"Big Red Machine revving to get in ring"
By Terry Morrow, News-Sentinel entertainment writer
Credit and © June 5, 2002 by Knoxville News-Sentinel

Jefferson County's Glenn Jacobs -- better known

as Kane of World Wrestling Entertainment -- will take an unusual role in Saturday night's matches: He'll be on the sidelines instead of the ring.

Jacobs is still recovering from a bicep injury he got two months ago while lifting weights in Texas. He had surgery almost seven weeks ago and is in rehabilitation. "I'm still about two months before coming back," he says of re-entering the ring.

In his decade-long professional wrestling career, this is Jacobs' biggest injury. He has rarely missed any matches.

As Kane, Jacobs is the Big Red Machine, a masked marvel who speaks very little but slams his opponents with ease. Usually, his appearances in Knoxville are the highlight of wrestling shows.

This time around, with an injury keeping him at bay, Jacobs will attend the match without a mask and red Spandex costume.

"It sort of stinks," he says. "I'm starting to get a little antsy to get back into the ring ... Every day is a step closer. I was trying to be a good patient. At least I think I was."

The 31-year-old Jacobs says he feels "good now ... and not as beat up. My arm is starting to feel better, but it is disheartening I am only doing 3-pound curls."

He can take solace in his recent "Weakest Link" appearance in which he won big for St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis. He beat out Bubba Ray Dudley and Stone Cold Steve Austin, among others, on the game show.

"I was happy the money went for a good cause," he says. "A lot of Kane's fans are kids with disabilities in one way or another. Kane was burned as a child.

"They have a burn unit there. A lot of kids see Kane as a role model, and that you can overcome a lot in life and go pretty far. So I was trying to give back a little to those fans."

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