“Mic Turned Off:” Nick Responds to Kennedy’s WWE Release

I have received numerous emails since the announcement of Kennedy’s release speculating whether or not this is en elaborate WWE work and that Ken is indeed still with the company, so I’d like to put those rumors to bed right now.

Mr. Kennedy, (real name Ken Anderson) has been released from WWE. This is not a work, it’s reality, and shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to people. The clear signal to me that this is not a work was the fashion in which WWE made the announcement publicly. Kennedy’s release was buried in the “Industry News” section of their website and was posted with stealth like precision by the company. If this were a work, the headline would have been plastered all over the main page of WWE.com, as the company would want everyone to see it immediately so they could hook fans into the work. But instead they very casually reported it.

The reality here is that WWE is losing a big star in Kennedy, and by making a huge deal of the announcement of his release, it takes focus off of their product and puts it on someone who has the potential, the strong potential I might add, to go work for a rival promotion once his 90 days are up. So by making small light of Kennedy’s release, and not making any mention of him on TV from here on out, WWE does the best it can to keep things quiet and not give the guy any indirect momentum as he plans his future.

So how do we all feel about this? I can’t speak for everyone else, so I encourage everyone to send me your thoughts, comments, or whatever you’d like to say on this matter and I will be sure to post them right here on the website.

As far as I’m concerned, this was a firing in the making for quite sometime now. The bottom line is that Kennedy is injury prone, and a company simply cannot make a long term investment in a talent that is so fallible. Kennedy’s momentum, since debuting with WWE, has been like a pregnant teenager’s mood swings; up and down to say the least. Every time this guy has returned from injury, he has been sidelined again within months, and the injuries are always serious, requiring him take a significantly large amount of time off for rehab purposes. This is not the kind of wrestler WWE can continue to put faith in, as they’re investment is not paying any dividends.

If Kennedy’s persistent injury status was not enough, he capped off his WWE tenure by nearly re-injuring the shoulder of WWE’s current champion. Now while some people might dismiss this as an accident and claim that Vince overreacted by firing Kennedy because he has too much of a hard-on for Randy Orton, we have to remember that if you are a danger to yourself when you are in the ring, as we know Kennedy is, you are also a danger to those you work with, and WWE cannot risk having anyone else injured due to Kennedy’s mistakes.

TNA’s Jeremy Borash posted a twit on his twitter account yesterday (is that how you say it? Is it a twit? How about a twat? I like that better) saying that he was surprised to see Kennedy released from WWE as he considers him a very talented individual. I agree with Borash to a certain extent. Kennedy is very talented. But his talent is limited. He’s a great character and he’s fantastic on the mic, but at the end of the day this is pro wrestling, and you have to be able to get it done in the ring as well, and most importantly, get it done safely. TNA will make the mistake of hiring Kennedy immediately after his 90 day no-compete clause with WWE has expired and won’t take the time to concentrate on correcting the issues that need to be corrected with Ken in order to maximize his potential as a wrestler.

At the end of the day, I truly hope Kennedy can bounce back strong from this release by getting back to the basics and realizing that although he may have weaknesses, a talent like his can always overcome them.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to send in any and all feedback to VOWNick@gmail.com