Arn Anderson Reveals His Favorite Match Of 2020, Who Gives The Best Spinebusters
Although 2020 has been a bizarre year for pro wrestling with performers trying to wrestle in front of empty arenas, there hasn’t been a shortage of quality matches across promotions. WWE Hall of Famer and AEW coach Arn Anderson recently spoke on The Arn Show and broke down his list of favorite matches from the year, and he picked the one that he enjoyed the most.
Anderson chose the Kenny Omega vs. Penta El Zero M match from the second round of the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament as his favorite match of 2020.
“People are going to probably chew my a– about it, but I don’t care,” he said. “I like what I like. A couple of weeks back, it was part of the tournament. Kenny Omega and Pentagon had a qualifying match.”
The Four Horsemen icon went on to explain why the pacing and selling from Omega and Penta was “everything that you wanted” in a pro wrestling match.
“The knock and part of my knock on all this young talent is not the incredible stuff they do, it’s the fact that they don’t feature it enough, and sell it properly, and put in critical parts of the match to where they’re game-changers.
“[Omega and Pentagon] did all that. They slowed it down, they sold every spectacular thing they did to each other. I felt it. I saw the match dipping back-and-forth between each guy, being in control. I loved it; I thought it was phenomenal. The athleticism, the thought process was everything that you wanted. The selling and storytelling, I thought was fantastic. That’s the best one I’ve seen lately.”
When asked which modern wrestlers he considers “students of the game,” Anderson named a few talents who he thinks are constantly looking to hone their craft and improve inside the squared circle.
“I’d say Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler,” said Anderson. “I’m a big fan of SCU right now. Two of them are veterans, Frankie and Daniels. The other kid has got a huge upside waiting for him in this business, Scorpio [Sky]. Those guys are talented, and what a great team.”
Anderson also gave props to FTR, a tag team that he and his former Four Horsemen partner, Tully Blanchard, have been mentoring backstage in AEW.
“I think probably heading the list again – and people get tired of me saying this, but I don’t know of any two bigger students of the business than The Revival – ex Revival – FTR,” he said. “FTR are two guys that are constantly looking at tape, constantly talking about concepts, picking my brain, picking Tully’s brain. God knows how many other people– but they do their homework and you’re going to see it in the matches going forward. That’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, Anderson was asked to name the modern superstar who delivers the best spinebuster, his patented finishing move that he made popular in the 1980s.
“Rhino has a great spinebuster,” said Anderson. “Hunter [Triple H], Ron Simmons, and Batista all had good versions of it. Bobby Roode does it like I do it.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Arn Show with a h/t to PWrestling.com for the transcription.
Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.