On the latest episode of his “The ARN Show,” WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson discussed Shane Douglas’ WCW run before becoming “The Franchise” in ECW, whether he monitored the rival promotion, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his first impression of Shane Douglas: “That this kid has got a bright future. He already had veteran tendencies, and I didn’t know a lot about him prior to this. But man, some guys pick it up right away. He’s one of those guys, you know. And he’s been around, he’s still around the business, and you can just see his evolution in different companies. I think he had a huge run in ECW that probably put him on the map more than anything else. And became one of the leaders of that company, and one of the figureheads of that company and the face of that company, whatever you want to call it. But he just continued to learn the business and get better. And you could see already in this match with Steamboat. He was watching Ricky, learning from Ricky, and bringing his own style to the match.”
On Douglas having all of the skills: “Yeah, and babyface skills, you know. That’s one of the main things is, you know, it’s like Brian Pillman; babyface skills. Brad Armstrong, babyface skills, Shawn Michaels. Those guys, they have a set of exciting moves, but, they sell well, they fight back. They’re always in the fight. And you could see that in Shane already.”
On whether he watched him in ECW: “Well, I barely got to watch our show back in those days. We were so busy, much less watching the other shows. So I wasn’t as in tune as I should have been. But you hear it through the grapevine, how he’s growing and developing, and it’s because being a babyface and being a heel are two different animals. And if you can master ’em both, you’re gonna have a long career.”
