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 Doane in 2009 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kenneth George Doane[6] (1986-03-16)March 16, 1986 (age 39)[6][7] |
| Alma mater | Nichols College |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ken Doane Kenn Doane Kenny[1][2] Kenny Dykstra[2] "Simply" Stan Shooter[2] Ken Phoenix |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Worcester, Massachusetts[3] |
| Trained by | Killer Kowalski[4] Ohio Valley Wrestling[4] |
| Debut | 2001[4] |
| Retired | April 20, 2021[5] |
Kenneth George Doane (born March 16, 1986) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler. He is signed toWWE as aproducer, and as a trainer at theWWE Performance Center. During his past time in WWE, he was known asKenny Dykstra, andKenny as a member of TheSpirit Squad. Outside of WWE, his most significant appearance in a major promotion was forMajor League Wrestling (MLW) in a tag team with Squad memberMike Mondo during 2019.
Doane was trained byKiller Kowalski and made his wrestling debut at the age of fifteen in 2001. He began working forOhio 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 theTelevision Championship once. After losing the title, Doane became part ofThe Spirit Squad faction. The team debuted on Raw in January 2006 and won theWorld Tag Team Championship three months later.
Following the Spirit Squad's dissolution, he began working as "Kenny Dykstra", before being released from his WWE contract in November 2008. He later began working on the independent circuit, wrestling for promotions includingDragon Gate USA andEvolve.
Doane would end up working as a WWE producer and would coach on the side in early 2021.[8]
Doane made his professional wrestling debut in 2001 at the age of fifteen.[4][2] He started his professional wrestling career in theNew England area under thename "Broadway" Kenn Phoenix.[9] He was later trained by professional wrestler and trainerKiller Kowalski inMalden, Massachusetts.[2][3] After being contacted byWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), he was asked to make appearances for their developmental territoryOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Doane made his first national television appearance in WWE at the age of 17 on the May 12, 2003 episode ofWWE Raw as Ken Phoenix. Along with his brother, Mike Phoenix, he was a participant inRodney 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 newBlackout finishing hold.[10] He made another appearance, losing toLance Storm on an episode ofSunday Night Heat before being officially signed to a developmental deal and to OVW full-time on June 4, 2004.[2] On June 3, 2005, Doane had his first match, at the promotion, againstKenzo Suzuki, whom Doane defeated.[2] Three weeks later, on June 25, 2005, he won theTelevision Championship fromDeuce Shade.[11] He had successful title defenses, but Doane lost the title toCM Punk on November 9, 2005.[2]
After losing the Television Championship, Doane became a part of theSpirit Squad, afaction using thein-ring personas of male cheerleaders, using the name "Kenny".[2] On the January 23, 2006, episode ofRaw, the group helpedJonathan Coachman win aRoyal Rumble qualifying match againstJerry "The King" Lawler by performing cheers for Coachman and distracting Lawler.[12] They later became a part of the ongoing scripted feud between WWE chairmanVince McMahon andShawn Michaels. Thevillainous McMahon brought in the Spirit Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiplehandicap matches.[13][14]
They also continued wrestling in the tag team division, and on April 3, onRaw, the Spirit Squad won theWorld Tag Team Championship when Kenny andMikey, with outside help from the other three Spirit Squad members, defeated the team ofBig Show and Kane.[15][16] After winning the championship, all five members of the team were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship.[7] Also, Kenny became the second youngest wrestler to win a title in WWE afterRene Dupree, at the age of 20 years and 18 days; he was surpassed byTyler Bate in 2017.[17]
Three weeks later, McMahon scheduled another handicap match, with the Spirit Squad facing Michaels.[18][19] The match never started, however; instead the Spirit Squad brutally beat down Michaels, ripping apart his ring attire and, as part of thestoryline, shattered his knee with achair.[18] McMahon then calledTriple 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.[18] Triple H and Michaels revived their former team,D-Generation X (DX), and began a feud with the Spirit Squad.[20][21] DX played various sophomoric pranks on the team and the McMahons (Vince and his sonShane), as well as defeating the Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches atVengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match atSaturday Night's Main Event XXXIII.[21][22][23][24]
At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, the team also wrestled other teams inRaw's tag division over the World Tag Team Championship. The group successfully defended the tag team championship against the teams ofJim Duggan andEugene,Charlie Haas andViscera, andSnitsky andVal Venis.[22] They then entered a lengthy feud withThe Highlanders,[25][26] whom they eventually defeated to retain the title atUnforgiven.[27]
The Spirit Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with separate members losing singles matches toRic Flair on consecutive episodes ofRaw.[28][29][30] After two consecutive losses to the debutingCryme Tyme, Kenny attacked Mikey on the October 23 episode ofRaw, 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.[31][32] It was then announced that Flair and a legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at theCyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November.[32] The fans chose Piper, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the championship.[33]
The group disbanded on the November 27Raw after losing a five-on-three match against Flair and DX.[34] Later that night, DX placed all five members into a crate stamped "OVW,Louisville, Kentucky", a reference to the developmental territory from which the Spirit Squad had come.[35]
After the breakup of the Spirit Squad, he was repackaged as Kenny Dykstra – an homage to baseball playerLenny Dykstra – with new attire andentrance music.[1][36] He became interested in joining the groupRated-RKO, which consisted ofEdge andRandy Orton. In order to join, he was told to prove himself first.[37] He continued the feud with Ric Flair, managing to pick up three straight victories (including atNew Year's Revolution) before finally losing to him on the January 15, 2007, episode ofRaw.[2] Dykstra competed in the2007 Royal Rumble match and got eliminated by Edge. After his feud with Flair, Dykstra became a mainstay onRaw's sister showHeat, having feuds with bothEugene and Val Venis.
He then formed a tag team withJohnny Nitro,[38] but the duo split when Dykstra was drafted to theSmackDown! brand on June 17, 2007, as part of theWWE Supplemental Draft.[39]
Dykstra made his debut on the July 6 episode ofSmackDown! in a losing effort to the re-debutingChuck Palumbo.[40] On the July 20 episode ofSmackDown!, Dykstra participated in a 20-manbattle royal for theWorld Heavyweight Championship and was eliminated byChris Masters; later on that evening, he lost toMatt Hardy in singles competition.[41]
Dykstra formed anon-screen relationship withVictoria on the July 27 episode ofSmackDown!.[42] The two teamed together inmixed tag team matches, usually againstJimmy Wang Yang andTorrie Wilson orChuck Palumbo andMichelle McCool.[43] They also regularly accompanied each other to the ring for matches.[44][45] After a leave of absence from television in the first half of 2008, Dykstra made his return on the August 15 episode ofSmackDown, losing toWWE ChampionTriple H. On November 10, 2008, WWE announced Doane had been released from his contract.[46]
In 2009, Doane began working forDragon Gate USA under his real name.[4] On December 3, 2009, it was announced that Doane would be joining recently opened promotionEvolve as Kenn Doane.[47] He debuted at the promotions first show on January 16, 2010, in a loss toJimmy Jacobs.[48]
On March 9, 2010, Doane, under his real name, wrestled in a tryout dark match forTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling, losing toHomicide.[2] On November 15, 2011, Doane wrestled a dark match for WWE at theSmackDown tapings inBridgeport, Connecticut, losing toJustin Gabriel.[49] In September 2014, Doane took part inChikara's2014 King of Trios tournament, using his Spirit Squad character and teaming with Johnny and Mikey.[50] After a win overSinn Bodhi and the Odditorium (Qefka the Quiet and Sir Oliver Grimsly) on September 19, the Spirit Squad was eliminated from the tournament in the second round on September 20 by the Golden Trio (Dasher Hatfield,Icarus, andMark Angelosetti).[51]
On November 12, 2016, wrestling asThe Spirit Squad, Doane along withMikey captured the NYWC Tag Team Championship from Hounds of Hatred (Boo and Bam Sullivan) at Firestorm 3.[52] 15 days later, Spirit Squad lost the titles back to Hounds of Hatred.[52] AtRing of Honor television tapings in April 2017, Kenny and Mikey unsuccessfully challengedThe Young Bucks for theROH World Tag Team Championship.[53] On July 24, 2019, it was announced that Squad members Dykstra and Mike Mondo were now signed toMajor League Wrestling (MLW). They would go on to debut at that month'sNever Say Never show.[54] Kenny announced on April 20, 2021, through Twitter that he was retired from in-ring action.
In late 2016, Doane, as Kenny, and Mikey returned to WWE for a short storyline with Dolph Ziggler (formerly Nicky in the Spirit Squad). On October 4, onSmackDown, they utilised their Spirit Squad characters to taunt Ziggler about his time in the Spirit Squad, before attacking him at the behest of theIntercontinental ChampionThe Miz andMaryse.[55] Five days later, at theNo Mercy pay-per-view, he and Mikey tried to distract Ziggler in hiscareer vs. title match under Maryse's command, but were unsuccessful in doing so.[56] On the October 11 episode ofSmackDown, Kenny and Mikey faced Ziggler in a two-on-one handicap match; Ziggler won but was then attacked by The Miz and saved byRhyno andHeath Slater.[57] Kenny and Mikey unsuccessfully challenged Slater and Rhyno for theWWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship on October 25.[58] They appeared throughout November in tag team matches, before disappearing off television.
On October 6, 2021, Doane was reportedly rehired by WWE to work as a trainer at theWWE Performance Center.[59] Two months later, he began working as aproducer onRaw andSmackDown.[60]
As a role of a producer, Doane is seen occasionally breaking up brawls between wrestlers such as restrainingKevin Owens who foughtThe Bloodline (The Usos andSolo Sikoa) on the January 16, 2023 episode ofRaw as he was among the officials separating those men.[61]
Chelsea Green mentioned on the Busted Open Radio Podcast, that Doane is one of the crucial producers to help assist her advance her character.
Doane appeared onSeducing Cindy, aFox Reality series[62] that followsCindy Margolis, once the most downloaded woman on the Internet, as she searches for a new love. The program premiered on January 30, 2010.[63] Doane made it to the final five, one episode away from the season finale, but was eliminated.
In 2013, while rehabbing a knee injury, Doane penned his first children's book entitledBilly's Bully. The book was released in June 2013.[64]
Doane was born to Ken and Vickie Doane[3] inSouthbridge, Massachusetts. His parents were supportive of his decision in becoming a professional wrestler.[3] He has an older brother named Mike. Doane attendedBay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School inCharlton, Massachusetts[3] and Nichols College inDudley, Massachusetts.
Doane was formerly engaged to fellow professional wrestlerMickie James.[65]
In 2012, Doane enrolled inNichols College where he started playing football. He played as atight end andlinebacker.[66]
a Kenny defended the championship with eitherJohnny,Mitch,Nicky, orMikey under theFreebird Rule.
And then there's Doane, who WWE inexplicably renamed after former Philadelphia Phillies/New York Mets star Lenny Dykstra
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