Best of the Gateway: Horsemen Origins

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

This story was originally published on Nov. 8, 2015. 

The fall of 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the origin of the Four Horsemen in wrestling. There is much discussion on exactly when the group got its name, but there is no longer any doubt of how it happened. Arn Anderson coined the phrase in the late fall of 1985 during one of the local promo tapings and it just sort of stuck. He said at that time something along on the lines of this:

"Not since the four horsemen of the apocalypse have so few wreaked so much havoc on so many." - Arn Anderson, Fall of 1985

Over the years, it has been speculated that Arn made that "Four Horsemen" reference on a regular televised interview segment, either on one of the two Crockett syndicated programs (Mid-Atlantic or World Wide Wrestling) or on World Championship Wrestling on WTBS. But no video of that has ever surfaced, either from anyone's private videotape collection or from the Crockett videotape library which is now owned by the WWE.


THE LOCAL PROMOS

I have always thought it had to have happened in a local promo, one of the hundreds that were taped at the Briarbend Drive make-shift studio during each week and then inserted into one of the shows for the local markets. It was perhaps repeated in several promos in various forms before someone realized they were on to something.

Arn Anderson confirmed that in a recent conversation I had with him this past summer, and added further credit to an individual who had not been tied to the origin before that - Tony Schiavone.

"Yes, it was on a local promo," Arn told me (as outlined in my earlier article "Andersons Don't Wear Fedoras"). "And in fact, I just said it off the cuff, not really intending to be coming up with a name for us or anything like that. It was Tony Schiavone who actually validated the whole thing. He looked at me after the promo was over and said, 'I think you just named yourself.' And that led to us starting to refer to ourselves as the Four Horsemen."

 
TIMING 

The question still remains, however, as to exactly when that happened. There is no doubt that the idea of the four wrestlers by that name gelled in November of 1985. As best as I have been able to determine, Arn first classified them as the Four Horsemen on regular TV (as opposed to local promos) on the November 9, 1985 Saturday night episode of World Championship Wrestling. As United States heavyweight champion Tully Blanchard waited in the ring with Baby Doll for his scheduled TV match, Arn was doing an interview at the podium with Tony Schiavone and said:

"What you've got right here in the ring, you've got a champion. You've got Tully Blanchard. You've got Ole Anderson. You've got myself, and last but by no means least, you've got Ric Flair, the world's heavyweight champion. You're talking about the four horsemen of professional wrestling - - the people that make things happen." - Arn Anderson 11/09/85 WTBS

But the idea had been incubating in Arn's mind much earlier than that and actually goes back to the middle of October. During this time, Tully Blanchard started to become aligned with the family of Ric Flair and his cousins Ole and Arn Anderson. Flair and the Andersons had just injured Dusty Rhodes in the cage in the Omni in that huge angle that led to the main event at Starrcade '85. There was no angle that brought Tully into that story, I think it just made sense that the top heels were all hanging together.

On the October 12, 1985 episode of World Championship Wrestling, after review of all the Omni footage, Arn says:

“As you know, Tony Schiavone, David Crockett - - I run with the world heavyweight champion Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and Ole Anderson. That’s an elite group in all the world.” - Arn Anderson 10/12/85 WTBS

Arn hadn't come up with the Horsemen name here yet, but the idea of the four of them as an elite group was clearly being conceptualized right there.




TULLY BLANCHARD'S TRANSITION 

The whole marriage of Blanchard with Flair and the Andersons happened relatively quickly. But it hadn't looked that cozy to begin with. Just one month earlier than that 10/12 interview above, Blanchard and Flair would take shots at each other in interviews over silly things like their watches.

On the September 21, 1985 edition of World Championship Wrestling, Tully shows off a gold and diamond watch that Baby Doll had given him. Flair came out later and said:

"First of all we'll start the day off by telling you -- wooo! -- it is Rolex time, Tully Blanchard! So don't be bringing out one of those Mickey Mouse watches and trying to impress the world. You might be the U.S. heavyweight champion, Tully Blanchard, but you are still carrying around a silver belt -- wooo! - instead of the gold!" - Ric Flair 9/21/85 WTBS

This was during Flair's time as a "tweener" when he was feuding with Magnum T.A. and Dusty Rhodes on the babyface side and Buddy Landel and Nikita Koloff on the heel side - - all at the same time! Plus he was still a touring NWA world champion and would often times mention wrestlers in other territories such as Bob Armstrong in Southeastern Wrestling, Wahoo McDaniel in Florida, Harley Race in Kansas City, Kerry Von Erich in Texas, and others. He was was giving these great interviews every week where he would crack on the babyfaces and the heels all in the same promo!

Throughout that time, though, he was always aligned with his family, his cousins Ole and Arn Anderson. And less than one month later, Blanchard was aligned with them as well, as reflected by Arn's 10/12 interview above.


JAMES J. DILLON & BABY DOLL

Another thing forgotten in all of this history is that James J. Dillon was not part of this original unofficial grouping of the Four Horsemen. In fact, one could argue Baby Doll, by her association with Tully as his "Perfect 10" at the time) was part of the original group before Dillon.

The Four Horsemen book goes on sale June 5, 2017
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and Amazon.com.

J.J. Dillon was managing "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel during this time, and was involved in leading him in his chase of the National heavyweight championship that fall that culminated at Starrcade '85. He wasn't involved in any storyline with Blanchard or the Andersons, and only a peripheral story with Ric Flair. Landel and Flair had several "Battle of the Nature Boys" matches before Flair turned hardcore heel in the cage angle with Dusty. It wasn't until Landel was fired in mid-December that J.J. was put with Tully in a big angle at the Greensboro TV tapings right before the Crockett Promotions Christmas break. It was when those tapings aired right after the New Year holiday (the weekend of 1/4/86) that J.J. began to be associated with those who by then were loosely known as the Four Horsemen.

And even that wasn't in a managerial sense yet. J.J. had become the "executive director" of Tully Blanchard enterprises and was really just Tully's manager early on. He morphed into manager of the whole group through the late winter and spring of 1986.  By the time Ole Anderson had returned to action following a worked injury in June of 1986, Dillon was the official manager of the Four Horsemen.


WRECKING CREW HISTORY

In my book "Minnesota Wrecking Crew", a timeline history of the Anderson family in wrestling, I reference the the earliest mention of the "Four Horsemen" name by Arn as taking place in October. I firmly believe that earliest reference was during the promo tapings in one of the last two weeks of that month. In those days, I kept notes about the TV shows in a day planner. In the notes for the 10/26/85 World Wide Wrestling show I have written "the four horses" in quotes. This wound up being a loose reference by Arn to what would become "four horsemen" very soon in Arn's interviews. It is why I peg the month as October for the first mention of the name Four Horsemen, although none of us have ever found it yet.

Crockett Foundation Night at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte

Jim Crockett, Jr., along with Frances, David, and Jackie were all recognized at the 2016 event!

A look back at the first Crockett Foundation Night in 2016 at the Charlotte Knights BB&T Ballpark in downtown Charlotte. 

The 2017 Crockett Foundation Night will be on Sunday, September 3 and will feature WWE Hall of Famers and Mid-Atlantic Legends Hall of Heroes members Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson (the Rock and Roll Express), James J. Dillon and others.

The video above feature Tony Schiavone's introduction of the Crockett Family (Frances, Jim Jr., David, and Jackie) at the Ballpark, plus clips of the Rock & Roll Express, Baby Doll, Tommy Young and others.

More info to come on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and be sure to check out the Crockett Foundation Website at www.CrockettFoundation.com.

Best of the Gateway: Roddy Piper's Debut in the Mid-Atlantic Area

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway 
Originally published October 25th, 2016


“Rowdy” Roddy Piper, who would become one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling, entered Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in the early autumn of 1980 as a virtual unknown to the fans of Jim Crockett Promotions. Without any advance publicity, Piper debuted in the territory on October 7, 1980 at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, defeating Special Delivery Jones. But it was at the next night’s TV tapings at the WRAL television studios in Raleigh that Piper was truly introduced to the fans of the Mid-Atlantic area.

Roddy Piper with his bagpipes

At the beginning of that October 8, 1980 television taping, color commentator David Crockett announced as part of the match rundown, “And we have a newcomer…Rodney Piper.” Announcer Bob Caudle responded, “David, he’s from Glasgow, Scotland, and I understand he’s a rough, tough Scot.” Crockett answered, “That’s right; he really is. He’s a young, good looking guy, though. He’s very good.”

After Piper won his first TV match with ease, Caudle attempted to introduce Roddy to the area’s fans saying, “At ringside right now, and you just saw him in the ring and I gotta say…” Piper couldn’t wait for the introduction, blurting out, “Let me just tell you something Mister. I tell you something; I come to the area here and I walk in the arena and this lady says, ‘Who are you?’ She says, ‘WHO ARE YOU,’ to me! Who am I, who am I? Do I look like the tidy bowl man?! I come to the arena; I’m in my wrestling gear. Since I’ve been 16 years old, I’ve been professional wrestling.”

A boisterous Piper continued, “I was the youngest professional wrestler in the world when I started wrestling! By the time I was 19 years old, I won the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World, brother. Who am I?? When I was 21 I took Muhammad Ali, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, hip tossed him right down on his buttocks, and made him look like a fool. Who am I, you say?? You take a look at me, man; I’m the whipped cream on your strawberry shortcake! Who am I?? I am Rowdy Roddy Piper, 26 years old…”

Bob Caudle with Roddy Piper

At this juncture, a chant breaks out in the studio audience of ‘Rod-dy, Rod-dy, Rod-dy,’ which Piper feeds off of and pushes forward exclaiming, “…in the prime of my life, with ten years of experience! TEN YEARS of experience! And I come in here with a body that none can disclaim. Now don’t get me wrong, barbell plates and stuff like that is not my thing, brother. I am a wrestler! I am finely honed, I’m young and I’m ready. You listen to me, I see people comin’ around here, I see people comin’ around here, the ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. What’s a Nature Boy, what does that mean? He runs through the woods nude?? The guy thinks he’s Euell Gibbons, comes up here and supposed to have all these pretty chicks chasing him all around?”

Without taking a breath Piper rants more on Flair and concludes, “Saw him the other day with some chicks, looked liked a Sasquatch exhibition, brother. Well, you listen to me. I’m what’s happening. You say, ‘Who am I?’ I told ya; I gotta question for you. You do you think you are, man?”

Almost at a loss for words, Caudle comments, “I tell ya fans, there’s no doubt what Roddy Piper thinks of Roddy Piper, and he can back it up as he said. He was the youngest wrestler in the world at 16, and held many championships. And that’s the story from Roddy Piper.”

It was a Mid-Atlantic story that had its first chapter in Raleigh in early October of 1980, and within less than a month saw Piper win the NWA Television Title in Richmond, Virginia in a spectacular one-night tournament. The United States Title came soon thereafter, and then many memorable feuds that culminated in 1983 with the vicious battles with former “Dream Team” friend Greg Valentine and the epic “Dog Collar Match” at Starrcade 1983.

The lady asking Roddy Piper who he was at his first WRAL appearance asked a fair question. But in his debut interview for Jim Crockett Promotions, Piper made it crystal clear who he was, and likely never had to answer that question again while wrestling in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Fans in the Carolinas and Virginia quickly recognized Rowdy Roddy Piper as a wrestling star that just doesn’t come around every day, and saw that star shining brightly even during Piper’s earliest Mid-Atlantic appearance.

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Click the Twitter link below, RETWEET, and you are entered to win! Thanks to our friends Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson for their support of the "Four Horsemen" book.

SPECIAL WHW FOUR HORSEMEN PODCAST
Tune in Monday, June 19 for their special podcast devoted to the entire run of the Four Horsemen in Jim Crockett Promotions and WCW in the 19870s and 1990s.

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Classic TV: Mid-Atlantic Wrestling from April 1980

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from 4/19/80
Includes local promos for Kingsport, Tennessee's Dobyns-Bennett High School for a main event of Blackjack Mulligan & Andre the Giant vs. Masked Superstar 1 & 2.

1) Tony Russo/Swede Hanson vs SD Jones/Rufus Jones
2) Ric Flair vs The Scorpion
3) Local Promos - Masked Superstars 1 & 2
4) Greg Valentine/Ray Stevens vs Matt Borne/Abe Jacobs
5) Interview - Nature Boy Ric Flair

Get it early! Big News on Pre-Ordering "Four Horsemen" on WHW

 

Tune in to the hit podcast "What Happened When" with Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson this Monday 5/22 for information on how you can pre-order and receive early our new book "Four Horsemen," an exclusive for WHW listeners. 

The winner of the book give-away will be announced on Monday's show as well. 

"What Happened When" is an exclusive presentation of the MLW Radio Network. Click here to listen to all the shows!

TUNE IN MONDAY FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO BUY THE BOOK BEFORE IT GOES ON SALE 6/5!

Read Mike Mooneyham's review of "Four Horsemen" in the Charleston Post & Courier.

Mooneyham Reviews "Four Horsemen"

Check out Mike Mooneyham's nice review in the Charleston Post & Courier of the forthcoming book "Four Horsemen."

New Book Traces History of the Four Horsemen
by Mike Mooneyham

"Four Horsemen" will be available on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and on Amazon.com on Monday, June 5th!

And tune in this week to the "What Happened When" podcast with Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson for a way to order and receive the book early.

Leaving No Doubt

Blackjack Mulligan Dispatches Enforcer Luciano

by David Chappell
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Enforcer Luciano with Bob Caudle and David Crockett

One of Blackjack Mulligan’s most intriguing feuds in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was against the notorious mafioso boss, Enforcer Luciano. While the Mulligan/Luciano program was quite short, lasting only about three months from May to August in 1980, it had its share of memorable moments. Who can forget Blackjack bringing in his cousin “Crazy Luke” to battle the Enforcer? And Luciano surprisingly dominating Mulligan in a series of the Enforcer’s specialty matches, the “Detroit Street Brawls.” But to me, the most lasting memory of this feud was its grand finale.

As the summer of 1980 neared its end in late September, Jim Crockett Promotions decided to take the extraordinary step of producing a TV highlight show to pay tribute to the wresting action during the “long hot summer” of 1980 as announcer David Crockett would couch it. And how could any highlight show of the summer of 1980 be complete without a segment focusing on the feud between Blackjack Mulligan and Enforcer Luciano?

Blackjack started off the segment with announcer Bob Caudle stating, “I understand they have a film here of Luciano. Everybody’s been asking me and hollering and screaming whatever happened to Luciano…he just kind of took a U-haul trailer and left town. We're gonna find out in just a second where Luciano is, and WHY he left town.” Caudle questioned, “This is the way you got rid of him Jack, really?” Blackjack affirmed, “That’s exactly right, Luciano didn't want too much. You know, Luciano considered himself a real bad boy.”

The film that was shared with the viewing audience of the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television show was a Texas Street Fight between Mulligan and Luciano. These Texas Street Fights occurred throughout the territory’s larger arenas in late July and early August, and emphatically ended the feud.

Mulligan continued his narration, “I notice I have my Texas Street Fighting clothes on here now, because that’s when you’re really gettin’ down to it. Luciano just took a right hook to the face right there because now we're to the point now…the referee’s knocked down. Hit the man so hard that I knocked the referee down too!”

Blackjack then elaborated further, “I got the boots on, got the spurs on and we are ready to go. I'm holding the right hand of his, he had something taped to it and just punishing him a little bit. There’s a chain, a chain came loose, the man had a chain taped to his arm there. Trying to use everything in the world. There it is right there, a piece of chain. Now, I’m gonna give him a little bit of his own medicine Bob Caudle. We're gonna see how he likes a little bit of that!”

Caudle interjected, “You must have Jack, because we haven't heard of him since this either.” Mulligan explained “You know, everybody thinks they're pretty tough wherever they come from…you know, Luciano never attacked west Texas before. There's a right hook to the jaw there. I'm sure the man had a busted jaw…he probably had to eat soup for three or four months! Because at this point now I don't think Luciano wants it, because you understand a Texas Street Fight is a very serious affair!"

Mulligan then explained why stating, “Because that is the way we settle things down in the state there if there is a difference over a woman or property or some money, or if somebody took somebody’s pickup truck illegally…this is the way we settle it because it definitely gets settled. Because a man goes out there and fights...see I'm prying his arm loose right there. I'm definitely trying to pry his arm loose from his shoulder is what I'm trying to do!”

Blackjack carries on with his entertaining blow by blow noting, “At this point I get it down there and put the old boot on it…let's see what happens right here. This is the way we settle things from down where I come from, and I’m puttin’ the heel of that boot on that hand and I'm sure the man the next morning probably had a rough time eating a hot dog with that hand because I'm sure there were some knuckles smashed. There goes another shirt, one of those Detroit specials…tore that off of him too!”

Mulligan then describes the final segment of the bout that concluded the Enforcer’s run in the Mid-Atlantic area saying, “Here we go, there goes the man into the ropes right here, and there goes a boot right to the jaw and I guarantee you if the man had got up from this; watch this, slipping it off…” Caudle then excitedly observed, “You took that boot off!” Blackjack cackled, “I know this is a little bit nasty and I know this is a little bit dirty, but this is the thing they call the coup de grace, right across the face!”

Mulligan then gave the fans some historical context to this demolition of Luciano, explaining, “This is the same thing that happened to ol’ Luther Daniels one night when he was messin’ around with the wrong person; shouldn't have been messin’ around. Brother, when you put the spurs on ‘em and you put the boots on ‘em, that’s when Slim Gabriel comes to town, and he's the high Sheriff when he comes down there.”

The viewing audience then learned that Blackjack was not finished, and that he wasn't leaving the Enforcer’s utter demise to any element of chance.   “Luciano is hurtin’ now, believe me. So when you want to finish a man off in west Texas drop that spur right across the top of his head and give him a good ol’ boot right between the eyes, put it between the goalposts, and he won't come back to town! And if he does you better watch out because you haven't put enough on him,” Mulligan exclaimed.

Blackjack concluded, “There's Luciano, he's down and out. At this point I’m gonna give him just a little bit more because he was such a loudmouth and such a smart aleck. Right in the face! I know that seems a little mean and nasty…there I go. You should never kick a man while he's down, but it depends on what kind of man he was. Luciano was an extra dirty filthy rat…he’s gonna get it one more time right smack in the puss! There he is, down one, two, three it's all over for Luciano and I don't think we ever saw him or that we’ll ever hear from him again.”

I saw the Richmond Coliseum version of this epic Texas Street Fight on August 1, 1980. To this day, when any team or individual suffers a major whuppin’ I will immediately harken back to Enforcer Luciano laying on his back, spread eagle, staring up at the Richmond Coliseum lights for at least five minutes courtesy of the big man from Eagle Pass, Texas…never to be heard from again.  Yes, Blackjack Mulligan left absolutely no doubt!

Friends Gather at Eblen Charities Golf Tournament

Abe Jacobs, Andy McDaniel, Nikita Koloff, and Mike Mooneyham
at the Eblen Charities golf tournament in Asheville, NC, May 16, 2017

Four Horsemen: A Timeline History

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Check out Episode #16 (Fall Brawl '97) for details.