On the latest edition of his ARN podcast AEW manager and pro-wrestling legend Arn Anderson spoke about his time producing in WWE, and why the tag team formerly known as Enzo and Big Cass were so over with the WWE Universe during their time with the company. Those highlights, along with the Enforcer’s thoughts on Apollo Crews, can be found below.
On Apollo Crews:
“Number one, a gentleman. Nice kid. Number two, looks like a million dollars. Can do a lot of great stuff, and a perfect employee – always on time, always smiling. But athletically, he did some incredible stuff. But we’re back to that deal where you have to let the audience know they’re coming. That is one thing that we used to do as a business. We used to have some vignettes before a guy got there and you were looking forward to seeing him. Then, put a rocket on his ass and let him go as far as he can go.”
Explains why Enzo and Big Cass got so over with the WWE crowds:
“It was different, and it worked because it was such a cadence-laden promo. It involved and invited the audience to chant along with them. That’s always a good thing for television. Cass was a big, tall guy, and they were like oil and water as far as their presentation. But when they did the promo, it all came together, and it all gelled.”
Reflects on Enzo’s injury at Payback 2016 that forced the match to be stopped:
“I wasn’t exactly watching it at the time. I was doing something different, but what I was told, I think Enzo went to slide under the bottom rope and actually hung his neck. Went to get shot out of the ring and slide under the bottom, and I think he hooked the bottom rope. Really dangerous-looking deal. It looked really, really bad. Thank God it wasn’t worse than it was. It looked like he was big-time hurt. It knocked him goofy, which could’ve also involved a neck injury with the way it whiplashed him. But if you’re knocked out, you don’t know you have a neck injury. They stopped the match right away and did exactly the right thing. Got him out of there and got some medical attention. When somebody gets hurt and you can pretty much see it in the ring, you can tell if he’s out of it. Right away, the referee called for help and did the right thing.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)