Arn Anderson was more than content with being a spectator of the WrestleMania classic between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.
WrestleMania XXIV will forever be known as the showcase for Ric Flair‘s retirement match in WWE and on a recent episode of ARN, The Enforcer was asked by Conrad Thompson if he was ever pitched on the idea of playing a factor in the match. Despite his ties to Flair, Anderson wasn’t a fan of the idea and said it meant more having Flair and Michaels work a clean match and finish.
“I wouldn’t have thought it was a great idea if anyone would’ve asked me,” Arn said. “I would have said it was not a great idea when you have two people who have meant what they have meant to the industry. That’s one that you would have settled clean with one guy’s finish.”
“Let it build,” he added. “Give it 25, 30 minutes and let it build and let it be what it’s supposed to be. Somebody’s gotta retire tonight and that’s what I’m gonna see and that’s what I do see.”
Being a WWE producer at the time, was Arn running around like a madman backstage or did he pull up a chair to take it all in?
“I was probably glued to the monitor where I could here the commentary to get the full picture. I’m sure I could’ve found a crack in the curtain, any number of ways to have watched that match but for me to get the full value of it, you gotta hear what the announcers are saying because you’re gonna get a feel of what the audience is doing because the whole place was rumbling, you know? You’re not going to miss out on that, but to get the full viewing experience I found, find a monitor where not too many people are cause I don’t want to hear any distractions. I want to just watch it just like I was sitting on my TV at home cause that’s the full viewing experience.”
Does he consider that to be the greatest retirement match of all time?
“Who’s to say? Who’s to say it’s not? Right off the top of my head I would not say it was, and I wouldn’t say that it wasn’t. I know that the workrate was incredible. The thing that makes our industry that has slightly been passed over and kind of been swept to the side: the selling, the emotion of what’s going on in the match. The selling of the offense that’s being done to each other, that being featured all those things, I don’t think you could’ve asked for anything better from that perspective.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
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