‘Worst gimmick in history’ – Kane holds Royal Rumble record but looked unrecognisable during first elimination
The Big Hygiene Machine and The Devil’s Favorite Dentist were never nicknames that would make Kane a future WWE Hall of Famer. The now-mayor of Knox County, Tennessee had one of the most iconic wrestling debuts of all time – his third time around. The story between Kane and The Undertaker is one of the best WWE have ever done It’s not uncommon for WWE icons to have multiple cracks at finding the right gimmick to connect with audiences. Stone Cold Steve Austin was once The Ringmaster and Dwayne Johnson debuted as Rocky Maivia before becoming the Rock. There have been Deacon Bautista, a pre-DX Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley) and a version of John Cena without jean shorts. However, Kane can take credit for having the bottom of the barrel – even if the man himself is reluctant to call his Dr. Isaac Yankem gimmick the worst in history. He told the Six Feet Under podcast: “I don’t know about that [it being the worst in history]. I had a few that were not — the one thing you have to remember is [I was] just starting out, too. “So you just get everything you could. I had yeah, some that weren’t great obviously. But you have — I think of Terry Taylor and the Red Rooster, and Fred Ottman and the whole Shockmaster thing. So I had my fair share, but I don’t know if I had the the most or the worst.” Kane would look unrecognisable to modern WWE fans when he originally debuted on TV as a wrestling dentist in 1995. His character, ‘Isaac Yankem, DDS’, was billed as Jerry Lawler’s private dentist who had been hired to battle the latter’s nemesis, Bret Hart. On how he immediately knew the gimmick wouldn’t work, Kane added: “Literally, when they told me the Isaac Yankem deal, I was like, ‘Really, that — really? I’m 6’8″ and 300 pounds, and you’re gonna make me a wrestling dentist?’ So yes. “And then you’ll see Undertaker and just all these other cool characters. And I was like, ‘Yeah man, this is — there has to be something more for this.’ So unfortunately, almost immediately I was like, ‘Yeah, this is just not gonna work for me.’” Isaac Yankem had a short-lived WWE careerWWE The evil dentist did do enough to grab a spot in the Royal Rumble record-books Unsurprisingly, the dentist character was the brainchild of former WWE chairman Vince McMahon. “I had this meeting with Vince,” Kane recalled to Stone Cold on the Broken Skull Sessions. “Vince asked me if I was ever afraid to go to the dentist. “I hear all this stuff about Vince, like how he’s going to get in your head and do all this stuff. So, I’m sitting here like, well, why is he asking me that? I’m going through this kind of checklist of stuff, right? Trying to figure out… I’m like, ‘No.’ And then he says, ‘Good because I’ve always wanted to do this character, Issac Yankem, a wrestling dentist. Get it, I. Yankem?’” Having debuted in June 1995, Kane as his dentist character suffered multiple losses before it was retired in September the following year. That brief stint still retains a spot in the WWE history books owing to Isaac Yankem’s solitary appearance in a Royal Rumble in 1996. The dentist managed to eliminate Rikishi [FKA Fatu] during his seven-minute stint before being dumped out by winner Shawn Michaels. Kane is one of the most iconic figures in Royal Rumble history Kane was briefly repacked as ‘Fake Diesel’ in an infamous storyline mocking the gimmick Kevin Nash had made famous when ‘Big Daddy Cool’ jumped ships to WCW – but McMahon’s WWE retained the rights to his character. He was finally allowed to don the mask as the Undertaker‘s half-brother in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood in 1997. Since becoming Kane, the 57-year-old, real name Glenn Jacobs, a three-time world champion and a 12-time world tag team champion. His biggest mark on the wrestling business remains at the Royal Rumble, where he holds some of the biggest records of all time. Having once set the feat of most eliminations in a single Rumble, Kane still holds the achievement for the most appearances in the over-the-top-rope extravaganza at 20. The American politician also boasts the quickest elimination of another entrant at 1.9 seconds – Santino Marella in 2009. Most impressively, Kane holds the record for the highest cumulative total eliminations at the Royal Rumble with 46. A whopping 45 of those have come as the Big Red Machine but as the old saying goes, you always remember your first…
The Big Hygiene Machine and The Devil’s Favorite Dentist were never nicknames that would make Kane a future WWE Hall of Famer.
The now-mayor of Knox County, Tennessee had one of the most iconic wrestling debuts of all time – his third time around.
It’s not uncommon for WWE icons to have multiple cracks at finding the right gimmick to connect with audiences.
Stone Cold Steve Austin was once The Ringmaster and Dwayne Johnson debuted as Rocky Maivia before becoming the Rock.
There have been Deacon Bautista, a pre-DX Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley) and a version of John Cena without jean shorts.
However, Kane can take credit for having the bottom of the barrel – even if the man himself is reluctant to call his Dr. Isaac Yankem gimmick the worst in history.
He told the Six Feet Under podcast: “I don’t know about that [it being the worst in history]. I had a few that were not — the one thing you have to remember is [I was] just starting out, too.
“So you just get everything you could. I had yeah, some that weren’t great obviously. But you have — I think of Terry Taylor and the Red Rooster, and Fred Ottman and the whole Shockmaster thing. So I had my fair share, but I don’t know if I had the the most or the worst.”
Kane would look unrecognisable to modern WWE fans when he originally debuted on TV as a wrestling dentist in 1995.
His character, ‘Isaac Yankem, DDS’, was billed as Jerry Lawler’s private dentist who had been hired to battle the latter’s nemesis, Bret Hart.
On how he immediately knew the gimmick wouldn’t work, Kane added: “Literally, when they told me the Isaac Yankem deal, I was like, ‘Really, that — really? I’m 6’8″ and 300 pounds, and you’re gonna make me a wrestling dentist?’ So yes.
“And then you’ll see Undertaker and just all these other cool characters. And I was like, ‘Yeah man, this is — there has to be something more for this.’ So unfortunately, almost immediately I was like, ‘Yeah, this is just not gonna work for me.’”
Unsurprisingly, the dentist character was the brainchild of former WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
“I had this meeting with Vince,” Kane recalled to Stone Cold on the Broken Skull Sessions. “Vince asked me if I was ever afraid to go to the dentist.
“I hear all this stuff about Vince, like how he’s going to get in your head and do all this stuff. So, I’m sitting here like, well, why is he asking me that? I’m going through this kind of checklist of stuff, right? Trying to figure out… I’m like, ‘No.’ And then he says, ‘Good because I’ve always wanted to do this character, Issac Yankem, a wrestling dentist. Get it, I. Yankem?’”
Having debuted in June 1995, Kane as his dentist character suffered multiple losses before it was retired in September the following year.
That brief stint still retains a spot in the WWE history books owing to Isaac Yankem’s solitary appearance in a Royal Rumble in 1996.
The dentist managed to eliminate Rikishi [FKA Fatu] during his seven-minute stint before being dumped out by winner Shawn Michaels.
Kane was briefly repacked as ‘Fake Diesel’ in an infamous storyline mocking the gimmick Kevin Nash had made famous when ‘Big Daddy Cool’ jumped ships to WCW – but McMahon’s WWE retained the rights to his character.
He was finally allowed to don the mask as the Undertaker‘s half-brother in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match at Badd Blood in 1997.
Since becoming Kane, the 57-year-old, real name Glenn Jacobs, a three-time world champion and a 12-time world tag team champion.
His biggest mark on the wrestling business remains at the Royal Rumble, where he holds some of the biggest records of all time.
Having once set the feat of most eliminations in a single Rumble, Kane still holds the achievement for the most appearances in the over-the-top-rope extravaganza at 20.
The American politician also boasts the quickest elimination of another entrant at 1.9 seconds – Santino Marella in 2009.
Most impressively, Kane holds the record for the highest cumulative total eliminations at the Royal Rumble with 46.
A whopping 45 of those have come as the Big Red Machine but as the old saying goes, you always remember your first…
