Former WWE Champion and Tag Team Champion Kane had a recent resurgence on Smackdown, teaming with former partner Daniel Bryan to take on the Bludgeon Brothers for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. However, as of the evening of August 2, fans shouldn’t expect to see the Big Red Machine on weekly television because he’s now the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.
The man under the mask, Glenn Jacobs, gave a victory speech on that Thursday evening as he stepped into his new shoes as county mayor. He walked to the podium–and this is not a joke–while his WWE theme music played, which you can see below.
“Buddy just reminded me, we talked about having a cage match, and we never did that,” Jacobs joked. He thanked everyone for showing up and invited his wife on stage on well to celebrate. Additionally, he thanked his opponent for running a great race as well, then talked about the future of the Republican Party.
Jacobs isn’t the first sports entertainer to leave the squared circle for politics. One of Japan’s most famous wrestlers–who battled Muhammad Ali in 1976–was elected into the Japanese House of Councils in 1989. Former WWE superstar Jesse “The Body” Ventura was mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, then went on in 1998 to become the governor of the state until 2002.
The most notable is WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump who became involved with WWE during the early years of Wrestlemania when Trump Plaza hosted Wrestlemania IV. Before becoming President of the United States, Trump made several appearances on WWE programming, including the infamous Hair vs Hair match at Wrestlemania 23, where Trump shaved Vince McMahon’s head.
Stay tuned to GameSpot for more wrestling when Summerslam airs on the WWE Network and PPV on Sunday, August 19. We’ll have live coverage of the show and more leading up to the event.
