Mr. Kennedy drew a unique comparison between the heel heat JBL was able to get in Italy as a diametrically opposed reaction to how Bad Bunny was received in Puerto Rico.
As he expounded upon this JBL and Bad Bunny binary of crowd reactions, Mr Kennedy said [h/t 99.9 Punk World Radio FM’s Elite Wrestle Talk],
I have been in countries around the world with JBL, I have never experienced the type of heat he generated. The boos would make your skin rumble, it was so loud, so deafening.”
“We were in Italy one night, and I was injured. I tore my Lat earlier in the tour, so they were having me announce the main event. The main event that night was JBL vs. Mark Henry.”
“They had me announce JBL, and he started singing America the Beautiful, and he sang it terribly, completely off key, and all at once you hear the crowd start this, they were chanting almost.”
“It just got louder and louder, and they were singing their own national anthem, and the building was rumbling, it was such a cool experience.”
“It was the opposite of, you ever see when Bad Bunny came to the ring in Puerto Rico? It was the opposite of that. The heat version of that.
Mr. Kennedy open to an AEW move someday
Mr. Kennedy does not seem opposed to the idea of embarking on another big tenure in a major wrestling company after big past splashes in WWE as well as TNA. An intrigue regarding adding All Elite Wrestling to his story was expressed by Mr. Kennedy in the referenced interview above. The former multi-time TNA champion mentioned that he does still have gas in the tank and has a desire to still entertain the masses.
Mr. Kennedy also mentioned that he felt like when he entered the business as a performer, the industry largely moved out of the kind of storytelling that was emblematic of the Attitude Era. Kennedy mentioned that AEW seemed to be engaging in what he saw as edgier content and felt like that kind of creative freedom isn’t something he ever really got to tap into during his prior efforts as a professional wrestler.
Kennedy also has a role in training the likes of Julia Hart, as well as Dante and Darius Martin, with a professed desire to collaborate with them on something. It remains to be seen if we see a more macabre version of Mr. Kennedy come out with Julia Hart but the idea of Kennedy coming over to AEW would undoubtedly draw the intrigue of several fans within the wrestling world.
