During a recent episode of ARN, Arn Anderson spoke on wanting to see younger wrestlers tone down their in-ring style. Here’s what he had to say:
I am gonna make a statement to all the young talent out there. This business is in your lap, it’s in your hands, it’s in your control. It is up to you to keep each other safe and when you are putting matches together and coming up with ideas, guys, you’re taking it to a level – I’ve seen a lot of near misses a lot of times, situations where guys are almost doing headers into the mat. The business has gotten more and more dangerous and it’s in your hands to fix it. You’ve gotta reel it in, you’ve gotta figure out a way to have a match and have an exciting match without some of these very, very dangerous moves being implemented. You’ve gotta dial it back. Nobody can dial it back but you. And I’m certainly not saying put a cap on the excitement of what we do in this business. But there are so many things that can happen – being sweaty, slipping, your grip slipping, inexperience, being green, not actually knowing what you’re doing and picturing something in your head and the two of you agree on it – and finding out that whether it’s physics or its the temperature of the building or somebody spilled something there on the floor that no one saw before you dive out on the floor and you hit the slick surface and blow a knee out or whatever the case may be. Gravity has a lot to do with what we do.
You’ve gotta reel our product in a little bit and make it safer for everyone involved. I’m just scared to death – this young generation are balls to the wall to number one, please our audience, please each other, and hopefully please our boss. But I don’t think our boss would ever ask you to go through the curtain and put yourself in danger or put yourself in a position where you might be injured or crippled for life. He’s just not that kind of person. It’s up to us collectively to reel this thing in or we’re gonna see, dare I say, worse injuries and possibly down the road, somebody being crippled for life. And nobody wants to see that. I put that burden and responsibility on the talent. They’re the ones that can fix it.
You can listen HERE.
Credit: ARN. H/T 411Mania.
