Welcome to another edition of Kay’s Korner.
I miss the wrestling of the NWA when Crockett Promotions ran it. (At least, I am honest about it.) I know it might seem silly to some of you to miss something that has been gone for such a long time but Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (which was what it was called at that time) was the ‘hot spot’ of wrestling during my childhood. Some of the greatest feuds in wrestling were created there and one of the greatest heel factions of all time, The Four Horsemen.
The original Four Horsemen were Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard, along with J.J. Dillion as their respective manager. I have never seen another faction that has ever been such a well-oiled unit as the Horsemen were. I doubt very seriously that I ever will. This group, while it saw many changes in the members over the years, none were more potent than the original members of the Four Horsemen were.
The Four Horsemen were a very unique group at time. During this time (around the mid- 80’s), there were tag teams but not any factions. A faction is described in the Webster’s Dictionary as a party or group that is often contentious or self-seeking. Yes, I think that Mr. Webster described the Four Horsemen to a ‘T’.
It was the right time for something like this to happen in the world of professional wrestling. It was a time when wrestling needed a shot in the arm and it happened quite by accident. I think that is what makes it so great. Arn Anderson has said it time and time again; it wasn’t planned, it just happened.
The Four Horsemen were a very unique group at the time. During this point in wrestling, tag teams were hot. Well not just hot, but sizzling. The teams of the NWA really were in a class of their own such as the Rock-n-Roll Express, the Midnight Express, Ivan and Nikita Koloff, just to name a few.
While the tag teams were hot, there was something missing from the world of wrestling. It needed something totally different than what was going on at the time. It needed a bit of a change, but not a major one. It needed something/somebody to shake it up a bit and they found it in the form of the Four Horsemen.
The Four Horsemen were an organized group of wrestlers who felt that they were better than everybody else was, and in a lot of ways; there was some truth to that statement. They also watched each other’s back ferociously and without remorse. They all had ‘I’m better than you’ egos, and their egos fed off of each other like leaches on a plump woman’s skin.
More than one time in recent interviews, Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard have admitted to trying to outdo each other when it came to cars and jewelry. (Anybody out there remember when Ric and Tully would show their ‘bling-bling’ off on television each week?) In a time of simplicity, this blatant showing off just seemed to anger the wrestling fans even more. (I don’t guess it ever really occurred to the fans at the time that we were the reason that they received so much money that they could afford the expensive little trinkets that they showed off on television.)
The Four Horsemen could make me madder than anybody on wrestling, week after week. It never failed. I can always remember wondering if they would ever get what was due to them. It seemed like they never had to pay the price for their actions. Week after week, they got away with everything; from cheating in the matches to all four of them running out and jumping some poor soul who had made the unfortunate mistake of running their mouth off about them. Every once in a while, one of the ‘good guys’ would give them what they were due, but it was seldom and not enough for the fans liking. Most of the time, the Four Horsemen got away with everything. They were untouchable.
Why? What was it about the Horsemen that made your blood boil? Was it the way they flaunted their lifestyle? Was it the way they had different women out there each week? Was it the fact that nobody could touch them? Was it the fact that there wasn’t anything out there like this on wrestling?
It was all of the above and more. The chemistry of the group is undeniable. You had one of the greatest heel teams of all time with Ole and Arn Anderson, as another ‘modern’ version of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. (For all you ‘old school’ fans, yes I know the ‘original’ Minnesota Wrecking Crew consisted of Ole and Gene Anderson.) I have yet to see a heel tag team that can come close to the chemistry that those two had. (Now, I know that Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard were a great tag team as well. I’m not ignoring that part. I’m discussing the Original Four Horsemen and how they were at the beginning.) They knew what to do and they knew how to do the things that they weren’t supposed to. They also did it, 95% of the time, without getting caught.
Individually, there was never a wrestler that could cut a promo like Ole Anderson. I can remember sitting there, literally looking for my dad for protection, because when Ole said he was coming thru the television, he said it with such passion and such anger, you couldn’t help but believe every word that came out of his mouth. When it came to intimidation, Ole knew exactly what he was doing and he did it very well, the same way he did it in the ring. He was one of the wrestlers, at that particular time, that could back up his words with actions in the ring. Ole never held back in the ring, as his opponents could attest to. He believed in the ‘old school’ mentality of wrestling and had no problem making sure that the newer wrestlers (and some of the older ones) paid their dues in the ring.
To look at Arn Anderson with his beady little eyes reminded me of the outlaws on the westerns that my dad would watch back then. I can remember vividly thinking how ‘cold’ his eyes looked when he spoke. He was another one that made you believe everything that he said was true. If he said he was going to do something to somebody, you knew it was going to happen. He was also the one who gave the newly formed faction the name of the Four Horsemen. (This happened when I was a child so bear with me. Arn said something during an interview along the lines of, “Not since the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse has there been this much havoc reeked.”) He was also one of the most underrated technicians in the ring, at that time. Arn never had to have a gimmick. He was a natural on the microphone and in the ring. He was a solid worker who had some really great matches in his time. (To this day, I still don’t think that Arn has received the recognition that he deserves for his wrestling ability.)
Then you have Tully Blanchard, a master technician in the ring, if there ever was one. He did not casually walk out to the ring; he walked out there like he owned it. (I can remember his cocky arrogance as something that just made me so mad I could have spit!) However, nobody could deny that the man delivered night after night in the ring. Tully, with his sling-shot suplex off the top rope, was one of the few wrestlers who mastered that particular move. He also had the gift of giving intense promos. As I said, he was a master technician in the ring. I don’t use that particular term loosely.
Then you have the ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. It didn’t matter if you loved him or hated him; you have to respect ‘the man’. (His career is one of the longest and most productive of all time. There are not very many wrestlers that have that on their resume and not very many will.) Ric Flair was also the main player in the Four Horsemen. “To be the man, you have to beat the man! WOOOOO!” I can remember that one sentence would aggravate me so bad that I would stand at the television, shaking my fist at him. “If it was only you that had to be beat!” I think that was the beauty of it, the fact that you had to literally beat all four of them (not to mention J.J. and Baby Doll). One man could not do it alone unless the Horsemen had been banned from ringside, which happened very, very seldom, thanks to the intelligent mind of their manager.
Finally, you have the brains of the operation, Mr. J.J. Dillion. Just seeing this man’s smug face, made me want to reach through the television set and slap him every time I saw him. J.J. was the mastermind behind the Horsemen and what a mastermind he was. He had all the ‘old school’ mentality and didn’t mind using it, no matter how evil it was. He knew how to tweak those contracts like you wouldn’t believe, and he tweaked them in favor of the Four Horsemen, just as a manager should do. I think that he also was one of the greatest managers of all time.
The final piece of the equation was a valet by the name of Baby Doll. Now Baby Doll was never officially a member of the Horsemen. She was considered property of Tully Blanchard Enterprises, the so-called company that was owned by none other than Tully Blanchard. She was, however, one of the first women that I can remember getting physically involved in the matches; whether it was slapping an opponent or throwing her shoe to Tully in the ring, you could not turn your back on her. She was just as vicious as the Four Horsemen were, if not more so.
This was the original lineup of the Four Horsemen. Whether you loved them or hated them, you didn’t have a choice but to tune in week after week to see what havoc they were reeking next and who the next victims were. There were times when a few of the ‘good guys’ such as Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, or Ricky Morton from the Rock-n-Roll Express, who would get their revenge but at the time, the Four Horsemen ruled wrestling. It’s not hype or a vivid imagination run amuck, it’s a pure and simple fact.
Looking back of the last ten years at other factions, such as the New World Order or D-Generation X, everything comes back to the Four Horsemen as the ‘grandfather’ of factions. I think D-Generation X was probably closer to the Horsemen as the original DX consisted of three members; along with the fact that they were a selfish lot. (See definition of faction above.) However the carnage left by the New World Order makes one see where they tweaked a bit from the Horsemen as well. While these groups have their own place in wrestling history, the Four Horsemen were a unique faction that can’t really be duplicated.
You always hear that old saying, “History repeats itself.” The Four Horsemen are an integral piece of wrestling history. I’m not sure the wrestling world would be open to another Four Horsemen. It’s one of those things that have been done several different ways and several different times but some how, along the way, lost itself towards the end.
I prefer to remember the original Four Horsemen. There has never been another faction like them in professional wrestling and I really don’t think that there ever will be again. They can try and duplicate it all they want to; there really isn’t any comparison to the original Four Horsemen.
Well, that’s it for this edition of Kay’s Korner. All feedback, good or bad, can be sent to lilwrestlegrl@yahoo.com.
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