Arn Anderson recently took some time on an episode of his ARN podcast to explain how Vince McMahon viewed former employees of the former World Championship Wrestling promotion that he long competed against.
“WCW was a company that for the longest time was not even recognized by WWE as being a thing. You didn’t mention it, you didn’t talk about it, nobody referred to it. It didn’t exist,” said Anderson. “When when things heated up and it became a war and the success WCW had and the pressure and embarrassment and the comments coming – ‘We’re gonna put you outta business’ and the insults that fly during a war – war is not a pretty thing. And the pressure I’m sure Vince had financially at some point and the company was not doing well and they were getting their ass kicked and all the aggravation he had never suffered with – now he was having to deal with it. We forever became ‘You WCW guys.’”
Anderson, who was released from WWE after serving as a producer behind-the-scenes for the company long after his retirement as an active competitor inside the squared circle, has since found a career resurgance as one of the figures in All Elite Wrestling, regularly appearing alongside “The American Nightmare” Cody and on a few occasions with the current reigning AEW Tag-Team Champions FTR.
He would go on to further elaborate on the way McMahon viewed anyone who came to his company as a recognized face or talent from the long defunct rival of his and his worthy adversary that sparked the Monday Night Wars.
“Even though he did win the war and he came out of it looking good and crushed all the competition – once we walked in the door and they hired us, most of us never felt like we were part of WWE,” Anderson said. “We were just guys under his employment and it was ‘You WCW guys’ and that’s how we were referred to. You were always on the outside looking in. I never felt like I was actually in the inner circle, which I was never worried about that from an office standpoint. I did have a good relationship with the talent, but you were never quite comfortable with just being part of WWE.”
Check out the complete episode of the ARN podcast featuring Arn Anderson at Megaphone.link.
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