Less than a week after news broke that Mark Henry was leaving AEW at the end of the month after failing to come to a contract extension with the promotion, another certified wrestling legend is slated to follow him out the door in Arn Anderson, the backstage producer and former manager of both Cody Rhodes and his son, Brock Anderson.
Discussing the decision to leave the promotion after four years in the trenches, Anderson declared that he has no ill will towards the promotion, he simply wants to spend this final act of his career working with his son instead of producing other performers on the road backstage.
“Well, I haven't been just blowing my horn or blowing anybody's horn or blowing this out of the water trying to make a bigger deal out of it than what it is, but one thing people know that I am very appreciative to have been in this business for 42 years. I have often said that this business does not owe me anything, I owe it everything. Here on the tail end of my career, I have been very fortunate to work for AEW and Tony Khan for the last four years, and I have been under contract. He's a great, great human being. He has taken the wrestling business and given it another option and another whole different category of what professional wrestling is perceived to be or can be or will be or has been. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that worked there. They were all exceptionally great. Tony, we appreciate everything that you've done for the business,” Arn Anderson explained on his podcast via Fightful.
“The limited time that I have left I want to spend with Brock, because I think Brock has aptitude and attitude. I think he will be a big player for somebody. I just got to get him some experience, and that's where I'm gonna devote my time is to helping develop Brock and teaching him, and if he comes along like I think and hope he will, it will be sooner than later. So I just wanted to say thank you to Tony. Believe it or not, on double shot day, the 31st is the last day on my contract. I just want to say thank you. I appreciate everything. That goes to everybody that works there. All my friends, Tony Schiavone, JR, all those guys, all the talent. [Dean Malenko], obviously, Billy Gunn, all that crew. [Jerry Lynn]. Everybody was great. So I just want to say thank you and see you down the road.”
Welp, there you have it, folks, Double A is taking a step back to focus on developing his son Brock and it's far more likely you'll see him ringside for your favorite local fed than on television as a manager for some history-obsessed veteran looking for an edge… unless, of course, Cody Rhodes comes calling, then who knows, maybe Glock Anderson will saddle up for one final rodeo with the Rhodes Family, giving the “American Nightmare” that veteran cornerman he suggested he might be missing before King and Queen of the Ring in Saudi Arabia.
Mark Henry also has no hard things to say about AEW amid his exit.
Speaking of Mark Henry's exit, the WWE Hall of Famer actually had very nice things to say about Tony Khan and AEW as a whole on his way out of the door, too, noting that he, too, simply wants to focus on different things moving forward.
“Well Dave, you know my impending contract status has reached an end. My contract with AEW is set to expire tomorrow, the 28th. I wanted to address that matter. Tony Khan said at the press conference that he was very happy and proud of what we did together, and I feel the exact same way. I appreciate everything that happened at AEW with Tony Khan and the Khan family,” Mark Henry explained on Busted Open Radio via Fightful.
“I had a great experience, and I do feel like it's time for me to take more time to handle TheMarkHenry.com and the Remarkable brand and focus that attention on what my next steps are, and I'm not going to be renewing my deal. It's a mutual thing. If I can't dedicate 100% of myself, then it's only fair for both parties to end the relationship on a positive note. Like I said, it's been nothing but positive. I've done my best to help as many people as I could. There are still some things that I wanted to help with that I didn't get to finish, but those people have my phone number and anytime that they need to call me, I'm available for them. I am not leaving pro wrestling. What I'm saying is that I'm going to take some time to work on some projects, and I'm going to come back again in full force because that's what I do.”
So, what's the major takeaway from these two segments? Well, people genuinely seem to enjoy working for Khan, largely because of his work schedule and his general nice guy attitude, but in the end, if the role isn't right, anyone could opt to leave the promotion for greener pastures, not just wrestlers, but coaches, producers, and even occasional commentators too.
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