That's sad to watch for alot of reasons Among those are You can see the absolute pain on the faces of Both Flair and Benoit they knew what was coming and couldn't conceal their emotions or stay in character no matter how hard they were trying  
 
The other is Curt Hennig's presence in that clip and we all know Curt left us way way way Too soon
 
Jeff

What a great video. If you look closely during the interview, even Mene Gen looked a little emotional. AA was truly one of the greats of all time. He was a great wrestler, an excellent talker and an even better story teller. Still looked weird as Mongo McMichael standing there as a member of the Horsemen.

That was one of the greatest, and saddest, moments ever. I remember tearing up myself as Arn spoke and Flair stood next to him crying. And of course, they had to ruin a very real moment with the nWo mockery the following week... How disgraceful.... using Arn's retirement from what he loved to give the new world odor more tv time.

Quote from unclehitch on Jan 22^nd, 2007, 8:28pm:

 
Amen, John.

The thing that gets me is this was not some angle to get heat.
It was a skit to show everyone how funny they were, So funny that they humilated a guy retiring.
And Arn really couldn't even fight back.
At that Winston Salem ppv, there was real heat outside the arena.
Horsemen fans and NWO fans were slugging it out as I left the show.
It was real scary.A few glass bottles were thrown, it was nasty.
Arn wasn't the best wrestler I ever saw but he was my favorite.
His interviews were incredible, Arn would beat a guy to death with the truth.
The truth according to Arn that is.
Amazing stuff.

I totally disagree with you.

Quote from unclehitch on Jan 23^rd, 2007, 6:29pm:

 
 
Damn, I would have loved to have been there to witness that. That is true wrestling fans there to slug it out. Kind of reminds me of when a incident happened outside the Richmond Coliseum one time with a old couple (I would have to say they were in thier 70's) and a group of younger fans (probably mid 20's) almost getting into a fight because of something the horsemen did to screw over the Rock and Roll Express. It got to the point where someone pulled a gun and shot it in the air to get things settled down. Me being 12 years old at time (maybe younger) took off running to get the cops. I laugh back on that now but that is what wrestling misses most, the very passionate fans.

Arn was and will always be remembered for his in ring skills, in ADDITION to his mic skills!!  However, this was one of the sport's most sad days!  It is a shame Double-A never got a run at the title!  I know his role in the Horseman, yet....he would have been an excellent champion!!!

I remember watching that night and hoping it was an angle.  I started to believe when I saw Okerlund and Flair getting emotional.  I'll agree with what others have said, that can still give me chills when I watch it.  Arn Anderson is perhaps my 2nd favorite wrestler of all time (behind Flair, coincidentally) and it's a real shame it had to end as soon as it did.
 
I'll also agree with those who were not the least bit pleased with the nWo parody.  I thought it was low and pointless.  Though I will give Nash some credit.  According to Flair's book, Nash apologized to Arn, and then after Arn's book came out and Nash heard he had wrote about how it had bothered him, Nash called him up to apologize again.
 
It doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't have happened to begin with, but an apology is more than Arn got from everyone else involved in that fiasco.

I think what might even be worse than the skit is the way they had Arn give his spot to Curt---and then they just booked Curt into the nWo.  Curt would have made a great four horsemen (The stuff he and Flair did together in WWF come to mind) and it's a shame that it didn't turn out that way....