Mr. Anderson Talks Almost Being Vince McMahon's Storyline Son, What He Was Told About It, More
Recently, Wrestling Inc. Founder and President Raj Giri caught up with former WWE and TNA star, Ken Anderson. In the wide-ranging interview, Giri and Anderson discussed several topics including the rumor that Anderson was originally penciled in to be revealed as Vince McMahon's son on WWE programming. Also, Anderson talked about enlisting Nora Benshoof, formerly known as WWE's Molly Holly, as a trainer for his new professional wrestling school called The Academy: School Of Professional Wrestling, which opened today.
On the subject of being revealed as Vince McMahon's son on WWE television, Anderson admitted that the spot that ultimately went to Hornswoggle was supposed to be his until he was suspended by WWE for violating the company's Wellness Policy.
"I was told [about the angle]. I had conversations with Stephanie and Vince and it was kind of like a big deal. I remember the night that Vince blew himself up in the limousine, Stephanie said, 'hey, I want to tell you something – we've got something really big for you, but I want Vince to tell you himself.' She was pretty excited about it. And then, so we did the buildup for the next few weeks or whatever. And then, I got in trouble and all that went away."
According to Anderson, his business partner at The Academy, Shawn Daivari, and Benshoof are close personal friends from their days together in WWE, and that Benshoof was the first name Daivari mentioned to Anderson as a possible trainer for The Academy. Although Benshoof was reluctant to delve back into the world of professional wrestling, she warmed up to it after the trio took in an independent show together.
"We were always friends and then when he got to WWE, he told me he had become really good friends with Molly Holly, Nora, Molly Holly. And she happened to live in Minneapolis [Minnesota]. And I got to know her through Shawn a little bit, but I never really spent a great deal of time around her. But he became really, really close with her. Those two are thick as thieves. But I will tell you this. She is such a nice person. I really try to be a good human being. I try to learn from my mistakes. I try to recognize that I am flawed. I do make mistakes from time to time. I try to do good things for good people, or just for everybody. Nora makes me feel like a scumbag being around her because she is so frickin nice. It's crazy. So, yeah, those two became really good friends and they've always kept in contact. And when we started talking about, 'hey, who are we going to have with us?', that was the first name that he brought up and he asked her. And I think she was a little tentative about it at first. She really, she's one of those people that got out of the business and she was done with the business. Not still, 'I have a retirement match' and come back a year later and have a retirement match. And she just, she walked away gracefully and that was it, but Shawn talked her into it. And then, we brought her to an independent show and it was just to sort of advertise a little for our school and see some of our prospective students. And when she was there and she saw that show, she fell in love with it again, like, 'okay, we have to do this.'"
The interview will be posted next week here on Wrestling Inc. For more information on The Academy, click here.