According to Arn Anderson, his fan base lies among truck drivers, construction workers, etc -  the sort of "people who like rough guys acting tough". These people consider Anderson a good, even a great wrestler. Some say he's also great at interviews. He's even the subject of an 'autobiography' .... written by someone else.

Others can't figure what all the hype is about. Isn't AA just Marty Lunde (aka "pie-face"), a balding beer-bellied guy from the Charlotte clique, who enjoys 'celebrity' as a way of getting money and girls and owes everything he has to a long standing friendship with Ric Flair?
 

This 'everyday kind of guy' persona resonates with his fan base, who celebrate him as "the one you don't really notice on the street .... who gets your attention by sheer talent instead of loud gimmicks. Sometimes it takes longer to notice them...but once you do, you're not likely to forget them anytime soon. In rock and roll, it's people like Bruce Springsteen. In the movies, it's guys like Harvey Keitel. In professional wrestling, it's Arn Anderson. If ever there was an "everyguy" who pushed himself to great heights" they say, "it's definitely Arn Anderson." ("You Can't Keep A Good Horseman Down" - Therra Cathryn Gwyn, in Figure Four Weekly).

Anderson has worked this angle tirelessly - dismissing wrestlers gifted with looks and ability - claiming such qualities are secondary to the 'will to achieve' to which Anderson attributes his success.

In particular Anderson has sought to contrast himself against fellow wrestler Tom Zenk. In his "auto"biography, Anderson claims that while Zenk has the good looks and physique which Anderson covets, he (Anderson) has the determination and ambition to succeed which, he claims, Zenk lacks.
 

"As for Tom Zenk, he is the guy with the most potential and least ambition I ever met.  Everything was too easy for him.  He was extremely good looking with a great physique that won him a number of bodybuilding titles.  That guy could go without working out for a year and, given thirty days to get in shape, could look like Rick Martel.  But, as his one-month [tv title] reign shows, things coming too easy can be a hindrance in this business."  (Arn Anderson 4 Ever; A Look Behind the Curtain, pp. 126-127)
 

"People have been telling me what I couldn't do all my life.  A lotta people call me an [under]achiever, Zenk.  They say you're not big enough. You don't have a body like Tom Zenk's.  You shouldn't have got what you got in this life.  Well, my friend, you look in these eyes and I looked  in yours and I've seen that same fire and I feel I've seen that same hunger; that will to achieve when everybody thinks you can't.  So  remember one thing, Greek God.  This might be a grandstand play for you or a way to get beautiful women.  But, by God, that's how I make my living and I'm better than everybody else.  A couple of broke knuckles, a few stitches makes no difference when you're a world class athlete; when you're a world champion, you suck it up and go.  Now you wanna be somebody?  You wanna elevate yourself?  Next week, my friend, make your grandstand play right on this show.  I don't think you're man enough to jump on me. Bottom Line."
 

But there's a major problem with all of this. In the fantasy world of pro-wrestling, Anderson might confidently predict his victory over Tom Zenk and other top wrestlers - knowing the result had been booked weeks before by Anderson's friend, WCW booker Ric Flair. That's the nature of wrestling, after all. The problem arises when Marty Lunde and his real life fans start to believe the Anderson hype.
 

Put simply, a lot of people, including wrestling insiders, believe that Anderson's success has been less his own work than other people's (a lot like his 'auto'biography).

Marty Lunde was an undistinguished squash boy in Florida until he met Ric Flair. Under Flair's mentorship, he adopted the Anderson name (cashing in on the reputation of Gene and Ole Anderson). Billing himself as a 'member of the Anderson family' he replaced Gene Anderson in "The Wrecking Crew" in 1986.  In 1987, Ole and Arn Anderson joined Flair and Tully Blanchard to form "The Four Horsemen". Ole was later dumped in favor of Lex Luger. Since then Flair and Anderson have periodically reformed the Horsemen to revive their own careers with infusions of younger blood.
 

Anderson subsequently returned to NWA-WCW and his safe spot alongside buddy Ric Flair, claiming "WCW is my home and is where I would like to retire. WCW has been very fair to me, and I'd like to return the favor with years of loyal service to them".  Back alongside Flair, Anderson's "will to achieve" revived miraculously  - only to nose-dive disasterously when Flair headed off to the WWF in 1991. In Flair's absence Anderson came close to dismissal on a number of occasions until Flair himself was pink-slipped by WWF and returned south, McMahon agreeing to suppress the story until Flair had hit the rival WCW for a big-money contract. 
 
But even with Flair temporarily gone, Anderson could still rely on a network of cronies in WCW to maintain his 'push.' These included  -
 

• former tag partner Ole Anderson (WCW Chief Booker May - Dec 1990) who continued to push Arn Anderson after Flair's resignation as booker in 1990;

• the former Crockett-NWA clique, centered on Dusty Rhodes. In the late Crockett years, NWA had been dominated by the Four Horsemen (Flair, Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson) JJ DIllon, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton (The Midnight Express), Nikita Koloff, The Rock'nRoll Express and Barry Wyndham. With cronies from the old Crockett-NWA clique in charge of booking at WCW throughout much of the 1990s (Flair, Ole Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, etc.,) Arn Anderson's push in WCW was secure;

• the Charlotte clique, a variant of the NWA Crockett clique, comprising Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton (The Midnight Express), Jim Cornette and Nikita Koloff.  (At one stage Arn Anderson, The Barbarian, Jim Cornette, Bobby Eaton and referee Tommy Young all lived in the same Charlotte street).

 

There is, however, no independent evidence that Anderson's "will to achieve" ever achieved anything without prior assistance from his wrestling buddies. On his sole excursion away from these buddies, Arn's "will to achieve" failed miserably. As Anderson himself admits - "It helps to have friends."

With such a history of cronyism muddying the waters, the question remains -  would Arn Anderson's reputation really survive a closer "Look Behind The Curtain."