NWA and WCW legend Arn Anderson recently opened up on The Arn Show about Mauro Ranallo’s time in WWE and what he feels ultimately lead to Ranallo’s departure from the company. The former WWE producer firstly hinted at an atmosphere of jealousy within the company:
“He made a couple of mistakes. He was damn good at what he did. He came in and kept his mouth shut. He was on top and he had a reputation that came with him that I would think some of those guys sitting there with headsets must have felt threatened by.”
While Anderson didn’t name any names this opinion seems to align with several rumours that have floated around about Ranallo’s experiences within WWE. He went on to say:
“I think he had a run-in with a couple of guys and he didn’t know he can fight back if that’s in him because it’s a definite shark tank. You better have thick skin and you better know when the cutoff point when some guy is on your shoulder giving you a bunch of s**t and it’s time to pop him in the mouth with an elbow and look after yourself.”
Ranallo recently commented on his WWE release in which he said the reasons behind his departure from WWE revolved around a decline in his mental health and a feeling of dismay at WWE constantly rotating and altering their commentary teams. Ranallo also described WWE as:
“One of the most mentally grueling places…”
At no point does Ranallo make reference to any specific bullying or hazing, but the fact that Arn Anderson suggests that there was a level of jealousy around his ability does seem to hint at him being made to feel less than welcome at times.
You can also check out our recent interview with Arn where we discussed The Undertaker’s Streak, Arn’s favourite ever spinebuster, who else does the move well, and much more.
Arn Anderson quotes courtesy of WrestlingNews.co