Good God, it’s … Inferno. I don’t think there is any way even Jim Ross could have pulled that line off. However, according to WWE legend Glenn Jacobs, that’s very close to what Kane was going to be called.
Talking during a recent appearance on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Glenn Jacobs talked about how his iconic character came about, and was, largely thanks to Vader.
“The Kane thing came about when Vader got arrested in Kuwait. You know they had the deal where 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.” Glenn Jacobs explained, detailing how he had been working under a mask ever since his Issac Yankem gimmick ended.
The Kane Idea Was Pitched as a Single Encounter
Glenn Jacobs explained how the idea of being the Undertaker’s brother was pitched to Vince as a short run. However, the boss saw the instant potential for a long feud.
“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.”
All that was left was to come up with a name. This is something Glenn Jacobs is happy he got to have some involvement in.
“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.”
Thank goodness the name was changed because I highly doubt Glenn Jacobs would have enjoyed the long run, he got had they stuck with the original name. After surviving being Fake Diesel and then Issac Yankem, Jacobs struck gold with his Kane character, and as they say, the rest was history.