quick links
- Arn Anderson began to experience problems with his left hand.
- The surgery was brutal and Arn Anderson was in the background
Arn Anderson is one of the most influential professional wrestlers of all time. He started his career in 1982 and, by the 1990s, he was a certified legend. Unlike his contemporary, Ric Flair, Anderson was never a world champion or mass draw, but he was a competent wrestler and extremely effective heel. He was part of the legendary Four Horsemen stable, and that alone commands respect.
Anderson was not even 40 years old when he retired. We all remember the moment, in 1997, when Enforcer came out on wcw Nitro, along with his stablemates, and announced to the world that he was retiring from active in-ring competition. In addition to participating in a few physical venues, Arn stayed true to his word and never wrestled in the ring again. When he retired, AA felt he still had a lot to give and, by his speech, he absolutely hated to retire, but given the extent and severity of his injuries, it makes sense that Anderson would stay away from the fight. free.
Arn Anderson began to experience problems with his left hand.
In his autobiography arn anderson 4 ever, the performer stated that his neck problems began as early as 1989 when he first injured his neck. A year later, in February 1990, Anderson was fighting Ricky Morton, and after knocking his opponent down with his signature spinebuster, Arn had to stop for a moment because something felt wrong in his neck. The whiplash from the move caused him to stall for a bit, but Arn continued to fight and finished the match.
Towards the end of the month, Arn and Ole were in a match against the Steiner brothers and during this match his left arm completely stopped working. Anderson described this as years of “injuries and beatings” catching up with him. Fortunately, the match ended quickly and Anderson was taken to hospital where doctors recommended surgery. Arn took a different route and after 30 days of rest and rehab, he was back on track. He felt well enough to wrestle for the next six years, but in 1996 the problems returned with a vengeance.
Just days before Halloween Havoc 1996, Anderson woke up to find that his arm wasn’t working at all. He tried to pick up a small dumbbell and it just fell out of his hands. Despite this, Anderson went ahead and competed in a no disqualification match against Lex Luger, though he barely made it through the match.
Arn knew he had a problem, but he refused to seek help until Eric Bischoff came up one day and asked what was going on. Anderson finally told him the truth and Bischoff told him to get medical treatment as soon as possible and that he couldn’t fight until he was fixed.
Anderson saw several different doctors, all of whom recommended surgery. Fortunately, Arn went through with the decision and underwent surgery on April 8, 1996, but according to the man, he was brutal and nearly died. Doctors had to cut a large amount of muscle in his neck and removed several bones connected to his spine, bones that serve as shock absorbers for his back and neck.
Basically, Anderson came out of the operation with his spine completely exposed. As horrible as it sounds, there was no other way. Without this surgery, Anderson was months away from losing his left hand completely, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The surgery was brutal and Arn Anderson was in the background
The surgery was so brutal that doctors said Anderson would be allowed to take any kind of pain reliever. Unfortunately, nothing worked for Arn and it was the worst pain he had ever felt in her life. To top it off, Anderson developed pneumonia and with chronic pain 24/7, he said in the book that death would have been a relief for him.
Arn’s wife, Erin, snapped him back to reality. When he developed pneumonia, Anderson said he was done and he wanted to shoot himself in the head, but after encouragement from his wife, he went ahead with another surgery to fix the inflammation in his lungs. Fortunately, the surgery was a success and Anderson was later released from the hospital.
Given this, it’s no surprise that Anderson retired the following year, and good for him. Neck problems are a bad omen in professional wrestling, but then add back and spinal problems and it’s the end of the road.