The latest episode of “ARN” with Arn Anderson and Conrad Thompson is an “Ask Arn Anything” episode. Arn took questions on his career, his time in WWE, AEW, the current wrestling scene, and more.
Arn was asked, “Excluding AEW, who is actively wrestling today, who in your opinion, is a definite Hall of Famer?”
Arn said, “How is AJ Styles not at the top of the list? Seth Rollins I think has to be on the list. I think Randy Orton obviously is on the list. That’s a no-brainer right? How about Rey Mysterio? Got to be. I’m sure I’m going to leave out a ton of guys and I definitely do not mean to. For sure those guys. I’m sorry if I insulted anybody and left them out. You have to judge each guy differently. What does he bring to the table? It will be interesting to see when Roman Reigns’ career shakes out, the twists and turns that would have gotten him to, I’m pretty sure, the Hall of Fame. He has really come on the last year because he was allowed to be himself and that is always a good thing.”
Arn gave his thoughts on Brian Pillman Jr and Davey Boy Smith Jr. He said, “Brian’s son has a lot of Brian in him. I can see that, mostly more so than anything, just his look. When you look at him and someone says, ‘That’s Brian Pillman’s kid’, you say, ‘Yea, I see that.’ It’s more so than how he acts. I think they are way different in the way they conduct themselves. Davey Boy Jr called me a couple times and text me a couple times. I spoke to him. I think the world of that kid. I always have. He’s always been a go getter and is trying to polish his craft. His work has continually got better. I loved him and TJ (Tyson Kidd) as a team. My God, were they good. That’s another one that, no telling how good they could have been if they could have stayed together for 5 years. I got a feeling he is going to be a hot commodity when things open back up and I would sure love to have him.”
Conrad Thompson said “This is topical because we just covered this with Bruce (Prichard). What do you remember of the John Cena – Kevin Federline match on Raw back on New Year’s Day in 2007 and were you the agent for the match?”
Arn responded, “Yep. Yes sir and it was rotten. What did anybody think it was going to be?”
Conrad said, “Bruce defended it and said that it was great publicity, blah, blah, blah, but I figured you couldn’t have been a fan of having your champion out there with a dancer.”
Arn said, “I flew out a couple weeks beforehand with John and we met him and Federline. Someone had a ring out there on the West Coast. I’m not sure exactly who’s ring it was but for a couple hours we tried to show him some basics. No offense to Kevin. You don’t just walk in this business and pick it up in an afternoon. You just don’t. If that was the case, every person alive would be a professional wrestler because it’s the most wonderful way to make a living in the world. But I’ve never been a proponent of having actors come into our business, and notoriously 100% of the time, this is what happens. They walk in from the entertainment industry and so that we can be on Entertainment Tonight or we are going to be on whatever the entertainment show may be the next day, or get press on ESPN, we have our guys have to bow down to the actors. It always drove me crazy. Do you think it would hurt anything if a highly skilled wrestler beat an actor who was a third his size? I don’t think so. I think it would be easier to swallow because notoriously what ends up happening is whoever that celebrity is that they bring, our fans are there to watch wrestlers and wrestling. They are not there to watch Kevin Federline or to see Jay Leno standing above Hulk Hogan with an armbar applied. David Arquette I think is a very nice guy and very respectful. To see him in any fashion just survive being in the ring with one of our guys tests everything we are trying to do on a daily basis. Bruce has got to stay the course with the thought process. I’m pretty sure that no one is going to agree with me as far as being right, but you can only prostitute yourself, your industry, your business so many times and people look at you like, ok, they got a plug on Entertainment Tonight, but come on man. I’m not buying that. What a bunch of crap. So, do you end up long term hurting the talent that has to perform this or is the short term goal of getting on Entertainment Tonight for a 30 second spot worth it? Probably for somebody with a higher pay grade than me to answer, but, who knows?”
Arn talking about Brodie Lee: “Brodie Lee is one of my dearest friends. I love that man forever. He is just one of the best people, performer, business man, father, husband. I could go on and on and on and on. He was one of those people that you meet and you know he is genuine. His love for his family and his love for the business and the fans for that matter was unparalleled. If you look at the outpour, and universally, I would go on record as saying this: I have never seen anyone involved in our business so celebrated, their life, their passing, what they had accomplished, as Brodie Lee has been. I mean, the outpouring from the fans, I want to thank you very dearly. I know what it meant to his wife. It’s something that is going to be very difficult to live with, but we celebrate the man that he was and always will be to all of us.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit ARN (Arn Anderson’s podcast) with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
