WWE Hall Of Famer Arn Anderson Discusses Helping Younger Talent

Arn Anderson was once a part of wrestling's most dominant stable, The Four Horsemen, but today he's a respectable veteran and until recently he was signed to AEW. The promotion has unfortunately cultivated a reputation for having talent who don't take advice from veterans, and recently on his "ARN" podcast, Anderson explained why he believes that is the case. According to Anderson, the reason why young stars are less likely to listen to veterans is because they were exposed to a different wrestling culture on the indies.

"A lot of these guys, you know, that came from the Indies — and it's not their fault because they were never in the position to have a producer or have an agent [that] walks them through stuff and explain the business to them." He continued, explaining that priorities on the Indies are different due to the lack of producers and less funding. "It was pretty much the talent would get there and put their match together themselves, the promoter was just glad that nobody died." Due to this, Anderson stressed that these young wrestlers are more prone to put their lives on the line, and without any guidance, they believe that not protecting themselves and getting a huge crowd reaction is how they advance in wrestling.

Despite this, Anderson says he's always been a teacher, and has gone the extra lengths to help out young talent even if he had no hand in their matches in an attempt to help them get over with fans. "I've always wanted and tried to help younger talent, even if I didn't have their match, if I just saw somebody's match on the show and I saw something that could make them better, help them get better, help them get over."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "ARN" and provide Wrestling Inc. with a h/t for the transcription.