AEW personality Arn Anderson recently spoke on his podcast, “ARN,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including managing Wardlow in AEW:
“I don’t think anybody expected that. That’s kind of really not even from left field, it’s from down the first base line or something. That guy has got so much potential, so much talent. He is such a class act. He is focused. He carries himself like a professional. He does everything right. He’s just been getting some bad advice from day one, bad guidance. In this business, when that locker room sees a guy that’s got unlimited potential, the claws come out. You know what I’m saying? They try to shut him down before he ever gets rolling in all kinds of political ways and physical ways, and you name it, playing with his head. Breaking in in a man’s car is pretty stout. So we just had a couple of closed door conversations. I just said, ‘You let me worry about what goes on on the floor because I’ve thought about it, I’ve seen it, and I’ve done it decades before anybody else, manipulating the situation from the floor. Let me just free you up to do what you do and that’s clean house. Don’t worry about anything else that goes on. I’ll take care of the floor. You just take care of the match.’ What makes it such a big victory is that the guy he beat, Powerhouse Hobbs, is a stud and is a superstar in the making, make no mistake. That guy has got unlimited potential as well, so it makes the win even bigger.”
How he felt being in front of the AEW crowd again:
“You get to a point in this business if you’re going to be in for the long haul and you’re not in it for a money grab and get out as some guys are, but if you want to make an occupation out of this and a career out of this, you figure out pretty quickly it’s not about the money. It’s not about getting a great table at a restaurant or being recognized at the mall. What it’s about is that reaction from that group of fans. There is nothing like it. It’s why you suffer through the pain. It’s why you make the long trips. It’s why you sleep in airports and eat rotten food because at the end of the day, the pay day is that reaction when you get it, when they’re kind enough to give it to you, and especially when you’ve earned it, there’s nothing like it.”
You can listen to the entire podcast at AdFreeShows.com.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
