Arn Anderson on why WWE keeps TV matches short
Former WWE producer Arn Anderson has discussed why WWE looks to keep their matches short on television.
While it's become more and more common for WWE matches to last longer than two segments, Arn Anderson opened up on the discussions that WWE televised matches roughly last six minutes on the ARN podcast :
“Well, that that six minute thing? Well that looks good, until you take entrances out of that six minutes. And then you take exit time, aftermath, posing in the ring…that’s another minute. So if I did my math right that six minutes now became what? Three minutes, right? We’re back to that time, that three minute deal.” (H/T SEScoops)
With the assumption that several matches on WWE television have a maximum of 3 minutes to tell a story, Anderson discussed why this short match duration is incredibly detrimental to the WWE Superstars performing:
“And the thing about it is, when you give every match six minutes because that’s the brilliant thing that you came up through all your research? When you have every match go six minutes? Then it starts to look pretty uniform, and it’s a bunch of matches that don’t have enough time, except ding ding ding hurry hurry hurry. Then run through a couple spots and get your finish. There’s no story there.”
Arn Anderson on WWE talent being overexposed
Arn Anderson would then finish the discussion on the duration of WWE televised matches by suggesting that matches on RAW and SmackDown that are longer in duration can devalue the show and leave the Superstars performing overexposed:
“And some of those guys that are getting the two segment matches later on in the show? When those guys have already been seen twice during the show, and then you give them the two segments, it’s probably too much exposure.”
Arn Anderson is currently a "coach" in All Elite Wrestling. The Enforcer serves as the head coach of Cody and The Nightmare Family.
Arn Anderson has also been seen as an advisor for the tag team FTR in recent weeks on AEW Dynamite. It is currently unknown if he will officially become the coach of Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood in AEW.