Kenneth John Benkowski, better known by his ring name, Kenny "Sodbuster" Jay, was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association.
15 Facts About Kenny Jay
1.
2.
Kenny Jay was often paired with fellow AWA jobber Jake "The Milkman" Milliman in tag team matches.
3.
Kenny Jay was born on March 27,1937, in Holdingford, Minnesota.
4.
Kenny Jay's wrestling career took a hiatus when he joined the US Army for a two-year stint.
5.
Whenever a new name would come in, they would give them to Kenny Jay to make them look good.
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Kenny Jay used his mat-based scientific wrestling style with the likes of Mad Dog Vachon, The Crusher, Verne Gagne, Jesse The Body Ventura, Jerry Blackwell, Bobby Heenan, Mr Saito, and Bruiser Brody.
7.
Kenny Jay never left the Midwest, as he was rooted in the area with his landscape business, wife, and three children.
8.
Kenny Jay was what we called a 'job guy' or 'jobber' but he could work with any human being and get a good match out of them.
9.
Kenny Jay would go in the ring with a big name who really couldn't do much and make him look good, and he could get in there with a Danny Hodge or Verne Gagne and make them look even better than they were.
10.
Later in 1976 he took on Muhammad Ali in a boxer vs wrestler bout that featured Verne Gagne as the Referee, a match Kenny Jay considered one of the high points of his career.
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Kenny Jay continued working for the AWA for nearly thirty years until they went out of business in 1991.
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Kenny Jay occasionally wrestled for several promotions in the 1990s and 2000s primarily appearing in the State of Minnesota.
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Kenny Jay wrestled his last match in 2012 at 75 years old.
14.
In 2005 the Cauliflower Alley Club board of directors unanimously chose Kenny Jay to be honored.
15.
On February 2,2023, it was announced that Kenny Jay had died at the age of 85.