Black Widow
06-03-2009, 11:55 PM
The decision was obviously not something planned out in advance, since Kennedy was being heavily advertised on the USA Network this week as “returning” for the 6/1 Raw show from Birmingham, plus, on his TV return, he had a face-to-face confrontation with Randy Orton that seemed to be building an upcoming title program. He was also coming off being the guy a WWE film, “Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia,” was promoted around. The whole idea of WWE films is to both make money, of course, by trying to get the wrestling audience to get the DVDs. But it’s also, when using a non-established superstar in the lead, the idea is the movie will increase the star power of wrestlers the company is looking at as long-term future headliners. After the ten-man on Raw ended, Orton went to Kennedy backstage, not very happy and told him in direct, adamant but not loud terms, to be more careful. Kennedy, in doing a back suplex, dropped Orton on his surgically repaired shoulder. There wasn’t a big blow-up or anything like that but everyone knew Orton wasn’t happy about it. Orton did momentarily lose it in the ring after taking the move, as he started punching the mat in frustration before rolling out of the ring. Orton and Kennedy have been very good friends in the past and often hung out together on the road. There were people after who congratulated Orton on not losing his cool on how he handled it.
Orton wasn’t seriously injured and worked a short dark cage match the next night with Batista, and then worked on top during the Mexico tour, although Show was carrying the action in the tag matches over the weekend. Orton was icing his shoulder after the match and Orton’s injury was considered more serious than Kennedy’s. He complained of a stiff neck at television the next day and was still icing his shoulder and getting massage therapy, and made comments about Kennedy being a careless worker but it was not any kind of a major piece of conversation at the Smackdown show.
Four days later, John Laurinaitis gave Kennedy the phone call, basically saying the boss (Vince) made the call, being nice about it and saying that hopefully in the future they could do business again.
Virtually everyone outside the inner circle was shocked, as wrestlers who found out about it after WWE put it in almost a hidden spot on its web site, were doing double-takes like it was nothing they expected. Those on the road didn’t even believe it at first. There was an assumption among many that Orton went to Vince and pushed the issue, but nobody seems to know if that is really the case.
It was considered to be a done issue between the two once TV was over. However, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back in Vince McMahon’s mind. On the flight back from Los Angeles after Smackdown, Vince cut a promo on him to the inner circle. He said Kennedy was a reckless worker and said he was green as a mechanic and green when it comes to business instincts.
The only real backer he had was Austin, but Austin is pretty much out of the company at this point.
A lot of the better workers in the company were not high on him and didn’t like working with him. It was not personal heat but a lack of respect because they saw him as an average talent who was all smoke and mirrors because of his catch phrase. My impression is the guy, as much as he seemed to have a propensity for making himself look like a fool outside the ring, had very strong charisma and a good gimmick. A couple of top guys, Orton not being one of them, were believed to have gone to Vince bad mouthing Kennedy. At least four of the company’s best wrestlers did not like working with him, three of whom were on the Raw brand he had just been drafted to.
Matt Hardy on his Myspace page said Kennedy was one of his best friends in the company and hated to hear the news he was gone, and others have corroborated that he was popular with a lot of the wrestlers.
It is believed TNA has an interest in him, but in his case, the situation would be that TNA would likely want him to sign a three-year deal. One person close to Kennedy noted that he’s looking forward to going to TNA in September (after his 90-day non-compete period ends), that he has a lot of confidence and believes he can be a real top guy, but believes Vince McMahon doesn’t see him at that level.
f4wonline.com
Orton wasn’t seriously injured and worked a short dark cage match the next night with Batista, and then worked on top during the Mexico tour, although Show was carrying the action in the tag matches over the weekend. Orton was icing his shoulder after the match and Orton’s injury was considered more serious than Kennedy’s. He complained of a stiff neck at television the next day and was still icing his shoulder and getting massage therapy, and made comments about Kennedy being a careless worker but it was not any kind of a major piece of conversation at the Smackdown show.
Four days later, John Laurinaitis gave Kennedy the phone call, basically saying the boss (Vince) made the call, being nice about it and saying that hopefully in the future they could do business again.
Virtually everyone outside the inner circle was shocked, as wrestlers who found out about it after WWE put it in almost a hidden spot on its web site, were doing double-takes like it was nothing they expected. Those on the road didn’t even believe it at first. There was an assumption among many that Orton went to Vince and pushed the issue, but nobody seems to know if that is really the case.
It was considered to be a done issue between the two once TV was over. However, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back in Vince McMahon’s mind. On the flight back from Los Angeles after Smackdown, Vince cut a promo on him to the inner circle. He said Kennedy was a reckless worker and said he was green as a mechanic and green when it comes to business instincts.
The only real backer he had was Austin, but Austin is pretty much out of the company at this point.
A lot of the better workers in the company were not high on him and didn’t like working with him. It was not personal heat but a lack of respect because they saw him as an average talent who was all smoke and mirrors because of his catch phrase. My impression is the guy, as much as he seemed to have a propensity for making himself look like a fool outside the ring, had very strong charisma and a good gimmick. A couple of top guys, Orton not being one of them, were believed to have gone to Vince bad mouthing Kennedy. At least four of the company’s best wrestlers did not like working with him, three of whom were on the Raw brand he had just been drafted to.
Matt Hardy on his Myspace page said Kennedy was one of his best friends in the company and hated to hear the news he was gone, and others have corroborated that he was popular with a lot of the wrestlers.
It is believed TNA has an interest in him, but in his case, the situation would be that TNA would likely want him to sign a three-year deal. One person close to Kennedy noted that he’s looking forward to going to TNA in September (after his 90-day non-compete period ends), that he has a lot of confidence and believes he can be a real top guy, but believes Vince McMahon doesn’t see him at that level.
f4wonline.com