AEW coach and pro-wrestling legend Arn Anderson spoke about former world champion Ronnie Garvin on the latest edition of his ARN podcast, with the Enforcer also commenting on the death of Butch Reed. Highlights can be found below.
Gives thoughts on Ronnie Garvin becoming world champion:
“I respect Ron Garvin as a performer. I know that he got red-hot working with Ric and working with us. It was one of those things that you gave you an option as far as a challenge for Ric. When they decided to put the title on him, I was not against it because he was red-hot. In hindsight, he was probably more valuable as a challenger than the champion. I don’t know what the numbers were on the houses where he was on top, and that’s what everything was based on. It was a success, just OK, or a failure. It’s all about the bottom line. But I just remember him not being happy overall, which I couldn’t understand at the time because things were going well. I don’t know if there was pressure put on him, and I don’t know the circumstances. But he was world champion for a moment, and you can’t take that away from him. It’s just a shame that he feels less than thrilled about it.”
Remembers the great Butch Reed:
“What a great look, great traps, the way he carried himself. He carried himself like a badass. When he spoke, he had some of the Ron Simmons, which made them a great team in Doom. Every time you saw him, he had his head up, had those big traps and a good body. He looked like the cock of the walk, no matter where you saw him – walking through an airport, the locker room, hotel lobby, or in the ring. Butch Reed is a guy that had confidence and was a good hand. He brought a lot to the table. If you pointed him out and said, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t mess with that guy’, I would take your advice.”
Shares his favorite Butch Reed Story:
“I heard a story about Louisiana when Buddy Landel first started. Buddy, if you knew him or spent time around him, he was just a goofball. The guy was constantly goofing on everything – tremendous worker but cracking jokes. He had a southern drawl to him, but he was always just doing things. I guess out in Louisiana where the highways were terrible and a lot of dark roads with no lighting – just hard to travel in. I guess Buddy was behind Butch and they were coming back from a town. Butch pulled up to the one stop sign in the city, and Buddy, not paying attention, just plowed into him. Rear-ended him and tore his car all up. There were only two vehicles on the road within 50 miles. The promo that Butch cut on him when he got out of the car – Buddy told me the promo, and I can’t remember verbatim. But I mean he let him have it. I think he even gave him a black eye and then ended up having to ride back to wherever they lived with Buddy because his car was wrecked. It was a hilarious story to hear Buddy tell it.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)