Interview: WWE's Kane

Who are your WWF wrestling heroes?

Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and then, later on, The Undertaker.

What is it like to have such a rare close knit working relationship with fellow icon and your 'in ring' brother The Undertaker?

He's helped me tremendously. I definitely wouldn't be in the position that I'm in without him. One of the things I try to emulate is his tremendous work ethic. He will work just as hard in Nottingham as he will in, say, a pay per view event like Wrestlemania. That's one of the things that I really admire about him.

How does it feel to be a part of WWE's long and colourful history?

It's definitely something to be proud of. I've been at WWE long enough to have seen quite a few different changes and quite a few different eras of professional wrestling. I'm very proud of it.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed at all about being an icon among such icons?

Ah, boy do I love being an icon! I try to keep an even head all the time but by the same token when you see yourself on a video game or up on a marquee, that feels awesome. It's pretty neat.

Your WWE debut was as Isaac Yankem, a wrestler with a dentist gimmick. How would you describe the journey from dentist to Big Red Machine?

It took me a while to climb up the hill and overcome some obstacles but I'm just glad to be doing what I'm doing.

For decades now wrestling has been an incredibly popular form of sports entertainment. How do you go about balancing the sport side with the entertainment element?

The sport aspect of it is very hard. I have to keep myself in top shape, so I train about five or six days a week; lifting weights, doing cardio and that sort of thing. It's quite a difficult thing to do with the schedule that we keep as we tour pretty much all year round. Over in the States we'll head out on Saturday and come back on Tuesday. When we come out here we tend to go for 14 straight days. The travel part of the job is definitely challenging. Being entertainers as well as athletes definitely makes us unique.

What can we expect from you at SummerSlam/The Undertaker's Rest in Peace Tour?

SummerSlam should be awesome. The main event of John Cena versus Randy Orton should be a tremendous match. And then, of course, Big Show and Chris Jericho versus Prime Time should also be a great match. Right now, I think Chris Jericho is quite underrated. He's actually one of the best performers we have.

We have such a great time coming to the UK because all our fans are very passionate and we will give them the best show that we can.

You recently starred in the movie See No Evil. How would you say that your experience as a wrestler helped you in this role?

There's a lot of Kane in the character, of course. The sport and entertainment aspects of wrestling complement it quite a bit. It's not as if I'm not used to being in front of a camera.

Several wrestlers have moved into acting. Do you see any other career laid out for you other than wrestling?

Not right now because I'm having such a good time in WWE.

You're known outside the ring as having a keen interest in literature and politics. How has the general mood of the US changed since Barrack Obama came into power?

I don't really think it has that much. I think our press in the US is not as in touch as they claim to be. Things on the ground are usually different than what the press may indicate and it's certainly that way in America.

There's a general mood of apathy among British voters. Have you experienced that in America?

Yes, but it's changing. I think that whats happening in America is that finally the economic meltdown has started to hit home with a lot of folks. I think more or less most Americans have been pretty apathetic but I think that the more that things start affecting people personally the more they're going to take an interest in what's going on.

If you could Choke-slam any political or historical figure, who would it be?

I don't want to get into that because there are way too many. Plus I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.

SummerSlam is live and exclusive on Sky Box Office on Sunday after midnight. Visit wwe.com for more information.