Arn Anderson On Wins Mattering, AEW Emphasis On Tag Team Wrestling

Arn Anderson spoke with the media following his ‘Arn’ panel at Starrcast, and the wrestling legend was asked what he notices most about Cody and the Young Bucks’ knowledge of the wrestling business. Arn said the three EVP’s might come from different backgrounds, but one thing he can get behind is making sure wins and losses matter in pro wrestling.

“Cody is ‘old school’ in his thinking,” Anderson said. “Those guys are from a newer generation, they’re going to go out and they’re going to kick your heads off and they’re going to take you on a rollercoaster ride. It’s going to look like you’ve had ten deaths before the actual finish of the match, which is exciting, it’s dangerous, it’s new, fresh—as long as it’s their bodies and not mine, I’ll be thrilled to buy a ticket and watch it. I think Cody is—he was around a lot of guys that drew money. I spent a lot of time with Cody myself when he was with WWE. Certainly growing up in his Dad’s environment, he’s going to know that there’s stability and there’s certain things that do matter.

I think I’ve seen the quote ‘wins and losses do matter’—you bet your ass they do. Here’s the deal; who gives a shit about any team that’s 8-8? Do you care? Do you want to see the Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals? Is that going to be a big deal for you? Of course not. So they do matter. Momentum matters. You’ve got to get your guys over before you get your company red-hot.”

Arn was also asked about the renewed interest in tag team wrestling, and how having a team like the Young Bucks in a prominent position in AEW could help the division excel today.

“To me, there should not be a better match on the card than heel tag champions wrestling a team like the Young Bucks for thirty minutes. There shouldn’t be anything else on the card that should be able to follow that, whether it be a world title match or anything,” Anderson said. “It should be that good, and I think they can bring that with the right team, the right scenario, but if you get one heel team as the champions—go back and think about how many teams Tully and I wrestled, just makeshift teams. Dusty-Magnum, Dusty-Nikita, Dusty and whoever, The Rock ’N Roll Express. It didn’t just have to be teams, it could be two top guys put together. Ricky Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes, you know what I mean? But you’ve got to get one team that’s red hot with those titles and make them mean something.”