It was just a few years ago when Mr. Kennedy looked to be on the fast track in the WWE, destined to a champion with the company. But things can change very quickly in the wrestling business.He dealt with some injuries – one of them that cost him a chance at winning the world championship – and rumors began to swirl about him having a reputation for being very opinionated behind the scenes, something that can be very bad in the industry.
The next thing you know he was stuck in the middle of the card. Then last May, the WWE decided that it was time to move on and released him. Most thought he would pop up quickly in TNA Wrestling. Instead, he took his time put eventually made his way over to TNA, signing with the company in January. Now, Mr. Anderson (real name Ken Anderson) is feeling good again and is ready to make a difference at his new home. He'll definitely get his chance as TNA Impact moves to Monday nights beginning next week on Spike TV, going straight up against WWE Raw from 9:00-11:00pm ET.
Last night on my Between The Ropes radio show on ESPN 1080 in Orlando, FL, Mr. Anderson was a guest and spoke about the decision to join TNA, his time with WWE, how close he came to leaving the wrestling business and more.You've been with TNA for a little while now after transitioning from the WWE. How do you like it so far?I love it. I feel like I'm reborn. Anybody that knows me knew that for the past couple of years I was in kind of a rut. Really, it was creative differences and that is a very common problem in the wrestling business. I just felt like I wasn't allowed to be myself and here in TNA they hand me a piece of paper that says 'Ken Anderson interview'. The first night they gave me that I was like 'ah, what do you want me to say?' And they were like whatever you want. Here are your points, just hit those points and whatever else, whatever comes to your mind. To me, that's unheard of, especially coming from the place I was in the last five years. Right then and there, in my mind I thought this could be something special and for the past month and a half, two months that I've been there it has been nothing but great.
I think everybody is on the same team. We're all shooting for the same goal and that is to have the best wrestling product out there and hopefully I can be a part of that.Watching you, it looks like you're having fun again when you come to the ring or cutting a promo. How much does that really affect you when it comes to doing your job?Well, I'm living the American dream right now. I had a dream – I had a dream! That one day...I would entertain masses of people. When you're told constantly don't do that, don't look that way, act this way, don't say this, say this and you don't agree with it no matter what you say, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you fight they keep pushing you back. It gets to the point where... Outsiders looking in probably say like 'oh, whoa is you, you have such a rough life'. Well, it is because I look at us as artists and you can't tell an artist how to paint his paintings. Nobody told Andy Warhol hey man, that doesn't look right what you're doing. That doesn't look like everybody else's paintings. No, he did his own thing and he's very famous because of it and made a lot of money along the way. I just think that when you hold an artist down and tell them they can't do things, it doesn't lead to a positive outcome. Here at TNA, I am just thrilled. I feel like I'm reborn. I've had so many people tell me that you look like you're having fun, like you're a new man. Honestly, I didn't watch wrestling for the past year. I didn't watch it. I had no desire to. I didn't know if I was going to continue on with the wrestling business. I thought, you know what, I might just call it quits now.
I was actually pretty reluctant in going to TNA and I'm so glad that I actually did it.How close were you to leaving wrestling all together following your tenure with the WWE?I went home the night of the last match I had – that five-on-five – and I said I don't think I want to do this any more. I told my wife I think I'm done. That's pretty tough. I got into wrestling because I never wanted to be that guy that says maybe I should have, maybe I could have, what if I had done this. I did it. I spent six-and-a-half years toiling away on the independent scene and driving up and down the highways and byways, doing 15 hour car rides one way, 30 hours total to get paid $40 and do it all over next week. People used to think I was crazy and that's what you do when you're passionate about something, when you want to achieve success. Then I got there. The first couple of years it was great and then all of a sudden it just came to a screeching halt. At that time I was like, this is the top of the food chain where I can't go any higher than this in the wrestling industry so I would rather just bow out now rather than just try to cling on to something. I'm so glad that I stuck around and I think TNA has a real fighting chance. I know that we are the underdogs by a long shot. Not as far as talent goes but WWE has been around for a long time and they have a lot of money. TNA has, I think, the foundation, a very solid foundation and it's going to take time. But I believe we're going to stick this out.
I can tell you right now, and I can't speak for anyone else, I can say it for myself that I'm going to go out there and give 100% every single week.What exactly made you change your mind for you to decide to continue with your wrestling career?I talked to a lot of different people that told me the landscape is different over there. It's different in TNA. You know, you hear mixed reviews.
I talked to some people who had been there and left and didn't like it, didn't like their experience. I guess I took a lot of people's, their own perception, I took those into consideration and came up with my own conclusion and that was I still wanted to make a go at this and I'll give it a shot. I got them to reduce the length of the contract. They initially wanted two years and we wanted six months because I really wasn't sure man, I really wasn't sure. So we got it down to a year and now I don't see myself leaving any time in the near future. I'm here to stay. I know a lot of guys in the past have come to TNA with the intentions of sweetening a deal to go back up north (WWE). I have no intentions of doing that – none whatsoever.
I'm here to stay and I'm part of the team.You talked about your frustrations with the WWE. Do you think things would have been different if you hadn't suffered the injuries you did and the times you had them?I don't know. I'm sure that injuries played a part in my "fans" backstage in the WWE. I'm sure that that helped them in their cause. Injuries in the wrestling business? I know that I've had the label of being injury-prone but I don't believe I've been injured more than anybody else in this business. Injuries are a common occurrence. Everybody is just constantly hurt in this business. It's just the name of the game. I don't know. I don't really try to dwell on what could have or how things might have played out. Things happened the way that they did and I'm actually kind of happy that they did happen that way because I always try to turn everything into a positive. Like I said, stuff happened and it's time to move on. What do you think is the biggest misconception it is about you from what people think they know about you and what is really you?(laughs) Umm....well, I don't know.
I guess I'm just a normal guy. I like hanging out with my wife. I like playing video games. I like going to movies. I like watching wrestling. I like watching sports. I'm a normal guy. But I'm also passionate about a number of things. I'm passionate about my business. I'm passionate about politics. I speak my mind a lot. I guess some people perceive that however they want to perceive it as. I would rather have somebody that speaks their mind as just tells it as it is rather than someone who just toes the company line. That's what I've tried to do. Sometimes it's backfired in my face, other times it has helped. There are people out there that hate me for that and there are people out there that really appreciate it and understand it.Can you clear up one misconception because there was a lot of talk about when you left WWE and what exactly happened to make the company decide to give you your release. There was talk about a match with Randy Orton where afterwards he chewed you out.
Can you explain what exactly happened?First of all, I did not get injured in that last match. I know that a lot of people were saying that I had broken my wrist or something like that. I was holding my wrist because I had just got the snot pounded out of me for about ten minutes by five of the top guys in the company. I was just selling. Actually, my physical therapist called me the next day and she said 'did you re-injure your shoulder?' I said no and she was like you were holding your wrist and that's an indicator I guess for those people in that profession. That's something that they look for, for recurring shoulder injury is holding the wrist to immobilize the shoulder.
He (Orton) told me to give him a belly-to-back suplex and I did and I thought everything was fine. I got to the back and he was holding his neck, saying that I dropped him on his head. He went to the back and lectured me about how I need to be safe and all this other stuff. He got three huge bags of ice – one on his neck, one on his left shoulder, one on his right shoulder. He got them all saran wrapped up, put his shirt back on and we walked to the locker room and he chewed me out the whole way there – calmly and quietly – but he told me that you need to be careful, blah blah blah.
I felt bad about it because I didn't know. I hadn't seen the tape so I thought I really dropped him on his head. Then I went home and saw the tape and saw that he landed flat. If you slow the video tape down, his neck never comes into contact with the mat. So, I'll let you...you watch the tape and you let me know what you think. He landed flat as flat can be and then he went and complained to Vince (McMahon) and then (John) Cena went and complained to Vince and said that they didn't want to work with me anymore because I was dangerous and that is what ended up being the final straw. I wouldn't say that's what got me fired because there were so many other things before that. It was like they were looking for a reason to get rid of me. Did you ever think you'd be in a wrestling company in 2010 with Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and both would be getting back in the ring?No. It doesn't surprise me though. I never thought it would happen but it doesn't surprise me. After all the things I've seen in this wacky, crazy ride that I've been on for the last ten years, nothing, nothing at all surprises me any more.
But I think it's great. There are people out there going 'oh, those guys need to hang it up'.
To me, it's entertainment and to a lot of people it's entertaining.
At the end of the day, that's all that really matters. I understand there's wrestling purists out there who want just wrestling and I understand that. I like wrestling matches.
I like really good wrestling matches.
But there is something that those guys bring to the table that a lot of guys today just don't have so they're still here and that really says something.
