in the United States Army. His father died on April 13, 2006, from cancer. Professional wrestling career Early career (1999–2005) Anderson, under the ring name "Two Rivers Jack," made his debut on September 11, 1999, at a North American Wrestling Federation event in Whitewater, Wisconsin, losing to Golga. He wrestled just twenty-one matches before appearing for the World Wrestling Federation on Jakked in 2001, where he lost to Essa Rios. He occasionally worked as enhancement talent for WWF when shows ran in Wisconsin. Anderson also made an appearance on NWA: Total Nonstop Action's secondary television program, Xplosion. The owner of the promotion, Jeff Jarrett, approached him for a contract but communications broke down. World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-2009) Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005) Upon signing with WWE in February 2005, Anderson was sent to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental territory, where he would remain for six months. When he arrived, Jim Cornette was in charge of the organization and, according to Anderson, did not see potential in his abilities and declined to feature him as more than an occasional bit-player on OVW's programming. When Cornette departed, his replacement, Paul Heyman, showed immediate interest in Anderson, comparing his qualities to The Rock and Steve Austin. Five weeks later, Anderson was called up to WWE's main roster to work on Velocity. He credits Heyman with helping him develop the character with which he would achieve success. Before his first SmackDown! match, he showed himself to be a cocky and arrogant wrestler by taking a microphone and performing his own ring announcement. He referred to himself as "Mr. Anderson" for this match. A few weeks later, to avoid comparisons with the more famous Anderson family (as well as former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson), he changed his name "Ken Kennedy," to "Mr. Kennedy." The change was initially suggested by Heyman and was chosen because it is the middle name of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Undefeated streak (2005–2006) Kennedy, as a heel, defeated Funaki in his SmackDown! debut on August 25. Kennedy also created an ongoing mini-feud with SmackDown! ring announcer Tony Chimel based on Kennedy believing that Chimel's announcing was not done well enough or with sufficient respect, and therefore performing his own introductions or forcing Chimel to introduce him again. Kennedy's self-ring introductions before the match became one of his trademarks. While working on both Velocity and SmackDown!, he was also still working