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‘It was an audience of one,’ WWE legend reveals his opinion was never valued by Vince McMahon
It was reported that Vince McMahon was furious that Fox was allowed to wrestle at a WWE live event despite being intoxicated. Arn was working for WWE for the past 18 years but had to leave the company soon after the incident in February.
Recently, Arn Anderson was fired by WWE from his job as a producer. It was rumoured that an incident involving Alicia Fox at a live event was the straw that broke camel’s back. It was reported that Vince McMahon was furious that Fox was allowed to wrestle at a WWE live event despite being intoxicated. Arn was working for WWE for the past 18 years but had to leave the company soon after the incident in February.
Arn then made a comeback to professional wrestling at All Elite Wrestling’s All Out PPV in late August. He has worked as a commentator for AEW in Dark tapings in Charlotte, NC, which aired on November 12. So after his non-disclosure agreement ended, Arn spoke on his exit from WWE in the Q&A segment on his “ARN” podcast with Conrad Thompson and how he had anticipated his release from the company for almost four years back.
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“Somewhere in there, before I got canned. I was getting blamed for stuff that was perceived to be my fault, that wasn’t my fault. My opinion was not valued. You know... something I’m not sure that everybody knows, and I’m sure they don’t... besides our duties on the road, when you’re a producer and you’re traveling all those miles and going out on Friday, and sometimes driving 1,000 miles before you get to RAW, and then you got another couple 300 that night, and you drive, and you gotta be there early for SmackDown.
“On top of all that, they would send the show [script] out, sometimes on Sunday night. So after you had already put in 1,000 miles, you had already did a show, you had driven to RAW, however far that was. Then you would get an e-mail, and you would have to critique the show, have to read through a three-hour RAW, give your opinions, suggestions. Same thing with SmackDown. Now it doesn’t matter that it’s 4 in the morning and you’re dead tired. But that’s all the Producers.”
Arn revealed that advice from producers was never taken up and most of the content in the WWE for the past 4 years was not producers’ idea.
“Very rarely in those last 4 years was anything that anyone of us had offered, because you would get a sheet with the Producer suggestions, and names that go by with them, and they never would use any of those suggestions. and I knew my opinion was no longer valued. And you would speak up, it would be taken the wrong way, it was almost like it was Creative vs. the Producers, which was the farthest thing from the truth. We were doing all we could to support their ideas. A lot of them we disagreed with and we’d voice it, and then we’d get kicked around the room, but by the time it got back to the beginning, it was just what was written originally. I just felt like the last 4 years, it was... I always kinda felt like I was one of those, ‘You WCW guys.’ I always felt that way,” Arn revealed.
“Even though in total, 18 years with the company, you would think my loyalty would be unquestionable, and I just felt like an outsider, on the outside looking in. I never was comfortable, I never was in that... and to be honest with you, I didn’t want to be in that inner circle with my head up Vince’s ass, or Hunter’s [Triple H] ass, or any of those guys’ ass around. I just wanted to do my job, help the talent the best I could, take the ideas that the creative came up with, whether I agreed or not agreed with it, try to make it work the best I could, and I just... you know, I was getting my head taken off.
“Some things that weren’t my fault, and several different big matches, and something that we don’t have time to really discuss here, because it’d take too long, but it’d just... you know, I was made to feel suddenly like I didn’t know anything about the business anymore. It was like I was suddenly inept. That all that knowledge I had acquired over the years, and all the rules, and all the things I knew applied, didn’t apply anymore. And you know, you feel pretty stupid after a while, after getting hit over the head with that, ‘Oh, that’s stupid. Oh, that’s stupid. Oh, that doesn’t make any sense. Oh, that doesn’t make any sense.’ I start to believe it.”
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Thompson asked Arn about the person who was the person saying things to him and telling his ideas were stupid or not.
“Well who would’ve been the only guy that could’ve gotten away with it?,” Arn asked.
“I assume Vince,” Thompson responded.
“Yeah, of course,” Arn said. “Because that’s all that mattered at the end of the day. It was an audience of one who we were performing for, across the board. Which was told to us guys. ‘You only have to please an audience of one.’ And we know who the audience of one is. So, if you’re not trying to give the audience what they want, if you’re just trying to tip-toe around what you know he wants and requires, it’s a difficult mine-field. It really is.”
Arn has now joined AEW to advise Cody Rhodes as his head coach in 2020.
