vegetative state.

On the August 6, 2010 episode of SmackDown!, Mysterio claimed he was innocent before claiming that Kane himself was the perpetrator behind the assault on The Undertaker."^[78][79] At SummerSlam, Kane retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Mysterio.

After the match, he attempted to put Mysterio into a casket, only for The Undertaker to appear. Upon his return, Kane delivered him a Tombstone Piledriver and thus, proving Kane to be the real attacker of The Undertaker, reigniting their feud. On the following episode of SmackDown!, Kane revealed that he had been planning his attack for 13 years and was finally the dominant brother, with control of Undertaker's powers. With these powers he was easily able to attack his brother multiple times, prior to, during, or after his matches. He then went on to successfully defend the World Heavyweight Championship against The Undertaker, in a No Holds Barred match at Night of Champions. On the following episode of Smackdown!, a casket was brought to ringside by druids to reveal the return of Paul Bearer, who was announced to be The Undertaker's manager against Kane at Hell in a Cell.^[80] At Hell in a Cell, Paul Bearer turned on The Undertaker. After Undertaker kicked out from a Tombstone, Bearer blinded Undertaker with the urn and gave it to Kane, who smashed Undertaker in the head with it and chokeslammed him to retain the World Heavyweight title.^[81] At Bragging Rights, Kane defeated Undertaker in a Buried Alive Match to retain the title again after help from The Nexus, thus ending the feud between Undertaker and Kane.

Kane at the Royal Rumble 2010.

Kane then entered a feud with Edge, who, on the October 28 episode of SmackDown!, was named the new challenger to Kane's World Heavyweight Championship at Survivor Series. On the November 12 episode of SmackDown!, Edge kidnapped Paul Bearer and started to play mind games with Kane, trying to psychologically wear him down before their title match. At Survivor Series, Kane retained his title after the referee determined the match a draw due to both men pinning each other at the same time. On the November 26 episode of SmackDown!, Kane agreed to let Edge have another shot at the title after Bearer was still in his captivity. The mind games continued until the December 3 SmackDown! where Edge defeated Kane in a non-title match so he could to pick the match type for their title match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, in which Edge chose the TLC match. On the following week's SmackDown!, Kane refused to participate in the main event, as he went to search for Bearer. After what he thought was another one of Edge's dummy version of Paul Bearer, Kane pushed some ladders over. Afterward, he realized he had pushed the actual Paul Bearer off the ladders onto the concrete floor, thus, injuring him. This would be Bearer's last appearance as he was written out of the storyline. The next week, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long added Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio, who were feuding with each other, to the World Heavyweight Championship match at the pay-per-view, making it a Fatal Four-Way TLC match.

At December 19th's TLC 2010, Kane lost the title after Edge climbed the ladder to retrieve it after pushing Alberto Del Rio off the ladder, through two tables on the outside. At WWE Tribute to the Troops 2010, Kane challenged General William Grimsley to an arm-wrestling contest, only for it to end in a no-contest when Edge interfered and speared Kane.

Kane received his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship on the January 7, 2011 episode of SmackDown, in a Last Man Standing match. Kane was dominant throughout the match but unable to win the title after Edge used the Con-Chair-To on Kane's knee, preventing Kane from answering the 10-count. Kane competed in the 2011 Royal Rumble match, being the first person to enter the Royal Rumble at number 40, but he was eliminated by Mysterio. Kane competed in the 2011 Elimination Chamber, eliminating Drew McIntyre and the Big Show before being speared and eliminated by Edge. After his elimination Kane viciously attacked Rey Mysterio and then chokeslammed Edge for the final time thus ending the feud between the two.

Reunion with Big Show and injury (2011)[link]

On the March 4 episode of Smackdown, the Corre aided Kane by interfering in Kane's match against Big Show and attacking Big Show. However, a miscommunication between Kane and the Corre led to Kane turning on the Corre instead.^[82] Big Show and Kane would then reunite to take on the Corre, challenging them for the tag team title belts and saving other wrestlers from the Corre's attacks.^[2] At WrestleMania XXVII, Big Show and Kane would team together with Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston to beat the Corre.^[83] The following week, a WrestleMania rematch took place with Big Show and Kane's team victorious over the Corre once again in a two out of three falls match.

On the April 22nd episode of SmackDown, the duo defeated Corre members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, their second championship win as a team.^[84] Big Show and Kane then started feuding with the New Nexus. After defending the titles against CM Punk and Mason Ryan at Over the Limit, Kane and Big Show lost their titles to Michael McGilligutty and David Otunga on the following day on Raw.^[85] After the match Big Show was run over by Alberto Del Rio's car and causing him to have a torn ACL. When Big Show returned to Raw after recovering from his injuries, Kane and Big Show went their separate ways.

Kane participated in the second annual SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match but was unsuccessful in winning the bout, as the match was won by Daniel Bryan. On the July 22, 2011 episode of SmackDown, Kane claimed he was once again the Devil's Favorite Demon and he would kill his humanity in his match against Randy Orton but he later lost to Orton in a street fight. After the match, Kane shook hands with his opponent in a mark of respect but was attacked by Mark Henry. WWE subsequently reported that the attack had resulted in Kane suffering a fractured fibula which was likely to render him unable to wrestle for three months.^[86]

Return of the mask (2011–present)[link]

Kane making his entrance at WrestleMania XXVIII, wearing the metallic mask over his red mask.

Beginning in November 2011, WWE began airing vignettes featuring Kane and a burning red mask, no longer showing his identity.^[87][88] After more than four months of inactivity, Kane returned on the December 12 episode of Raw wearing a metallic mask and interrupted the main event between Mark Henry and John Cena. Despite the fact that it was Mark Henry who took Kane out of action for months, Kane instead chose to chokeslam Cena before removing the metallic mask to reveal a new red mask.^[89] On the December 19 episode of Raw, Kane again confronted Mark Henry and Cena. Henry was left untouched again as Kane again attacked Cena,^[90] On the December 26 episode of Raw, Kane explained that he targeted Cena because he wanted Cena to "embrace the hate" from Cena's detractors rather than try to "Rise Above Hate," Cena's t-shirt slogan.^[91] During the next few weeks, Kane would not only attack Cena, but also Cena's friend Zack Ryder, in an attempt to anger Cena. Kane's vicious attacks on Ryder would result in Ryder suffering a variety of storyline injuries, causing him to lose the United States Championship.^[92][93] Kane and John Cena would fight to a draw at the Royal Rumble event when both men were counted out. After the count out Kane dragged Zack Ryder from backstage to the ring and then Tombstoned him in the ring as Eve watched on, Cena then came out to make the save which resulted in Kane chokeslamming Cena.^[94] At Elimination Chamber, Cena defeated Kane in an ambulance match to end the feud.^[95]

Kane returned on the February 27 episode of Raw, attacking Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico, Dolph Ziggler, and R-Truth after the latter completed their championship match.^[96] The following SmackDown, Kane attacked the returning Randy Orton during his match with Daniel Bryan after causing him to lose by count-out.^[97] On the March 5 episode of Raw, following a match Kane defeated R-Truth, Orton attacked Kane with an RKO.^[98] At WrestleMania XXVIII, Kane defeated Orton in a singles match after chokeslamming him from the top rope.^[99] On the following SmackDown, Randy Orton defeated Kane in a No Disqualification match.^[100] In a psychological bid, Kane attacked Orton and his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton with a metal pipe on the following episode of Smackdown, resulting in back and abdomen injuries to both Ortons.^[101] Kane lost again to Orton at Extreme Rules, in a Falls Count Anywhere match after Orton hit Kane with an RKO to a steel chair. ^[102]

Other media[link]

Jacobs made his film debut as "Jacob Goodnight" in the first production of WWE Studios, See No Evil, which was released on May 19, 2006.^[16] Jacobs has also made an appearance in the film, MacGruber, alongside fellow WWE Superstars Montel Vontavious Porter, Chris Jericho, The Great Khali, Mark Henry, and The Big Show. He also appeared on Smallville series episode "Combat" as Titan along side with former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro. The episode was aired on March 22, 2007.

Kane appeared on a special WWE edition of "The Weakest Link" in March 2002 and became the strongest link by defeating Bubba Ray Dudley in the final round. The money won was donated to Jacobs' chosen charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee.^[103] The Kane character was featured in the fourteen issue Undertaker comic book produced by the now-defunct Chaos! Comics in 1999. The character only spoke once, in the Undertaker Halloween Special, which tied into the single issue Mankind comic book produced by the same company. Kane was also featured in a Chef Boyardee commercial where at the end of it, he was trying to eat it with his mask on.

In an interview with Jacobs, he thought things had to change with his mask. Jacobs revealed "I think it was time. We had gone as far as we could go with the character under the mask. I actually felt the mask was limiting my ability to do some things. For years, to portray emotion I had to do it with my body. I never could do it with my face as the other superstars were able to. So, it added another dimension."^[104] In December 2011, the character once again began wearing a revised version of the red mask.

In an interview with Jacobs, conducted in 2010, he revealed that he and Vince McMahon were the only ones that were one hundred percent behind the idea of the Kane character removing his mask. He added that he has no plans to retire soon. "I'm still having fun," Glenn said. "I'm really at the height of my career, and I don't have any plans of packing it in, at least not in the near future."^[105]

A book written by Michael Chiappetta detailing the fictional origins of the Kane character titled Journey into Darkness: An Unauthorized History of Kane was released in 2005. WWE released a three-disc anthology titled, The Twisted, Disturbed Life of Kane on December 9, 2008. The DVD consists of Kane's greatest feuds and rivalries during his first ten years.^[106]

Jacobs hosted a podcast titled The Tiny Political Show under the pseudonym Citizen X from March 16, 2007 to March 13, 2008.^[107] Jacobs also ran a blog called The Adventures of Citizen X at AdventuresOfCitizenX.com from 2007 at least until July 17, 2011, though its last update at that time was made May 28 earlier in the year.^[108]

Personal life[link]

Jacobs is married to Maurisa Jacobs, and has two step daughters.^[109]

Jacobs supported Ron Paul for President in 2008.^[110] He is also a member of the Free State Project, and spoke at the organization's 2009 New Hampshire Liberty Forum.^[111] He has also spoken at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.^[112] Jacobs writes about his political beliefs and libertarian news at his blog.

In wrestling[link]