After WWE Superstar Kane was elected mayor of Knox County, Tennessee last week, the man behind the mask, Glenn Jacobs, has continued to receive non-stop mainstream coverage from around the world.

Everyone is curious about successful the wrestler-turned-politician some now call “Mayor Kane.”

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Get all your Kane news at Ringside Intel

Jacobs also recently shared a noteworthy anecdote about how WWE wrestlers have a different financial reality than most of us.

A self-described libertarian and “fiscal conservative,” the Republican mayor-elect Jacobs was asked in a Rolling Stone interview Tuesday if he believed is political philosophy was somehow more attractive to pro wrestlers.

His answer was interesting.

“One thing about the WWE and fiscal conservatism is that we are independent contractors, which means that we’re not subject to withholding tax,” Jacobs responded. “The guys actually have to write a check out to the U.S. treasury, to the IRS.”

Jacobs continued:

“If I were ever to become president, which is not something I plan on doing, the first thing I would do would be to eliminate the withholding tax so that everyone has to write a check. From [wrestlers’] perspective, it is kind of eye-opening. A lot of our guys think, “Gosh, how much money are they getting?” Then you start seeing some of the waste and it just drives you nuts. The money is actually in your hands and then you have to turn it over.”

Jacobs is not wrong that while most in the U.S. and other countries have their federal taxes withdrawn from each paycheck, the sticker shock independent WWE contractors must feel every time they pay the IRS directly has to be sobering.

Former WWE star Ryback expressed a similar sentiment in 2016:

“Because what a lot of people don’t realize, I sit there and I say $1.5 million (that Ryback claimed he earned) over three years — you take $600,000 out of that for taxes, 40-percent is usually what we’re going to be taxed, the tax rate for the amount of money that we’re making.”

“Then you put in travel expenses and it depends,” Ryback continued. “I travel alone, so my expenses are higher than when traveling with three or four guys who are trying to save money. My travel expenses are $150,000 a year, easy.”

Professional wrestlers having to pay taxes directly is not peculiar to them and is fairly common for most who freelance or are self-employed in any field. Yes, these men and women who put their bodies on the line to entertain us are known to make more-than-decent salaries, but there’s probably no bodyslam or powerbomb worse than having to hand over tens of thousands from your hard-earned pay to the government.

To verify Jacobs and Ryback’s claims, Ringside Intel did reach out to WWE Legend “IRS” – Irwin R. Schyster – for confirmation and input*. Mr. Schyster did not respond, but curiously it appears his sons Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas have never been audited.

* we didn’t reach out to IRS, for fear that we would get audited soon after.

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