Arn Anderson Recalls Bill Watts’ Edicts In WCW, Wrestling Being Down in Early ’90s

On the latest episode of The ARN Show, Arn Anderson talked about the changes under Bill Watts in WCW, the wrestling business being down in the early 1990s and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On the differences in working TV and house shows under Bill Watts: “Well strangely enough, you would think TV where all the rules would be enforced to the letter. And the house shows it was, you know, you had a agent there and I think it was at that time Grizzly Smith. And he was, I’m sure, taking notes. And if you threw a guy over the top and it didn’t get DQ’d, people were gonna get fined — legitimately get fined. You better not be late. You know, there was one hour before the show window that you had to be there. You better not be there [late] cause I’m sure Bill told Grizzly, ‘Make notes. If these guys are late, let me know. I’m gonna find ’em.’ And there was never an issue of guys being late anyway. That’s what’s crazy, you know, when you start in pushing the rules and shoving the rules down everybody’s throat when nobody’s breaking the rules, that kinda leaves a bad taste. That’s just being the boss and playing the boss.”

On WCW’s attendance being down in the 1990s: “I think when Jim Crockett was absorbed, I think wrestling in general took a hit because it shrunk. Instead of the business growing, I think every company has shrunk. Got some guys were out of jobs. I just think that the new company and going through all the changes — the new company being WCW — changing leadership all those times and changing talent, you know, Ric Flair leaving, gotta remember it’s a pretty big deal. Everybody seems to forget that the flagship of the NWA — and a lot of people looked at WCW as being the new NWA, which it really wasn’t. But it was missing it’s — you know, it’s like trying to say you have a royal family, but you don’t have a Queen of England. There’s a piece missing, and it’s a major piece. It’s not a minor piece. And what they’ve been used to for a very, very long time, they don’t have. So it was, that company was still learning how to book live events and how to book loops and save money on that stuff. And it was just still a learning process in a lot of ways.”

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.