Arn Anderson has already admitted his AEW run lost a lot of steam once Cody Rhodes left, but apparently things weren’t much busier for him behind the curtain either. Former WWE writer and producer Robert Karpeles says one conversation with Anderson backstage at Dynamite had him wondering what the hell AEW was doing with all that experience.
Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Karpeles argued that AEW had plenty of veteran wrestling minds hanging around who could have been helping younger talent get better. Instead, he felt some of those people were basically sitting backstage without being properly tapped for what they knew.
“They should be trying to find every way possible to bring in new fans, train young guys, and build them up because behind the scenes, their announcer corps alone are guys who could be training and building that next generation that are just sitting back there kind of doing nothing.”
That’s when Karpeles brought up Anderson. During one visit backstage at Dynamite, he asked Arn whether AEW was making much use of him as an agent, especially considering Anderson had previously been a lead agent during their time together.
“It baffled me when I was backstage at Dynamite once, and I was talking to Arn Anderson when he was there, and I was like, ‘So, Arn, you were our lead agent. Are you doing a lot of agenting here?’”
Arn’s alleged answer was pretty damn blunt. According to Karpeles, Anderson told him there wasn’t much happening at all once his television responsibilities were finished.
“He goes, ‘Nope. I just sit here. I go out and do my one promo, and then I just sit, and nobody comes and talks to me.’”
That lines up with at least some of what Anderson himself has said about feeling directionless during the latter part of his AEW run. Back in July, Arn explained that much of his original purpose revolved around Cody Rhodes and helping Brock Anderson get established, so Cody leaving for WWE basically took the angle with him.
AEW eventually tried sticking Anderson with Wardlow, but Arn admitted that pairing felt like it came “out of left field.” He still had nothing bad to say about Tony Khan, though, calling him a “class act” and praising the way he treated AEW talent.
Bottom line: AEW apparently had a guy who spent decades learning the nuts and bolts of wrestling sitting backstage, and at least according to Arn’s own alleged words to Karpeles, nobody was even knocking on his door to pick his brain.
Do you think AEW dropped the ball by not using Arn Anderson more behind the scenes, or was there simply no real role left for him once Cody Rhodes was gone? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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