(August 2011) One of the greatest wrestling t-shirts ever designed hit the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Atlanta. It photographically depicts the various emotions of the one and only Ole Anderson. Except that each photo placed above each listed emotion is the exact same photo.
Joy, sorrow, excitement…same photo of Ole. It is brilliant and captures Ole Anderson to a tee.
Scott Teal of 1wrestlinglegends.com and crowbarpress.com designed the shirt. Scott co-wrote Ole Anderson's auto-biography a few years back.
Brad Anderson saw the photo of the shirt on Facebook and loved it. Brad is the son of Ole's long time Minnesota Wrecking Crew tag team partner Gene Anderson.
"That's so great," Brad related. "Ole not selling anything!"
Brad was reminded of something his father taught him, both as it related to wrestling, and everything else in life:
"Never let 'em see you sell, kid," his Dad taught him.
Gene obviously once taught Ole Anderson that lesson well.
(Edited from an original post on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, August 2011.)
During the year of 1977, the Anderson brothers had a torrid feud with their young cousin Ric Flair and his partner Greg Valentine. The two teams battled over the NWA World Tag Team titles.
What was unusual about the feud was that the two teams wrestled out of different territories. Flair and Valentine were the top heel team in the Mid-Atlantic area, while the Anderson Brothers were the top heel team for Georgia Championship Wrestling.
The Andersons left Jim Crockett Promotions in the fall of 1976 after Ole Anderson lost a series of "Loser Leaves Town" matches to Wahoo McDaniel. Behind the scenes, Ole had taken the job as booker for Georgia Championship Wrestling and he and Gene had moved to Atlanta.
The Andersons were NWA World Tag Team champions at the time, and took those titles with them to Georgia. Flair had a falling out with his cousins in October of 1976 and formed a new tag team with partner Greg Valentine. The Andersons returned to the area for a title defense against Flair and Valentine in Greensboro the night after Christmas of 1976. The "blond bombers" upset the Minnesota Wrecking Crew to take the tag titles.
Mid-Atlantic booker George Scott maintained a working relationship with Georgia booker Ole Anderson and there were several talent exchanges throughout the year of 1977. This allowed for the Andersons to continue their feud in the Mid-Atlantic area with Flair and Valentine throughout the year of 1977, with the Andersons making sporadic appearances in the territory, usually over weekends, to continue the feud.
In the Mid-Atlantic area, the Andersons had become 'fan favorites', but were still hated heels in Georgia.
The Andersons regained the titles from Flair and Valentine in Charlotte on May 7, 1977 in a famous cage match where Wahoo McDaniel was the special referee. However, on October 30 in Greensboro, Flair and Valentine got the titles back and badly injured Gene Anderson in the process.
Behind the scenes, Gene Anderson was in need for neck surgery, and the injury angle was shot to explain his long absence during his recovery.
The interview with Gene and Ole Anderson seen in the YouTube video embedded above was shot in Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta as Gene was recovering from that surgery. It was shot by the Georgia office, hosted by Freddie Miller, and the tape sent to Jim Crockett Promotions and aired on their syndicated television shows.
In the months that followed, Ole Anderson took different paths in the two different territories. in Georgia, he took Sgt. Jacques Goulet as his new tag team partner and the hated team went on to win the Georgia Tag Team titles. In the Mid-Atlantic area, though, Ole became even more of a fan favorite when he asked Wahoo McDaniel to become his tag team partner to challenge Flair and Valentine for the NWA World tag titles.
It was all part of a long feud between the Andersons against Flair and Valentine that lasted off and on for the better part of nine years, until finally "the family" was reunited in 1985 when the Four Horsemen were formed. Gene retired and the younger 'cousin' of Ole Anderson and Ric Flair emerged on the scene to make the Anderson family stronger than ever.
For complete details on every twist and turn in the Anderson/Flair family feud over the years, check out our timeline history book on the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, available at Amazon.
On a recent episode of ARN, the terrific podcast with Conrad Thompson on Cumulus/Westwood One and Ad Free Shows, Arn Anderson spoke about the early days of the Four Horsemen. The context was his early association with Ole Anderson and how that association legitimized Arn early in his career.
During a recent "Ask Arn Anything" episode, a question about Arn's early family relationship with Ole Anderson and Ric Flair (a storyline that dated back to 1974 with Flair and the Anderson family), led Arn down the path of talking about what that "cousin" association with, not only Ric Flair, but with Ole Anderson in particular, meant to his career at that point, but also to the early formation of the Horsemen. "Ole was a huge part as far as giving us credibility off the get-go. He gave me credibility off the get-go," Arn told Conrad. "He helped give us a launching pad," Arn said, for what became the legendary force that was the Four Horsemen.
The Enforcer, "Doube A" Arn Anderson One-half of the National Tag Team Champions with Ole Anderson (Eddie Cheslock Photo)
And it wasn't lost on Arn what replacing a founding member of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew meant either. "It made me credible stepping basically into Gene Anderson's spot, being Ole's partner," he said. He described it as a "pretty stout" situation in those days.
And while "the Rock" (Ole's longtime nickname, long before that other guy named the Rock came along) served as part of the foundation of the Horsemen for only it's first full year, that foundation he helped build proved firm enough for him to walk away and leave a valuable spot open for younger, perhaps hungrier members to take his place, including Lex Luger in 1987 and Barry Windham in 1988.
Ole Anderson Returns to Full Time Action Ole forming the team with Arn in the spring of 1985 meant a return to full time action in the ring. He had been retired from full time wrestling since the summer of 1983 when he devoted all of his energy into booking and promoting Georgia Championship Wrestling, in which was part owner, and later his own Georgia-based promotion after the takeover of the long-standing Georgia NWA office by the WWF that is part of the legend of Black Saturday. He wrestled sporadically in 1984 and early 1985, but more as a special attraction than as a regular part of any program or storyline. But when Jim Crockett, Jr. bought the TV time on the SuperStation in the spring of 1985 and basically absorbed Ole's struggling promotion, Ole committed to returning ot the ring full-time and finishing out the year of 1985, working to recoup some of his lost fortune that he has sunk into his promotion, but also to help develop Arn Anderson as a star for booker Dusty Rhodes. That later blossomed organically into the Four Horsemen with Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and James J. Dillon. Ole took the late winter and spring of 1986 off to follow his son Bryant's amateur wrestling career. Business was so good for Jim Crockett Promotions that Ole came back for the balance of 1986 full-time as part of an amazing boom period for JCP. That would be his last full-time stint working in the ring, although he did come back for a part-time run, teaming with Arn in Ted Turner's WCW in late 1989 and 1990 as part of a reformation of the Horsemen.
"He was at the end of his career," Arn said on his podcast of his run with Ole in 1985. "He made that pretty clear when he
came back (to working a full schedule in 1985). He wasn't going to wrestle for years, but he helped give us a
launching pad."
Photo collage courtesy Mike Cline, Mid-Atlantic Grapplin' Greats
Arn Anderson's Launching Pad Ole Anderson providing a launching pad for Arn actually had it's roots two years earlier. Arn has spoken often about Ole launching his career into the big time by making him an Anderson in April of 1983, when Marty Lunde was dubbed Arn Anderson, the nephew of Ole Anderson. Ole (as booker for Georgia) teamed him with second generation wrestler Matt Borne and gave them a push as part of an early version of Paul Ellering's fledgling stable, the Legion of Doom.
Arn kept the Anderson name after leaving Georgia in Spetember of 1983 for the Southeast Wrestling territory (Alabama and panhandle of Florida) run by Ron Fuller, which was booked then by Bob Armstrong who gave Arn his first break as a main-event status wrestler, forming a team with "Mr. Olympia" Jerry Stubbs. The two were frequent Southeastern tag team champions. He made spot appearances back in Georgia during that time, returning to fight his "uncle" Ole Anderson in a few matches, who at that point was the babyface authority figure for Georgia Championship Wrestling. That additional exposure as a main-eventer on the nationally televised WTBS show gave Arn more recognition as a "top guy."
When NWA World Champion Ric Flair toured the Southeastern area, he became friends with Arn and subsequently recruited him to join Jim Crockett Promotions in the spring of 1985, where booker Dusty Rhodes quickly teamed him up with returning Ole Anderson to reform a new Minnesota Wrecking Crew, changing the family relationship to cousins.
The rest is history. How firm a foundation, indeed.
* * * * * *
The episode of the podcast with the discussion about Ole is "Ask Arn Anything #40" which originally aired April 27,
2021 and is available on all podcast platforms as well as the Westwood One website page for Arn's show.
With the University of Alabama winning the National Championship in football again this year, I thought I'd re-post one of my personal favorite articles written for the Gateway from back in 2016. That year, a member of the Anderson family added another championship to the Anderson family trophy case.
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ANOTHER IN THE LONG LINE OF ANDERSON CHAMPIONSHIPS by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Championships come in many forms. But you normally wouldn't think of the College Football National Championship when you think of Anderson family championships.
Mid-Atlantic and Georgia tag team titles? Certainly. NWA World Tag Team championships? Most definitely. But a college football national championship?
Well, yes indeed.
Add the 2015-2016 National College Football Playoff title to the long and storied list of Anderson family championships.
Gene Anderson
Pro-wrestling legend Gene Anderson, head of the famous Anderson wrestling family and founder of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, died of a heart attack in 1991 at the age of 52 -- way too young -- and several years before his son Brad's three boys would be born.
He would have been proud of all of his grandson's various accomplishments in school and athletics, but he would have been extremely proud of one particular recent accomplishment.
Blaine Anderson, the oldest son of Gene's only son Brad Anderson, was a high school football standout at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, NC. After graduation, he left home to attend college at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and probably felt his football days were behind him.
But his desire to play football, a sport he truly loved, continued to gnaw at him. And so Blaine Anderson worked up the courage to do something most would never have the guts to even consider: walk-on at one of the top college football programs in the nation, a team that has its pick of the best high school players in the country. What were the odds, one might reasonably ask. The Alabama Crimson Tide is arguably one of the two or three most storied programs in all of college football history.
Blaine tried out his sophomore year. "The day before school started I found out I didn’t make the final roster," he told Rick Bonnell in the Charlotte Observer. But Blaine's's ability and determination had apparently caught the eye of someone in the program. "My junior summer I was told they wanted me back if I still wanted to come back."
He did, and this time Blaine made the team.
"It took a lot of willpower not to quit with all the running and conditioning," he told the Charlotte Observer. Yet he persevered.
His contributions as a defensive back were mainly on the scout team. But anyone in football will tell you what a critical role those on the scout team play in a team's preparation for their next opponent, especially when your team is gunning for a national championship. Blaine did so well in that role, he dressed for four of Alabama's home games in his senior year, as well as the two college football national championship playoff games against Michigan State and Clemson. Members of the scout team don't always get to dress for games. So it was
a particular honor to be chosen to dress for the two games in the
National Championship play-off.
Blaine's resolve and hard work earned him further recognition from his coaches and teammates. It even earned him a championship belt. And as you know, championship belts are something very familiar to Andersons.
Blaine won the "Ball Out" award three times in training camp, a special team award given to the outstanding defensive player of the week. That recognition went along with a custom championship belt he would hold until the next time it was awarded.
Championship belts. Anderson tradition.
Blaine's high school friends and teammates back home in Charlotte were happy to read about him in the hometown newspaper the week leading up to the National Championship playoff game between Clemson and Alabama.
But many of those friends were not aware he had a famous grandfather in professional wrestling, a grandfather that established a wrestling dynasty, and a grandfather Blaine never got to meet. But Blaine knew of the stories of Gene and Ole Anderson, their tag team championships, and the legendary history of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.
Blaine's father Brad, himself once a pro-wrestler, instilled in him such a degree of pride in the Anderson wrestling tradition that Blaine had the image of his grandfather's wrestling boots tattooed on his left shoulder. And not just any boots. These were the famous maroon-and-gold striped boots that were a trademark of the Anderson tag-team. All the Andersons -- Gene, Lars, Ole, Arn, - - were famous for wearing those boots.
Anderson boots. Anderson tradition.
On Monday night, January 11, 2016, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide squared off against the Tigers of Clemson University with college football's top prize at stake.
One fall. Sixty minute time limit.
The Crimson Tide prevailed in a tough battle and hoisted the national championship trophy, its fourth national title in 7 years.
"I can't begin to describe how proud and excited I am," Blaine's father
Brad wrote me recently in a hand-written letter. "My Dad would be beside
himself. He never missed any of my sports games, and definitely would
be screaming from the mountain top that his grandson was a national
champion."
And now with a national championship ring on his finger, the third generation of the Anderson family had just added one more championship to the Anderson family trophy case.
Roll Tide.
Blaine Anderson (41) of the National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide
(Screen capture from the ESPN broadcast.)
Blaine Anderson (middle) with his brothers Forrest and Carter.
The New Wrecking Crew?
Edited from an earlier post originally published January 27, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
"As Teddy Roosevelt said, 'Talk softly and carry a big stick.' You'll hear very little out of Gene Anderson." - Les Thatcher, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, August 20, 1975
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Bob Caudle:"Gene Anderson, the quiet one of the pair of Gene and Ole Anderson. David, a lot of the wrestlers are talking about it, and a lot of the fans, too, and even though Gene Anderson is quiet when it comes to talking, I’m not so sure he’s not the more deadly of the two Andersons."
David Crockett:"He is deadly. He lets all his actions speak for himself in that ring."- Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, Nov. 12, 1975
People occasionally comment on the fact that Gene Anderson rarely spoke during interviews conducted with the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. The very fact that Gene Anderson didn’t talk during interviews made him more of a threatening character to me when I was first watching wrestling in the mid-1970s. He just stood there beside his brother Ole, with that menacing twitch and that icy stare.
It also added to the personality and uniqueness of the team: Ole did all the braggadocios talking, Gene backed it up.
Then, of course, there were all the other things so iconic about the Anderson Brothers, going back to the original Minnesota Wrecking Crew in the 1960s:
The maroon-and-gold striped "Anderson boots"
The "tag and block" team maneuver, keeping their opponent trapped in the the corner while they tagged in and out
Selecting one body part and then working it over
That famous hammerlock slam, the "Anderson slam", on an opponent's arm.
I loved the "Anderson slam." Bob Caudle and David Crockett talked on and on about that hammerlock slam on television, really putting it over. No other team did any move quite like that slam at that time. “Pick one part of the body, and stay on it”, Bob and David would say. It was their signature maneuver.
It was so simple back then, and it just worked.
And then there was the famous “Supreme Sacrifice” match the Anderson Brothers had with Wahoo McDaniel and Paul Jones. This was the match that got me hooked on wrestling at 13 years of age. Near defeat, a desperate Ole Anderson threw Wahoo McDaniel into Gene Anderson who was waiting in his corner, their heads violently colliding, knocking both men out. Ole covered an unconscious Wahoo for the pinfall. Gene lay motionless on the floor outside the ring. The Andersons had regained their championship, and a brother had sacrificed a brother to get it done.
I guess that was supposed to make the Andersons seem more like the bad guys, but to my twisted way of looking at it, they were more like heroes. At first, I was shocked that Ole would sacrifice his own brother to win the titles. But when they showed the tape again, it seemed almost inspired that Gene had gone along with this, leaning over the ropes at ringside, head extended, as if asking for the shot. I remember my friends and I having this long discussion about which brother actually made the bigger sacrifice? Was it Ole giving up his own brother? Or Gene sacrificing himself? Either way, as kids we were blown away that they would do such a thing to get those World Tag Team championship belts back. We loved Wahoo and Paul, but we were impressed that the Andersons wanted it that much more. This seemed real to us.
The following week when the Andersons came out on TV with the belts they had regained in that match, Gene, as usual, never said a word. He just stood with Ole, both of them holding their belts. This was no angle to tease a break up of the team, like what would be automatically expected today. The brothers weren't going to turn on each other. On the contrary, the sacrifice had united them as never before. It seemed to us that no one had a chance of getting those belts from the Andersons now.
Gene Anderson had sacrificed himself so that he and his brother could get their world championship belts back. Without saying a single word, that was one powerful statement.
Gene Anderson always said more by saying less.
And I believed every word.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dedicated to Gene's son (and my friend) Brad Anderson.
Originally published on the now-defunct Minnesota Wrecking Crew website in 2006.
Subsequently published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
This is the original Minnesota Wrecking Crew, Gene and Lars Anderson, years before "baby brother" Ole came on the scene. One of the great tag teams of the mid-to-late 1960s that does not get its proper due.
A few years ago, we posted a brief audio clip from "The Dan Patrick Show" radio broadcast where Patrick asked guest country music star Darius Rucker about his interest in pro wrestling.
Darius, a big Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fan going back to the early 1970s, ranked his top 5 greatest wrestlers of all-time and of course he had his long-time friend Ric Flair on the top of that list. But he also included a tag team in the list - Gene and Ole Anderson, the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.
That was a cool moment for me me personally, as the Anderson Brothers were among my favorites growing up as well. It was great hearing Darius mention their names in that list and on a national radio broadcast.
I thought I'd post that radio audio clip here again. Along with his all-time Top 5 greatest pro-wrestlers, Darius also mentions Mid-Atlantic legends Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson during the discussion with Dan Patrick.
Darius Rucker has Hootie and the Blowfish back together for their first album in 14 years, titled "Imperfect Circle" set to be released on November 1, 2019.
Edited from a story originally published January 31, 2016 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
It was the hot summer of 1977, and Gene and Ole Anderson dominated the tag team scene in the state of Georgia. At one point they held both the Georgia Tag Team titles and the NWA World Tag Team titles.
This screen capture from raw 16mm film footage seen in the Vault section of the WWE Network shows the Andersons wearing the World Tag Team title belts preparing for a defense against "Cowboy" Bill Watts and Thunderbolt Patterson at the Omni on June 24, 1977.
WWE Network
The Anderson Brothers were a month and a half removed from their big victory over Ric Flair and Greg Valentine in Charlotte, NC, on May 8, 1977 where they regained those World tag team titles in a famous cage match where Wahoo McDaniel was the special referee.
Later that fall in 1977, the Andersons would lose those titles to Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater, but for only a month. The Andersons held those titles off and on in Georgia and the Mid-Atlantic area from 1975-1981.
The film footage, which dropped on the WWE Network on 2/28/19, is heavily edited raw footage of about 7 minutes in duration, and without sound. This clip comes out of the blue as it is believed that WWE doesn't own much Georgia footage, and the source of this material isn't known. It might have been added as part of their recognition of Black History Month, spotlighting Thunderbolt Patterson.
Not much wrestling in this match, as it was an all out, fists-a-flying, "pier six" brawl. Too bad there was no sound, as the crowd was surely into this match-up. Thunderbolt had been feuding with the Andersons for months with various partners over both the Georgia and World tag team titles. The finish to this match is hilarious, which eventually resulted in the Andersons keeping their titles. Check it out in the 1977 sub-section of the Vault on the WWE Network.
Indeed, it is "Tag Team Appreciation Month" on their website, and Rickard and Bourne talk tag team wrestling in general and Minnesota Wrecking Crew in particular.
by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway We've spent some time recently looking in-depth at the story of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling's "Dream Team" of the 1970s, Ric Flair and Greg Valentine. One of the main storylines for that team involved an almost two-year feud with the "Minnesota Wrecking Crew" Gene and Ole Anderson. The Anderson brothers were NWA world tag team champions and had held those belts for the better part of the two previous years before Ric and Greg were able to take them away in late 1976. A big part of this story was the "family feud" between Flair and his cousins.
While you might think this family feud first originated when Flair broke away from the Andersons to team with Valentine in late 1976, you would be overlooking a brief exchange that took place almost a year earlier when Ric and Blackjack Mulligan were first forming their alliance.
"You know what, Cuz? We might even remove you from those belts." -Ric Flair
It was early December of 1975 and Ric was still recovering from the broken back that he suffered in the October 1975 airplane crash. While he was still roughly two months away from getting back in the ring, he was already back on television doing interviews and occasionally sitting in as a color commentator with Bob Caudle or Ed Capral.
The first sign that the cocky, brash, younger cousin of the Andersons might actually be thinking about challenging them for their world tag team titles took place on TV in December 1975 and early January of 1976. Flair announced in an interview with Ed Capral on "Wide World Wrestling" that he would be forming a team with Blackjack Mulligan (who had entered the area not long after Flair was injured in the plane crash) and that they would challenge anyone and everyone, including the world tag team champions.
Ole later responded to Capral:
"Ric Flair is family. And I hate to get any kind of discussion going about family here on the television, I don't believe in airing your linen. But Ric, Ric is full of a little bit of vim and vigor, and he sometimes gets carried away, he sometimes just doesn't think. But, uh...ah, let's just leave it alone right now, I don't want to get into that family kind of discussion."
But the following week on "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", Flair made his intentions known directly to Ole during an interview that followed a particularly brutal Anderson match on TV. The interview was the closing interview of the program, and featured all four guys: Ric Flair. Blackjack Mulligan, Gene and Ole Anderson.
For full context of the following audio clip: the Andersons had just fought Tony Rocca and Roberto Soto in the final match of the program, and really put a beating on Tony Rocca's arm and injured Roberto Soto after the match. Host Bob Caudle was incredulous about the tactics of the Andersons. Notice Ric Flair early on was complimentary of his cousins, but moments later would make a quick challenge. Transcript follows, so you can read along. (And the conclusion follows the transcript.)
- - - - - - TRANSCRIPT - - - - - -
Bob Caudle: And here come the Andersons, and again...again, Ole...
Ric Flair: Have you ever seen anything like my great cousins the Andersons? In your life, ever?!
Bob Caudle: ... this was completely uncalled for!
Ole Anderson: These two guys, they shouldn't even get in the ring with us, because we're just too good for 'em. You got a couple of young guys like this that think they are pretty great. They are going to use us for a stepping stone, they think that just by getting in the ring with us that they are going to get a little bit of a reputation. Will maybe they will, but it won't be at our expense. It's going to be at theirs once you see what we've done to these guys, it's a sample of what we're going to do for the new year of '76.
Bob Caudle: Alright...
Blackjack Mulligan: Let me tell you something, you are looking at right now two of the top rasslers in the world, the Mid-Atlantic Champion Ric Flair and none other than Blackjack Mullgian. And look at what I say: any combination with Flair and Blackjack Mulligan together, or in singles, we're gonna do it! 1976 is gonna be the big year, the big year...I'm gonna tell you right now, if we ever come to your arena, as a tag team, I don't believe there is a building big enough to handle it, Ric Flair.
Ric Flair: ... there is excitement in the air with Mulligan and Flair...everybody knows, individual or as a team, we're the greatest wrestlers in the world. We can go anywhere in the world and beat anybody, and let me tell you something: it gets down to me, I just came to the realization that the Blackjack and I are gonna be tagging up a lot in the future, and you know what, Cuz? We might even remove you from those belts, there.
Bob Caudle: Oooo! Uh oh! What about that, Ole? [Flair and Mulligan leave.] Hey, why did you walk away, Ric?
Ole Anderson: You know they've got enough to do, and uh.... he must be a little bit sick, he comes back...well that's family, and I don't want to get into that kind of stuff.
Bob Caudle: No, no...
Ole Anderson: ...I guess everybody has their days. But right now what I'm concerned about is not Flair and not Mulligan. I'm concerned about these promoters down here that keep putting these ringers against us. They bring in these young guys, they know that they are full of vim and vinegar, they know that they have a lot of endurance and everything else. And they also know, like I've said once before that we're on the road alot and they're hoping that one of these days we're gonna come in really tired and they're gonna get some team out here to beat us, to embarrass us right on television. And Gene and I are just as determined to see that that doesn't happen. And the best way...the best way that we can think of to see that something like that doesn't happen is to make sure every time we get in the ring, we do something so damaging, so miserable to our opponents, so devastating, that the word is gonna get around, and pretty soon people are going to say "Well, now, we'll wrestle, but we don't want to wrestle the Anderson Brothers."
Bob Caudle: You can't, you can't do that every time. You can't go in and just maim somebody every time they get in the ring...
Ole Anderson: You wanna bet? You wanna watch us? Well then you and all these other people that are watcing right now, you tune in and you watch us. Becasue every time we're on television, we're going to do the same thing that we just did here to this Mr. Soto and "Mr. Wrestler" or whatever his name happens to be. And what we really want to see is guys like Wahoo McDaniel, Paul Jones, Rufus R. Jones, Ken Patera, Tim Woods...we want to see those boys...we want to see their knees start to shake. We want to see them get a little bit scared. We want to see them back out maybe of a few of the contracts that they've got set up for us. And we'll rule as kings forever. The world tag team champions.
Bob Caulde: All right, that's it from the Andersons, fans, and we'll see you next week, until then, so long for now.
- - - - - - END TRANSCRIPT - - - - - -
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The Aftermath:
In the end, it was all much ado about nothing, at least for the time being. Flair returned to action in late January and immediately began teaming with the Andersons against various combinations involving Johnny Weaver, Paul Jones, Rufus R. Jones, and Wahoo McDaniel. Whatever friction had developed between Flair and the Andersons over the holidays had been smoothed over by the time of Flair's return. Flair maintained a tight relationship with his cousins throughout the majority of 1976 until another young and brash blonde bomber named Greg Valentine hit the Mid-Atlantic scene late in the year. And that's when Ric finally made his move to separate himself from his family and formed the team with Valentine.
To learn more about the dynamic duo of Flair and Valentine and the path of destruction they cut across the Mid-Atlantic area, check out David Chappell's mammouth 8-part series on the "Dream Team" which is currently ongoing on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
And for a look at the entire story of Ric Flair's tumultous relationship with the Anderson family (including the 1980s with younger cousin Arn Anderson), check out the timeline history book of the Andersons in wrestling titled "Minnesota Wrecking Crew." Click the ad below for more information!
Ever since Brad Anderson and I became friends, his youngest son Carter was always afoot. Carter was always angling to get into a wrestling ring, even as he had just seemingly learned to walk. He got involved in the finish of a match at an outdoor show at his grandmother's church once, he couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old. It was all for fun, but even at that young age, he was fearless and always willing. I wrote in the epilogue to my book "Minnesota Wrecking Crew" that Gene Anderson would have been proud of his grandson that day. Brad later laughed and told me his father probably would have rolled over in his grave if he knew his grandson was in the ring without any real training. Gene was fiercely protective of the business.
Carter changed all that when he enrolled at George South's pro wrestling training school at the Highspots.com facility in Charlotte several years back. South had his hand in training the kids of several of the biggest names in the business including Ricky Steamboat's son Ricky Jr., Ric Flair's son Reid, Bobby Eaton's son Dillon, and most recently Tully Blanchard's daughter Tessa (not to mention his own son, George Jr.) So it seemed only fitting that an Anderson should be added to that list. And Carter Anderson was a natural.
Brad and Carter Anderson - Tournament Winners
Anderson Brothers Classic Tag Team Tournament (2013)
A year or so later, again in a fun little finish to a tribute show to Gene and Ole Anderson known as the "Anderson Brothers Classic Tag Team Tournament", Carter actually teamed with his father Brad. His Dad did all the work in the match of course, Carter was still a pretty young kid. But when Brad had one of their opponents stunned and staggering on his feet, he tagged in young Carter who did the prettiest flying body press from the top rope that you've ever seen. He got the three count and won the tournament trophy with his Dad, and in so doing, honored his grandfather - - the great Gene Anderson, the founder of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.
What few people realized in the building that night was that young Carter Anderson was wearing his grandfather's wrestling boots. Yes, those boots - - "Anderson boots"- - the famous maroon-and-gold striped boots that were a trademark of the Anderson Brothers going back to the mid-1960s.
Brad had started bringing his Dad's boots to the ring with him when he wrestled in the mid-2000s. He would hang the boots over the turnbuckle in the corner where they would stay during his matches. It was a tradition started in 2005 at a big wrestling legends show in Spartanburg, SC, and Brad continued to do it for several years to follow.
Now Carter carries on that tradition, just in a different way.
Carter is not currently training. I'm not sure if he still wants to
wrestle professionally or not, but it's clear that he loves honoring his
grandfather. When he comes to some of George South's shows, especially the Anderson Brothers tribute shows, he always brings his
grandfather's famous boots with him. Sometimes his ring jacket, too, and even the hickory cane Gene carried with him when he was a manager.
With Carter Anderson
holding Gene Anderson's wrestling boots.
Sometimes he brings them to events just because he knows I get a kick out of seeing them. Such was the case recently when Carter attended the "Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Hall of Heroes" dinner banquet. David Chappell and I were being recognized that night for our work on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website alongside others who were being honored for their work in the wrestling business. When we shook hands after not having seen each other in well over a year, Carter smiled and said "I brought the boots." This meant something to me because it meant something to Carter, just bringing them in the first place. He knew how much we all loved just seeing the boots. They were iconic of a wonderful time in our lives - - David, George, myself - - growing up and watching the Anderson Brothers dominate pro-wrestling. I respect how this kid, now growing into a young man, puts so much thought into honoring the memory of his grandfather and helping keep a grand family tradition alive - - those famous Anderson boots.
It was a magic night, having Bob Caudle induct the Mid-Atlantic Gateway into the Hall of Heroes Class of 2016 (Bob a member of the inaugural Class of 2007 himself), and receiving our plaques. But Carter's gesture was just as special. I was as honored standing there holding his grandfather's boots as I was standing on the rostrum later that night. ✦
A number of these and other Mid-Atlantic Gateway books will be on sale
at the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte.
Visit George South's table in the vendor room
Friday and Saturday at Fanfest and check them all out!
Fanfest is this weekend, August 4-7, at the University Place Hilton in Charlotte. Visit NWALegends.com for ticket information.
The Mid-Atlantic Gateway is proud to be introduced by Bob Caudle
as we are inducted into the Hall of Heroes Class of 2016.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the Mid-Atlantic Gateway over the past 16 years.
And don't miss David Chappell's three recent interviews with some of Crockett Promotions' biggest names of the 1980s as they prepare to be inducted into the Hall of Heroes in Charlotte.
