The Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)

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The Four Horsemen
Logo of the Four Horsemen
Stable
MembersSee below
Name(s)The Four Horsemen
The Horsemen
Yamazaki Corporation
The Three Horsemen
Debut1985[1]
Years active1985–1989
1989–1991
1993
1995–1997
1998–1999
2022

The Four Horsemen is an American

stable who originally consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard
.

The stable originated in

Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Flair and Arn Anderson were members of each incarnation of the group until Anderson's retirement after a neck injury. As of 2022, Arn Anderson has the ownership of the stable's trademark and other intellectual properties.[2]

History

Ric Flair, throwing up the Horsemen's signature hand gesture, in November 2019

NWA World Heavyweight Champion, he and the Crew had reconciled, having their blessing to team with them as well as with Mulligan and Valentine to feud with top NWA man Harley Race and his Mid-Atlantic hitmen, Bob Orton Jr. and Dick Slater. When Mulligan retired and Valentine jumped to the World Wrestling Federation
(WWF), Flair started looking for a new entourage.

Original Four Horsemen (1985–1987)

The Four Horsemen formed in 1985 with Ric Flair, Ole and

The Road Warriors. Animal, Hawk, Ronnie Garvin and many others fought Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title during that time period. They usually had most of the titles in the NWA, and they often bragged about their success (in the ring
and with women) in their interviews.

The Four Horsemen moniker was not planned from the start. The origin of the stable dates to a

Baby Doll
was Flair's valet for a couple of months in 1986, after previously managing Tully Blanchard during 1985.

Lex Luger and Barry Windham (1987–1989)

Blanchard (left) and Anderson (right) as NWA World Tag Team Champions (Mid-Atlantic version) in 1988
A c. 1988 lineup of the Horsemen featuring Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, and Windham with JJ Dillon alongside them

In February 1987, JCP newcomer

Starrcade in 1986. Eventually he was kicked out in favor of Luger that March. The fact that Ole missed a show to watch his son Bryant
wrestle in high school was used against Ole in the split as Blanchard and Dillon questioned Ole's commitment and Blanchard called Bryant a "snot-nosed kid".

During this time, they wrestled Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, the Road Warriors and

Big Boss Man
.

Luger was later kicked out of the Four Horsemen. First, he blamed Horseman manager J.J. Dillon for costing him the U.S. Title when Dillon's attempt to help Luger win the match, by cheating, backfired. Lex subsequently did not allow Dillon to win a

World Heavyweight Champion; Windham, as the United States Heavyweight Champion; and Arn and Tully, as the World Tag Team Champions
.

In September 1988, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard left to join the WWF. This forced them to drop the Tag Team Titles at the last minute to the

Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton). Anderson and Blanchard were known as "The Brain Busters", in the WWF, and were managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
.

Flair, Windham, and Dillon continued to refer to themselves as "the Horsemen" and the NWA even flirted with the idea of bringing in new members.

The Fabulous Freebirds
in May and Matsuda left the promotion.

The Horsemen concept helped define the NWA in the mid to late 1980s. The departure of Anderson and Blanchard was huge at the time, Dillon and Windham's departure made it worse, and despite numerous revivals over the coming decade, things were never quite the same.

Sting and Sid Vicious (1989–1991)

The Horsemen reformed in December 1989 in the NWA/WCW.

Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer and The Dragonmaster. At the culmination of this feud the group returned to being heels, kicking Sting out for daring to challenge Ric Flair for the World Title. "Sting, you never were a Horseman" Ric Flair would say afterwards in a TV spot, according to Arn Anderson, Sting actually requested to be taken out of the group because he wanted to be on his own. Woman soon became Flair's valet. They feuded with Luger, Sting, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner and El Gigante
during this time.

In May 1990, Ole retired from active competition and served as the group's manager, Barry Windham returned to WCW and the Horsemen on the May 5th NWA World Wide Wrestling, and Sid Vicious was added to fill out the group on the May 11th NWA Power Hour. They feuded with the Dudes With Attitudes which consisted of Sting, Luger, the Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff and Junkyard Dog. By the end of 1990, Ole and Woman left the NWA.

In October 1990, NWA World Champion Sting defended his title against the Horsemen's Sid Vicious at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. During the match, Sting and Vicious brawled backstage. A few moments later, they returned to the ring. Sting attempted to slam Sid, but lost his balance and fell to the mat with Sid on top of him. Vicious got the pin and was declared the new World Heavyweight Champion. However, it was revealed that Barry Windham (in matching Sting gear and face paint) had inserted himself into the match and let Vicious pin him. When the real Sting showed up, the match was restarted and the real Sting defeated Sid to retain the title.

The Horsemen line-up of Flair, Anderson, Windham, and Vicious eventually broke up and went their own ways. In May 1991, Sid left for the WWF. Flair was fired from WCW in early July and was in the WWF by August. Windham was part of a double turn at The Great American Bash shortly after Flair's firing, where he lost to

Madusa, Bobby Eaton, and Steve Austin. Anderson and Windham feuded during this time, beginning with an incident at Halloween Havoc
where Arn and Zbyszko slammed a car door on Windham's hand.

Three Horsemen (May 1993 – December 1993)

The next incarnation of the Horsemen, containing only three active members, was around for fewer than seven months in 1993. Flair returned from the WWF to WCW to rejoin Arn and they promised a Horsemen reunion at the

the Hollywood Blondes (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman). This group ended, due to Arn Anderson's stabbing incident with Sid Vicious during a tour of England in October, and Paul Roma turning on Erik Watts during a tag team match to join Paul Orndorff as the tag team of Pretty Wonderful. Flair went on to feud with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader
.

Reformation and feud with the nWo (1995–1997)

In 1995, Flair and Arn (back to being

Superbrawl VI when she turned on Randy Savage. Miss Elizabeth left the group in October 1996 to join the nWo and Woman
left the group and WCW in July 1997.

In early 1996, Pillman started his infamous "Loose Cannon" storyline and started a feud with

stiff or even full contact moves, rather than the typical North American
style of softening maneuvers.

In June 1996 at the

Great American Bash, Flair and Arn Anderson wrestled former football players Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Kevin Greene. During the match, McMichael's then-wife Debra
was chased to the back by Woman and Miss Elizabeth, but later came back with them and a steel briefcase, which she handed to her husband. Mongo opened it to reveal a Horsemen T-shirt and money; after thinking it over, he closed the Haliburton briefcase and hit Greene with it, allowing Flair to score the pin on Greene. McMichael was officially inducted as the fourth Horseman, and in the process gave the group another ringside valet in Debra. The rumors said that Debra and Woman did not get along behind the scenes. This played out on TV, as they constantly bickered, and Benoit and Mongo had to step in.

When the

Fall Brawl when Luger submitted to the impostor Sting's Scorpion Deathlock. This angered Anderson, and he feuded with Luger for the next month. In October, two developments occurred that affected the group. First, Jeff Jarrett came over to WCW from the WWF, and expressed his desire to join the Horsemen. He immediately gained a fan in Ric Flair, much to the chagrin of the other Horsemen. The next week, Miss Elizabeth
joined the nWo.

Flair finally let Jarrett join the group in February 1997 but the others did not want him. Jarrett began bickering with Mongo over Debra's attention, and in June won the U.S. Title from Dean Malenko, with the help of Eddie Guerrero; on the June 30, 1997 edition of Nitro he was kicked out of the stable by Flair, due to the instability Jarrett's presence caused the Horsemen. In a move uncharacteristic of the Horsemen, however, Jarrett was allowed to literally walk away, instead of receiving a beatdown as was expected. He eventually took Debra from Mongo, but Mongo took Jarrett's U.S. Title. To this date, amongst fans and members of the Four Horsemen, there is still debate whether to include Jarrett as a Horseman. In his biography, Arn Anderson states that "Jeff Jarrett was never a Horseman". His "membership" and his easy departure leave the situation ambiguous.

The Four Horsemen usually picked their own members, but at the time, WCW held extreme control over storylines and this may have forced them to accept a member for those purposes only and not by choice. In August 1997, Arn Anderson retired due to a neck/back injury that did not allow him to wrestle. Curt Hennig took his spot as "The Enforcer". The next month, Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo. Flair disbanded the group on September 29, 1997, and they went their separate ways.

Final incarnation (1998–1999)

The last incarnation came in September 1998. On the September 14 edition of WCW Monday Nitro in Greenville, South Carolina when Ric Flair returned from a hiatus from the ring after a disagreement with WCW president Eric Bischoff. Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit kept going to Arn about reforming the Horsemen. He kept saying no. James J. Dillon, back in WCW's front office, even made a request. Arn eventually gave in and reformed the Horsemen with McMichael, Benoit and Malenko being presented to the ring before Flair finally being unveiled as the fourth Horseman, with Arn serving as its manager. They feuded with the nWo and Eric Bischoff.

In early 1999, the Horsemen turned heel again. Mongo had recently departed the wrestling world and they were down to Benoit, Malenko, Flair and Arn as the manager. They also had a

Revolution
, thereby effectively ending the Four Horsemen.

Reunions (2022–present)

At

Brian Pillman Jr., son of late Horseman Brian Pillman, "representing The Four Horsemen" was announced to wrestle at the Jim Crockett Promotions event "Ric Flair's Last Match" with Arn Anderson managing, signaling a possible full-time return of the faction.[12]

Legacy

The original Four Horsemen, widely regarded as the greatest pro wrestling stable of all time,[13] were innovative in developing and popularizing the concept of heel stables. On the 2007 Four Horsemen DVD, commentator Jim Ross stated "without the Horsemen there would damn sure be no nWo or no DX".

Evolution

Main article: Evolution

In 2003, rumors began circulating that Ric Flair (at the time working for the

Batista. This group was eventually formed, but under the name Evolution instead of the Four Horsemen, and with Triple H as the leader instead of Flair. They served much the same function as the original heel Horsemen had, dominating the titles on Raw and feuding with that brand's top faces. The group slowly died between August 2004 and October 2005. Orton was kicked out of the group after he won the World Heavyweight Championship, which Triple H coveted. In February 2005, Batista left the group after winning the Royal Rumble, in a storyline where Triple H tried to protect his title from Batista. During a Triple H hiatus, Flair turned face, and at Raw Homecoming, Triple H returned as a face, but turned heel by the end of the night, hitting Flair in the face with a sledgehammer and officially ending Evolution. At Raw 15th Anniversary, an Evolution reunion as faces took place, though then-heel Randy Orton refused to participate and instead challenged the face versions of Flair, Batista, and Triple H to a match in which he partnered with then-heel, Edge and Umaga, and at the same time reforming Rated-RKO
for one night. On the March 31, 2008 episode of Raw, Flair delivered his farewell address. Afterward, Triple H brought out many current and retired superstars to thank Flair for all he has done, including Four Horsemen members, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, J. J. Dillon, and Dean Malenko. Also, it was the night in which Evolution got back together in the ring, except for Randy Orton (who was outside the ring). This would mark the last time both groups would be in the ring together.

On the April 14, 2014 episode of Raw, Triple H, Orton, and Batista reunited Evolution full-time, once again heels, to feud with The Shield. However, on the April 28, 2014 episode of Raw, Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield, effectively turning his back on his old teammates, thus not turning heel.

The Xtreme Horsemen

The Xtreme Horsemen was a

stable in Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, and later Major League Wrestling, who disbanded in 2004. The group's name was in homage to the Four Horsemen, who in the 1980s were one of professional wrestling's top draws worldwide. The group came together in Dusty Rhodes' Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, but the group later left Rhodes' promotion to join Major League Wrestling where Steve Corino and "The Enforcer" C.W. Anderson were joined by former ECW superstars Justin Credible and Simon Diamond. This incarnation was briefly managed by former Four Horsemen manager J. J. Dillon
before Major League Wrestling ceased operations. Barry Windham also joined the group for a single War Games match. Corino has used the group name several other times with various teammates in other promotions.

Fortune

Main article: Fortune

Fortune (originally spelled Fourtune) was a

Matt Morgan were added to Fortune as the stable assaulted EV 2.0, a stable consisting of former Extreme Championship Wrestling performers.[17] Fortune later merged with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Immortal
stable, but turned on them months later, splitting them into two feuding factions. Ric Flair would turn on Fortune and remain associated with Immortal.

The Four Horsewomen

The stable was invoked by mixed martial artists Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir (Invicta Fighter), who named themselves "The Four Horsewomen" in 2013, with the blessing of Anderson and Flair.[18] After Bethe Correia defeated Duke, she held up four fingers and symbolically put one down. She did this again after beating Baszler. As Shafir is not in the UFC, these two wins set the stage for a bantamweight title fight between her and Rousey at UFC 190.[19] Rousey knocked Correia out in 34 seconds.[20]

The group was shown at ringside during

WWE Raw Women's Championship. Duke and Shafir eventually joined the WWE Performance Center
, completing the foursome's transition to professional wrestling.

The

the Boss 'n' Hug Connection.[23]

Both Four Horsewomen groups were at the

Mia Yim, Candice LeRae and Mercedes Martinez to advance into the finals, losing to Kairi Sane
.

All four of the Four Horsewomen of UFC would reappear on

The Riott Squad
.

The WWE Four Horsewomen would compete against each other with Banks and Bayley (as heels) taking on Lynch and Flair in a tag team match on the September 9, 2019 edition of Raw from the Madison Square Garden, in which the latter team emerged victorious.[24]

Members

Timeline

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ "4 Horsemen The Elite". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
  2. ^ "Arn Anderson Now Owns Infamous Wrestling Trademark". 3 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b Hannibal TV. "JJ Dillon & Tully Blanchard on 4 Horsemen Origin!". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  4. ^ "JCP – 1985 Results". The History of WWE. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  5. ^ "The Forgotten Prelude to Starrcade '85". Mid Atlantic Gateway Archive. November 23, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  6. ^ "Arn Anderson's Career History". DDT Digest. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  7. ISBN 0-7434-9181-5
    .
  8. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance Birth of The Four Horsemen 1985; By Chuckie's Art of Wrestling; Facebook". www.facebook.com.
  9. ^ "WCW 1989". thehistoryofwwe.com.
  10. ^ In 1988, Ted Turner had bought Jim Crockett Promotions, the largest territory in the NWA, and turned it into World Championship Wrestling.
  11. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com (March 24, 1996). "WCW Uncensored Results (1996)".
  12. ^ https://www.f4wonline.com/.amp/news/other-wrestling/four-horsemen-reunion-announced-for-starrcast-v
  13. ^ "One37pm: The 16 Best Stables in Wrestling History".
  14. ^ Martin, Adam (2010-06-15). "Spoilers: TNA Impact TV tapings for June 17". WrestleView. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  15. ^ Caldwell, James (2010-07-11). "Caldwell's TNA Victory Road PPV results 7/11: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage live on-site from Orlando – four-way TNA Title match, Flair vs. Lethal". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  16. ^ Keller, Wade (2010-07-29). "Keller's TNA Impact report 7/29: Tommy Dreamer announces new name for ECW faction, Hulk Hogan addresses situation". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
  17. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2010-08-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link
    )
  18. ^ "Shayna Baszler on 'Four Horsewomen' Haters: Ric Flair and Arn Anderson gave their blessing – MMA Fighting". 28 August 2014.
  19. ^ ""Year in the making, Rousey to face Correia at UFC 190", by Dave Deibert, PostMedia News".
  20. ^ "Ronda Rousey Face-Plant KOs Bethe Correia, Retains UFC Women's Bantamweight Title". Sherdog.
  21. ^ "Ronda Rousey lays smack down at Wrestlemania 31". 29 March 2015.
  22. ^ "On the Line with Bayley". September 11, 2015.
  23. ^ "WWE's 'Four Horsewomen' reflect on past, present and future". Espn.com. 9 September 2019.
  24. ^ ""The Four Horsewomen" battle each other in NYC blockbuster". WWE.
  25. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fmSeWttt1A At the 23:20 mark of his Hall of Fame speech, Dusty asked Flair and Anderson to induct he and Race into the Horsemen, and they agreed, by holding up the four fingers
  26. World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved January 9, 2012.

Further reading

Biographies

Video

External links
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