Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs on his transition from the squared circle to the political arena.
Glenn Jacobs, also known as multiple WWE world champion Kane, spent more than 20 years of his life inside a wrestling ring, but in 2017 announced that he was preparing to fight battles in a different arena, as he prepared to run for the mayoral seat of Knox County, Tennessee. Jacobs narrowly won the Republican primary by a mere 23 votes in 2018, and in August of that year was elected mayor.
On Tuesday, Jacobs’ autobiography, Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Politics, was released. Jacobs spoke with FTW about his transition away from the world of professional wrestling to politics, and his favorite part of his new job as mayor.
FTW: At what point in your wrestling career did you start to consider what you would do in the next stage of your life
Glenn Jacobs: All through my wrestling career actually…. I’m not one of these people that has a plan about stuff though. I find that kind of like what Mike Tyson says, ‘everybody has a plan until life punches you in the mouth.’ That changes everything. So I tried to keep an open mind about alternatives or opportunities that make themselves available.
I’ve always been somewhat interested in government and politics. As I got older, I realized how much influence and power government has over us. And that’s true not only of federal governments – when people think about running for office, they always, first thing, [think] congress – but how much control state and local governments has. We can see that in our own lives. I’ve had some tremendous opportunities in my life, and I think the reason for that is, growing up in America, this is the land of opportunity. I would think ‘what can I do to ensure that my kids and my grandkids, and everybody else’s, would have those kind of opportunities?’ Really that’s kind of why I got into this whole deal with politics, and again, I think a lot can be accomplished at the state and local levels.
FTW: How hard was it to leave the wrestling business as a full-time performer? Was that a tough decision for you to transition into something new?
Glenn Jacobs: Yes and no. Going out and performing is always awesome, especially when you go out for WrestleMania and there’s 100,000 people there. It’s the most incredible thing ever, it’s just indescribable. By the same token, it’s hard work. Folks look and they see us for 10 minutes on TV and they think that’s the whole job. It’s a lot harder than that.
Everybody’s traveling all the time. I spent easily 250, 300 days a year on the road for 20 years. That takes a toll on you. When people say ‘you’re getting beat up a lot in the ring,’ I’m like ‘that’s not the hard part!’ Yes, it’s very physical, but, you know, I played football, I played basketball, that’s the stuff I like. It’s the getting there, getting to the next show that was often a challenge. So that part of it, not so much.
FTW: Is there any other WWE star from your era that you believe would make a great politician?
Glenn Jacobs: From my era? Well, Dwayne [The Rock] was going to run for president, and he would have done a heck of a job actually, because he’s got that sort of charisma.
… It’s just like everything else, it’s just [about] what your calling is and what you’re passionate about. So I’m not necessarily sure. There’s a lot of very smart men and women in the locker room, a lot of very dedicated men and women, and people that do wonderful things in their communities. John Cena has done so much with Make-A-Wish, granted more wishes that anyone else. Mark Henry has done a lot of stuff for charity. Titus O’Neil has done a tremendous amount for charity. But whether they’d ever want to run for office, I don’t know.
FTW: What is your favorite part of the job as mayor?
Glenn Jacobs: It’s just getting to meet all the people who are doing wonderful things here and working with them. Knox County’s a great place, it really is, but every place can be better. It’s identifying priorities that we think that our communities can benefit from most and coming up with plans and actions that have tangible results.
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