Professional wrestling’s symbol of excellence, the Four Horsemen, originally consisted of Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
They debuted in 1985 and were known for their dominance in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and later World Championship Wrestling (WCW) throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Four Horsemen – Diamonds Are Forever
Managed by JJ Dillon (originally Tully’s manager), the wrestling stable was known for their in-ring prowess and their ability to hold multiple championships simultaneously. They would often boast about their success both in the ring and with their lavish lifestyles.
Why were The Four Horsemen popular? Let’s start with the charismatic leadership of their leader, former 16X World Heavyweight Champion, The Nature Boy, Ric Flair.
Hands down, the man born Richard Morgan Fleihr, was and remains one of the most charismatic and skilled wrestlers of all time.
His flamboyant personality and in-ring talent drew fans in. Even today, you can’t enter a wrestling arena, when at some point, someone doesn’t go WOOOOO!!!!
They were one of the first wrestling stables to feature major superstar power on television. Their natural chemistry and the way they organically formed made them stand out.
The Four Horsemen were involved in memorable feuds with top wrestlers like Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, Magnum T.A., The Garvin’s, The Rock n’ Roll Express, The Road Warriors, and almost anyone on the roster, at that time who was dubbed a fan favorite or a good guy.
These rivalries kept fans engaged and invested in their storylines. Their portrayal as villains (heels) who were unapologetically successful and arrogant resonated with fans.
They were able to generate strong reactions and were truly a stable that we loved to hate both as individual wrestlers, tag team, or as a stable.
When you saw one, you knew that the others weren’t far behind. If someone appeared to be in jeopardy of losing a title match, the others would often come to the ring as an insurance policy; sometimes causing blatant interference or signally a ref, ala Tommy Young turn a blind eye.
The Four Horsemen had several intense and memorable rivalries throughout their illustrious and unrivaled reign. Among them, included the father of AEW’s Dustin Rhodes and the current Undisputed WWE Champion, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes.
“The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes gave new meaning to intensity. How many fans of the 80’s, regardless of which promotion was watched, remember The Four Horsemen giving Big Dust a beat down in the parking lot?
How many remember Dusty ‘winning’ Tully Blanchard’s valet, Baby Doll, in a steel cage match or going after Dark Journey, a short-lived valet for Tulstar, who he affectionally referred to as ‘Pretty Brown Sugar’?
The blood that was spilled between The American Dream and The Nature Boy and The Bull of the Woods vs. Tulstar are classic, hence the barbed wire latter match. Who can forget the rise of The Midnight Rider?
Magnum T.A. had a heated rivalry with Tully Blanchard, culminating in a brutal “I Quit” match at Starrcade 1985. This feud was significant in establishing the Horsemen’s dominance.
The Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, known for their tag team supremacy, and many would argue as the best tag team of all time were frequent foes of the Horsemen.
Their battles included the introduction of one of the most destructive structures in all professional wrestling, War Games, which continues to take place to this day.
Luger took his place in the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame. “The Total Package, Lex Luger, former member of the Horsemen, had a fierce rivalry with his former stablemates. Sting’s rivalry with the Horsemen was notable, especially during his time in WCW (World Championship Wrestling) days.
His clashes with Ric Flair and other members were a highlight of the era, which included a match between Stinger and Slick Ric being the last and final match for WCW before they were officially acquired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
These are just some of the rivalries that helped cement the Four Horsemen’s legacy as one of the most dominant factions in professional wrestling history.
When you think of the origins of the Four Horsemen, you must return to the days of Jim Crockett Promotions and The Omni in Atlanta, GA, September 1985.
Flair turned on Dusty after he saved him from a beatdown from the Koloffs and Krusher Kruschev. Ole and Arn Anderson came to the ring to offer an assist to Flair in breaking Dusty’s ankle.
Fast forward, Dusty gave a promo when he was about to vacate the NWA Television Title and Arn along with the newly recruited Tully Blanchard proceeded to kick the crutches away from Dusty.
It was during an impromptu interview with Flair, The Andersons, Tully, and JJ that Arn was said to have shared,
“The only time this much havoc had been wreaked by this few a number of people, you need to go all the way back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!”
Arn is credited with the name and is rumored to currently have the copyrights to The Four Horsemen name and image.
In February 1987, “The Total Package”, Lex Luger came from Championship Wrestling from Florida and was made an ‘associate member’ of the group after he expressed his desire to become a Horseman. Ole was eventually kicked out, in favor of the younger and physically impressive Luger.
Though Luger won the U.S. Championship, he would eventually be ousted after he blamed JJ for costing him the title at Starcade ‘87 against Dusty Rhodes.
Lex would team with Barry Windham, and they took the belts away from Tully and Arn. The Horsemen were always a step ahead. They got to Barry, who turned on Lex, taking his spot in the Four Horsemen.
This incarnation of The Four Horsemen was among the greatest: Flair, as the World Heavyweight Champion, Windham, as the United States Heavyweight Champion and Arn and Tully, as the World Tag Team Champions.
As competitive as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) tag team division was, it wasn’t a surpise when Tully and Arn dropped the belts to Sweet Stan Lane and Beautiful Bobby Eaton, The Midnight Express, but it was a surpise to see Tully and Arn appear on WWF television as The Brain Busters, managed by one of wrestling’s greatest managers and broadcast journalists, the late Bobby ‘The Brain” Heenan.
The remaining members of the Horsemen; Flair, Windham, and Dillon continued to refer to themselves as that, eventually bringing on Windham’s younger brother, Kendall Windham, as their latest recruit.
Early in 1989, Flair and Windham lost a televised tag match to the late Eddie “Hot Stuff” Gilbert and a surprise partner, Flair’s long-time rival, a returning Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.
An enraged and mostly humiliated Flair blamed and ‘fired’ Dillon. Luger’s former trainer, Hiro Matsuda was hired by Flair and the Windham brothers as their new manager.
As a result, the legendary Horsemen were renamed the Yamazaki Corporation. They proceeded to feud with Luger, Steamboat, Sting, and Gilbert.
Barry Windham left the group due to a broken hand which occurred in his match against Luger at Chi-Town Rumble and required surgery.
Shortly after he was healed, he left the NWA and joined the WWF as “The Widowmaker.” Kendall appeared lackluster without his brother and became more of a jobber than a former member of a group who once ran the National Wrestling Alliance.
Freebird Michael P.S. Hayes was a short-lived member of the often-revered group. He even had a feud with former Horsemen member, Lex Luger, but that was short lived when he had an opportunity to reform The Fabulous Freebirds.
In December 1989, The Horsemen reformed with Flair, The Anderson’s and, the man called Sting! The addition of Sting saw the dreaded Four Horsemen become the beloved Four Horsemen.
That lasted about a minute after feuding with Gary Hart’s J-Tex Corporation. (Terry Funk, The Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer, and the Dragon Master).
The final nail in the coffin of the good Horsemen was when Sting believed that it was okay to challenge the champ for a title shot. The Horsemen returned to their roots, kicked Sting out with Flair famously saying.
“Sting, you never were a Horsemen”.
Soon, the beautiful late Nancy Sullivan aka Woman became Flair’s valet after a shameless but effective pursuit of the champ’s admiration. How many times did we hear him ask,
“Woman, oh Woman, won’t you marry me now?”
They would successfully feud against Luger, Sting, Rick and Scott, the Steiner Brothers and El Gigante.
In May 1990, Ole retired from active competition and became their official manager, Barry Windham returned to WCW and the Horsemen on the May 5th NWA World Wide Wrestling, and the late Sid Vicious was added to complete the group on the May 11th NWA Power Hour.
They feuded with the Dudes with Attitudes which consisted of Sting, Luger, the Steiner Brothers, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and the Junkyard Dog.
In October 1990, NWA 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 appeared, the match was continued, 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 separate ways. In May 1991, Sid left for the WWF.
Flair was fired from WCW in early July and was in the WWF by August. 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.
Anderson would form a tag team with Larry Zbysko and were called The Enforcers, who would later join Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance.
The next incarnation of the Horsemen, containing only three active members, was around for roughly seven months in 1993.
Flair returned from the WWF to WCW to rejoin The Andersons, who promised a Horsemen reunion at the Slamboree pay-per-view.
Paul Roma was recruited to become the fourth Horsemen. Many fans considered this a less than stellar Four Horsemen and it ended almost as quickly as it started.
In 1995, Flair and Double A appeared to have a falling out after Arn tried to help Flair when he was at the losing end of an attack that he initiated against former rival Big Van Vader.
Little did fans know that it was all a ruse for the eventual reformation of the Horsemen, to include Flair, Arn, and the late Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit.
This version of the Horsemen feuded with Hogan, Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger. The revolving door continued in the form of Nancy Sullivan, who returned as Woman, as well as one of Eric Bischoff’s most shocking transformations, Miss Elizabeth, as a heal! This occurred at Superbrawl VI, when she turned on “The Macho Man” Randy Savage.
In early 1996, the infamous “Loose Cannon” storyline was born, and Pillman started a feud with Kevin Sullivan. The Loose Cannon would leave WCW for ECW and would eventually land in WWF/E that February.
The merry-go-round continued with the Horsemen finding themselves involved in a brief feud with Kevin Sullivan’s Dungeon of Doom. DOD was around from 1995-1997. The faction included everyone from Kamala, Lex Luger, Big Van Vader, The Giant, The Barbarian, and Big Bubba.
Many fans, at the time, had no idea how significant the feud between Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit would become. Sullivan was not only talent, but a booker behind the scenes in WCW.
He was also married to Nancy Sullivan, who later became Nancy Benoit. Whenever Sullivan and Benoit connected, it was clear that they meant every move and blow that they landed on each other.
In June 1996 at the Great American Bash, Flair and Arn wrestled former NFL football players, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, and Kevin Greene.
After accompanying them to the ring, Debra McMichael (Future Mrs. Stone Cold) was chased to the back by Woman and Miss Elizabeth, only to later return by their side, carrying what appeared to be a Haliburton briefcase.
She handed it to her husband, Mongo opened it, and a Horsemen T-shirt with money was revealed. Mongo would betray his NFL colleague, hit Greene with the briefcase, which allowed Flair to steal the pin and secure the win.
Mongo’s decision made him an official member of the Horsemen and the group gained another valet, in the form of Debra.
When the nWo was founded the following month, everyone on the WCW roster, including the Horsemen became babyfaces.
In September 1996, the anchors of The Horsemen, Flair and Anderson, teamed with their longtime bitter rivals, Sting and Lex Luger only to lose to Hogan, Hall, Nash, and an imposter Sting during a War Games match.
Former Horsemen, Luger would succumb to the imposter Sting’s Scorpion Death lock, which didn’t go over well with the Enforcer. And just like that, a feud was reignited between Arn and Lex.
Jeff Jarrett left WWF expressing a desire to become a Horsemen. To the chagrin of the other members, Flair allowed Jarret to join the Horsemen.
It was short lived as he would often find himself bickering with Mongo over Debra’s attention. Jeff successfully won the U.S. Championship from Dean Malenko, who had an assist from Eddie Guerrero.
Flair would eventually kick him out of the Horsemen, but the question was asked, was Jeff Jarrett a legitimate Horsemen.
In the past, if someone left, there was almost always a guaranteed beatdown in some shape or form, but with Jarret, he exited almost as quickly as he joined. Arn stated that
“Jeff Jarrett was never a Horsemen.”
In August 1997, Double A retired due to a neck/back injury. Curt Hennig would enter the scene and took his spot as “The Enforcer”.
The following month, Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo. Flair would disband the group on September 29, 1997, only for Arn to reinstate the Horsemen for one last and final incarnation on September 14, 1998.
This included a returning Nature Boy after dissention with WCW President, Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, Chris Benoit, and Dean Malenko, managed by Anderson.
Being down one member didn’t affect the impact of this group. “Little Nature Boy” Charles Robinson was a referee who was on the Horsemen’s payroll.
Flair also had a nurse, Double D/Asya who acted as the groups Enforcer, and last but certainly not least, David Flair (Ric’s son) was seen with the group but was never an official member.
In the role of the onscreen President of WCW, Ric flexed his muscles to grant David the U.S. Championship and encouraged the Horsemen to help David keep it.
Eventually, Benoit and Malenko left them in May in protest over Flair’s selfishness and joined Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn to form The Revolution. This would effectively end the Horsemen that fans loved to hate.
In a Four Horsemen DVD, legendary commentator and former VP of Talent Relations, Jim Ross stated
“Without the Horsemen there would damn sure be no nWo or DX”.
Diamonds are forever, and so are the Four Horsemen.
