Mr Kennedy didn’t have the best luck in WWE, but things could have been a lot worse – he was almost named Adam Hole.
Mr Kennedy was signed to WWE for four years, during which time he won the third Money in the Bank Ladder Match and was a one-time United States Champion. The Wisconsin native was well on his way to becoming a top WWE Superstar before Randy Orton was responsible for getting him released.
Prior to making his official transition to the main roster, Mr Kennedy was asked to come up with a catchphrase for himself, during which time he acknowledged the existence of his famed line. The line ends with Kennedy calling himself an a**hole, something that wasn’t able to slide in the PG Era.
Kennedy joined Chris Van Vliet recently to discuss his career, revealing that Vince McMahon had plans for him to be named ‘Adam Hole’, which would allow WWE to promote the use of the ‘A-hole’ meaning without it directly meaning a**hole:
“So Vince [McMahon] asked me, ‘Do you have any catchphrases?’, and I said, ‘ Yeah, nice guys finish last thing, good thing I’m an asshole.’ And he was like, ‘We had just gone PG.’ It was like, ‘No, I don’t, we can’t do that.’ And then Johnny [Ace] was getting into it, it was like Johnny, Stephanie [McMahon], Kevin Dunn, Vince, I think that’s who was all in that room. And Johnny goes, ‘Hey, how about what if your name was like, Adam Hole? And then you could say, “Nice guys finish last. Thank God I’m an A Hole.” And it would be… [silence].’
And I remember Vince just, there was a silence in the room. And Vince just looked up at me and he goes, ‘What do you think of that?’ And I said, ‘I like it. I think it’s funny. But I feel like that would be sort of a flash in the pan, somebody that would be here for like two or three months and then be done. It sounds very gimmicky. And I’ve been here for a long time.’ And Vince looks at me like, almost as though [that] were a test.”
Mr Kennedy wrestled his final WWE match in May 2009, participating in an NBA-themed tag team match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. On the opposing side was Randy Orton, who alleged that Kennedy was reckless in the ring, which led to Vince McMahon prematurely releasing him from his contract.
Now going by Mr Anderson, the 46-year-old has enjoyed runs in both IMPACT Wrestling and the NWA, with the former seeing him crowned a two-time IMPACT World Champion. He left the Anthem-helmed promotion in March 2016, being fired after failing an on-the-spot drug test.
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