Arn Anderson Opens Up About Being Depressed In WCW In 2000

WCW was not a fun place to be in the year 2000. The company had completely gone off the rails by this point and for NWA icons like Arn Anderson, it was especially hard.

Anderson recently opened up about the depression he felt during WCW’s final year on his podcast, ARN. He likened it to the company being a burning house and knowing the fire trucks won’t get there in time. Here is the quote, courtesy of Wrestling News:

“For me, I was having to look at this. I couldn’t sprinkle any magic dust on it. I couldn’t put a new coat of paint on it, I couldn’t rationalize it. For me, it was a period of my life that the companies that I really loved, which was Jim Crockett Promotions that morphed into WCW. Then it became WCW and I saw that it was on fire and the fire trucks were not going to make it in time. I was the guy who took the call. We were standing in front of the house and it’s ¾ on fire and the guy calls from the dispatch and he says, sorry Arn, we are still 45 minutes away with the fire trucks. We are not going to make it in time. Then there’s that moment where inside your head, you just go, this is over.

The business as I know it is over. This company is probably going to be done. I can no longer wrestle no matter how much I will myself to do it. I’m just physically not able. It was a really down, depressing time for me, but I was looking at all the jobs, all the dreams, all the young guys like myself that dreamt of this their entire life and really wanted to make it an occupation of theirs, lifelong, they were never going to have it because when that company goes down, at least half the jobs in the industry is going to go down the sink with it. To sit there and have to watch it, it’s like somebody holding my head straight saying, watch the monitor. There is the future. It doesn’t look very bright. It was not a good feeling.”

After WCW closed, Arn Anderson joined WWE as a producer, a role he held until 2019. He has since joined AEW where he is the head coach of the Nightmare Family.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression, please follow this link for support.

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• WCW
• depression
• arn anderson
• AEW

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