The Importance of…5.08.09: The Four Horsemen

There is a strong argument to be made that The Four Horsemen group was the single greatest stable in wrestling history. Indeed, if you are consider longevity and track record, it’s hard to think of any group that even rivals them. The Horsemen reigned over the NWA, and, to a lesser extent, WCW, from the late eighties through the nineties, establishing a prototype for what a wrestling stable could be, and arriving as one of the coolest heel collectives ever.

On one hand, the Horsemen were a band of thugs. Centered around pampered world champion, Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson represented the no nonsense muscle to back up the superstar. Teaming the group together, there were few faces with any hope of fighting them all off, and they pulled off a host of notable beat downs, most notably on Dusty Rhodes, as the top face of the day. Tully Blanchard helped to balance the group out, erring toward the arrogant heel-style of Flair, while clearly serving as a supporting player in the group. With Flair and Blanchard, the group was more than a just a street gang, but also a representation of the elite players in the business. This image only grew clearer as the Horsemen took to wearing suits, and came to all win title belts, presenting a great visual of the stable as people of prestige.

Like so many wrestling stables, different participants took different roles. One of the clearest roles fell to Arn Anderson. Double A was never in contention for a world title, and spent the bulk of his career in the tag team or TV title pictures. Rather than being a glory hound, Anderson lived up to his moniker as The Enforcer of the group, doing the dirty work to keep the stable, and specifically Flair on top. Others filled this same supporting role to an extent, and in so doing, the Horsemen served the important function of helping to elevate Flair from upper-tier wrestler to all-time great. Think about it—when the Andersons, Blanchard, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious, Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit are hanging around to play second fiddle to you, you have to be kind of a big deal.

The Horsemen cycled through their share of members who were destined to break away from the group. To an extent this would include Sid, but it was a role more clearly defined by guys like Lex Luger and Sting, who were there to create controversy, and ultimately part ways with the group in the interest of challenging Flair. This was a template to be followed in other groups throughout time, most obviously including Batista decision to secede from Evolution, and, albeit the fact that it was more hostile takeover than secession, The Rock standing up to Farooq.

Like any institution that spans over a decade in wrestling, The Horsemen legacy would, eventually lose a bit of its luster, and a bit of its identity. In a demonstration of how a group’s stock can fall, later incarnations of the Horsemen included Paul Roma (who in no way fit the group) and Steve McMichael (right personality, wrong set of ring skills). Similarly, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko represented the Horsemen tradition of excellence in the ring well, but did not have the personalities to really match the group at that time. In these failings, The Horsemen demonstrated that a stable name alone was not enough to elevate talent—the talent had to rise to prove itself worthy of the group. WCW faced similar problems as the nWo ballooned in size, and in the nWo 2000 group that was a mockery of what the original stable stood for.

The biggest blow of all to the Horsemen legacy, though, came at the very end. In a touching moment, a retiring Arn Anderson offered his spot with the group to newly arrived Curt Hennig. Hennig was a perfect match (no pun intended) for the group, in terms of talent, personality, and name value. And yet, mere weeks later, WCW ruined the Horsemen name, having Hennig turn on his new friends, and align himself with and nWo group. The results? Hennig got lost in the shuffle of his new group. The Horsemen ceased to be relevant. In short, the Horsemen were a super group no more, but rather a pawn to help elevate the nWo. That was the last collective to wrestle under the Horsemen name.

Despite the ways in which WCW tarnished the Horsemen name, the lasting effects of the group are evident throughout history and to this day. The nWo that had such a hand in destroying the group was also clearly influenced by it, with Hulk Hogan channeling Ric Flair as the glamorous dick heel champion, and The Outsiders playing a bigger version of Minnesota Wrecking Crew or the Brainbusters in backing him up—the rest of the group simply amplifying the numbers game that had benefited Flair and company for so long. Not dissimilar were several incarnations of DX, with Shawn Michaels and Triple H each taking a turn in Flair’s role, building an elite stable around them. Today, Randy Orton’s Legacy group takes up a similar theme, with the biggest heel in the business summoning followers to help himself, and elevate them by association. No group has more obvious Horsemen connections, though, than Evolution. From the way in which Randy Orton and Batista mirrored Sting and Luger in breaking out on their own, to Triple H’s absolute dominance of the world title scene during that time, to there coming a time when all four members held gold, to all of the suits and pretty ladies, Evolution was The Four Horsemen of the early 2000s. All in all, though, virtually every wrestling stable to take shape since the Horsemen started has, in some way, been either an imitation of or a response to the Horsemen—one way or another connecting to one of wrestling’s greatest, and most important stables.

That’s all for this column. Next week, we take a look at the importance of Steve Austin. See you in seven.