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Arn Anderson Talks Tully Blanchard’s Importance To Four Horsemen, Impact Of Smoky Mountain Wrestling

September 3, 2023 | Posted by Andrew Ravens
Arn Anderson Tully Blanchard Image Credit: WWE

On the latest episode of The ARN Show, Arn Anderson talked about the impact of Smoky Mountain Wrestling on the business, the Four Horsemen not being as strong without Tully Blanchard in April 1993 while in WCW and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On Robert and Ron Fuller: “Well, those guys were, you know, never get the credit for being great workers. They really were. Ron, Robert, Jimmy Golden. Yeah, great. Babyfaces: you got to see that down in Pensacola because you’re in the same towns every week, and you had to have some stuff on your tool belt. When you go into those same towns every week, to change your matches up and make them completely different. And those guys could talk, you know, they had that Southern twang, but they were Southern guys, and it worked. There was a huge audience for that. In the South.”

On the Four Horsemen not being as strong without Tully Blanchard:  “We knew that unless it was Tully, it was going to be less than. Yeah, it just was a chemistry between the three of us and JJ [Dillion]. No matter who that other guy was, that foundation would have carried it. But you can’t do it without Tully. Just like if you would have had Tully, you couldn’t have done it without me. I believe that. Oh, I agree. It could never be as hot or strong as it was the first time because our quality opponents made it that way back in the Crockett days. You got to go back and remember who we were wrestling every night? And that roster was not available. You’re only as strong as your opponent. True.”

On Smoky Mountain Wrestling: “Jimmy [Jim Cornette] went from nothing. Again, it was a start-up company to a viable entity, and it had its fans, and it was successful, and it paid its bills and all those things that small territories had to do. You know, you had to be careful to keep your overhead low. And Jimmy was smart because he used talented guys that were going to, you know, go out and represent your product in a positive way and good performers, and everybody look at those nine guys. I mean, Tom Prichard has trained all the WWE guys. Yeah. You know, name it over the last 15 years. If you say who has helped and trained the most talent of anybody, that’s Tom Prichard. Cornett Smart guy, you know, and he was answering to his money man, and he always had an answer that made sense, you know, if business was down, what was the reason? If business was up, what was the reason? And, you know, running a small territory. I wish we had five more of them today. Yeah. You could never replace that or put a price on it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The ARN Show with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.