Former WWE Star Almost Had An A-Hole Pun For His Ring Name

Ex-WWE Star Almost Had An ‘A-Hole’ Pun For His Ring Name

February 10, 2026

This former WWE Superstar almost had a completely different ring name — with a hilarious twist.

Speaking on his Mic Check with Mr. Anderson podcast, Ken Anderson (formerly known as Mr. Kennedy) recalled a meeting with Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis in which his WWE ring name was decided.

“And then [Vince McMahon] finally said, ‘Your name… we can’t use Anderson. I’ll tell you why. Because of Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson, and Gene Anderson… like, I don’t want people thinking that this is nepotism. I don’t want people thinking that you are here because you’re related to them.’ Which is bulls*it, right? Like, that’s not why,” Anderson said.

Kennedy recalled Laurinaitis asking him if he had any catchphrase, to which Ken delivered one that included the word “a**hole.”

“And I said, ‘Yeah: Nice guys finish last. Thank God I’m an a**hole,’” Anderson recounted, before revealing that McMahon shot it down due to its explicit nature, only for Laurinaitis to suggest a rather inappropriate ring name instead.

“‘No, we can’t say that. We can’t say that on TV.’ And then Johnny was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, hang on a second. What if your name was like… Adam Hole?’ So you could say: Nice guys finish last, thank God I’m an A-hole!’

“And I remember there was just a silence that came over the room, and Vince… looking down at the ground, and he looked up at me and he goes, ‘What do you think about that?’

And I was like, ‘You know, that’s a great idea… that’s pretty funny. However, I feel like that’s… kind of gimmicky, and runs the risk of being super gimmicky, and that sounds like somebody that would be here for a cup of coffee, and I plan on being here for a really long time.’

“It was like I passed the test. Because I f*cking swear to God, if I would have said ‘yes,’ he would have been like, ‘Alright Kevin, make sure that he’s Adam Hole tonight. Get ‘Adam Hole’ on his Titantron.’”