Add as a preferred source on Google Ken Anderson, known in WWE as Mr. Kennedy, has again addressed his controversial 2009 release from the company, saying Randy Orton and John Cena were directly to blame.
The situation happened after the May 25, 2009 episode of Monday Night RAW, during a Team Lakers vs. Team Nuggets match that marked Kennedy’s televised return after a long absence.
Speaking on Tagging In With Chris Harris, Anderson said he was fired for supposedly dropping Orton on his head. However, he still disputes that version of events, saying that when the footage is slowed down, it is possible to see that Orton’s neck never touched the mat.
“I got fired for dumping Randy on his head. If you slow that video down you can see that his neck never comes into contact with the mat. Even just the way that he bumped, he bumped in a manner where he lined up perfectly with the camera so you can actually see that. He says I dumped him on his head, but you can see his neck, it’s a completely flat bump. From his shoulders to his ass was a complete straight line flat bump.
“I believe that Randy and John worked together. They decided that day, let’s f**king get him gone. And it worked.”
“I’ve said this before, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but had I been doing what I should have done on a daily basis, that would have never occurred. They could have gone to Vince and said all whatever they wanted to…
“The fact that my name kept coming up in a negative light and I kept kind of f**king up in different ways and that’s all on me. So, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the reason I got fired is because of me.”
WWE made the release official on May 29, 2009, just four days after Kennedy’s return. In the statement published at the time, the company only said it had come to terms on his release.
Still, it is worth remembering that Anderson took a different tone in 2023, when he said nobody got him fired except himself. At the time, he also revealed that he spoke with Orton years later backstage at a RAW in Minneapolis, in what he described as a long and positive conversation.