Arn Anderson on Abdullah The Butcher’s drawing power, plus notes on Rhea Ripley, Zelina Vega, and Roddy Piper

– Sean Ross Sapp has revealed behind Fightful’s paywall that the Smackdown Women’s Championship Match between Rhea Ripley and Zelina Vega at Backlash Puerto Rico was originally meant to a squash match. He said “Fightful Select has learned that an original plan for Zelina’s world title match in Puerto Rico was for Rhea Ripley to squash her, despite the geographical location and Zelina’s connection. However, a change was made, and Zelina ended up having a very well received match and getting a special reaction from the audience in Puerto Rico. We also heard that Rhea Ripley was happy to accommodate the booking change.”

– Eight years ago today we lost Roddy Piper.

– During a recent episode of his ARN podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and pro wrestling legend “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson shared his thoughts on various topics, including the captivating presence of Abdullah The Butcher and how he was undeniably a fierce competitor and draw in the world of pro wrestling.

“He was a draw. Yeah. I’ve told before; I don’t know if it’s still out there, but when Peewee Anderson and myself, we went to wrestle one Thursday in Rome, and I wanna say we were like maybe 17, something like that, 18 years old. And we were by the rail right by the locker room door. And Abdullah The Butcher kicked the door open and came out for his match. And it scared Peewee so bad, he pissed his pants, and I mean, bad, pissed his pants. And he just had that, at that time, that Aura, that’s, yeah. He had this; there was just something about him that was so over the top. It immediately had you asking questions: is this guy for real? God, she’s; it seemed legitimate that he was a savage. You know it, but it was so over the top. If you really think about it, how could there have ever been an Abdullah The Butcher match? That was it? DQ immediately? If there were any rules, unless you, It wouldn’t Have worked. Unless they just announced every single match that he was in a no-disqualification match. Because a minute into the match, two minutes into the match, he had the forecast stab at a guy rhyme, you know, just co just thought, thought process goes well. Why didn’t a referee just, you know, DQ that I never was in the ring with Abdullah.”