Against The Grain 3.15.09: The Curious Case of Mr. Kennedy
Posted by Julian Bond on 03.15.2009
The wrestler known as Mr. Kennedy seemed he was on top of the world. He debuted to much fan-fare with his unique “man with his personal microphone” gimmick. He’s feuded with main-eventers like Batista, Shawn Michaels, and the Undertaker. And he even won the now coveted “Money In The Bank” suitcase, which has resulted in World Titles for its winners. Now the man with the loud voice and infamous last name is now barely on fans’ radars. I will discuss the timeline of how this came to be.
"The Curious Case of Mr. Kennedy"
When I first saw Mr. Kennedy's Smackdown debut about 4 years ago, which involved the man coming down to the ring with the cockiest swagger ever (funny!), doing his own ring introduction via microphone (awesome!), and absolutely DESTROYING his opponent with a very impressive finishing move called the "Green Bay Plunge" (sick!), I honestly believed that the man was straight off the bat on his way to superstardom. He automatically seemed like he had all of the tools to be an awesome main-event heel: off-the-charts charisma, good in-ring ability, and pretty impressive (for a rookie) mic skills. I just hoped that Kennedy would get the push that he'd deserved and be eventually headlining in World Title bouts. In the last few years after his debut, my hope for the man particularly came true, but now sadly looks like a faded and somewhat forgotten reality. Let's take a look back at why this is.
After Kennedy's debut against Funaki, the man started off an undefeated streak with never being pinned or submitting. Despite suffering an initial injury months into this (which we'll see later here as a recurring theme), Kennedy still remained on people's radars with frequent non-match TV appearances and promos, and got back in the ring in no time like he was never really gone. In 2006, he went from simply squashing random jobbers to slowly starting to mix it up with some main-eventers. The first real major name that he tangled was with the former Heavyweight Champion Batista. They first fought at the Great American Bash PPV and then had a mini series of matches right afterwards. Kennedy then briefly joined up with Vince and Shane McMahon in their high-level feud against DX (HHH/Shawn Michaels). With these two short brushes with the upper-card, the man next went on to win the United States Championship, his first (and surprisingly still only) title win in the company. This is when the snowball of success really starting rolling for Kennedy.
After his title win, Kennedy started a lengthy feud with one of the best "starmakers" in the company, The Undertaker. The two feuded back and forth against each other for three months, resulting in a couple of cheap wins for Kennedy (via DQ/interference). Even though Taker defeated the man in their final bout in the series at the Armageddon PPV, Kennedy ended up looking like a million bucks in the end due to him holding his own with the ring legend. The next natural step after this program was a shot at the World Title, which Kennedy received against Batista at the 2007 Royal Rumble. Even with predictably losing this bout, the man went on to another World Title feud with ECW Champion Bobby Lashley and then onto his debut at the biggest PPV of them all in Wrestlemania. There at the event in my hometown of Detroit, I witnessed the man winning the heavily coveted the Money In The Bank ladder match…the same match whose two past winners (Edge, RVD) had cashed in their suitcases and won World Titles. So with his almost guarantee future title win, Kennedy had declared that instead of waiting to cash in his shot at a random place and time that he was going to do so at next year's Wrestlemania. This selection shocked everyone because of the anticipation of knowing that the "on-fire" Kennedy was a lock for a main-event at the "Super Bowl" of wrestling. Seems like things were going picture-perfect until the man was put on the sidelines with an serious injury and lost his Money In The Bank shot to the former Heavyweight Champ (who then cashed it in the same week to win the World Title).
Despite making a speedy recovery, Kennedy seemed to never fully recover to his "next World Champ" state. He feuded with Umaga over the Intercontinental Title…and lost those bouts. He had an (in my opinion) underrated awesome feud with Shawn Michaels…and nothing significant (i.e. Title shots) came out of that. And the man even had a nice mini-feud with Ric Flair (on Flair's "retirement tour")…but never received an extra bump. Shortly after last year's Wrestlemania, Kennedy disappeared for a few months to film the ‘epic' (quote sarcasm) Behind Enemy Lines III…catch it in DVD stores NOW. Kennedy made a few appearances here and there on TV last year while filming and then finally appeared to make a nice comeback as a face instead of his infamous heel persona on Smackdown until….injury hit the poor man AGAIN and put him on the sidelines.
Oh, what a curious case Mr. Kennedy has been. Going from his awesome promising debut to his rise to his near main-event status cemented with his big win at Wrestlemania to now just becoming a not-so popular name nowadays with his sporadic appearances and lack of in-ring wrestling. I am a big fan of Kennedy's and personally hope that he does return to his once-great status of being one of the top heels (or faces…if he must) in the company, but I just couldn't deny the fact that the man has kind of fallen from grace in terms of major pushes. So with that, here's to hearing more of the significant voice on the microphone that gets crowds to chant along…"Mmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiissssssstttttttteeeeeeer Keeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnneeeeddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…..Keeeeeeennnnnneeeeedddy!!!"
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Smackdown Debut
Nice Promo on Undertaker
Sadly the last significantly good match we've seen from Kennedy….Vs. Shawn Michaels
Next Time On….Against The Grain
It's that special time again, kids! Our World Series. Our Kentucky Derby. Our grand ol' Super Bowl. It's Wrestlemania, y'all. I will take a break from my usual "Against The Grain" format and join the other 411 writers in talking about the biggest wrestling event of the year. My topic of choice will be the covering of my own fond (and surprisingly weird) memories of experiencing the big event annually from the last 10 years in what I call "Living Through The Last Decade of Wrestlemania". Hope you all enjoy!
When Lesner came you knew hw was Special , he had something .WWE tried its best to give that Aura to Kennedy-Mic and all . But from the minute he started I got a sixth sense abt him-This guy had the right gimmick ,he would be pushed like hell BUT HE WOULD NEVER MAKE IT .Like a huge movie that has everything but you know will tank .The push, The gimmick seemed too easy, too perfect and handed on a Platter and the guy did not seem to be worth it .So unlike Edge -Christian and others who have earned our respect,this guy seemed to start at the top .I did not buy that . He was no Brock , either .Brock you could make the Champion at Wrestlemania in a Surprise move and he would not look out of place . The guy belonged at te top.Ditto wiith MVP or Jarrett way back in 1993 ,his promos showed him to be special but you had a feeling that he would not reach the Pinnacle .And Jeff was much better that notalents like Kennedy and MVP .You just cannot imagine these guys at the top even in Passing no matter how much they are pushed down our throats .
Posted By: Danx (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Crikey, give the guy a chance. He's still young, he had a few injuries but he's not dead you know.
Posted By: Steady on there (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:08 AM
one important thing that you left out of the story...he was going to be Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son, until he opened his mouth about the wellness policy, and eventually getting caught himself and suspended...that to me was the real momentum killer
Posted By: brs316 (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Ken Kennedy has had an AWFUL string of bad luck since nearing Main Event Status in early 2007. Sure, he managed to regain his momentum a few times after coming back from injury... only to get injured again (or worse yet, a 30 day sususpension).
After Kennedy injured himself in May 2007, McMahonagement decided to transfer the MITB Title Shot to Edge instead of letting Kennedy RETURN and blow it off at a later time. (And while he probably wouldn't have waited until WrestleMania to cash it in, he most definately would have at a MAJOR PPV, possibly against Cena at Summer Slam.) Then instead of returning as a Face with a natural built-in Main Event Feud with Edge waiting for him when he returned, Kennedy was DRAFTED TO RAW so he could get lost in the shuffle and languish in Midcard Purgatory.
Yet, in spite of akk this, Kennedy was scripted to be revealed as Vince McMahon's son (in the storylines, anyway)... only for Kennedy to be one of the names named in a MAJOR steroid bust. Instead of getting ANOTHER shot at the Main Event and a high-profile Push, he got a 30 day suspension. Shortly after that, Mr. Kennedy got injured again, and hasn't been treated as a serious title contender ever since.
Now I can see some of the McMahonagement logic behind BERRYING Mr. Kennedy: the first injury was unfortunate, but now he has a Strike on his record and has been injured often enough to be considered too much of a liability. Yet, at the same time, it is probably not too late to salvage his career. Give Kennedy another lengthy run with the U.S. Belt (or better yet, the I.C. Belt) when he returns. Let him go over some (moderately) high profile opponents during his title reign, such as Bradshaw, Vladamir Kozlov, and Matt Hardy (as a Face) or Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk, and Christian (as a Heel). By the time Kennedy drops the Title he will be ready to move on to bigger and better things, such as the Main Event Push he was supposed to get a couple years ago. Of course, this also means Kennedy needs to stay CLEAN and HEALTHY, but if he can do so for a good year or so there's no reason to doubt that he can climb the ladder to Main Event status again.
Posted By: Guest#2148 (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Truthfully, injuries are the main reason his career has taken the slow road to stardom. Nothing else, we could pinpoint other stuff but in the end, if he could actually get "inside" a ring,he'd have a chance of fulfilling his dream as a superstar.
Posted By: JcJames (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:53 AM
You seemed to ignore the time when he blew his push as McMahon's kid.
Posted By: Blanky (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:58 AM
MISTAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH INJURY!!!
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INJURY!!!
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 12:19 PM
What do you get when you combine Hardcore Holly and the Road Dogg? You get 250lbs of boredom know as Mr. Kennedy.
Posted By: jcmmnx (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 12:31 PM
I've never understood what the fuss is about Kennedy. I've personally never found him entertaining at all. To be honest he's a below average worker, and when he's trying to cut a promo I can never really understand the point he's trying to make as he just seems to ramble on and on when he's speaking, and whilst he's doing that he constantly makes the most idiotic head movements and facial expressions which just look so bad. Plus he's got a very average bland look which doesn't make him stand out from the crowd. The only thing he's got going for him is the ability to do his own ring entrances, but if you're going to give some one a push just because they are good at doing ring entrances, you might as well put the world title on Howard Finkel.
He's just not main event material, and I'm glad the WWE have not put him at that level and hopefully the never will.
Posted By: Axe (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 12:44 PM
funny you didn't mention that he was supposed to be Vince's bastard son but was injured and then had a drug suspension
Posted By: uhuhu (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 01:04 PM
Sigh..
you can't bury someone forever you know..
he will be pushed to the main event eventually. he's still over an has lot of blind marks despite all of his bad luck since 2007. he was more over than guys like CM Punk and Jeff in 2007, nor both of them are former world champions yet Kennedy is nowhere to be seen..
i don't like the guy, but i just think that Vince himself is a mark for him, considering he has been regularly given mic time and the amount of push he's been given despite all of his bad luck (i mean the entire king of the ring 2008 was done to turn him face and make him look like bad ass anti authority babuface ala Austin)..
he will win the world title in a feel good moment, but i just don't think that he's going to win it in next 3-4 years.. earliest probably in 2012 or 2013.. He might get the sympathy push (ala Benoit in 2004) to world title.
Posted By: vladmiri (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Yeah, poor Kennedy ... didn't shoot himself in the foot by saying taking drugs was bad, then getting caught red-handed. It's all just bad luck.
Posted By: Jed (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 01:40 PM
I haven't seen too much of Kennedy due to his constant injuries, but my girlfriend cannot stand him. She is new to wrestling, and hasn't seen much of WWE before 2008. I think WWE is distancing itself from the catch-phrase era, and Kennedy may not have a place next to Randy Orton, Cena, CM Punk and HHH (4 talents who put on some of the best in ring work in the business IMO)
Posted By: milkshark (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 01:46 PM
My friends and I call him Botch Botchedy. I hope he never gets fired, I enjoy his botches... erm... matches
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:11 PM
I honestly went blank about Kennedy's involvement in the whole "McMahon's illegimate son" story in my opinion...simply sucked! And I apologize for not remembering the steroid thing cause' I was just thinking about hwo many injuries the man has had since they were so many!!! So the drug suspension just adds on to the point that the man has had the worst string of luck since day one.
funny you didn't mention that he was supposed to be Vince's bastard son but was injured and then had a drug suspension
Posted By: uhuhu (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 01:04 PM
Posted By: Julian Bond (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:23 PM
OVERRATED
Posted By: kid (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:25 PM
...oh when I mean "bad luck" with Kennedy and steroids, I know that he pretty much shot himself in the foot...but even after this he still seems lost in shuffle with being out of the ring for long periods of time especially after getting the major pushes that he's had before.
Posted By: Julian Bond (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:33 PM
kennedy is allergic to pushes.
i bet you he comes back. he'll beat shelton for the us title then his knees will blow out.
Posted By: jd (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:33 PM
My friends and I call him Botch Botchedy. I hope he never gets fired, I enjoy his botches... erm... matches
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:11 PM
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"Botch Botchedy"? That is so fucking lame its unbelievable. Did you and your buddies high-five each other when you all pooled your 2 collective brain cells to come up with that gem? Or did you skip the pleasantries and go straight into jerking each other off?
Posted By: Guest#8062 (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:37 PM
His new theme sucks balls too.
Posted By: Foolio (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:48 PM
I wish talented stars got as many pushes as this guy.
Kennedy had me fooled at the start of his WWE run, but quickly let me down. He's a one trick pony. People HATED Boogeyman for doing the same act every week...what about Mr. K? Sure, Ken is better in the ring, but still.
Stay gone Kennedy.
Posted By: FUZEY (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:48 PM
Nice column.
But I dispise every second of Kennedy and hope to god he never becomes a multi time world champ (One at the most)
Posted By: Guest#3853 (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 03:11 PM
Posted By: Guest#6306 (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 03:45 PM
Wow, virgin 8062 sure is clever! At least I dont have to suck Botch Botchedys cock for a good time ;- )
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 04:00 PM
en Kennedy has had an AWFUL string of bad luck since nearing Main Event Status in early 2007. Sure, he managed to regain his momentum a few times after coming back from injury... only to get injured again (or worse yet, a 30 day sususpension).
Totally agree. Do you know how you can tell 2007 was a bad year for Kennedy? He went from being one of the most over stars in the MITB bank at Wrestlemania 23, to just being one of the guys filling the numbers at 24.
I actually quite liking Kennedy during the buildup to his World Title vs Batista at Royal Rumble 2007. Loved the way that he would go on about how he'd beated x number of former champions. Just thought it was a simple way to push someone. And I really enjoyed the match and the Kennedy chant during it. And when he won MITB I thought this is it.
Unfortunately since then a lot of crap has happened to Kennedy. Both him and Taker got injured at the same time so they had to give Edge the case so that he could be Smackdown's champ. What also swayed that decision was the exaggeration of the severness of the injury.
Now this is where I question WWE booking. I was really excited to see Kennedy return to challenge Edge and have a decent rivalry over the Summer. But hmm WWE sent him to Raw, and made him a heel. And whereas the writers on Smackdown came up with 'beating world champions push' what did Raw do; helping McMahon's 'death' (which was cancelled after Benoit) and being his 'illegimate' son (which was his own fault, but we got saddled with Hornswoggle...).
But when Kennedy started a feud with Regal (who looked like he could be the next super heel WWE champion) I thought things would pick up. Then Regal got suspended!
Then he gets drafted to SD hinting at a rivalry with Edge and then he got injured.
Now I can understand why the IWC hate him for messing up his own push, but what about a certain Jeff Hardy, he got suspended before Wrestle-freaking-mania and he ended up winning the WWE title. Morrison seems to be doing ok after being suspended.
I would like to see Kennedy go on SD and maybe acknowledge the fact that he wasn't on Wrestlemania, and that he wants to get revenge that 'caused' his career downfall, Edge. If you can't over going against Edge, there's no hope for you.
Now people whinge about WWE pushing certain people, but how else are they going to build new stars. While Angle, Benoit, HHH and Lesnar were main-eventing, Cena, Batista and Orton were slowly buit to be the main-eventers of today. WWE needs to look at the next generation. Personally I would bank on Morrison, CM Punk, MVP etc. Kennedy is a maybe. Now whether he can show, like Austin, Edge, Batista, Jeff, Eddie, Benoit, that he is over that he can't NOT be in the Main-Event is another matter.
Posted By: AH (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 04:21 PM
My friends and I call him Botch Botchedy. I hope he never gets fired, I enjoy his botches... erm... matches
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 02:11 PM
Perez Hilton, Clay Aiken, and RuPaul are all thinking that's the gayest thing they've ever heard.
Posted By: Alyaz (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 04:49 PM
UM...what about failing the drug test when he was working a big program with Vince?
I think you forgot something big.
Posted By: Jason (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 05:27 PM
hes actually not that young..
Posted By: Mr Information (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 05:34 PM
I think Kennedy legitimately has the charisma to be a star (which I would only say for maybe 10% of the roster). If he can stay healthy and fine tune his character he could still be big given time.
Of course, his conditioning and in-ring work are both "good but not great", so I'm not sure he's the multi-time champion that Vince sees.
I think it would be interesting to see him drafted to ECW where he could have his first run as THE dominant heel on a program. Of course, that's just in theory... I still wouldn't watch ECW.
Posted By: Tony (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 05:52 PM
I fail at life, please be nice, me and my butt buddy honestly thought we were witty, please be nice.
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 06:56 PM
Man the IWC is the saddest bunch of cry babies I ever saw. Botch Botchedy is more epic than Ken Kennedy. Where is Ron Mexico to back me up
Posted By: AG Awesome (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 07:22 PM
I met Kennedy at Melbourne airport for the 2007 Survivor Series Tour here in Australia and after became a fan.... then he got dumped for roids, made of glass and realised he was utter shit in the ring. He is basically Jeff Hardy with mic skills.
Just give him a commentator job.
Posted By: Brad (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 08:41 PM
Evan Bourne sucks ass too...
him and kennedy having a match were they both get injured!
thank god the wwe has guys like Batista and Cena to carry the shows, cause guys like MVP,Kennedy, CMPunk all suck ass.
Posted By: Ka-Durrh? (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:20 PM
Mr.Kennedy owns compared to about 76% of the the current WWE roster...
The only other ones I'd put above him are Jericho and Randy Orton.
Posted By: Jake (Guest) on March 15, 2009 at 11:44 PM
I forgot he was good on the mic, been awhile since I've seen his mic work but he was damn good in that clip above. I must say I forgot I used to like him, hopefully he can turn things around.
Posted By: Guest#1190 (Guest) on March 16, 2009 at 02:13 AM
I still think it was a mistake the first time he said Kennedy twice, I think he was supposed to say MISTA KEN KENNEDY.
Posted By: Adam (Guest) on March 16, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Posted By: DVR (Guest) on March 16, 2009 at 06:43 PM
Gonzo has botched his entire life..
Mr. Kennedy is alright.
Look at how many second chances HBK got throughout his entire career up to 2002.
Posted By: Propagandhi (Guest) on March 16, 2009 at 06:55 PM
Fat Belly, skinny arms...........He's the new Dick Murdoch
Posted By: DVR (Guest) on March 17, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Greatest respect, dreadful article - the writer has a very poor grasp of the construction of English language. Several sentences make little sense, not to mention several points not really leading anywhere. Shame.
Posted By: Jimmy's groin (Guest) on March 17, 2009 at 01:19 PM
Kennedy reminds me of Edge, who got injured when he was a white hot face, and never really recoverd. He got back from neck surgery and immediately broke his hand.
To qoute HBK, "Edge was just clumsy".
Now, he's the top heel on Smackdown.
So there may be hope for Kennedy after he returns after Wrestlemania. I hope so, because I really like him, even if I don't know exactly why.
Posted By: Mr Quimby (Guest) on March 18, 2009 at 09:05 AM
