RAW‘s resident bigmouth is a former pickup-driving, beer-drinking country boy from the outskirts of Green Bay, Wis., who saw a big opportunity in a little microphone hanging from an arena ceiling and made sure, from that day on, that every pro-wrestling fan knows his name. Shrugging off a host of untimely injuries and public backlash for speaking out about the company’s recent doping scandal and the shocking downfall of the late Chris Benoit, Misterrrrrrr Kennedy (Kennedy!) remains loud, proud — and oh so popular with the fans — on his way to his second ‘Mania.
Yeah, He Really Is Loud. Just Not That Loud.
Somebody told me a long time ago that the best wrestling gimmicks were those that are closest to your own personality. The reason [Stone Cold Steve] Austin got over was because he went out in the ring and acted like himself. The reason Shawn Michaels is over like he is, is because he goes out there and he acts like himself. I can’t say that that’s actually the way I act in real life, but it’s sometimes the way I’d like to act in real life. I just can’t get away with it.
Yeah, It’s “Old School.” Just Not Quite How You Think.
I used to announce basketball games when I was in high school, and as a joke, someone told me, “You should say the last names twice.” So I started doing that and people started enjoying it and commenting on it. After I had gotten hired by the WWE, I was in OVW [Ohio Valley Wrestling] and Paul Heyman was writing our television. He asked me to go out and announce myself one night, so I went out there and grabbed the mic and ended up taking a stroll down memory lane back to my high-school announcing days and saying my last name twice. I came back to the locker room and everyone thought that was the greatest thing in the world. Five weeks later, I was on television for WWE and it was just kind of crazy. All those years that I had tried and tried so many different things, all it took was for me to say my last name twice and … there it is.
Misterrrrrrr Opportunity!
Vince [McMahon] told me that he wanted to change my name and I called Paul Heyman in a panic and said, “Vince wants to change my name — what should I do?” At the time I was so proud that I had made it all that way on my own name. I was always Ken Anderson. Paul said, “You gotta pick something near and dear to Vince’s heart. Kennedy is Vince’s middle name and it fits the whole KK thing” — because I was Kamikaze Ken on the indies for a while and I wanted to keep the backward KK logo that I had on my trunks as an homage to my indie days. So I pitched it to Vince and he asked me, “What do you think?” I said, “To be honest, I like my real name. I like Mr. Anderson. But you can call me whatever you want, and I’m happy with it.” He looked at Kevin Dunn, the executive producer, and said, “Make sure you have Ken Kennedy on the TitanTron tonight.”
On Making It Big After Injuries … Over And Over Again.
It’s just something that I’ve come to accept. This isn’t ballet we’re doing. I’m still going to make sure I go out there and give 100 percent every time I hit that ring and let the fans decide. Don’t let the boss decide.
On Taking Flack For Speaking Up.
What can I say? I love what I do. I’m very passionate about it. And I’ve been defending this business from the day I got involved. To friends. To family members. It’s just something that I have a lot of heart about. I spend 250 days a year working at it, and the other 115, I can’t just turn it off. So when people talk about the business and they’re not as knowledgeable as I would like them to be, yeah, I open my mouth.
On Respecting Your Elders. Even If You’d Like To Kick Their Ass.
If it weren’t for Steve Austin catching my eye one night while I was at my buddy’s house drinking beers and hating life, I wouldn’t be in this business. When I was a kid, I got turned off to wrestling when they got into the real cheesy, corny gimmicks and stuff like that, but I remember looking at Steve and going, “Hey, I can relate to this guy.” I came from a small redneck community where everybody drove around in pickup trucks, so I could relate to that. Those are the guys I look up to. I don’t care what anybody says about Undertaker. I mean, yeah, he’s been around 17 years, but he can run circles around 75-90 percent of the locker room. Not including myself, of course.
His WrestleMania Prediction:
This is going to be my second WrestleMania — my first WrestleMania I was dealt one of those bad blows. To prepare I’m planning on doing just what I did last year in whatever match I’m involved in. And I’m going to get my due.