Kenny King

Kenneth Layne (born July 22, 1981) is an American professional wrestler, actor, dancer, and television personality better known by his ring name Kenny King.

He is best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he is a former TNA X Division Champion and Impact Digital Media Champion.

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 University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

He had planned to play football at UNLV, but had to redshirt for his first season at the university.

At one point, Layne worked as a chippendale in Las Vegas while becoming a professional wrestler.

Layne has a daughter.

He is of Guyanese heritage through his father.

Layne participated in WWE's reality show Tough Enough in 2002 and, after being one of the 4 finalist, he began a career in pro wrestling as Kenny King, working on promotions like Total Nonstop Action Wrestling or Full Impact Pro.

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, Bob 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.

Layne then 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 (and future Tough Enough contestant) 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.

Layne debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) 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.

For some of 2006 and most of 2007, King worked primarily for Full Impact Pro (FIP).

He was part of the "Young, Rich and Ready For Action" (The YRR) stable with Chasyn Rance, Sal Rinauro, Steve Madison, Claudio Castagnoli and Daffney.

In 2007, he began to work with Ring of Honor (ROH), where he was paired with Rhett Titus as the All Night Express.

The duo won the ROH World Tag Team Championship but after an appearance with TNA, the team was stripped from the titles and King left ROH and joined TNA.

On November 9, 2007, King and Jason Blade won the FIP Tag Team Championship by defeating the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark).

King made his Ring of Honor (ROH) 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.

They reigned for over a year until December 20, 2008, when they lost the championship to Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong.

Between 2012 and 2015, King worked with TNA and won the TNA X Division Championship twice.

In 2015, he left TNA and returned to ROH, where he was paired again with Titus and Caprice Coleman as The Rebellion.

He would win the ROH World Television Championship two times and the ROH World Tag Team Championship twice with Dragon Lee as part of La Facción Ingobernable.

In 2022, King left ROH again and joined TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling, as part of Honor No More, a stable formed by ROH wrestlers.

In 2023, King won the Impact Digital Media Championship.