Arn Anderson Talks Wrestling Today Having Too Many Kickouts After High Spots
During the latest episode of the ARN Podcast, Arn Anderson answered questions from fans about his current role with AEW.
Over the years, there have been more and more false finishes and high spots that don't end matches. Anderson spoke about the amount of false finishes we see in wrestling today and why he's not a fan of it. Arn said he loved when guys hit their finish, used it, and the match was over.
"Brock Lesnar got over on the fact that if he hit one F5, you were beat," Arn said. "We spent 10 years telling the public that if John Cena hooked you in the STF, you might be able to get to the ropes and save yourself the first time but if he drug you back to the middle of the ring before you got there, that was it. We set up finishes for a reason so that you can build drama, work towards that finish. The drama is you don't quite get to hit it and that's why you didn't win that night. Had you hit that particular move, you would've won. Not that you hit it 4 or 5 times and the guy kicked out because guess what, it's no longer a finish.
"Don't try to beat me next week with something that Joe Blow kicked out of 5 times the week before, I won't be laying there. There's only so much you can do in this business, that's the reason you don't see something new everyday because pretty much everything has been done. Once you take away a guy's finish and he's got to find something else as a finish, there's not a lot of stuff laying around. I think guys are burning the business out by doing all this high impact stuff because once you use it as just a high spot, that's all it will ever be afterwards."
Anderson noted that he felt that finishes needed to be kept sacred. He said the reason we're seeing this difference in the business is because of the lack of mic work, and talent trying their best to maximize the minutes they're receiving.
"If someone power bombs you over the top rope onto the apron outside and you hit it half way between your shoulder blades, you have no idea how bad that hurts," Anderson said. "I see that and that's not the end of the match, that's not a count out? What is? That would've been in my day a stretcher job. Had somebody done that to me, I'm going out there in an ambulance. It's just the difference of the way the business is.
"I think the kids are all trying to do the best they can and go higher and further, so they can get over with you guys. They haven't had an opportunity to get a microphone and week in week out, for 52 weeks a year, have something to say to the audience, compound that out year after year, that's how you get over. They're trying to bum rush it by doing a high wire act. As you know, you get to a point where you are desensitized to it as a fan, now what?"
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ARN with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.