On this week’s episode of “ARN,” Conrad Thompson and Arn Anderson discussed the 2015 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view.
Here are some highlights:
Arn said he tried to get AJ Styles, Bobby Roode and James Storm in WWE years ago: “I had pushed for AJ. There was a point in time when Cena had run out of opponents. I was on that whole ride with John for all those years, more than a decade. I was talking to him and it was when TNA was doing well. I would watch their show, not every week because I was too busy. I was sitting with Cena one afternoon backstage at a table. I told John that it would beef up the company if we go out and steal Bobby Rude, AJ Styles and the Cowboy James Storm. If we brought those three guys in, it would give you a whole plethora of new opponents. I signaled them out because of their work and their psychology that I knew I could benefit helping them. They would catch right on and be a very good fit. John looked at me and said, we have NXT. We make our own stars. I’m sure he was just transferring Vince’s psychology to me when he said that. But I knew at that time what those guys could do in a match for John if you give them 6 to 9 months to come in and get over. These guys had experience. They were ready. You could bring them in day 1 on RAW or SmackDown and have a player. AJ, Roode and Storm were all on my radar before they made it.”
Arn states he does not like the King of the Ring gimmick: “To me, that is such a dated gimmick, so cheesy. I haven’t seen anyone besides Booker T who became King of the Ring and actually got some heat and some entertainment value out of being King of the Ring. That was because Booker had all that personality that he could bring to it. For someone to get legitimate heat like Wade Barrett, who had good size, he had good promos, his work was good, his pacing was good, all that did was hurt him in my estimation. It’s a cheesy, dated gimmick, that may be at one time was meant to put heat on a guy. That now is just a guy coming to the ring in a crown, a robe, and a staff and it’s the same thing. How many things can you do in that getup to get heat. I think it left a bad taste in Wade’s mouth if that was all they came up with for him. That Nexus thing was kicking ass. If they would have left it alone and gave it the same attention that you would give, say a tag team you would put with a Bobby Heenan, to give them a shot in the ass right away. If you were going to go that route, ok. The Nexus guys were all young guys that could have run another year. People recognized Wade being the head of that group. It was because of his mic skills. He felt like a guy that would be in charge and could impose his will on his opponents and direct his guys to have a successful group. There were young studs in that group. I think the biggest fumble was breaking up the Nexus way before their time. I think Wade probably got a bad taste in his mouth about the business because he knew he had the ability. He knew he had all the tools and they still weren’t using him worth a crap.”
Arn and Conrad discussed John Cena’s feud with Kevin Owens, the Money In The Bank ladder match, Deam Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins and much more.
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
