|
|
Post by offspring515 on Jan 12, 2012 22:22:08 GMT -5
I've seen a lot of people online float the theory that Ole doesn't want anything to do with WWE or Vince, so if an offer to be inducted was floated his way he probably turned it down. Obviously that doesn't mean the offer was ever made.
|
|
|
|
Post by chewey on Jan 12, 2012 23:57:38 GMT -5
In the controversial biography of Vince McMahon, Sex, Lies, and Headlocks, Ole Anderson is described as the owner of the Georgia Championship Wrestling promotion that was a huge key to the WWF's early expansion and the landing of a prime time cable television spot. The bid was basically a hostile takeover in which Ole's other partners, Jack and Jerry Brisco, stabbed him in the back and sold their shares to Vince. Granted the book was written by Mike Mooneyham, who is one of those wrestling "journalists," but he does make it seem like there was some legit bad tension that never got resolved.. and probably still exists to this day. Ole was never a majority owner, he had a small stake in the company. GCW was losing money, Vince made a lucrative bid and the deal was made by the majority because it made perfect sense. There was no backstabbing involved beyond other parties acting in their own fiduciary interests. Jerry Brisco parlayed the deal into a lucrative stay in the organization, Ole would probably be better off right now had he done the same. Thanks for the clarification. It's been years since I skimmed through the book at a Barnes and Nobles. I somehow still remember Mooneyham portraying Ole as being bitter about being "betrayed" though, which I would tend to believe - hence explaining his absence at Flair's WWE sendoff and likely exclusion from the HOF induction ceremony in Miami at this year's Wrestlemania. Jim Ross' tweets, for what they're worth, seem to indicate the same. Maybe because I was too young to remember Ole Anderson's run in the original Horsemen, but to me the classic Horsemen always included Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Windham. I would find it freaking hysterical if Steve "Mongo" McMichael* were included on the induction stage though. *Then again, Steve McMichael probably deserves to be inducted in the celebrity wing of the HOF more than anyone, right? Who else has done more in the industry than him? |
|
|
|
Post by LWPD on Jan 13, 2012 20:11:44 GMT -5
Ole was never a majority owner, he had a small stake in the company. GCW was losing money, Vince made a lucrative bid and the deal was made by the majority because it made perfect sense. There was no backstabbing involved beyond other parties acting in their own fiduciary interests. Jerry Brisco parlayed the deal into a lucrative stay in the organization, Ole would probably be better off right now had he done the same. Thanks for the clarification. It's been years since I skimmed through the book at a Barnes and Nobles. I somehow still remember Mooneyham portraying Ole as being bitter about being "betrayed" though, which I would tend to believe - hence explaining his absence at Flair's WWE sendoff and likely exclusion from the HOF induction ceremony in Miami at this year's Wrestlemania. Jim Ross' tweets, for what they're worth, seem to indicate the same. For more on Ole's side of being 'backstabbed', the old Ole/Meltzer interview that turned into an argument from '03 is definitely worth a listen. It provides good insight into his unique philosophy on the business and those who are in it. Ironically the interview completely broke down when Ole bashed Meltzer's version of the Hall of Fame while at the same time challenging the logic of his not being inducted.  |
|
|
|
Post by Big Bri on Jan 13, 2012 22:13:13 GMT -5
What many don't realize is that this, the most popular incarnation of the Horsemen, were only together for 5 months. I'm all for them getting in though. Especially Arn!
I don't know how I feel about Edge though. Deserved? By all means, but they're just trying to ride the whole early retirement thing some more. I was kind of ticked they put Eddie in so soon after his death too.
|
|
|
|
Post by cruefan68 on Jan 14, 2012 22:59:36 GMT -5
The Four Horsemen going in is great and I personally liked the short lived version with Windham. It seemed they were four guys, along with J.J., at the top of their game when they came together. Ole Anderson definitely deserves mention but it is really up to him as far as going in, unless they didn't ask him. I like Edge going in this year since he is retired and I'm also looking forward to Mil Mascaras going in. It;s a solid class so far and at the very least Arn Anderson will finally get his due.
|
|
|
|
Post by TTX on Jan 15, 2012 8:11:41 GMT -5
yeah it's kinda sad that that version only lasted a short time before Dillon, Blanchard and Anderson left, but it was just so much talent gathered at one time.
|
|
|
|
Post by LWPD on Jan 16, 2012 18:00:53 GMT -5
This week's issue of the WON gave a great breakdown on the Four Horsemen induction and all of its incarnations. The Pillman/Benoit break off group would have been an interesting twist had it played out.
The group being inducted will be the third version of the Horsemen, consisting of Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon. As far as working went, they were the best version, four of the top wrestlers in the world in that period. You could argue strongly that Flair and Windham, when that foursome was together, were the two best wrestlers in North America. You could argue that Blanchard & Anderson were the best tag team at that time, although in their case, there would be a much stronger debate because the scene was loaded with great tag teams. But whether they were the best tag team, they were in the debate for the best tag team.
The original version of the Horseman (November 1985 to March 1987) had Ole Anderson in the Windham spot. Ole in the WWE Hall of Fame would be difficult as I wouldn’t think he’d participate, plus there is heat between he and several other members of the group, most notably Flair.
Back in the 80s, Ole and Vince McMahon had their court fight over Vince buying a majority interest in Georgia Championship Wrestling. McMahon bought the promotion to get the TBS time slot. Ole was running the company and had no idea of the sale until it went through, and only then he found out his business partners all went behind his back and sold their stock, which amounted to more than 50%, a majority interest, to McMahon, who essentially closed down the company. Ole said some really nasty things to Linda McMahon at the time. Because of that, Vince told him that he would never work for WWF.
Decades later, when they were doing the Horsemen DVD and wanted Ole to participate, Ole wouldn’t do it and actually said that his reason was that Vince told him he’d never do anything with WWF and he didn’t want Vince to prove to be a liar. I don’t think Ole was considered but most figure if he was asked he would turn it down anyway.
The second version of the Horsemen (February 1987, as there was an overlap when Luger started and Ole was turned on, through the end of 1987) was with Lex Luger, but there was bitterness of how Luger walked out on WWF without telling anyone and showed up on the first Nitro in 1996, resulting in at least Vince attempting and threatening to sue but it went nowhere. At one point it would have been considered impossible for Luger to be in the WWF Hall of Fame, but since Luger’s major health issues, a lot of the bitterness is likely gone.
The Windham group was from January 1987 to September 1988. From a business standpoint, the first version was by far the most successful. By 1987, Crockett business was struggling because booker Dusty Rhodes went with a pat hand too young.
Business picked up in 1988, but that wasn’t because of the Horsemen, but because Luger turned face and got hot, and Luger vs. Flair in the aftermath of the Great American Bash PPV that year drew big for a while, but Crockett was so deep in debt that he still had to sell. Blanchard & Anderson quit Crockett promotions in September 1988, just before the sale went through, because they were fed up with Rhodes as booker. The key was that when the Turner people took over, they interviewed people in the company asking what the problems were. The interviews were all supposed to be kept confidential. Blanchard in particular buried the job Rhodes was doing as booker, but Rhodes found out and his attitude toward Blanchard changed greatly.
Blanchard & Anderson then signed to go to WWF, which was funny because Rhodes was replaced as booker a couple of months later, then eventually fired and he ended up in WWF with them. Flair, Windham and Dillon remained aligned in WCW until Dillon took a front office job as the Head of Talent Relations for Vince, which ended the Horsemen name, as Flair and Windham were kept together in a group called the Yamazaki Corporation, with the idea that rich Japanese businessmen led by Hiro Matsuda had purchased the American institution of the Four Horsemen. That angle got over about as good as it sounds.
They were going to bring the name back at the end of 1989, with Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson and Blanchard, but not Dillon, when Flair, booking at the time in WCW, put together a deal to get Anderson & Blanchard back at $250,000 per year, which was more than they were making in WWF as tag team champions. However, right after Blanchard & Arn Anderson gave notice, Blanchard failed a WWF drug test for cocaine and was fired.
Jim Herd, running WCW, then overruled Flair and rescinded the offer to Blanchard, saying they weren’t going to hire someone just fired over cocaine by the opposition. While Blanchard wrestled for several more years mostly in a minor league capacity, that pretty much spelled the end of his career as a major performer and he became a religious speaker.
Flair, Ole, Arn and Sting instead became the babyface Four Horsemen, but they quickly turned on Sting, with the idea of building Sting to beat Flair, going back heel, to win the NWA title. But Sting blew out his knee in the angle that turned them heel and that delayed the title change by almost five months as he needed reconstructive surgery.
Ole then retired and in May 1990, the new Horsemen were Flair, Arn, a returning Windham (who had also had an unsuccessful WWF run) and Sid Vicious, with Ole as manager. That fell apart in 1991 when Vicious and Flair both went to WWF.
The name was brought back from May to December 1993 with Flair, Arn, Ole (as a manager) and Paul Roma. There was an attempt to get Blanchard back in the group, but Blanchard and WCW ended up being far apart on money terms and he wouldn’t sign.
In late 1995, a new group formed with Flair, Arn, Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit. The plan was for them to break up into two groups, with the Flair & Arn group of the Original Horsemen feuding with the Pillman & Benoit group, the new Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But that never happened.
But Pillman did his Loose Cannon gimmick and the idea fell through.
The next version was Flair, Arn, Benoit and Steve McMichael starting in the summer of 1996. Anderson retired due to problems stemming from a herniated disc in his neck dating back years earlier and worsening, in the summer of 1997, and Curt Hennig was in his spot, but he turned on Flair a month later. Jeff Jarrett was also in the Horsemen for a time.
In September 1998, in one of the most memorable moments in TV wrestling history, Flair returned after a series of lawsuits back and forth with WCW. The new group, starting out as faces, had Arn as the manager of a group of Flair, Benoit, Dean Malenko and McMichael. McMichael ended up being fired by WCW and Flair, Benoit and Malenko went heel in 1999. The final incarnation ended in May 1999 when Benoit & Malenko left the group and broke away from Flair.
With this, Flair is the first person in the WWE Hall of Fame to be inducted twice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Justin Case on Jan 16, 2012 18:14:06 GMT -5
Dave Meltzer makes my head hurt. He just talks in circles!  |
|
|
|
Post by Big Bri on Jan 17, 2012 12:25:21 GMT -5
The article is incorrect about the Windham incarnation. The article says it started in January 1987. It actually started in April 1988. Windham and Luger were defending the tag team titles against Blanchard & Anderson. Windham turned on Luger and then joined the Horsemen.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimsteel on Jan 17, 2012 20:08:29 GMT -5
Rumor going around is the Triple H+HBK will induct the Horseman. I dont know why they would do it. Dusty is the obvious choixce
Also another rumored inductee is Yokozuna
|
|
