Dinner With the King Recap w/ Kane – Working As “Christmas Creature”, Transitioning from Isacc Yankem to Kane, Decision to Run for Mayor, More!

Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Glenn Moore.

Lawler informs that he and long-term girlfriend, Lauryn McBride have decided to go their separate ways. They’d been together for nearly seven years so this is something that he’s trying to work through at the moment. He admits that Lauryn probably wouldn’t be happy with him discussing this on the podcast, so he decides not to comment further at this time.

Lawler welcomes Glenn Jacobs (Kane) to the show.

Jacobs informs that one of his first professional wrestling matches was against Lawler back in 1991 or 1992. One of Lawler’s sons was actually promoting wrestling shows at the time, and booked Jacobs on a show. Lawler’s son, Kevin had an idea for a “Christmas Creature” character and was interested in getting Jacobs to fill this role.

Jacobs decided to accept the offer and had his mother make him a costume based on Kevin Lawler’s design. It was ahead of its time in the sense that it had Christmas lights on it powered by battery packs, and featured the traditional Christmas colours of red, white and green.

Jacobs jokes that people seem to have a lot of fun taking jabs at his old gimmicks such as Christmas Creature and Isacc Yankem. Even though his first few gimmicks weren’t great, he’s proud of what he was able to accomplish once he was given the Kane character to work with.

Lawler notes that his son, Kevin was actually pretty good at coming up with characters and gimmicks. Lawler brought a book of his creations into WWE at one point but they didn’t seem overly interested in his ideas. Coincidentally a few months later The Ringmaster, one of Kevin’s creations from the book Lawler submitted, debuted on WWE programming. Lawler adds that Kevin was not reimbursed in any fashion for coming up with that character.

Lawler points out that Jacobs debuted in WWE during a time when every performer had to have a gimmick, and eventually people were just given occupational gimmicks. He asks Jacobs how the Isacc Yankem character came to be. Jacobs informs that Jim Ross initially saw him and got him a tryout with WWE. Things went well and he eventually flew to New York to meet with Vince McMahon.

He was so excited about getting the chance to work for WWE and about meeting with McMahon that day, but that quickly changed when McMahon told him his idea. The dentist gimmick didn’t really excite him, but he agreed to try to make it work. Jacobs takes most of the fault for the character failing, noting that wasn’t very good at portraying that character.

In addition to this, he notes that the business was changing at this time. Fans were growing tired of these tired gimmicks, and relatable performers like Stone Cold Steve Austin were starting to become more and more popular. Eventually they scrapped the Isacc Yankem character and a few months later the Kane character was created.

Jacobs points out that the Kane character was given a great platform right away, costing Undertaker the WWE Title at Hell in A Cell. Jacobs credits Undertaker for doing everything he could to ensure that the Kane character got over with the WWE Universe. He says that Mark Callaway is a terrific guy and they’re still friends to this day.

He also credits Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) for the role he played in developing the Kane character. It really hit him hard when Pringle passed away a few years ago, and he and Lawler agree that the passing of Pringle’s wife really affected him negatively.

Speaking about his current Mayoral race, Jacobs informs that he’s always been interested in politics from the time he was a kid. He’s had a great life travelling the world and now he wants to ensure that his children and grandchildren have the same opportunities that he had.

He doesn’t think that his wrestling career really helped or hindered his run significantly. He admits that there used to be a negative stigma surrounding the wrestling business but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. He points out that voters who weren’t wrestling fans didn’t really care about his career in the wrestling business, and anyone who was a wrestling fan thought it was the coolest thing in the world that they had a chance to vote for Kane to be their Mayor.

That sums up this week’s episode of Dinner With the King. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!