The Four Horsemen

### Members

Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson, Lex Luger, Barry Windham, Sting, Sid Vicious, Paul Roma, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael, Jeff Jarrett, Curt Hennig, Dean Malenko

### Managers

James J. Dillon, Baby Doll, Dark Journey, Hiro Matsuda, Woman, Miss Elizabeth, Debra McMichael, Charles Robinson, Double D, Samantha

**The Four Horsemen** formed in 1985 in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), with Ric Flair, Ole and Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard, with James J. Dillon as their manager. They feuded with Dusty Rhodes (breaking his ankle and hand), Magnum T.A., Barry Windham, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (breaking Ricky Morton's nose), Nikita Koloff (injuring his neck), and The Road Warriors. Animal, Hawk, Ronnie Garvin and many others fought Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Title during that time period. Baby Doll was Flair's valet for a couple of months in 1986, after previously managing Tully Blanchard during 1985.

In February 1987, WCW newcomer Lex Luger was made an associate member of the group after he expressed his desire to become a Horseman. The others started to leave Ole out of things after he cost him and Arn Anderson the WCW Tag Team Titles at Starrcade in 1986. Eventually, he was kicked out in favor of Luger that March.

During this time, they wrestled Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, the Road Warriors and Paul Ellering in a series of WarGames matches. These matches were brutal and ended up with all five members of each team in the cage at the end trying to make somebody submit. During the first match, Dillon suffered a separated shoulder from a botched attempt at the Warriors' finishing move, the *Doomsday Device*. Dillon landed directly on his right arm and shoulder, and was replaced for the series of matches by the masked War Machine.

Luger was later kicked out of the Four Horsemen. First, he blamed Horseman manager J.J. Dillon for costing him the United States Title when Dillon's attempt to help Luger win the match, by cheating, backfired. Lex subsequently did not allow Dillon to win a Bunkhouse Stampede match as the Horsemen had agreed to among themselves. In January 1988, he teamed with Barry Windham to feud with the Horsemen. The pair even defeated Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the WCW World Tag Team Championship at *Clash of the Champions I*. In April 1988, Windham turned on Luger during a title defense against Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Windham then took his spot in the Horsemen. It was at that time every major title was held by members of the faction: with Flair, as the 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 WCW. This forced them to drop the Tag Team Titles at the last minute to the Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton).

Flair, Windham, and Dillon continued to refer to themselves as "the Horsemen" and the WCW even flirted with the idea of bringing in new members. Butch Reed was signed to wrestle solo matches with Dillon as his manager. Then, in February 1989, Barry's brother Kendall Windham appeared to have joined them and even held up the four fingers after turning on Eddie Gilbert during a tag team match. Early in 1989, Flair and Windham lost a televised tag match to Gilbert and a surprise partner, Flair's long-time rival Ricky Steamboat. An enraged and humiliated Flair immediately fired Dillon, while Flair and Windham dropped the Horsemen name. Hiro Matsuda was hired as their new manager. For a short stint in 1987, Matsuda was managed by Dillon and considered an associate of the Horsemen. As a result of hiring Matsuda as their new manager, the Horsemen changed their name to Yamazaki Corporation. Their major feuds were with Lex Luger, Eddie Gilbert, Ricky Steamboat, and Sting. After losing the United States Heavyweight Championship to Luger, Barry Windham left the group due to an injury. Windham suffered a broken hand which occurred in his match against Luger at Chi-Town Rumble and required surgery. Kendall was not used as much more than a jobber and the group seemed like a shell of the unit it looked like when it formed. They added Michael Hayes after Barry's injury, who feuded with Luger, but the group disbanded when Hayes reformed The Fabulous Freebirds in May and Matsuda left the promotion.

The Horsemen reformed in December 1989. Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and long-standing rival Sting formed the group in a shocker. This time, they were faces and feuded with Gary Hart's J-Tex Corporation of Terry Funk, The 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. 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 5 *WCW World Wide Wrestling*, and Sid Vicious was added to fill out the group on the May 11 *WCW 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 WCW.

In October 1990, WCW 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 the promotion. Flair also left in early July. Windham was part of a double turn at The Great American Bash shortly after Flair's firing, where he lost to Lex Luger in a match for the vacant WCW World Championship (Windham became a face, Luger a heel). Anderson went on to form a tag team with Larry Zbyszko called The Enforcers and later became part of the Paul E. Dangerously-led Dangerous Alliance with Zbyszko, Rick Rude, 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.

The next incarnation of the Horsemen, containing only three active members, was around for less than seven months in 1993. Flair returned to WCW to rejoin Arn and they promised a Horsemen reunion at the Slamboree pay-per-view. Paul Roma became the third horseman. Ole Anderson was on hand as the adviser but made only one appearance on *A Flair for the Gold*. They were faces again and feuded with Barry Windham and the Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman). This group ended with 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.

In 1995, Flair and Arn (back to being heels) were teaming with Flair's former foe Vader to torment Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. After Vader lost to Hogan in a steel cage match at Bash at the Beach, Flair entered the cage and lambasted him. Vader snapped and attacked Flair, and Arn came to his rescue. This led to a handicap match at *Clash of the Champions XXXI* in which a tweener Vader defeated the team of Flair and Arn. Flair, and Arn began to bicker, as Flair blamed Arn for the loss and Arn always felt he was doing Flair's dirty work; a feud developed that led to a match at Fall Brawl on September 17, 1995, in Asheville, North Carolina. Arn defeated Flair with the help of Brian Pillman. Flair begged Sting to help him against them and though Sting did not trust Flair he eventually agreed. Flair ended up turning on him at Halloween Havoc to reform the Horsemen with Arn and Pillman. They added Chris Benoit to complete the group. This version of the Horsemen feuded with Hogan, Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger. Flair eventually brought back Woman and Miss Elizabeth joined the group at 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 May 1997.

In early 1996, Pillman started his infamous "Loose Cannon" storyline and started a feud with Kevin Sullivan, the leader of the Dungeon of Doom. Pillman ended up leaving WCW in February. Leading to Uncensored, the Horsemen briefly joined forces with the Dungeon of Doom as the Alliance to End Hulkamania to battle mutual rivals Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. The two stables were unable to coexist and lost the Tower of Doom steel cage. The Horsemen then engaged in a brief feud with the Dungeon of Doom, including a feud between Sullivan and Benoit. In this feud, Woman , who was really married to Sullivan, left him for Benoit.

In June 1996, at The Great American Bash, Flair and Arn Anderson wrestled 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.

When the New World Order (nWo) was founded the next month, the Horsemen became babyfaces along with the rest of the WCW roster. In September, Flair and Anderson teamed with their bitter rivals, Sting and Lex Luger, to lose to the nWo (Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and an impostor Sting) in the WarGames match at 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 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 United States Title from Dean Malenko, with the help of Eddie Guerrero; on the June 23, 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 United States Title. In August 1997, Arn Anderson retired due to an 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.

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. Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit kept going to Arn about reforming the Horsemen, and he kept saying no. James J. Dillon 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 referee biased to them, Charles Robinson, whom members of the Horsemen even referred to as "Little Nature Boy" (due to his resemblance to Flair). Flair's personal nurse, Double D, acted as an enforcer for the group and Ric Flair's son David Flair, who wrestled with them and wore Horsemen shirts though never an official member. Ric Flair, the President of WCW at this time, had awarded him with the United States Title and had the Horsemen help David to keep it. Eventually, Benoit and Malenko left him in May in protest over Flair's selfishness, and joined Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn to form the Revolution, thereby effectively ending the Four Horsemen.

In 2012, the Flair, Arn, Blanchard, Windham, and Dillon incarnation of the group was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.