Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Glenn Jacobs Kane who is a former three times World Champion in WWE recently looked back at his Isaac Yankem gimmick and he revealed how Vince McMahon pitched it to him.
It was 1995 and Glenn Jacobs was still struggling to get a name for himself. He was working on the Independent circuit and other professional wrestling promotions. In the mean time he got his biggest call from WWE. At first he played a completely different gimmick in WWE and mostly appeared on dark matches. In this phase, he was known as Mike Unabomb.
Kane Recalls The Pitch Of The Isaac Yankem Character
Later he was given a gimmick of an evil dentist. He portrayed the character of the personal dentist of Jerry Lawler to be a part of the long time fluid between Lawler and Bret Hart. After the end of the feud he became a jobber, and nobody cared much about Isaac Yankem. He kept on appearing in the episodes of Monday Night RAW. He even appeared at the Royal Rumble match of 1996 and he was one of the final six participants of the match.
Later the gimmick died since it was not very well received by the fans. In 1996 he was given the role of Fake Diesel which was also a critical disaster. But WWE had bigger plans for him. In October 1997, for the first time Jacobs appeared as Kane. The gimmick went on to become one of the most famous characters in WWE history.
Glenn Jacobs Kane who is a former three times World Champion in WWE recently spoke on WWE’s Table for 3 where he looked back at his Isaac Yankem gimmick and he revealed how Vince McMahon pitched it to him. He said;
“I didn’t know him, and he’s the most powerful guy in professional wrestling, and I’m thinking to myself, man, I’m just happy to be here at this point. And he looks at me and said, ‘Glenn, have you ever been afraid to go to the dentist?’
“I didn’t know what he was getting at. I didn’t know if it was a psychological, deep-seated thing. But I was like, I just told the truth and said, ‘No.’ And he says, ‘I’ve always had an idea for this character.’”
“And immediately I’m just like, ‘Aw, man, you flew me all the way up here to tell me I’m going to be a wrestling dentist?’” Jacobs laughed. “I’m trying to keep a poker face because this is Vince McMahon and this is a big break, but still it wasn’t necessarily like I considered myself in a role as a wrestling dentist before he brought that up.”
h/t Wrestling Inc for the transcription