Ken Anderson Details Planned World Title Reign That Was Scuttled Due to Injury

Ken Anderson never won the World Championship in WWE, but he recently detailed how close he came before an injury wrecked his Money in the Bank cash-in. Anderson — aka Mr. Kennedy in WWE — won Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 23. However, he lost the briefcase to Edge soon after on Raw, with Edge using the briefcase to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Anderson has spoken about the matter before, but he went into more detail during his interview with Shane Douglas. He recalled the story from his Money in the Bank win through the plan to have him take the title off an injured Undertaker. Anderson recalled how the freak injury was initially misdiagnosed as a torn tricep, leading to his losing the briefcase. He then found out that it was broken blood vessels. You can see the highlights below:

On Winning Money in the Bank:

“So WrestleMania 23, Ford Field, I won the Money in the Bank briefcase. And then fast forward, I had said in a promo that I was going to wait until WrestleMania the following year and cash it in. That was the plan. I mean you know, at the time there really weren’t many plans. It was just sort of — you know, people get injured, people get in trouble, things happen. But I cut that promo at the very least.”

On Being Told He Was Winning the Title:

“And so I’ve got the briefcase, Taker’s the champ. And one night after Smackdown, I got a phone call from Michael Hayes. Michael Hayes called me, ‘Where are you? The boss needs to see you in his office.’ So, I go to the office and Batista was coming out at the time that I was walking in. And he just like gave me a big hug and he was like — just patted me on the back. ‘What’s that all about?’ And I walk in and he says, ‘All right well, we wanted Taker to be the champ for a really long time. He’s tore his biceps, got to have surgery. We need to get the title off him. So next week, we’re going to have you come out and cash in your briefcase and you’re going to be the new champ.’

“And he laid out this whole scenario where, I wasn’t just going to beat him obviously. He was going to be involved in a match, like a cage match which he was going to barely squeak out a victory. And then somebody else was going to come out and do some more damage, and then I was going to come in and basically pick the bones. You know, cash it in, top him one, two, three.

On Going Out With Michael Cole and uh Mark Carrano That Night:

“So that night I went out with Michael Cole and uh Mark Carrano. which, we weren’t like really super tight. I think it was just, we happened to be in the lobby at the same time and like, ‘You want to go grab a couple drinks?’ And they happened to know, they were in the know that this was going to happen. And so they were like buying shots and stuff, and toasting. And I remember like – I’m not superstitious, but I remember thinking like, ‘It hasn’t happened yet. We shouldn’t be celebrating something that hasn’t happened.’

On Getting Injured:

“So then the next week we were in Poughkeepsie. We did a double shot in the same building. And the first show we did this eight-man tag. And I remember Batista pulled me out of the corner, gave me like a little — just pulled my arm, gave me a short clothesline. I went down, I felt something pop in my triceps. And I rolled out and immediately it was like that, where the color was already coming. I remember Fit was standing right there and he was like, ‘That doesn’t look good.’

“So fast forward that night, Hornswoggle drove me to the ER. I got an MRI, and then I went and I waited in my hotel room. Stephanie called me the next day and she said, ‘Ken, you tore your triceps off the bone.’ You’re going to have surgery, you’re going to be out for 8 to 10 months. Unfortunately though, we still need to get the title off of Taker. So we are going to have — Vince’s jet is going to come and pick you up. We’re going to send a car, you’re going to go meet Vince’s jet. The jet’s going to fly you to Penn State for Raw tonight. Edge is going to challenge you for the briefcase and then Edge’s going to go on and do what you were supposed to do with Taker.’ ‘Okay.’ “

On His Reaction To the Situation:

“I remember thinking at the time like, ‘There isn’t any other way you could get title off him? Like, ‘It has to be this way?’ Like, I got a year to cash this in. Even if I’m gone for 10 months, I can come back and cash it in, you know? But I just ‘Okay, whatever. Business is business.’ And I went, I did the thing. I remember Vince was like, ‘What can you do?’ Not much, I could barely move my arm. So they taped it up, padded it all up. And I just had Edge jump me out of the curtain and beat me up all the way to the ring. Throw me in, ring the bell, spear, one, two, three. That’s pretty much how it went down.”

On Finding Out It Wasn’t a Tear:

“Next day, I go down to — I’m in Birmingham, Alabama for James Andrews. And I’m sitting on his table, and he was like, ‘That’s not a tear. You didn’t – that’s not a tear. No, that’s not a tear.’ And he was like — you can tell when there’s a tear, you can feel like a hole there. There’s nothing there. Like ‘Everything’s intact. That’s not a tear.’

“He couldn’t find my MRI. So we ended up I had to do another MRI, which sucked because I’m claustrophobic a little bit… But yeah. Sure enough, comes back a couple hours later. It was just a large hematoma. It was just bunch of broken blood vessels. And he’s like, ‘You’ll be back in like a month.’ It was really, really painful though. I will say, it felt like it — you know, that internal bleeding or whatever.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Shane Douglas with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.