Arn Anderson tends to pop up in lists of wrestlers who were World title level stars who never won the belt in any promotion. He’s in the company of the likes of Scott Hall and Curt Hennig in that respect. His in-ring skills, ability to tell a story, and believability on the mic have been touted for decades after his in-ring retirement with WCW.
However, Arn doesn’t sweat not winning the belt. Of course, he’s been retired for over 20 years now, so sweating it wouldn’t do him any good but he says that the title wasn’t important to him.
Arn Anderson Says the World Title Wasn’t Important to Him—Being the Standard Bearer Was
On the ARN podcast, the Four Horsemen member pointed out that performance was always his deal and he wanted to be the wrestler others wanted to wrestle regardless of their spot on the card. Also, while he had the tools to carry the World title in NWA or WCW, it just wasn’t a necessary piece to his Hall of Fame career.
“I’ve said many times before, that wasn’t important to me. I had the television title, which I took a lot of pride in. I was tag champion many times with many opponents. Like I said, my goal was to be the guy on the other side of the locker room that everybody wanted to wrestle top to bottom.”
Basically, he aimed to be the standard bearer wherever he wrestled. This path regularly put him in proximity of the Television and Tag Team titles—both of which he’s won multiple times. However, his association with the TV title fits with his career approach as the belt was defended more often than the World title and there was pressure to deliver a television-quality, television-worthy match within strict time restraints.
Also consider that this was at a time when there was actually an ongoing story around the Television title. In watching Arn’s four reigns with the title, he spoke as if he had the World title around his waist and wrestled as if the World title was on the line. His role was similar to the ones taken by Shinsuke Nakamura when he held the New Japan Intercontinental title and John Cena’s post-World title run where he defended the U.S title.
Arn Anderson ascended the Television championship to a point where it was neck-and-neck with the U.S title for a couple of years before it became a stepping stone to the U.S belt. What do you think of Arn’s statements and do you believe he could’ve been a good World champion?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
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