Kenny Dykstra

Kenny Dykstra
Doane at a wrestling promotion in February 2010
Ring name(s)	El Diablo[1] Ken Doane[1][2] Kenn Doane[3] Kenn Phoenix[1] Kenny[4] Kenny Dykstra[4]
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[4]
Billed weight	230 lb (100 kg)[4]
Born	March 16, 1986 (1986-03-16) (age 24)[1][5] Southbridge, Massachusetts[1][5]
Billed from	Worcester, Massachusetts[6]
Trained by	Killer Kowalski[2] OVW staff[2]
Debut	2001[2]

Kenneth George Doane^[1] (born March 16, 1986)^[1][5] is an American professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where he wrestled on its Raw and SmackDown brands under the ring names Kenny and Kenny Dykstra.^[7]

Professional wrestler and trainer Killer Kowalski was Doane's trainer, and made his wrestling debut at the age of fifteen in 2001. He began working for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), per WWE request. In May 2003, Doane made his WWE television debut as "Ken Phoenix". During his time in OVW, he won the Television Championship once. After losing the title, Doane became part of the Spirit Squad faction. The team debuted on Raw in January 2006, and won the World Tag Team Championship three months later.

Following the split of the Spirit Squad, Doane was the only member to remain on WWE television. He debuted to a new ring name "Kenny Dykstra". In June 2007, he was drafted to the SmackDown! brand, but was released from his WWE contract in November 2008. He later began working on the independent circuit, wrestling for promotions including Dragon Gate USA and Evolve.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Doane made his professional wrestling debut in 2001 at the age of fifteen.^[2][4] He started his professional wrestling career in the New England area under the name "Broadway" Kenn Phoenix.^[8] He was later trained by professional wrestler and trainer Killer Kowalski in Malden, Massachusetts.^[4][6] After being contacted by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), he was asked to make appearances for their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Doane made his first national television appearance in WWE at the age of 17 on the May 12, 2003 episode of WWE Raw as Ken Phoenix. Along with his brother, Mike Phoenix, he was a participant in Rodney Mack's ongoing "5-Minute White Boy Challenge" where Mack defeated Caucasian wrestlers in under five minutes. Mack defeated the pair in 1:31, forcing them both to submit to his new Blackout finishing hold.^[9] He made another appearance, losing to Lance Storm on an episode of Sunday Night Heat before being officially signed to a developmental deal and to OVW full time on June 4, 2004.^[4] On June 3, 2005, Doane had his first match, at the promotion, against Kenzo Suzuki, whom Doane defeated.^[4] Three weeks later, on June 25, 2005, he won the Television Championship from Deuce Shade.^[10] He had successful title defenses, but Doane lost the title to CM Punk on November 9, 2005.^[4]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2008)

Raw (2006–2007)

Doane in a wrestling event in 2010.

After losing the Television Championship, Doane became a part of the Spirit Squad, a faction using the in-ring personas of male cheerleaders, using the name "Kenny".^[4] On the January 23, 2006, episode of Raw, the group helped Jonathan Coachman win a Royal Rumble qualifying match against Jerry "The King" Lawler by performing cheers for Coachman and distracting Lawler.^[11] They later became a part of the on-going scripted feud between WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. The villainous McMahon brought in the Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple handicap matches.^[12][13]

They also continued wrestling in the tag team division, and on April 3, on Raw, the Squad won the World Tag Team Championship when Kenny and Mikey, with outside help from the other three Squad members, defeated the team of Kane and The Big Show.^[14][15] After winning the championship, all five members of the team were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship.^[5]

Three weeks later, McMahon scheduled another handicap match, with the Spirit Squad facing Michaels.^[16][17] The match never started, however; instead the Spirit Squad brutally beat down Michaels, ripping apart his ring attire and, as part of the storyline, shattered his knee with a steel chair.^[16] McMahon then called Triple H to the ring to attack Michaels with a sledgehammer; however, Kenny snatched the sledgehammer away from him, disrespecting Triple H, which led to him attacking the group.^[16] Triple H and Michaels revived their former team, D-Generation X (DX), and began a feud with the Spirit Squad.^[18][19] DX played various sophomoric pranks on the team and the McMahons (Vince and his son Shane), as well as defeating the Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches at Vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at Saturday Night's Main Event.^{[19][20][21][22]}

At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, the team also wrestled other teams in Raw's tag division over the World Tag Team Championship. The group successfully defended the tag team championship against the teams of Jim Duggan and Eugene, Charlie Haas and Viscera, and Snitsky and Val Venis.^[20] They then entered a lengthy feud with The Highlanders,^[23][24] whom they eventually defeated to retain the title at Unforgiven.^[25]

The Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with separate members losing singles matches to Ric Flair on consecutive episodes of Raw.^[26][27][28] After two consecutive losses to the debuting Cryme Tyme, Kenny attacked Mikey on the October 23 episode of Raw, and announced that he was going to defeat Flair. Kenny was successful, despite Flair attempting to even the odds by bringing other WWE Legends (Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper) to the ring with him.^[29][30] It was then announced that Flair and a legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November.^[30] The fans chose Piper, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the championship.^[31]

The group disbanded on the November 27 Raw after losing a five-on-three match against Flair and DX.^[32] Later that night, DX placed all five members into a crate stamped "OVW, Louisville, Kentucky", a reference to the developmental territory from which the Squad had come.^[33]

After the breakup of the Spirit Squad, he debuted new attire, new theme music, and a new name; Kenny Dykstra, which was an homage to baseball player Lenny Dykstra.^[7][34] He became interested in joining the group Rated-RKO, which consisted of Edge and Randy Orton. In order to join, he was told to prove himself first.^[35] He continued the feud with Ric Flair that led to the breakup of the Spirit Squad, managing to pick up three straight victories over Flair before finally losing to him.^[4] After the feud with Flair, Dykstra become a mainstay on Raw's sister show Heat, having feuds with both Eugene and Val Venis.

He then formed a tag team with Johnny Nitro,^[36] but the duo split when Kenny was drafted to the SmackDown! brand on June 17, 2007, as part of the WWE Supplemental Draft while Nitro was drafted to ECW.^[37]

SmackDown! and departure (2007–2008)

Dykstra made his debut on the July 6, 2007 episode of SmackDown! in a losing effort to the re-debuting Chuck Palumbo.^[38] On the July 20, 2007 episode of SmackDown!, Dykstra participated in a 20 man battle royal for the World Heavyweight Championship and was eliminated by Chris Masters; later on that evening, he lost to Matt Hardy in singles competition.^[39]

Dykstra formed an on-screen relationship with Victoria on the July 27 episode of SmackDown!.^[40] The two teamed together in mixed tag team matches, usually against Jimmy Wang Yang and Torrie Wilson or Chuck Palumbo and Michelle McCool.^[41] They also regularly accompanied each other to the ring for matches.^[42][43]

After a leave of absence from television in the first half of 2008, Dykstra made his return on the August 15 episode of SmackDown, losing to WWE Champion Triple H. On November 10, 2008, WWE announced Doane had been released from his contract.^[44]

Independent circuit (2009–present)

In 2009, Doane began working for Dragon Gate USA under his real name.^[2]

On December 3, 2009, it was announced that Doane would be joining recently opened promotion Evolve as Kenn Doane.^[3] He debuted at the promotions first show on January 16, 2010, in a loss to Jimmy Jacobs.^[45]

On March 9, 2010, Doane, under his real name, wrestled in a tryout dark match for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, losing to Homicide.^[46]

Other media

Doane appeared on Seducing Cindy, a Fox Reality series^[47] that follows Cindy Margolis, once the most downloaded woman on the Internet, as she searches for a new love. The program premiered on January 30, 2010.^[48] Doane made it to the final five, one episode away from the season finale, but was eliminated.

Personal life

Doane was born to Ken and Vickie Doane^[6] in Southbridge, Massachusetts. His parents were supportive of his decision in becoming a professional wrestler.^[6] He has an older brother named Mike. Doane attended Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton, Massachusetts.^[6]

Doane was engaged to former WWE Diva Mickie James.^[49]

In wrestling

Doane performing his "Sky High Leg Drop" Doane performing a suplex.

• Finishing moves
  • Doane-Nation^[4] (Diving clothesline)^[2]
  • RK-Doane (Jumping cutter)^[2]
  • Sky High Leg Drop^[2][3] (High-angle diving leg drop)^[2][7]
  • Snap swinging neckbreaker^[3]

• Signature moves
  • Arm drag rolled through and followed into multiple short-arm clotheslines^[2]
  • Belly to back suplex lifted and dropped into a neckbreaker slam^[2] – OVW
  • Elevated neckbreaker^[2]

• Managers
  • Kenny Bolin^[4]
  • Victoria^[4]

Championships and accomplishments

• Ohio Valley Wrestling
  • OVW Television Championship (1 time)^[10]

• Premiere Wrestling Federation Northeast
  • PWF–NE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Johnny Curtis^[50]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #123 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in PWI 500 in 2007

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – as a member of the Spirit Squad^[15]

See also

• Spirit Squad

References

External links

• Dragon Gate USA profile
• Evolve Wrestling profile
• December 16, 2008 Audio Interview with Kenn Doane aka Kenny Dykstra
• Kenny Dykstra Interview with In Your Head on Nov 27, 08
• Interview Recap with In Your Head (Nov 27, 08)