Early career (2001–2005) Doane made his professional wrestling debut in 2001 at the age of fifteen. He started his professional wrestling career in the
New England area under the
name "Broadway" Kenn Phoenix. He was later trained by professional wrestler and trainer
Killer Kowalski in
Malden, Massachusetts. After being contacted by
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), he was asked to make appearances for their developmental territory
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Doane made his first national television appearance in WWE at the age of 17 on the May 12, 2003 episode of
WWE Raw as Ken Phoenix. Along with his brother, Mike Phoenix, he was a participant in
Rodney 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 new
Blackout finishing hold. He made another appearance, losing to
Lance Storm on an episode of
Sunday Night Heat before being officially signed to a developmental deal and to OVW full-time on June 4, 2004. They later became a part of the ongoing scripted feud between WWE chairman
Vince McMahon and
Shawn Michaels. The
villainous McMahon brought in the Spirit Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple
handicap matches. in the ring, including Kenny on the right They also continued wrestling in the tag team division, and on April 3, on
Raw, the Spirit Squad won the
World Tag Team Championship when Kenny and
Mikey, with outside help from the other three Spirit Squad members, defeated the team of
Big Show and Kane. After winning the championship, all five members of the team were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship. Three weeks later, McMahon scheduled another handicap match, with the Spirit Squad facing Michaels. The match never started, however; instead the Spirit Squad brutally beat down Michaels, ripping apart his ring attire and, as part of the
storyline, shattered his knee with a
chair. DX played various sophomoric pranks on the team and the McMahons (Vince and his son
Shane), as well as defeating the Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches at
Vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at ''
Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII''. At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, the team also wrestled other teams in
Raw's tag division over the World Tag Team Championship. The group successfully defended the tag team championship against the teams of
Jim Duggan and
Eugene,
Charlie Haas and
Viscera, and
Snitsky and
Val Venis. whom they eventually defeated to retain the title at
Unforgiven. The Spirit Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with separate members losing singles matches to
Ric Flair on consecutive episodes of
Raw. After two consecutive losses to the debuting
Cryme Tyme, Kenny attacked Mikey on the October 23 episode of
Raw, 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. It was then announced that Flair and a legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at the
Cyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November. The group disbanded on the November 27
Raw after losing a five-on-three match against Flair and DX. 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.
Singles competition (2006–2008) After the breakup of the Spirit Squad, he was repackaged as Kenny Dykstra – an homage to baseball player
Lenny Dykstra – with new attire and
entrance music. He became interested in joining the group
Rated-RKO, which consisted of
Edge and
Randy Orton. In order to join, he was told to prove himself first. He continued the feud with Ric Flair, managing to pick up three straight victories (including at
New Year's Revolution) before finally losing to him on the January 15, 2007, episode of
Raw. but the duo split when Dykstra was drafted to the
SmackDown! brand on June 17, 2007, as part of the
WWE Supplemental Draft. Dykstra made his debut on the July 6 episode of
SmackDown! in a losing effort to the re-debuting
Chuck Palumbo. On the July 20 episode of
SmackDown!, Dykstra participated in a 20-man
battle royal for the
World Heavyweight Championship and was eliminated by
Chris Masters; later on that evening, he lost to
Matt Hardy in singles competition. Dykstra formed an
on-screen relationship with
Victoria on the July 27 episode of
SmackDown!. The two teamed together in
mixed tag team matches, usually against
Jimmy Wang Yang and
Torrie Wilson or
Chuck Palumbo and
Michelle McCool. They also regularly accompanied each other to the ring for matches. After a leave of absence from television in the first half of 2008, Dykstra made his return on the August 15 episode of
SmackDown, losing to
WWE Champion Triple H. On November 10, 2008, WWE announced Doane had been released from his contract.
Various promotions (2009–2021) In 2009, Doane began working for
Dragon Gate USA under his real name. He debuted at the promotions first show on January 16, 2010, in a loss to
Jimmy Jacobs. On March 9, 2010, Doane, under his real name, wrestled in a tryout dark match for
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, losing to
Homicide. In September 2014, Doane took part in
Chikara's
2014 King of Trios tournament, using his Spirit Squad character and teaming with Johnny and Mikey. After a win over
Sinn 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, and
Mark Angelosetti). On November 12, 2016, wrestling as
The Spirit Squad, Doane along with
Mikey captured the NYWC Tag Team Championship from Hounds of Hatred (Boo and Bam Sullivan) at Firestorm 3. At
Ring of Honor television tapings in April 2017, Kenny and Mikey unsuccessfully challenged
The Young Bucks for the
ROH World Tag Team Championship. On July 24, 2019, it was announced that Squad members Dykstra and Mike Mondo were now signed to
Major League Wrestling (MLW). They would go on to debut at that month's
Never Say Never show. Kenny announced on April 20, 2021, through Twitter that he was retired from in-ring action.
Return to WWE (2016) 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, on
SmackDown, they utilised their Spirit Squad characters to taunt Ziggler about his time in the Spirit Squad, before attacking him at the behest of the
Intercontinental Champion The Miz and
Maryse. Five days later, at the
No Mercy pay-per-view, he and Mikey tried to distract Ziggler in his
career vs. title match under Maryse's command, but were unsuccessful in doing so. On the October 11 episode of
SmackDown, Kenny and Mikey faced Ziggler in a two-on-one handicap match; Ziggler won but was then attacked by The Miz and saved by
Rhyno and
Heath Slater. Kenny and Mikey unsuccessfully challenged Slater and Rhyno for the
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship on October 25. They appeared throughout November in tag team matches, before disappearing off television.
Second return to WWE (2021–present) On October 6, 2021, Doane was reportedly rehired by WWE to work as a trainer at the
WWE Performance Center. Two months later, he began working as a
producer on
Raw and
SmackDown. As a role of a producer, Doane is seen occasionally breaking up brawls between wrestlers such as restraining
Kevin Owens who fought
The Bloodline (
The Usos and
Solo Sikoa) on the January 16, 2023 episode of
Raw as he was among the officials separating those men.
Chelsea Green mentioned on the Busted Open Radio Podcast, that Doane is one of the crucial producers to help assist her advance her character. ==Other media==