Brain Busters Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard , known as members of the Four Horsemen , were a professional wrestling tag team in the 1980 s competing in the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) and the World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) as The Brain Busters . History . National Wrestling Alliance . Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard were founding members of the Four Horsemen , and often teamed up for six and eight man tag team matches with Ric Flair and Ole Anderson . Blanchard was the number two heel in the NWA , behind only NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair , winning the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship , the NWA National Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Television Championship . Meanwhile , Anderson was designated as the " Enforcer " of the stable , and teamed with Ole Anderson as the final version of The Minnesota Wrecking Crew . In the spring of 1987 , Ole was kicked out of the Four Horsemen , and was replaced with associate member Lex Luger . Shortly after losing the Television Title , Blanchard quickly began teaming with Arn and targeted the NWA World Tag Team titles . First reign . Tully and Arn won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on September 29 1987 by defeating the Rock ' n ' Roll Express after The Midnight Express attacked Ricky Morton prior to the match . They were immediately challenged by the Road Warriors to a title match at Starrcade ' 87 in the LOD hometown of Chicago . Despite a hostile pro LOD crowd , the Horsemen retained the titles on a reverse decision . The Horseman would next receive a stiff challenge from ex - Horsemen Lex Luger , and longtime Horseman rival Barry Windham , who were dubbed the Twin Towers . The teams met at the 1st ever Clash of the Champions live on TBS and the challengers upset the Horsemen , when heel miscommunication caused Anderson to get hit by a chair from Horsemen manager J . J . Dillon , and pinned by Luger . Second reign . Arn and Tully regained the titles less than a month later on April 20 1988 when Barry Windham turned on his tag - team partner and joined the Four Horsemen . The duo would mainly defend the titles against various combinations of teams between the trio of Sting , Nikita Koloff and " Dr . Death " Steve Williams . Things began to sour behind the scenes for the champions , as the NWA launched its first - ever uninterrupted pay - per - view , The Great American Bash , promoters were attempting to draw a large gate and , according to the DVD " Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen " , Blanchard had suggested a rematch with the Road Warriors , but instead they were booked against Sting & Koloff , ( whom they wrestled to a time limit draw ) , and when the PPV payouts were given out , it was discovered that Dillon who was their manager received 3 times the payout of the 2 - time World Tag Team Champions . This was the last straw for Blanchard , who saw this as an insult and immediately prepared to give his notice . Meanwhile , on camera , the champions had begun a feud with NWA United States Tag Team champions The Midnight Express , who they ( kayfabe ) considered to be ungrateful punks who weren ' t on their level . The Midnight Express won the titles from the Horsemen on September 10 1988 , as both Blanchard and Anderson gave their notices to Jim Crockett Promotions , ending the original Four Horsemen and according to Blanchard , it was the end of an era . World Wrestling Federation . The duo made their debut late in October 1988 , as " The Brain Busters , " due to being under management of Bobby " The Brain " Heenan ( and , by default , members of the Heenan Family ) . It was commonplace for the WWF at this time to assign wrestlers to some sort of gimmick , or new identity . The Brain Busters were allowed to keep their names and ring persona . The only changes Arn and Tully made to their style were pointing to their heads to show they were smarter than everyone else and the use of a spike piledriver as a finishing move . The Brain Busters made their pay - per - view ( PPV ) debut at the 1988 Survivor Series in the 10 team tag match , where they eliminated the Hart Foundation , before being elimainated via double disqualification with the Rockers . This led to a match with the Rockers on " WWF Superstars of Wrestling " where both teams were again disqualified before the match could even get started . This kicked off a red hot series of house show matches . One match in particular on January 23 1989 was rated as one of the 50 greatest matches in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) 10th year anniversary issue , where the Brainbusters narrowly defeated the Rockers as Anderson held down Marty Jannetty ' s leg as Blanchard pinned him . The teams wrestled to yet another DQ on the March 11 , 1989 edition of Saturday Night ' s Main Event . The Brain Busters made their first and only WrestleMania appearance at WrestleMania V against former WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force . After an even start , the Brain Busters dominated the ex - champions as Rick Martel walked out on Tito Santana and he was brutalized and beaten after a spike piledriver and eventually pinned . After their WrestleMania win , the Brain Busters finally got to face the WWF World Tag Team Champions Demolition and defeated them by disqualification on the May 27 , 1989 edition of " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " . The Brain Busters defeated Demolition for the titles in a rematch on July 18 , 1989 in a two out of three falls match . After losing the 1st fall , by pinfall , the Busters won the 2nd fall , via disqualification , and won the 3rd fall , with a distraction from Bobby Heenan and a steel chair thrown in from Andre the Giant , the Brain Busters ended Demolition ’ s record - breaking 478 - day title reign and became the first team to win both the WWF and NWA World tag - team titles . It also was the 1st time a title changed hands in a two out of three falls match where one of the decisions ended in a disqualification . The Brain Busters lost the titles back to Demolition on October 2 1989 , in an equally controversial fashion as Blanchard , who was the illegal man , was pinned after receiving the Demolition Decapitation finisher . The Busters continued to defend the titles on house shows until the title change was acknowledged on television on November 4 1989 . Split . Their last match was a best - of - three - falls contest against The Rockers on " Saturday Night ' s Main Event " . The Brain Busters lost the first fall after not following directions from an enraged Heenan , who left the ringside area . The Brain Busters won the second fall , after which Heenan fired them during a backstage interview . The Rockers would go on to win the third and final fall of the match . Bobby Heenan replaced Tully Blanchard at the Survivor Series , because he failed a drug test . Arn Anderson left the federation more or less immediately after the pay - per - view . Arn returned to the NWA in December , but at that time they refused to rehire Blanchard when news of his failed drug test became known , thus ending the Brain Busters for good . Tully Blanchard would renegotiate a new contract with NWA a few months later , but ultimately declined what he considered to be a very low offer ( reportedly half of a previous verbal agreement ) . André the Giant and Haku formed a tag team known as The Colossal Connection in part to replace The Brain Busters . The Colossal Connection replaced The Brain Busters in their feuds with Demolition and The Rockers , and soon after won the WWF tag team titles from Demolition on a November 1989 edition of " Superstars " . Eventually they lost the titles back to Demolition at WrestleMania VI . Directly following this loss The Colossal Connection disbanded .