Ken Anderson Recalls the End Of His WWE Run, Says Raw Was ‘Miserable’ For Him

Ken Anderson says that his time in WWE was great when he was on Smackdown, but got much less enjoyable when he moved to Raw. Anderson was with WWE from 2005 through 2009. At one point he was being fast tracked for stardom, but he was waylaid by injuries and his star heavily diminished when he was drafted to Raw in June of 2007. He was released in May of 2009.

Anderson looked back at his time in the company during an interview with Shane Douglas. Anderson recalled how his time on Smackdown was great thanks to talent who tried to lift everyone up, but that Raw was very much not that way. You can see the highlights below:

On The Difference Between Raw & Smackdown:

“There was a difference between the two sides. There was a Raw and Smackdown split, right? At the time there was a definitive brand split, and I was on Smackdown. And I always I always talk about like — and it just is what it is. I’m not really complaining, I’m not trying to bury people, but it just was this way at the time. You had guys on the Smackdown side — Kane, Undertaker, Batista, Finley, Booker T, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, all these guys. And they were all at the top of the mountain and they were throwing rope ladders over the side. And they were like extending their hand and saying, ‘Come on, we can all exist up here. The air is fine up here.’ They would always every single one of those guys would pull me aside when I’d come back from my match and help me, or if I went to them specifically.”

“And I felt like on the other side, on the Raw side, guys were dumping buckets of hot oil over the side and kicking boulders down and stuff like that.”

On the Identities of the Brands At the Time:

“So I think that — and probably I’m I’m probably biased, because I was there. But I felt like Raw was definitely the flagship show. It was definitely the a show from a business standpoint, from a Vince standpoint. And Smackdown was the B-show, but it was a far superior product I believe. The wrestling, the talent list. And you know, guys would just go out there. Like I remember Booker T and Chris Benoit had this best of seven series. And they would go out and do like three segments, and they would know the finish. And like, they would just call everything on the fly. Like, just watching master classes week after week after week.”

On the Raw Talent At the Time:

“It was Shawn [Michaels], it was Triple H, John Cena. Those guys I felt like were, ‘Stay off the mountain.'”

On Going To Raw:

“Eventually I got drafted over to Raw. So then I was on Raw, and I still felt [like he went from a supportive atmosphere] and like, a rocket ship to now. I remember I worked with — I had no problems working with all these guys. And then suddenly I worked Triple H on a house show. And then I went from, you know, being able to work to, ‘I’m too stiff in the ring. I’m too clunky, I’m this, I’m difficult to work with.’

“And it was really it was really weird and frustrating. I went from — people would ask me like, ‘Is it everything you ever thought it would be?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ It was awesome. when I was first there. And then the last year and a half was miserable for me.”

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