Arn Anderson On His First Meeting With Roman Reigns, Vince McMahon Liking The Miz

During the ARN Podcast, Arn Anderson covered the Money in the Bank 2010 pay-per-view, where Sheamus defeated John Cena in a Steel Cage match, The Miz became the Raw Money in the Bank winner and Kane won the Smackdown Money in the Bank and won the World Heavyweight Championship on the same night.

Anderson also talked about the first time he met Roman Reigns, who was just getting his start with the WWE around this time. He noted what he thought about him after having a conversation together.

"The first thing that popped in my head was, 'This guys a star,'" Anderson said. "He speaks like a star, he looks like a star, he carries himself with a lot of poise, he's respectful, he's just one of those guys you look at and go, 'You'll be hearing about that guy.' It just jumped off the page to me, he looked like a movie star."

The Miz won the Raw Money in the Bank Match in 2010 by defeating Chris Jericho, Edge, Evan Bourne, John Morrison, Mark Henry, Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase. Arn mentioned the decision to give The Miz the contract, and talked about the talent involved in the match making it hard to envision Miz as the winner walking into the match.

"It was another blend of young guys getting a chance to be in a huge match," Anderson said. "Miz was a guy you thought going into this match was just going to be another contestant, you didn't know he was going to have the impact [he did]. You certainly didn't think he was going to win the match. I don't think anybody in Vegas would've picked Miz to win this thing."

Later that year, The Miz went on to cash in his Money in the Bank contract against then-champion Randy Orton and become the WWE Champion. The Miz held onto the title leading into WrestleMania 27 where he faced John Cena and defeated him with help from The Rock.

Anderson talked about the decision to have The Miz face Cena heading into WrestleMania and how that meant the company believed Miz was capable of handling the main event of the biggest show of the year.

"I know Vince likes Miz; he's dependable, durable, speaks well, dresses well and fits with that Hollywood deal. It was a guy that kind of came in under the radar but he was built properly. And putting him in a main event with John Cena is about as big as it gets."

Anderson continued to mention how The Miz has been able to stay around with the WWE for this long, and how he separates himself from everyone else in the company.

"Everybody can't be a steamroller, everybody can't be a body guy, everybody can't be a world class technician," he said. "But if you've got some of that stuff, you can be around for a long time. Everybody can't be the last match every single night. You gotta have guys that are on second to last, third to last, sometimes open the show, sometimes the first match before intermission, The Miz is one of those guys that can move up and down and as long as you put a mic on his hand he'll piss some people off.

"He didn't mind being a heel that was the most important thing. He's very unlikeable if you give him that mic," Arn continued. "He'll be around probably as long as his body holds up and as long as he wants to be."

Finally, Arn talked about the landscape of wrestling over the years and how a constant new influx of talent is always a positive. Anderson also mentioned how every 5-10 years, the WWE needs new stars to consistently grow their fan base and evolve.

"You always have to have new," Anderson said. "You have to keep feeding the audience's appetite for new faces and new talent. Every 5,7,10 years you have a new fan base. You always have to be re-establishing your fan base. That means you got to have a diverse menu of talents that give you all kinds of things.

"Think about the hours of television WWE is available, and if you just have the same product, which is a mistake that's been made in the past. Putting talent in too many segments on Raw or Smackdown other than feeding those segments to young talent that needs it to get over on a weekly basis. They got to have a chance, and that means they gotta have reps on television."

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