Not every WWE Superstar will be crowned a World Champion but for this ex-star, he was specifically told he would be winning the title.
Mr Kennedy spent only four years signed with WWE, signing his first deal in February 2005 and departing in May 2009. During this period, he held the United States Championship once, and was crowned the 2007 Mr Money in the Bank, retrieving the briefcase at WrestleMania 23.
Notoriously, Kennedy was the first of two Money in the Bank winners to lose not their cash-in match, but the briefcase itself (Otis followed him in 2020). Before he dropped it to Edge in May 2007, Mr Kennedy was told he’d be winning the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker, as he recalled to NBC Sports Boston:
“I can’t change things that happened in the past; it was kind of crazy. They had already told me two or three days earlier that I was going to be winning the title from [Undertaker]. ‘Taker was hurt too, he needed to have biceps surgery, so [they said], ‘We need this title off ‘Taker. What we’re going to do is we’re going to have him in this cage match, he’s going to barely sneak out alive and then somebody else is going to come out and beat him up some more and then you’re going to come out and cash in your Money in the Bank briefcase and you’re going to be the new champion’.”
Mr Kennedy himself was injured too, resulting in him being forced to drop the briefcase to Edge, who subsequently lifted the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker. What’s bittersweet about this is that Kennedy’s injury wasn’t as severe as first thought, meaning he never needed to relinquish the briefcase.
He returned to WWE programming by the summer, though was suspended not long after for his involvement in a steroid scandal. This effectively ruined Kennedy’s chances at his biggest WWE storyline to date, having originally been the choice for Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son.