Jacobs, a Jefferson County resident, enters

Sunday night's "Armageddon" pay-per-view show in the main event against Triple H and Bill Goldberg in a triangle match for the "Raw" version of the WWE heavyweight title.

"I think I had gone just about as far as I could go under the mask," said Jacobs, who debuted as Kane in October 1997. "Actually, it's something I was thinking about doing for a couple of years. I know it was probably also in the back of (WWE's) mind for a long time."

The decision to change the Kane character was one of the best decisions made this year by WWE's scriptwriting crew, as Jacobs has become one of the promotion's scariest villains in recent memory. Viewership for WWE's "Monday Night Raw" telecasts initially surged when Jacobs was unmasked, earning him the industry nickname "The Big Red Ratings Machine."

"Things have been spectacular," Jacobs said. "It was pretty interesting after spending all those years under the mask. I had to learn how to use my face to elicit emotion out of the audience. That's basically what we're always going for is getting people to have the most reaction to us, whether they love or hate us. We want them to feel something."

WWE fans have connected with Kane through his subsequent switches between being a babyface and a heel as The Undertaker's deranged brother. Jacobs also has remained popular despite being involved in some lousy storylines, including the infamous "Katie Vick" angle last year where Levesque claimed Kane had committed necrophilia.

"I think it's one of the more emotional characters WWE ever had," Jacobs said. "I think people felt sorry for Kane for everything he's been through.

"He's always involved in some pretty heavy emotional storylines, and that gives people something to sink their teeth into."

Grappling success for Jacobs didn't come easy. After a knee injury derailed his NFL dreams, Jacobs helped run homes for the mentally challenged before being trained by the legendary Malenko family in Tampa.

Jacobs debuted in Memphis in 1992 as The Christmas Creature, which was the first in a string of horrible wrestling gimmicks he was saddled with. Jacobs also worked as UnaBomb, Isaac Yankem D.D.S. and The Fake Diesel before finally striking gold by becoming Kane, which was the creative idea of The Undertaker (real name Mark Calloway) and manager William "Paul Bearer" Moody.

"With this character, I finally know what I'm capable of doing," said Jacobs, 36.

"But anytime you become content and sit on your laurels, you're in trouble. For me, there's always a little bit of uncomfortable-ness because I know I always need to try to do my best to do better than I've done."

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