The Enforcer's lowest point: Arn Anderson's one career regret

Arn Anderson has been a force in wrestling since 1982. He has many accolades to his credit, but there's one regret he has about his career.

When you've been up and down the road as much as Double-A has, you're certain to make a lot of memories. Before we look at Arn's one career regret, let's take a look at how he began.

His first ring name wasn't Arn Anderson

When Martin Lunde made his debut in the squared circle, he did so under a mask. Teaming up with Mr. Olympia, Arn became Super Olympia, his trusted tag team partner. Arn's powerful, fireplug build and technical acumen brought the duo gold.

It's hard to imagine the charismatic Arn, who has one of the most instantly recognizable faces in wrestling, working under a mask, but it did happen!

The story of how he became Arn Anderson is quite interesting...

Arn and Ole are NOT brothers, or cousins...but they ARE related.

Arn, Ole, Ric, and JJ DIllon — Arn, Ole, Ric, and JJ Dillon

The Andersons were already an established tag team, originally consisting of Lars and Gene Anderson. Though not related in real life, they were billed as brothers. Eventually, Lars retired and his spot was taken by Ole Anderson. Then Lars retired, and Ole was left on his own.

Not wanting to discontinue the successful Anderson lineage, promoter Jim Crockett noticed a resemblance between Ole and Super Olympia. They became the new Minnesota Wrecking Crew and specialized in dismantling one part of their opponent's body.

Super Olympia was now given his most famous ring name, Arn Anderson. While he is not related to Ole by blood, he did marry Ole Anderson's daughter, making Ole his father in law.

But the Andersons were not the most famous group Arn was connected with...

Arn Named the Four Horsemen stable in an ad-libbed interview.

Back in the 1980s, there were no writers pounding out catch-phrase laden, cheap pop mining interviews for the talent. Instead, they were given the mike and told to make magic. That's just what Arn did during a completely ad-libbed moment when working for JC Productions.

To save time, the decision was made to conduct the interviews for the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Ric Flair, and Tully Blanchard simultaneously. Since the four were all heel wrestlers, there was thought to be no conflict of interest. Arn got on the mike and said;

"What you're looking at right here is the FOUR HORSEMEN of professional wrestling!"

The group was never meant to actually be a stable; They were just doing a tandem interview due to time constraints. Jim Crockett knew a winner when he saw one, and soon wrestling's most decorated, dominant stable was formed for real. All thanks to Arn Anderson's gift of gab.

Did the formation of the Horsemen lead to Arn's one career regret? Read on to find out...

Arn took a back seat to Flair in the Horsemen.

Arn Anderson and Ric Flair have been BFFs since they first crossed paths in 1984.

If there was one drawback to being in the Horsemen, it was the fact Arn was forever in the shadow of Nature Boy Ric Flair.

While Anderson had many TV title, Us Title, and World Tag Title reigns with the Horsemen, he never wore any promotion's 'big belt.' Undoubtedly, his friendship with Flair both in real life and on-screen contributed to this.

But this isn't Arn's career regret. Arn Anderson actually had no problem with taking a back seat to Ric Flair, because as he saw it it was best for business. When asked what it meant to him to be a Horsemen, he had this to say:

"Unselfishness, commitment to excellence, a good business head, the desire to put the good of the unit above individual achievement, and with absolutely no fear or looking back hurt and possibly cripple everybody on the opposing team without hesitation or regret."

So, Arn was never bitter or jealous of Flair and has no regrets taking a back seat to his good friend. Unfortunately, Arn's career was living on borrowed time...

Arn sacrificed his retirement speech for a story line.

Arn Anderson and the Horsemen in their Hall of Fame lineup

In 1997, Arn Anderson was scheduled for spinal fusion surgery that would reduce his pain and allow him to continue to wrestle. Unfortunately, he put the surgery off for so long there was too much damage for a fusion. He was forced to retire and had a send-off speech that did more to get over new Horseman Curt Hennig than putting a capstone on his career.

The following week, the nWo parodied the retirement speech in a moment that was more insulting than funny. Still, Arn is a consummate professional, and he never regretted using his retirement speech for storyline fodder.

So what IS Arn's one career regret? Find out on the next page!

Losing to the Renegade

The Renegade, a poorly conceived Ultimate Warrior clone

Arn Anderson is perhaps the most famous NWA World Television Champion of all time. His multiple runs with the title include victories over such luminaries as The Great Muta and Dr. Death Steve Williams.

Hulk Hogan introduced a new ally via showing his silhouette on television. When fans saw the crazy hair and arm tassels, they assumed it was the Ultimate Warrior, especially after Hogan called the man his 'ultimate surprise.'

Unfortunately, that surprise turned out to be the Renegade, a ripoff/homage of the Ultimate Warrior. Fans weren't fooled, and in an attempt to make Renegade relevant Arn was ordered to drop the Television title to him at The Great American Bash.

Despite Renegade's raw athletic ability, he was a total dud in the ring, and Anderson struggled to get a decent match out of such a green opponent. In fact, the match actually went past the ten-minute time limit TV title matches are supposed to have because Arn didn't want to end the match until he'd gotten a decent performance out of Renegade.

When he's asked about his career, Arn says he'd do it all over again the same way, with one difference;