Kenny King (wrestler)
Kenneth Layne is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Kenny King. He is best known for his time with Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling.
After participating in the reality show WWE Tough Enough in 2002, Layne began a career in professional wrestling as Kenny King. From 2005 to 2006, he wrestled for TNA. In 2007, he began to work with ROH, where he teamed with Rhett Titus as the All Night Express, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship. In 2012, King left ROH to rejoin TNA, where he won the TNA X Division Championship twice. In 2015, King returned to ROH, where he won the ROH World Television Championship two times and the ROH World Tag Team Championship twice more. In 2022, King again returned to TNA as part of the stable Honor No More, winning the Impact Digital Media Championship. He left Impact Wrestling once again in October 2023.
Early life
Kenneth Layne was born on July 22, 1981, in Queens, New York. He grew up in Florida. He played football as a strong safety in college. Layne attended Florida State University, before transferring to the University of South Florida. He then relocated to Las Vegas, where he attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He had planned to play football at UNLV, but had to redshirt for his first season at the university.Professional wrestling career
''Tough Enough'' (2002)
Layne tried out for the second season of the World Wrestling Federation's reality television program WWE Tough Enough after seeing an advertisement in 2002. While on the series, he was trained by Al Snow, Hardcore Holly, Chavo Guerrero Jr., and Ivory. Layne was one of the four finalists of the season, which was won by Jackie Gayda and Linda Miles.Independent circuit (2002–2005)
Following Tough Enough, Layne began wrestling on the independent circuit immediately following Tough Enough. He trained under Nick Bockwinkel, and Scott Casey at the Las Vegas Wrestling Academy. In addition to wrestling under his own name, he also occasionally used the ring names "Tough Enough Kenny" and "Kenny King". Layne appeared with Ultimate Pro Wrestling in Anaheim, California on April 25, 2003. He defeated former The Real World cast member Mike Mizanin in what was promoted as a "reality television match". In mid-2003 and early 2004 King worked for Revolution Pro Wrestling in Industry, California. Between 2003 and 2005 he worked for the Alternative Wrestling Show in California as "The Natural" Kenny King.Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2005–2006)
Layne debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the December 3, 2005, episode of TNA Impact!, losing to Abyss in a short squash match. He continued working for TNA throughout the end of 2005 and start of 2006, but failed to win a single match. He was used as a jobber both in singles and tag team competition, losing to wrestlers including Ron Killings, Lance Hoyt, and Monty Brown. In January 2006, he teamed with Buck Quartermaine to lose to the James Gang and Team 3D. Layne was released from TNA in August 2006.Full Impact Pro (2006–2009)
For some of 2006 and most of 2007, King worked primarily for Full Impact Pro. He was part of the "Young, Rich and Ready For Action" stable with Chasyn Rance, Sal Rinauro, Steve Madison, Claudio Castagnoli and Daffney. On November 9, 2007, King and Jason Blade won the FIP Tag Team Championship by defeating the Briscoe Brothers. They reigned for over a year until December 20, 2008, when they lost the championship to Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong.Ring of Honor (2007–2012)
Various storylines (2007–2008)
King made his Ring of Honor debut at Motor City Madness 2007 on September 14, 2007, alongside his YRR teammate Chasyn Rance, when they defeated Mitch Franklin and Alex Payne in a tag team match. After the match, however, the YRR cut a promo, challenging the ROH wrestlers, which led to Bryan Danielson defeating both King and Rance in impromptu singles match. Over the next several months, King competed in tag team matches with some combination of Rance, Sal Rinauro, and Jason Blade to varying degrees of success. At Age of Insanity in August 2008, King challenged Danielson again, but was again unsuccessful, and he went on to lose to Kevin Steen at Night of the Butcher II and Jerry Lynn at Glory by Honor VII.All Night Express (2009–2012)
At The French Connection show, King tagged with Kenny Omega to face the Briscoe Brothers, but abandoned Omega halfway during the match, when Rhett Titus came to ringside. King and Titus left together, showing a new alliance between them. Over the next few months, King and Titus competed both in singles and tag team competition, and unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Steen and El Generico for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Insanity Unleashed. At Steel City Clash, King and Titus revealed their alliance with Austin Aries, when they attacked Aries' former allies, Erick Stevens and Matt Cross, with Aries becoming a mentor to King and Titus.The team garnered a second shot at the ROH World Tag Championship on ROH's television program, Ring of Honor Wrestling, and picked up a series of wins during the Double Feature II tour of Canada, and at the Never Say Die and Validation shows. King lost to Danielson once again in singles competition at Contention, and he and Titus were defeated by The Young Bucks at Manhattan Mayhem III. More wins followed at Violent Tendencies and End of an Age.
At the Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings on August 15, 2009, King beat Lynn. After the match, King and Titus attacked Lynn, and performed a spike piledriver on Lynn, removing Lynn from active competition. He continued on a winning streak, defeating Eddie Kingston and Brent Albright on Ring of Honor Wrestling, before he and Titus defeated The Young Bucks at Clash Of The Contenders. King was part of the initial matches to earn a place in the Pick 6 Conentenders Series rankings, but was unsuccessful. At the Final Battle 2009 pay-per-view, King defeated Roderick Strong and earned the number 4 ranking. On January 29, 2010, King faced Lynn, in Lynn's first match back. Lynn originally won the match, but attacked King after the match was over, causing the referee to reverse the decision, and award King the victory by disqualification. At The Big Bang! pay-per-view on April 3, King lost his Pick Six ranking to Davey Richards. On September 13, 2010, Ring of Honor announced that Layne had signed a contract extension with the promotion.
On November 12, 2010, King participated in ROH's Survival of the Fittest tournament. He defeated El Generico in the first round to advance to the final, a six-man elimination match, where he was the last man eliminated by Eddie Edwards. On December 18 at Final Battle 2010 the All Night Express defeated Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly, announcing their intention of becoming ROH World Tag Team Champions in 2011. On February 26, 2011, at the 9th Anniversary Show, King and Titus failed in their first attempt to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated by The Kings of Wrestling. During the program with the Kings of Wrestling, King and Titus showed signs of a face turn and finalized their turn on March 19 at Manhattan Mayhem IV, after defeating the Briscoe Brothers. However, in a bloody rematch at the second show of Honor Takes Center Stage, The Briscoe Brothers won. On September 17 at Death Before Dishonor IX, the All Night Express defeated the Briscoe Brothers in a ladder match to become the number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On June 24 at Best in the World 2012: Hostage Crisis, King and Titus defeated Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time. After making an appearance for TNA, ROH severed its ties with King on July 5 and five days later officially stripped him and Titus of the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
When asked about his leaving ROH, King said that "I left because there was a bigger opportunity," and "I also left because I had given ROH what I felt was a long enough period of time to convince me to stay and they did a pretty piss poor job of that."
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2012–2015)
Pursuit of the X Division Championship (2012–2013)
On June 24, 2012, King's contract with ROH expired. the July 5 episode of TNA's Impact Wrestling, King wrestled in a match, defeating Lars Only to qualify for the TNA X Division Championship tournament at Destination X. Subsequently, ROH stated that they considered this an unacceptable "breach of his verbal agreement" and severed ties with him. On July 8 at Destination X, King defeated Douglas Williams to qualify for the finals of the X Division Championship tournament. Later that same event, King was defeated by Zema Ion in the final Ultimate X match, which also included Mason Andrews and Sonjay Dutt. King returned to Impact Wrestling on July 26, when he was handpicked by TNA World Heavyweight Champion Austin Aries as the number one contender to Zema Ion's X Division Championship. King ended up losing the match following interference from Aries' rival Bobby Roode. The following week, King teamed with Aries in a tag team match, where they defeated Ion and Roode, with King pinning the X Division Champion for the win. Following the match, King was named the number one contender to the X Division Championship. King received his title opportunity on August 12 at Hardcore Justice, but was defeated by Ion. The following day it was reported that King had signed a contract with TNA. On the December 6 episode of Impact Wrestling, King defeated Kid Kash and Zema Ion to become number one contender for the X Division Championship. Three days later at Final Resolution, King failed in his title challenge against Rob Van Dam. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, King defeated Van Dam in a non-title match, pinning him with his feet on the ropes. The following week, King teased tension between himself and Van Dam after he abandoned Van Dam in a tag team match against Matt Morgan and Joey Ryan. On the January 10, 2013, episode of Impact Wrestling, King defeated Zema Ion to earn the right to face Christian York in a number one contenders match for the X Division Championship at Genesis. However, three days later at the pay-per-view, King was defeated by York. On the February 7 episode of Impact Wrestling, King unsuccessfully challenged Rob Van Dam for the X Division Championship in a three-way match, also involving Zema Ion. Two weeks later, King received another shot at the X Division Championship, but was again defeated by Van Dam.On the February 28 episode of Impact Wrestling, King finally defeated Van Dam to win his first X Division Championship, in a match where if King had lost, he would have been out of the X Division. King made his first successful title defense on March 10 at Lockdown, defeating Christian York and Zema Ion in a three-way match. On the March 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, King defeated Sonjay Dutt and Zema Ion in a three-way match to retain the X Division Championship. King then defended the title against Petey Williams and Zema Ion on the April 18 episode of Impact Wrestling and against Williams and Chris Sabin on the May 16 episode. On June 2 at Slammiversary XI, King lost the X Division Championship to Chris Sabin in a three-way Ultimate X match, also involving Suicide. King lost his rematch on the June 27 episode of Impact Wrestling, after he was pinned by an impostor Suicide in a three-way match, which also included then-champion Chris Sabin and removed him from the title contention. King returned on the September 26 episode of Impact to confront Aries over the fake Suicide stunt, and after attacking Aries, Aries ordered a match right afterwards, which Aries won, and left King with a bad cut on his forehead.