Mr. Kennedy, a guy who at one time was on the fast track to becoming a world champion in WWE, has been released, the company announced on its Web site earlier this evening.
There are no details as to why Kennedy was let go, but the most obvious assumption is that it’s due to his inability to stay healthy. After being out nine months with a dislocated shoulder, Kennedy returned to TV Monday in a 10-man tag team match on Raw and reportedly suffered a wrist injury during the match.
It was the latest in a string of injuries for Kennedy, 33, during his four years in WWE. Two months after winning the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23 in 2007 – which most likely would have led to a world title run – he suffered a torn triceps.
When I asked Kennedy about his history of injuries in an interview this past January, he dismissed the suggestion that he was injury prone.
“You know, I’ve heard all the ‘Oh, Kennedy’s injury prone’ and all that stuff, but there are certain things that happen, and if you knew the whole story you wouldn’t necessarily think that,” he said. “I’ve just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But it is frustrating. I had the Money in the Bank and was on the way to becoming a world champion and then injury struck. And it’s just been one thing after the other, but I just keep my head up. I was told a long time ago that if you have talent you cannot be denied and eventually good things will happen.”
During his relatively short time in wrestling, Kennedy has been somewhat of a controversial figure. Not long after he was adamant in a 2007 interview that he had not taken steroids since he signed with WWE, Kennedy was one of 10 WWE wrestlers suspended 30 days for violating the company’s Wellness Policy. The suspension came after he was among the wrestlers named in a report by Sports Illustrated as having received steroids and/or human growth hormone through Signature Pharmacy, a Florida pharmaceutical company that was under investigation.