On a recent edition of his “The ARN Show” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson discussed his wrestling career, the damage his son Brock is doing to his body as a wrestler, and more.
You can check out the highlights from the podcast below:
On the highlights of his wrestling career: “Well, everybody wants to know who your favorite opponent is, your favorite match, you know, favorite promos. You know, the one that stands out as far as promos — because it wasn’t a promo, was the night I said goodbye in Charleston, South Carolina, or Columbia, South Carolina. Because it was a promo that came from the heart. I knew it was over. I asked for some time from Eric on the show to say goodbye because I knew, you know, circumstances that I’ve told the story a few times where the guy comes up and smacks me on the back at the gym and goes, ‘Hey, man, where have you been? I hadn’t seen you in a while.’ And when he did, it was like an electric shock. Went completely down my neck down to my butt, I guess. And I dropped a bottle of water I had in my hand. It was just like — I don’t even know how to explain it, other than that it just shut my system down. And I went to myself immediately, my conscience said, this guy was about 150 pounds, about 5’6”. I said, ‘If this guy could get that kind of physical reaction from me just smacking me on the back, no way I can ever wrestle again.’ And you know at that point in time that it’s over? You know, it’s not a question of, ‘Let me go get some reassurance from my chiropractor,’ or my surgeon or whatever you just know at that point in time your days as a wrestler are over.”
On worrying about the damage his son, Brock, is doing to his body by being a wrestler: “[I was] 24. And the business was just completely different. I mean, we were — it was a lot less theatrical. It was a lot — the business, the big bumps and the chances that you took back in those days were nothing like these kids do today. The possibility of getting injured is way up, you know? And even though I worry about everybody in the business because the ceiling has been raised so high as far as the bumps. I worry about these kids, male and female, not only just getting dinged up but getting hurt; you’re always gonna get dinged up in this business. There’s no way to avoid it. But now, I’m worried about watching these kids and getting injured, and they’re willing to put it all out there for you. You know, much respect in that capacity. But I just — as a father. And you know, it’s not just Brock I worry about. I worry about basically everybody in the business because the ceiling has been raised so high.”
On whether there was talk of him wrestling The Undertaker during his 2002 feud with Ric Flair: “No. I think I did enough that it wasn’t — nobody threw up that I wasn’t suddenly Superman, came back from major neck surgery. And the way we laid it out is like I kind of snuck down there without being seen. It was laid out beautifully, it really was. But there was never a situation where they said, ‘Hey, you still got those wrestling boots and tights? We’d like for you to work another match?’ It was never brought up, that was never a consideration. And to this day, it’s not a consideration…
“And you know, what’s crazy that I’m 65, sitting in this chair. And if it was important enough or mandatory that I do it, I can still hit one [a spinebuster]. And not not too badly. I’ll have to say myself. I can still stick somebody with a DDT or spinebuster. But the fact is, you know, where my neck with the surgery actually got better through time, now my lower back is the issue. And anybody that has low back issues will tell you it’s a pain in the ass. It comes and goes. You can lean across a bed and pick up your seven-pound Pomeranian and blow your back out, believe it or not.”
