Famous Families and Groups
The Four Horsemen (1986-1999)
#PWHS #Article #FamousGroups #FourHorsemen #4Horsemen #4HRSMN
Here are seven parts of a puzzle that will help you remember the possible standards for what is called SUCCESS when it comes to the number of fans and gold belts.
1. They Were Horsemen?
Paul Roma
Won the WCW World Tag Team belts with Arn Anderson. Was two-to-one as a professional boxer. Was considered the weakest Horseman of all time.
Steve "Mongo" McMichael
Was the second weakest Horseman. Professional football star for fourteen years with the Chicago Bears. His wife Debra was a large part of his storylines, and she later married "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
Brian Pillman
Was known as “The Loose Cannon” for his staged out-of-control actions and his worked-shoot interviews. He was an ex-Cincinnati Bengal. Died at the age of thirty-five due to a bad heart combined with drugs and alcohol.
Chris Benoit
A talented World champion in both WCW & WWE. He once broke the neck of Sabu during a match. Married valet “Woman” (Kevin Sullivan’s ex-wife) after a storyline went awry. His life ended in a national story of a double murder-suicide of his wife, Nancy "Woman" Benoit and child Daniel Benoit.
2. Selection Of Stars That Were Horsemen For A Short Period
Sting
The fifteen time World Champion. He was also voted the "Most Popular" a record of four times. He started his career as the tag partner of the man who would be known as the Ultimate Warrior. He became a Horseman for a short period in 1989 because Tully Blanchard flunked a drug test. Sting became at odds with the Horsemen when he challenged Flair for his belt.
Sid Vicious
With Ole Anderson as his manager. Sid became a Horsemen to fill an empty slot. He stayed for one year. Three years later he and Horseman Arn Anderson got into a real-life fight during which Arn was stabbed twenty times and Sid four times.
Dean Malenko
One of the most gifted wrestlers of all-time. He was son of famous wrestler/manger Boris Malenko. He joined the last faction of the Horsemen in September 1998, and in May 1999 the Horsemen’s team tenure was completed.
3. Managers and Valets
The Four Horsemen had two managers and numerous valets at different times. Ole Anderson was one of the greatest tag-team wrestlers of all time. Famous for ramming Wahoo McDaniel's head into his brother Gene’s head to win the tag belts while Gene was laid out unconscious. Ole once was kicked out of the Horsemen for choosing his son’s college match over wrestling. Later, things were patched up as he wrestled/managed the Horsemen while Dillon was in the WWE.
JJ Dillon was a former wrestler and their main manager during their successful run. He was seen as one of intellectual prowess and for his occasional help. He was Injured seriously by the Road Warriors during the War Games.
Valets
Woman (married to Kevin Sullivan and later Chris Benoit).
Baby Doll (married to Sam Houston).
Debra McMichael (married to Steve McMichael and later Steve Austin).
Miss Elizabeth (married to Randy Savage and later a partner of Lex Luger).
Dark Journey (first female Afro-American valet).
Double D (Ric Flair’s nurse).
4. Best Of The Second Tier
Two stars, are considered a real Horseman although their tenure was not as long as the big three stars.
Lex Luger
Three time World Champion was known for his “Total Package” look of sculpted muscular perfection. Within two months in Florida he defeated Wahoo McDaniel for the Southern Championship belt as a rookie. He was only a Horseman for about a year, but he is remembered as the most arrogant. He replaced the fired Ole Anderson and the got fired himself for not allowing manager JJ Dillon to win the Bunkhouse Stampede. Even though he had an impressive physique, he was not respected by most wrestling stars for his in-ring ability nor for his backstage attitude.
Barry Windham
The son of Blackjack Mulligan. He turned on Luger along with the Horsemen so that he could join them. With Flair, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard, these four are considered the best technical wrestlers of all the Horsemen. They dominated pro-wrestling with Flair as the World Champion, Barry as the USA Champion, and Arn and Tully as the World Tag-Team Champions.
5. The Main Three: Tully Blanchard
He was a second generation wrestler that went from selling wrestling programs at ten to being one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Famous for the “I Quit” match with Magnum TA at Starrcade ’85, mainly for when he lost due to Magnum driving a piece of a wood deep into his forehead. The next three years saw him star in the Horsemen as as tag champion with his partner Arn Anderson. They became the “Brain Busters” in the WWF and won the World Championships there also. They would re-unite in WCW and still continued to cause excitement wherever the Four Horsemen’s jet landed or limousine halted. An interesting side note is that he divorced his second wife who went on to marry Magnum TA. Further still, he turned his great interviewing skills into being an evangelist of the gospel today.
6. The Main Three: Arn Anderson
He reformed the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his “uncle” Ole Anderson. Together they formed an alliance with Flair and Blanchard. Totally spontaneous, Arn coined the term “The Four Horsemen” during an interview, and history intersected with these especially-gifted wrestlers. The three top Horsemen (Flair, Arn, and Tully) would feud with the best tag teams and top stars of the NWA in classic battles. Sellouts were the norm as JCP (and the NWA arguably) had it's heyday. In some areas they were villains, and in other cities they were cheered louder than the “good guys.” Many times they would sell out arenas against other heel teams. October 23, 1993 saw 2 Cold Scorpio save Arn's life after he was stabbed twenty times by Sid Justice and losing 1½ pints of blood. Arn is considered by many as the “Most Underrated Wrestler of All Time.”
7. The Main Three: Ric Flair
WOOOOO! A “Limousine-ridin’, jet-flyin’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’-dealin’, son-of-a-gun.” To be the man, you have to beat the man! Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time. The greatest World Champion of all time, winning it some 21 times or so (greatly disputed lol). He has been struck by lightning that killed another man, had his back broken in plane crash, bled gallons of blood, wrestled nightly sixty minute matches, and then partied all night long. Flair had a skill to make a seven foot awkward giant, or an untalented local wrestler look like a star. A sensitive, respectful star. While wrestling in Waynesboro, Virginia at the local High School, his house was burning down in North Carolina, and he was still answering people “Yes sir” and “No sir." Taken altogether, many would argue that Richard Morgan Fliehr was truly the "Master of the Ring" like no other. There are many sides to Ric Flair, but as a wrestler he was the main force pushing on the flywheel of success called THE FOUR HORSEMEN.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Famous Families and Groups.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: September 13, 2016.
Article: #153.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Famous Families and Groups.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: September 13, 2016.
Article: #153.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Terry can be Read Here.