Arn Anderson Recalls His Frustrations With Original Sin Cara In WWE, Why He Was Never Going To Replace Rey Mysterio

In a recent edition of ARN, Arn Anderson discussed the original Sin Cara (aka Mistico or Carístico) in WWE, the company wanting him to replace Rey Mysterio, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Arn Anderson on WWE’s decision to sign the original Sin Cara: “Well because they didn’t ask anybody in America who we thought was the best Mexican wrestler in the world. This guy came in with all this hype. It was one of those times, and it was discussed, and true – you needed a Mexican star if you’re going to run Mexico or Spanish countries. Rey Mysterio was that guy, and you don’t replace Rey. There’s nobody coming along, I haven’t seen anybody to this day that’s going to eclipse Rey Mysterio and all that he’s accomplished. But, sitting in the genius office, I’m sure the conversation went like this, ‘Rey has been hurt a couple of times. He’s too little anyway. We got to get another Mexican star in here. Who you got?’

On why the original Sin Cara didn’t work out in WWE: “This guy didn’t show me anything. Not a damn thing. He had a bad attitude. If he spoke English, he acted like he didn’t. We’re not talking about Hunico. We’re talking about the original Sin Cara. He was one of those guys that flat brought just the Mexican style. That’s what he brought to our product. Our product was not ready for that lack of contact, lack of selling, all those things. Just the whirlybird stuff that had no psychology behind it. I like Rey Mysterio because of several reasons. He is small, but he figured out a way to work his matches where he used every bit of his body to knock you down or chip away at you and get you in a position that he could do a springboard or whatever it was and knock you down. So, at the end of the day, he spent most of the match selling. He had one flurry that made sense that was able to get him almost to winning or winning, but in a way that made sense.

“None of that reasoning was in this guy’s tool belt. He thought he would just bounce guys around twice his size, very little selling, and just pop up out of nowhere. Everything I had been taught about this business and everything the audience loves – the storytelling, the selling, the underdog, all that stuff – was lost on him. But, it came from the top, and we had to have a star. So, those of us who had these feelings and relayed these feelings just got heat. Just like everything else. When you point out the obvious to the brain trust some places, they don’t like the fact that once they hear it, they go, ‘You know, he’s right. He’s slapping me in the face with it and I don’t like it. I don’t like the fact that he’s slapping me in the face with it,’ when all you’re doing is pointing out the obvious. And he was one of those guys.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit ARN with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.