WWE Hall of Famer Kane recently appeared on the Mostly Sports podcast with Mark Titus and Brandon Walker. During the episode, he discussed several topics, including why his “Isaac Yankem” character was unsuccessful, in contrast to his Kane character, which became very popular and contributed to his career longevity.
Kane said, “So much of its timing, you know. And the wrestling dentist thing, Dr. Isaac Yankem, DDS, you know, that was really in an era of WWE where everything was super PG and it was it was really cartoonish, actually. Everybody has an occupation or some kind of something or other. The thing about the Undertaker is it was just super cool from the beginning. I was joking, I said I couldn’t sink my teeth into it, but I just couldn’t get into that character. Whereas the Undertaker was made for Mark Calaway, you know? I mean, just he did it so well and it was really believable. Like the dentist was never believable, for whatever reason, cuz it was kind of over-the-top silly.”
On how the dentist idea is no sillier than some others but it’s all about presentation:
“You think about it, like, [Undertaker]’s supposed to be a dead dude. It’s ridiculous. I mean, same with Kane. You have this guy that’s sort of supernatural and can summon fire and all this. So much of it is the execution; how it’s presented.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
