WWE Hall Of Famer Reflects On His First Impressions Of A Young Steve Austin

From The Four Horsemen to the Dangerous Alliance to the Nightmare Family, Arn Anderson has been in his fair share of factions. All of which have put him in close proximity with the past, present, and future of wrestling at times. When he joined the Dangerous Alliance, the WWE Hall of Famer worked alongside another future-Hall of Famer, Steve Austin, albeit before he became "Stone Cold." On a recent episode of "ARN," the former WCW United States Champion spoke about how talented he felt Austin really was, even back then.

"I put Steve [Austin] in the Ivan Koloff class," Anderson said, comparing Austin to another legendary WWE Champion. According to Anderson, Koloff's cardiovascular conditioning was unmatched. "He's a machine. He's an animal. He never quit coming forward, and if you're working with him, same with Steve." Anderson said that having a competitive match with Austin meant that his opponent had to be able to "fight him and meet him halfway," as Austin was "all about getting himself over ... in those days," acknowledging that it was the only way a heel wrestler could make a name for themselves back then.

"Even though you might get outflanked or outpunched you just kept coming," Anderson explained, "you were looking for one opening and if you could find one opening you were going to kick the door down." Anderson noted that Austin's opponents had to keep themselves well conditioned if they were to wrestle "Stunning" Steve, calling the future "Texas Rattlesnake" a "go-getter." Austin is still a hot topic in wrestling to this day, returning to the ring against Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 38, and being at the center of speculation about a possible WrestleMania 39 match that is seeming less and less likely with each new report.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "ARN" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.