On the latest episode of “83 Weeks”, Eric Bischoff discussed the decision to keep Arn Anderson on the payroll after he retired from the ring. Here’s what he had to say:

There was no doubt in my mind that we were gonna keep him. I had a lot of respect for Arn. Not only because of his knowledge, but his ability to manage certain situations. I know it’s going to sound ironic given the Sid Vicious story [of Arn and Sid getting into a fight] that we’re all very well aware of. But you know, when needed Arn was one of those go-to guys that could calm a situation down pretty easily, or get people that were having a hard time seeing eye-to-eye just settle down and start seeing eye-to-eye. He had great psychology. He could explain why a match had to happen the way it needed to happen, or a story line needed to happen the way it needed to happen, or particularly a finish. One of the best finish guys in my opinion, that I had an opportunity to work with, no doubt about it. So no, there was not [any hesitation about keeping him on].

And besides that, I was loyal to Arn. He probably didn’t realize it as much at the time. Or he probably would have disagreed with it at the time because, you know, the way things went down sometimes in the ring or story line-wise. But no, there was not even a moment of hesitation to make sure that he was taken care of.

And it wasn’t just taking care of Arn, which was part of it for me because I was loyal to him, and wanted to recognize what he contributed to the business. But also [I] saw value in him backstage. I was concerned, to be fair … I was a little concerned about his ability to make the transition. It’s hard to go from being one of the boys and then all of a sudden becoming management. So I was concerned about that, but not about his ability to contribute.

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Credit: 83 Weeks. H/T 411Mania.