I was surprised when I got a text last night from my pal, the great Pat Maclaughlin to let me know that Mr. Anderson resurfaced on TNA television, his first appearance in the organization in over nine years. In fact, his exit when the company was in the midst of an extremely rocky period in 2016 was his last appearance on the national level. He had a cup of coffee in the National Wrestling Alliance in 2019, but that was during the era that NWA Power was only on Youtube so the exposure was minimal.
Truth be told, Ken Kennedy was one of my favorite performers in the mid-2000s, and it’s still somewhat puzzling as to how he wasn’t a much bigger star in the WWE. In some ways, Kennedy is one of the biggest “what ifs?” of his era, as he was signed to a WWE developmental deal in early-2005 and made his debut on Smackdown about six months later. Some might criticize his style for being too similar to Steve Austin, and there was some validity to that as the influence was a little too deliberate at times, but nothing that would’ve kept him out of the conversation as a potential star. Plus, if you’re going to borrow a few things from a legendary performer, Stone Cold isn’t a bad choice.
Kennedy was on an upward trajectory for the majority of his early WWE tenure, specifically the first two years of his television run. He was a tremendous heel, he could go in the ring, and he had great mic skills. He seemed to adapt well to the WWE main event style so to speak, as far as nothing too flashy, but solid enough to connect with the audience. His in-ring work was fine, but the character got over strong enough with the crowd that he had enough of a following to be in consideration for one of the top spots that eventually went to guys like Edge during that era.
Speaking of Edge, after Mr. Kennedy won the MITB match at Wrestlemania 23, he was actually scheduled to cash-in on an episode of Smackdown in Pittsburgh in May just a few months later. Kennedy was misdiagnosed with an arm injury that was thought to be much more serious than it was so instead of being out of action for several months, he would’ve only needed a few weeks on the sidelines to heal. Unfortunately, The Undertaker had also been working through injuries at the time and needed to drop the belt so when Kennedy appeared to be next on the injury list, he lost the MITB contract to Edge on Raw the same week that Adam Copeland cashed-in on The Undertaker after a cage match against Batista on Smackdown.
I’m familiar with these details because I was actually in attendance at that edition of Smackdown. While the cash-in moment, which was still relatively new at the time, received an incredible reaction, it was still disappointing that Kennedy missed a career-defining moment because of a misdiagnosis.
That really was a turning point in Mr. Kennedy’s career, as he never regained any of the momentum that he had previously. He suffered a shoulder injury prior to that, and perhaps was was labeled as injury prone, but for whatever reason, the company appeared to be hesitant to truly put any stock into him as the potential main eveter that he looked to be positioned to be before the misdiagnosed injury.
Infamously, Kennedy was abruptly fired after a back suplex spot to Randy Orton on Raw in May of 2009. Reportedly, Orton thought that the spot was dangerous and complained to management, leading to Kennedy’s dismissal. It’s a topic that is still occasionally debated today, and it’s possible that Kennedy was unfairly typecast as unsafe from Randy Orton at a time when Orton was notoriously difficult to work with, but the bottom line is, Kennedy had plateaued in the WWE so he would’ve probably needed a change of scenery to rejuvenate his career anyway.
The problem is, the ability to do that in 2009 was much different than it is today.
When Mr. Anderson signed a TNA contract in 2010, it wasn’t long after it was announced that Hulk Hogan was brought into the company. In retrospect, it’s easy to see that this decision is what ultimately led TNA to the brink of collapse, but for Anderson specifically, the timing simply didn’t work in his favor. On a superficial level, an organization that signs Hulk might be preparing to move to the next level, but a realistic look at the scenario, even in real time, it was apparent that Hogan was there to work Dixie Carter for major money when he needed the cash after his well-known costly divorce from Linda Hogan. Hulk claimed that he was there to help run the company, but had zero experience as a booker or promoter so make no mistake about it, this was a cash grab.
Under Hogan’s direction, TNA tried to move to Monday nights in a ham-handed attempt to re-create the Monday night wars. Impact got squashed in the ratings, proving that you can’t bank on guys that were 15 years older as a way to suddenly spark interest in the product. When he was on, Scott Hall was one of the absolute best in the business in his prime, but by 2010, he was a shell of himself and simply couldn’t go in the ring. The outsiders that pushed the envelope in 1996 were guys in their 50s that weren’t nearly as edgy in 2010. Kevin Nash, one of the smartest guys in the business, embraced his status as a grizzled vet, opting for a Sam Elliot look as the experienced gunslinger so to speak, and was able to remain much more current because of it. Most of the other guys from a prior generation that were brought in at the time, including Hogan, Flair, and Hall just seemed passed their prime by the time they surfaced in TNA.
The reason this matters to Mr. Anderson is that by the time he won the TNA world title in 2011, the “stain” of the TNA brand had tainted its chances to be taken seriously as a competitor in the industry. The Hulk and friends tour made fans shake their heads, and the ill-fated house show tours, events where none of the major stars from television were usually booked, were comically bad with pictures of sparsely-attended shows. The Jeff Hardy incident at Victory Road that year made the brand look totally minor league. Even when Mr. Anderson won the championship, management didn’t really let him run with it as the top guy. He won the belt twice, but only held it for a month each time so it almost underscored the fact that the office didn’t have faith in him to be the top star for the company.
After that he settled into a role in the Aces and Eights faction, and while the stable had its moments of compelling TV, I always thought that Ken Anderson was a rather odd fit for the group. If anything, it almost neutralized his charisma and took away some of the skills that made him popular originally. If I had to guess, I’d say that he took on the role as a good employee, or in this case independent contractor, and just did what was asked of him to stay on television and get a paycheck.
The last few years of his TNA run were undistinguished to say the least. Reportedly, he failed a drug test and it led to his exit in 2016. However, this was at a time when the future of the company was in doubt, with Billy Corgan eventually suing Dixie Carter to return money that he was led to believe was being put towards ownership of the organization. So, it’s not as though working for TNA was a career highlight for anyone at that point.
Eventually, Ken Anderson opened a wrestling school in his hometown and largely disappeared from the national wrestling scene. In the years since, he mentioned in interviews that he should’ve conducted himself differently during some of the prime years of his career so it’s possible that this comeback run in TNA will showcase a different performer, which is probably best for everyone. That being said, there’s probably two ways that this new stint in TNA can go for Anderson. It’s either a situation where he has been away long enough that fans will be happy to see him again, especially if the general consensus is that he has unfinished business before he officially hangs up his boots, or it could be a scenario that he was away too long to still have a level of cache with the audience.
At 49, it’s doubtful that Anderson will have a major run in TNA or anywhere else, but I think it’s worth being optimistic about his chance of a successful stint in the organization, particularly because long time fans expected him to be a bigger star in his prime years so there might be a level of interest to see him conclude his career on a better note. That being said, there should also be tempered expectations since this comeback will probably be limited to TNA, as it’s probably not something that would lead to a main stream return to the WWE.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
