On the latest episode of his ARN podcast AEW manager and producer Arn Anderson looked back on the downfall of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where the Enforcer called the promotion a burning fire that couldn’t be put out in time. Hear what he had to say below.
I couldn’t sprinkle any magic dust on it and I couldn’t put a new coat of paint or rationalize it. For me, it was a period of my life that the companies I really loved – Jim Crockett Promotions that morphed into WCW, and then it became WCW – I saw that it was on fire, and the fire trucks weren’t gonna make it in time. I was the guy that took the call and was standing in front of the house, and it’s three-fourths on fire. The guy calls from dispatch and says, ‘Sorry, Arn, we’re still 45 minutes away with the firetrucks. We’re not gonna make it in time.’
There’s that moment where inside your head, you go, ‘This is over.’ The business as I know it is over, this company is probably gonna be done. I can no longer wrestle no matter how much I will myself to do it, I’m just physically not able. It was a really down, depressing time for me. I was looking at all the jobs, all the dreams, all the young guys – when that company goes down, at least half the jobs in the industry are gonna go down the sink with it. To sit there and have to watch, it’s like somebody is holding my head straight and saying, ‘Watch the monitor. There’s the future. It doesn’t look very bright.’ Not a good feeling.
Check out the full edition of ARN here. (H/T and transcribed by Hooked On Wrestling)
