Mr. Kennedy remains one of the biggest “what if?” superstars in WWE’s recent history. The former WWE United States Champion had two major storylines in place, but neither would come to fruition. Kennedy was originally set to be revealed as Vince McMahon’s illegitimate son, which would be made evident by his last name being the same as McMahon’s middle name. An untimely wellness policy violation would get Kennedy suspended the week the reveal was supposed to happen, leading the company to pivot the angle completely. Months before that dropped storyline, Kennedy captured the Money in the Bank briefcast at WWE WrestleMania 23, but dropped it to Edge due to an injury that was set to have him out of action for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, the severity was a misdiagnosis, and Kennedy was back to in-ring competition weeks later.
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One week before he lost the briefcase to Edge, Kennedy declared he was going to cash in his title shot at the following year’s WrestleMania. While it’s unclear if Kennedy would be crowned at the Showcase of the Immortals, he was set to have a major title reign.
“I only had it a month and a half, two months maybe, and they came to me. I was riding with Matt Hardy. We had left the building early, which was unlike us. We usually stayed until the very end. For whatever reason, we left early, and I got a call from Michael Hayes. He says, ‘Where are you guys? I need you to come back. Vince needs to talk to you in his office,’” Kennedy told Insight with Chris Van Vliet (h/t Wrestling Inc). “I remember Batista coming out of Vince’s office, and we passed each other in the hall and just came up to me and gave me a big hug, and he’s like, ‘You deserve it, bro.’ And I played stupid, ‘What do you mean? What do you mean?’”
Kennedy would then go into McMahon’s office, where the former WWE Chairman would lay out the long-term storyline.
“He laid out the scenario basically and he’s like, ‘You’re going to cash in your briefcase. We’re going to have a new champion.’ And I remember him telling me that they were high on Batista at the time. That was their guy,” Anderson said. “They felt like Batista needed to chase for a while, and they said, ‘When we feel the time is right, we’re going to put it on Batista, but we don’t know how long that could be. I could be like a month, or five months, or six months, or whatever.’ I remember I just said, ‘Look, I appreciate you guys saying that, but this is business and I’ll do what’s necessary.’”
Not 24 hours later did Kennedy suffer a triceps injury at a house show, which led to an emergency room visit and a call from Stephanie McMahon.
“‘We’re going to take you to Penn State. Edge is going to challenge you for the briefcase, and then he’s going to go on and do what you’re supposed to do tomorrow night.’ ‘Okay.’ And I remember thinking at the time, ‘I’ve got a year to cash this thing in. Isn’t there some other way you can get it off him?’ But I didn’t say it. I sort of regret not saying it now,” Anderson said. “I gave up the briefcase. The next day, I flew to Dr. Andrews’ table, and he’s feeling my triceps, and he’s like, ‘That’s not a tear.’”
Anderson would depart WWE less than two years later, but would capture that elusive world title on two occasions with Impact Wrestling.
