Kane gives his honest opinion on holding the WWE title for just 24 hours in his entire career
Glenn Jacobs recently opened up about the time his Kane character lost the WWE Championship to Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The Big Red Machine defeated Austin in a First Blood match at King of the Ring 1998 to become WWE Champion for the first time. The following day, he dropped the title back to The Texas Rattlesnake on the June 29, 1998, episode of RAW.
Speaking on “The Bam Show,” the 55-year-old addressed whether he was affected by WWE’s decision to only give him a 24-hour title reign.
“It never bothered me,” Jacobs said. “Because that was Stone Cold Steve Austin when Stone Cold Steve Austin is on a rocket going to the stratosphere. And the next night dropping the title was actually more important. There was a palpable energy in the crowd in Cleveland that I have never experienced before or since.” [38:38-39:06]
Although Kane later won the World Heavyweight Championship, he never captured the WWE Championship again after his loss to Austin.
Kane highlights the biggest positive from his short title reign
On this day in wrestling history June 28, Kane defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in a First Blood Match to become the new WWF Champion in the main event of King of the Ring 1998. https://t.co/L9786Mebf7
Nobody has held the WWE Championship, formerly known as the WWWF Championship, for longer cumulative days than Bruno Sammartino. The Italian-American spent 4,040 days as the company’s top champion over two reigns between May 1963 and April 1977.
Jacobs joked that while he wanted a Sammartino-esque title reign, he is content with only holding the WWE Championship for one day.
“Sure, we all wanna say, ‘Hey we carried the company. We’re Bruno Sammartino with his long championship reign,’” Jacobs added. “But nevertheless, to do that at that time especially, that next night in Cleveland our segment drew the highest segment that RAW had done until that point.” [39:25-39:47]
Jacobs won almost every title available to him in WWE, including the ECW and Intercontinental Championships. He also won 12 tag titles with seven different partners. In 2021, the veteran superstar’s legendary career was recognized when he joined the WWE Hall of Fame.
Please credit “The Bam Show” and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.