During a recent interview, Ken Anderson (formerly WWE star Mr. Kennedy) blamed John Cena and Randy Orton for getting him fired and implied they were using political clout to bury other wrestlers reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Just to clarify since his release went down months ago, John Cena did indeed go to WWE management and said that Ken was unsafe and terrible to work with. Cena wasn’t the only one who did this. It was widely reported around the time of Kennedy’s release that Randy Orton, who sources claim didn’t try to get him fired, went off on him backstage over a back suplex during Kennedy’s first match back on Raw over Orton’s previously injured collarbone. In the interview, Kennedy tried to blow off that claim saying Orton jumped too hard. The only problem with that is those in WWE didn’t feel Kennedy did a great job of putting Orton back down safely, which was his job.
The reaction among many in the media and even in some wrestling circles to Kennedy’s claim that Cena, Orton and others were using “political clout” to get him fired is that there really wasn’t another example of so many guys in a company like WWE (both top guys and mid-level guys) going to management to complain about a wrestler. One example is Rob Van Dam, who used to get pegged as being dangerous to work with from guys like Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker. However, they never got together to try and get him fired. According to at least one strong WWE source, the heat on Kennedy dates back as early as October 2005 when he was first called up to the main roster.
In October 2005, Kennedy worked a tag match teaming with Randy Orton and Bob Orton against Eddie Guerrero and Batista. At one point during the match, Kennedy was supposed to boot Guerrero in the gut. Instead, Kennedy kicked him full on in the jaw and Guerrero was described as being outraged about it to WWE agents after the match. Another incident involved Finlay where Kennedy punted him and Finlay ended up giving him a receipt in the ring. There was another incident also with Matt Hardy where the source described Kennedy as “nearly decapitating” Matt with some spot on the ropes. Vince McMahon, who was watching on his headset, threw them on the ground and started ranting on what he just saw.
Probably one incident that stood out the most was during a Kennedy & Umaga vs. DX tag match where Kennedy screwed something up badly during the match. As a result, Michaels and Triple H pulled him aside in the Gorilla position after the match and had a very long talk with him. After that incident took place, Triple H was overheard throwing in little jabs or jokes about Kennedy when his name was brought up at meetings.
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