Mr Kennedy is one of just a couple of Money in the Bank winners to have the briefcase taken off them – but this didn’t even need to happen!
Mr Kennedy was the Money in the Bank Ladder match’s third victor, retrieving the briefcase at WrestleMania 23. He dropped it just weeks later, though, losing it to Edge in May 2007. ‘The Rated R Superstar’ was subsequently successful in cashing in, defeating then-World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker.
The ex-WWE Superstar has spoken out about this decision in a new interview with NBC Sports Boston’s Steve Fall, where Mr Kennedy explained how WWE management needed to get the championship off of ‘Taker, regardless of who, exactly, they strapped up:
“It is what it is. I can’t change things that happened in the past. Yeah, it was kind of crazy. Hearing the whole story of how it played out, I felt something pop in my triceps. My arm swelled up, my arm turned black and blue. Hornswoggle drove me to the hospital that night. I went to the emergency room, they did an MRI, which I hate, I’m like claustrophobic. So I did the MRI, and then I’m waiting in my hotel room. Stephanie [McMahon] called me and said, ‘Ken, you tore your triceps off the bone.’
Now, they had already told me two or three days earlier that I was gonna be winning the title from ‘Taker. They told me that, because ‘Taker was hurt too. He needed to have bicep surgery. ‘So we need this title off of ‘Taker. What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna have him in this Cage match, he’s gonna barely squeak out alive, and somebody else is gonna come out, beat him up some more. Then you’re gonna cash in your Money in the Bank briefcase and you’re gonna be the new champion.’
So I went home and I slept on it a couple days. Then the next time I took a bump, boom, I feel something pop in my triceps. Anyway, go to the emergency room, get that MRI, Steph calls my phone and she says, ‘You tore your triceps off the bone. You’re gonna be out for eight or nine months. Unfortunately, we still need to get that title off of ‘Taker’.”
Mr Kennedy continued, however, describing how a mistake made during his first MRI led him to be stripped of the Money in the Bank briefcase, even when it wasn’t medically required:
“So they sent Vince’s [McMahon] jet to come pick me up. I flew into Penn State, where Edge challenged me for my briefcase, and I remember I couldn’t do anything. My arm was completely immobilized, so I really couldn’t do much. He came out and jumped me before the match, rolled me in the ring, rang the bell, ding ding ding, Spear, one, two, three.
I give it to him and then the next day, I flew down to Birmingham, Alabama, and I’m sitting on Dr Andrews’ table, and he’s just feeling my triceps and he was like, ‘That’s not a tear.’ I was like, ‘Excuse me?’ He goes, ‘No, I don’t think that’s a tear. Let’s check it out again. I can’t find your MRI, so we’re gonna have to have you take another MRI, thankfully.’ But then yeah, they did another MRI, and for sure, it was just some blood vessels that had popped in my arm, so I was out five or six weeks.”
Mr Kennedy dropped the briefcase to Edge on the 7 May 2007 broadcast of Raw, but he returned by the summer. The one-time United States Champion was suspended that September following his involvement in a steroid scandal, effectively running all possibility of a future push.
Kennedy was released just two years later, officially being let go in May 2009. A botched back suplex in his final WWE encounter resulted in Randy Orton complaining to WWE management, ultimately leading to her release.