Arn Anderson

Martin Anthony Lunde, or as he is popularly known as, Arn Anderson, is a retired American professional wrestler. Martin was born on September 20, 1958 in Rome, Georgia, United States of America. Anderson made his debut in January of 1982. He retired on 25 August, 1997. He is currently signed to the American wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling as Cody's personal advisor and trainer. Cody is AEW's executive vice president. Arn Anderson made his AEW debut at Dynamite on January 1, 2020. He assisted Cody in his victory over Darby Allin. Anderson announced to have signed a new multi-year contract with AEW on June 3rd, 2020.

1. Ringnames
2. Nicknames
3. Managers
4. Signature Moves
5. Signature Move with Tully Blanchard
6. Finishing Moves
7. Career
8. Early Career
9. The Four Horsemen
10. WCW
11. Injury and subsequent Retirement
12. Post Retirement
13. All Elite Wrestling
14. Personal Life
15. Championships and Achievements
16. FAQs

Ringnames

1. Arn Anderson
2. Super Olympia
3. Marty Lunde

Nicknames

1. Double A
2. The Enforcer

Managers

1. Ole Anderson
2. Ron Fuller
3. Michael P.S. Hayes
4. Jimmy Hart
5. Nancy Daus
6. James J. Dillon
7. Bobby Heenan
8. Paul Heyman
9. Paul Ellering
10. Col. Robert Parker

Signature Moves

1. Hammerlock
2. Figure-four leglock
3. Jawbreaker
4. Chinlock
5. Knee drop
6. Gourdbuster (Inverted suplex slam)
7. Left-handed knockout punch
8. Snapmare

Signature Move with Tully Blanchard

1. Spike piledriver

Finishing Moves

1. DDT
2. Spinebuster

Career

Early Career

Martin Lunde started his wrestling career at the age 23 in 1982. During his early career days he wrestled in several independent wrestling companies across the United States. In 1983, he was wrestling at Southeastern Championship Wrestling, which is an NWA affiliated promotion under the ring name of "Super Olympia". He soon became a member of Ron Fuller's Stud Stable before the year came to an end. At Southeastern Championship Wrestling he won NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship thrice with Mr. Olympia and once with Buddy Rose.

He left Southeastern Championship Wrestling by the end of 1984 to join Mid South Wrestling which was based out of Shreveport. Lunde made the shift of his career to Jim Crockett, Jr.'s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling based in the Virginias and the Carolinas.

Due to an amazing amount of resemblance between Lunde and Ole Anderson, who by the way was a legend in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic territories as a tag team wrestler, Anderson was about to bag the coalition which would define his career. Lunde's style was a no nonsense approach in the ring much like Ole himself. Lunde went on to replace Gene Anderson and took on the name of Arn Anderson and the rest is history.

The Four Horsemen

The Andersons formed an alliance against their common enemies, with Tully Blanchard and Ric Flair by the end of 1985. Teaming together in six and eight man tag matches and even interfering in each other's matches to manipulate the results in their favor, the alliance the Four Horsemen with James J. Dillon as the group's manager.

The formidable Horsemen tasted defeat at Starrcade '86 after Anderson and Ole lost a Steel Cage match to The Rock 'n' Roll Express. The match ended with Ole getting pinned. Ole was then portrayed as the weak link within the team due to his age. Ole took a break from Starrcade and when he returned in February 1987, he was thrown out of the group and was replaced by Lex Luger.

By early 1988 even Luger was removed from the group who formed his own team with Barry Windham. Luger challenged Arn and Tully for the NWA World Tag Team Championship and were successful. The horsemen left for the WWF where

Anderson and Blanchard formed the "Brain Busters". The Brain Busters won the Tag team titles ending Demolition's historic reign of 478 days.

WCW

Anderson left the WWF, to go back to Crockett's company which was now called World Championship Wrestling. Anderson reformed the Horsemen and won the NWA World Television Championship on January 2, 1990 and retained it for almost an entire year. He lost it to Tom Zenk only to win it back on January 14, 1991 and started his second reign. He held his third reign for five months before dropping it to "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. Anderson then returned to the tag team scene with Larry Zbyszko and formed "The Enforcers".

In May 1993, Anderson rejoined the original Horsemen of Ole Anderson and Ric Flair and re-formed the Four Horsemen. Blanchard, failing a drug test, was released from the company and was replaced by Paul Roma. Anderson was a regular at WCW over the next few years. But by the end of 1996, Anderson started to develop signs of wear and tear on his body. On August 25, 1997 at the WCW Monday Nitro, Anderson formally announced his retirement from the ring.

Injury and subsequent Retirement

During a match in 1994, Arn was thrown into the ring rope when the top rope broke from the turnbuckle and Arn tumbled out of the ring. However he was able to find his footing successfully. Before six months passed a similar unfortunate incident saw a not as lucky as the last time Arn, falling on his head. He injured his head, neck and upper back as he landed full-force on to the concrete. But Arn decided to rub some dirt on it and continue, never taking any time off to allow his injuries to heal. But with time, the injuries only worsened.

Anderson states in his biography that he became aware of an underlying issue for the first time during a match. He says that his left arm suddenly went numb and became unresponsive. After medical examination it was found a rib, possibly torn away from the spine during the top-rope accident, was popping in and out of its joint socket.

A surgery was inevitable to keep his left arm in a functioning state. Arn underwent a left posterior laminectomy of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th cervical bones and a fusion of the 7th cervical and 1st thoracic bones in Atlanta in late 1996. The surgery was successful but Anderson had to endure a lot of muscle weakness, loss of fine motor control, and loss of muscle mass in his left arm. Anderson was again readmitted in March 1997 with heart attack-like symptoms but was released soon afterwards.

It was in July of 1997, Anderson lost and could not regain use of his left arm for several hours. He noticed this while working out when a friend of his gave a hearty slap on the back while Double A was working out at the gym. It is the moment when it dawned upon him that he needs to stop and take a step back as another injury could leave him paralyzed or worse. The thing he feared the most according to Anderson himself was that his children whom he loved will be left fatherless. Arm Anderson retired on WCW programming after his heartfelt speech.

Post Retirement

After retiring from WCW, Anderson joined WWF, which was now renamed as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May 2002 as a road agent. He appeared on WWE television regularly to pull apart backstage brawls. He appeared once as a commentator in WWE. He made several appearances after that, appearing and departing from WWE between 2006 and 2019.

All Elite Wrestling

Arn Anderson made an appearance on the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) pay-per-view event, All Out, surprising everyone. Arn Anderson made his AEW debut on January 1, 2020. He assisted Cody in his victory over Darby Allin. Anderson announced to have signed a new multi-year contract with AEW on June 3rd, 2020.

Personal Life

Arn Anderson's wife, Erin, got married to the wrestler in 1984. Together, Arn and Erin gave birth to two sons, Barrett Anthony and Brock. Arm has managed to keep his family life a private affair for most of his career.

Championships and Achievements

Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling

1. NWA National Tag Team Championship - 1 time - with Ole Anderson
2. NWA World Television Championship - 2 times
3. NWA World Tag Team Championship - 3 times: twice with Tully Blanchard and once with Paul Roma
4. WCW World Tag Team Championship - 3 times - once with Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton, and Paul Roma each
5. WCW World Television Championship - 2times

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

1. PWI ranked Arn Anderson #8 of the 500 best wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991.
2. PWI Feud of the Year in 1987 - Four Horsemen vs. Super Powers and the Road Warriors
3. PWI Tag Team of the Year in 1989 along with Tully Blanchard
4. PWI Tag Team of the Year in 1991 along with Larry Zbyszko
5. PWI Stanley Weston Award in the year 1997
6. PWI ranked Arn Anderson #62 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in the year 2003

Southeastern Championship Wrestling

1. NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship - 4 times - thrice with Jerry Stubbs and once with Pat Rose

World Wrestling Federation

1. WWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tully Blanchard

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

1. 5 Star Match (1992) with Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, & Larry Zbyszko vs. Nikita Koloff, Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, & Dustin Rhodes (May 17, WarGames match, WrestleWar)
2. Best on Interviews (1990)
3. Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Ric Flair, Meng, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution vs. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, WCW Uncensored, Towers of Doom match, Tupelo, MS, March 24

FAQs

How old is Arn Anderson?

Arn Anderson was born on September 20, 1958. He is 61 years old.

Who is the son of Arn Anderson?

Barrett Anthony Lunde and Brock Lunde are the sons of Arn Anderson.

When did Arn Anderson retire?

Arn Anderson retired on 25 August, 1997.