On the latest episode of his “The ARN Show,” Arn Anderson talked about going to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in March 1993, Kane being the biggest star to come out of the promotion, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On collaborating with Rock N’ Roll Express in Smoky Mountain Wrestling: “Well I mean, those guys not too long ago when this happened, those guys were as big stars as they were in the industry. And it hadn’t been that long since the glory of the Crockett days.”
On Jim Crockett Promotions in comparison to the WWF: “And when Crockett was on fire, it was as big — we might not have generated the revenue that the WWF did, but we were every bit as big a quality product as anything. And these guys, these guys were top stars with that company.”
On the standout talent emerging from Smoky Mountain Wrestling: “Wasn’t that the origination of Kane? Yeah I mean, Glenn was Kane. Kane was Glenn. And man, to be his size and as athletic as he was, the basketball background and all that tell you why he was such an athlete. But big, strong, jacked, had it all, had a great look. That first Kane, when he first came through the curtain with those guys [in] WWF, that mask and that deal was as frightening and good-looking an outfit as I’ve ever seen. And you’ve got to put him up there with Taker as far as businessman, ability to work, all those positive accolades, being almost seven feet tall. Yeah, he was a megastar coming out of there.”
On the prospects of Smoky Mountain Wrestling thriving during the territory days: “Very similar to Continental when I was there. That was with a crew of about oh, I think we probably had 16 to 20 guys. And that was it in the entire company… Let me put it to you this way, I hoped. You know, the best time I had as I said was when I worked for Continental Down for 14 months and lived in Pensacola. It was just so different in every way from the big companies. But once you got used to the travel, which was minimal with Continental, and it would have been minimal if they had expanded. And with Smoky Mountain, I’m sure they wouldn’t have had a lot of long drives because there are enough towns close to them. It was just there was no such thing as airplanes in those days. And to be honest with you, that was a good thing.”
