WWE Hall Of Famer Arn Anderson Addresses Ill-Fated WCW Character, The Renegade

The fan reactions that wrestlers receive typically dictate whether their characters will be heroic or villainous, however, it is not always cut-and-dry to continue being villainous if you are being cheered and vice versa. 

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson looked back on WCW in 1995 on "Arn" and talked about WCW's failed attempt to capitalize on the popularity of The Ultimate Warrior in WWE — whom WCW later signed in 1998 – by introducing their fans to The Renegade.

"He was a guy that got brought in and who was gonna be The Ultimate Warrior and it was the ultimate letdown when they had to take off all those trappings in him," Arn remembered. "It wasn't his fault. He wasn't ready, he was still green, but that big ... oh god, you're kidding, I thought he was gonna be the other guy who was a huge star at that time being The Warrior."

Renegade defeated Anderson at the 1995 Great American Bash to win the WCW World Television Championship. He then entered a story with "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff where eventually, despite being the heel, Orndorff was getting cheered instead of Renegade. Anderson, who served on WCW's booking committee, recalled campaigning for Renegade to have a short match to lose his title to protect him.

"I begged them to make that the shortest title change in history; I could've pulled that off in two minutes. 'Nope, nope, nope,' and it went on and on and on and as our fans will tell themselves the truth, it stunk," Anderson remarked of Renegade's eight-minute match at Fall Brawl 1995 against DDP. "I did my best to pull what I thought he knew or could pull off and tried my best. No cigar."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Arn" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.