10 Wrestlers Who Destroyed Their Careers On Live TV

6. Mr Kennedy - Monday Night Raw, May 25th 2009

Ken Kennedy Vince McMahon
WWE.com

Quite fitting that a snake-bitten WWE career came to an end as result of a ‘Viper’, but Randy Orton’s venomous protestations were little more than the last strikes against a wrestler long out of chances.

When Mr Kennedy held the Money In The Bank briefcase aloft at WrestleMania 23 with the knowledge that his arc called for a cash in one year later, he probably didn’t imagine that’d he’d be gone in two without ever getting so much as a sniff of the strap he’d aspired to snare. But for the man who famously used to say his name twice, 2007 and 2008 are years he probably never wants to speak it again.Injuries, suspensions and some inadvertently ill-advised comments made to the media about drug use in wrestling relentlessly chipped away at the genuine aura Kennedy had crafted around himself during a barren period for SmackDown stars in 2006.

He was tacitly ripping off bits of Attitude Era icons Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in his work, but there were few smarter influences and HE was shrewd enough to tweak the gestures and gesticulations just enough that the ‘Next Big Thing’ tag felt as believable on him as it ever had Brock Lesnar.

But 2009 was not that time. Several political and professional missteps in the time between superstardom and his sacking left him with few supporters after he dropped Randy Orton on his surgically repaired shoulder during his return Raw match that June. Supposedly to his locker room leaders for clarification, Vince trusted the judgement of both Orton and Cena in cutting bait on the cocky character once designated as his storyline son. As if to illustrate how far he’d fallen, few formerly devoted fans paused to mourn his exit.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett