Patrick Joseph Michael Kenney (born May 26, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and baseball player, better known by his ring name, Simon Diamond. He is currently working for the National Wrestling Alliance as Director of Talent Relations. Diamond is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1998 to 2001.
Early life
Kenney attended the Salesianum School for Boys in Wilmington, Delaware, graduating in 1986. An avid baseball player as a teenager, he was approached by the San Diego Padres to play Major League Baseball as a catcher in 1986. Kenney decided not to sign the contract he was offered, opting to pursue a college education first. Kenney took a job at the Out Of Bounds sports bar as a bartender and attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a baseball scholarship, earning a bachelor's degree in English. He originally planned to play baseball professionally after graduating, but was forced to reconsider after suffering a severe shoulder injury. Kenney's prior baseball career would later be used as an angle when he would visit the training camp of the 2005 world champions, the Chicago White Sox.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1991–1998) In 1991, while working as a marketing executive for PepsiCo, Kenney was introduced to wrestling trainer Jim Kettner. Kenney decided to become a professional wrestler, and was trained by Kettner in Salem, New Jersey. Once his training was complete, he worked for Kettner's East Coast Wrestling Association as "Lance Diamond", teaming with Steve Corino.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1998–2001)
In May 1998, Kenney was hired by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and wrestled his first match against Nova in York, Pennsylvania. In August 1998, he changed his name to "Simon Diamond", taking the name "Simon" from the real surname of his mentor, Dean Malenko. Kenney was paired with Swinger in May 2000 during an ECW World Tag Team Championship tournament and the two later formed a tag team which would endure for five more years.
Diamond and Swinger joined forces with C. W. Anderson in mid-2000, and began to ascend the ranks of the promotion.
Independent circuit (2001–2003) The impending bankruptcy of ECW in 2001 forced Diamond to seek employment elsewhere, and he began negotiations with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) employee John Laurinaitis, which fell through when WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.
Diamond worked for various independent promotions, including USA Professional Wrestling, Border City Wrestling and World Wrestling All-Stars. In Major League Wrestling, he formed The Extreme Horsemen with his two former allies Steve Corino and C. W. Anderson. Justin Credible was also a member, and J. J. Dillon briefly managed them before MLW folded.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Impact Wrestling (2003–2017)
On July 9, 2003, Kenney and Swinger appeared on a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) pay-per-view, beginning a feud with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). Enlisting the services of manager Glenn Gilbertti, the duo won the NWA World Tag Team Championships on August 27, 2003, and held the titles until November 19, when the titles were held up following a controversial ending to a match with the 3 Live Kru.
Kenney and Swinger separated in 2004 and engaged in a feud, which saw Kenney turn face and embrace his Irish heritage, wrestling as "Irish" Pat Kenney. After being briefly renamed The Empire Saint, Kenney was not booked by TNA for several months, during which time he spent three weeks competing in Japan with the Zero-1 promotion.
Kenney returned to TNA on June 19, 2005, at Slammiversary as the heel Simon Diamond once more. At Slammiversary, Kenney teamed with Trytan (whom he referred to as his "insurance policy") to defeat Sonny Siaki and Apolo. The next month, Trytan was gone, and at No Surrender 2005 Diamond presented David Young, suggesting that, in Young, he had found "a diamond in the rough". Elix Skipper joined with Diamond and Young at Sacrifice on August 14.
In September 2005, Kenney spent two weeks in India, where he and fellow TNA employees Sonjay Dutt and Shark Boy visited several cities, promoting the debut of Impact! on ESPN Star Sports. On September 28 in Bhopal, a riot broke out when 1,000 fans were excluded from an event after attendance exceeded expectations. None of the three TNA wrestlers were injured.