WWE Star Kane Wins Mayoral Election in Tennessee

“This professional wrestler got into a no-holds-barred, last-man-standing match, and when the bell rung, he was victorious.”

For two decades, Glenn Jacobs has been known to wrestling fans as Kane, the demented giant described by the WWE as “a monstrous abomination that seems to have been extracted directly from your childhood nightmares.”

But now, in Knox County, Tennessee at least, he’ll be known as Mayor. Jacobs won his election handily Thursday, defeating Democratic nominee Linda Haney and joining Jesse Ventura on the short list of wrestlers to successfully transition to politics.

“This professional wrestler got into a no-holds-barred, last-man-standing match, and when the bell rung, he was victorious,” Jacobs said at his victory party Thursday night. “We were victorious.”

A small-government minded libertarian, Jacobs wants to cut taxes and slash regulations, he writes on his website. He also wants to keep popping up in the wrestling ring.

“After I am elected mayor, I’ll be mayor. (Though) I may still do a few special things,” he told the Knoxville News Sentinel last month. “I’ve done it for 23 years now and have quite a history, it’ll always be part of my life. I think the question is, if I am taking it seriously, and of course I am. I wouldn’t (be running) if not.”

His intention to continue embracing his wrestling past was clear Thursday when he used his WWE theme music at his victory party.

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Jacobs arrived in the WWE in 1995 after an injury ruined his dream of football stardom. He played a variety of characters, including a demented dentist, before he became Kane in 1997.

He quickly made a name for himself as a brutal bruiser with a trademark mask, supposedly worn to conceal the burns left after an attack by his “brother” The Undertaker. Over the years, Kane and The Undertaker alternatively feuded and paired up as The Brothers of Destruction. 

Over the course of his wrestling career, Jacobs has won three world championships and 12 tag team titles. But his victory Thursday was his biggest and all of his wrestling fans recognized that. 

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