He has been perfection for a while now.

Hello all

So as I have been watching wrestling lately I have (as usual) noticed something. I have been paying attention to someone. You would think he would be someone who was a champion of some kind. But I have to admit, the champs on all of the shows have not been performing up to par as of late. You all know how I feel about the WWE champ CM Punk. The World champ Daniel Bryan has not been a good champion at all. Santino Marella just won the US title, and let’s get real; he is somewhat of a side show. And though I think Cody Rhodes has a big future in the business, I have hated his persona since he was put in that mask (which I never really understood, anyway) almost a year ago. So I am not talking about any of them. But there is one guy who stands out as maybe the best pound for pound wrestler in the WWE. He has been stealing the show on Raw and SmackDown for a while, and it’s time for someone to give him credit. This person is Dolph Ziggler.
Ziggler was a very successful amateur wrestler. In his high school in Ohio, he set the record for the most pins with 82. In college he continued to wrestle. At Kent State University he also set the record for pins, which would later be broken. In college he was also a 3 time amateur wrestling champion.

He broke into WWE in 2006 as a member of the Spirit Squad. The Spirit Squad was a group of cheerleaders. Yes, I know it sounds dumb, but Ziggler stood out. After that gimmick had run its course (which wasn’t that long, Ziggler ventured out on his own.

He was sent down to the WWE developmental territory in 2007 to improve. Ziggler resurfaced with a new haircut, and a new attitude. In 2008 Ziggler came back to Raw, where he was not very successful. But it should be noted, that at that time, Raw was very top heavy (but I guess that’s how it has always been since the brand extension). So Ziggler did not have many wins back on Raw. During the 2009 Draft, he was moved over to SmackDown. On SmackDown, he challenged MVP for the US title. Though he did not win, he was showing signs of being ready to move up the ranks.

For the next 6 months he would try to acquire some gold. He tried and tried to take the belt off of MVP, and did not win it. Then when the Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio came to SmackDown, Ziggler set his sights on that belt. But still he could not break through. Not until he decided to date Vickie Guerrero that he would see some success.
In July of 2010, they started dating, and he once again had his sights set on the IC belt. This time he would defeat Kofi Kingston, to win his 1st singles title in WWE. After that, he would go on to have great matches with Kingston over that belt that entire summer (one of my 1st blogs was about how great of a set of matches they were having for that IC belt). Ziggler held that belt for 5 months, before losing it back to Kingston. Funny thing though, that same night, he became the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Title.

Now here is where things get a little silly. Ziggler had a set of matches with the champion, Edge. At this time, Vickie was the GM of SmackDown. Vickie and Edge have bad history with each other, and because of that, Vickie wanted to get the belt off of Edge, and on to her new man. In one of their title matches, Edge could not use his finishing move, the spear. If he did, Ziggler would be rewarded the World title. At the end of the match, the ref was knocked out (of course), and Edge used his spear. He pinned Ziggler, and was awarded the title. Then a week later, Vickie awarded the title to Edge. Then the regular SmackDown GM, Teddy Long came back, stripped the title, and ordered them to have a match for the belt, where Edge could use the spear. He did, and won the title. The reason why this is so silly is because Ziggler is regarded as a 1 time world champ, because of this. I think that is just silly, but that is just me.

After Ziggler could not wrestle the title off of Edge, he was moved back to Raw, and set his sights on the US title. At the Capital Punishment Pay per View 2011, Ziggler defeated (you guessed it) Kingston to win the US title. Ziggler was very successful as the US champ, holding the belt for 6 months, until he lost it to the internet sensation, Zack Ryder.

Though he is not a champ of any kind, anymore, that has not stopped Ziggler from having some of the best matches lately. He pushed the #1 contender for the World title, Sheamus, to the limit, a few weeks ago on Raw. He has been outperforming most everyone in wrestling. I am telling you now; you are really looking at, not only a show out, but a future Champion.

I have picked my side, which side are you on?

Hello all

Watching wrestling this week I came across something. This was something I have been thinking about writing but did not do it until now. There has been a situation going on for almost (if not) an entire year. Last year to me, it was very funny, light hearted, and it was leading us up to WrestleMania here in Atlanta, so I wasn’t ready to blog about it, or even choose sides. But now I feel that it is time for someone to say something, and since I am the only person I know with a wrestling blog, I will be the one to say it. In regards to the ongoing beef between the Rock and John Cena, I have chosen a side……I think John Cena is Right.

Now I know what you all are going to say, “Are you a Cena fan now”? No, not necessarily, but I would like to think I give credit where credit is due. And people, Cena deserve credit on this one.

Let’s go over what their problems are with each other. Cena is upset with the Rock, because every time he comes back he always talks about how he is home and he is here to stay. But the very next week he is gone, and will be gone for months. This is true. In the past year, the Rock has come on Raw a few times, and has come out and electrified the crowd for one night. After that John Cena and all of the other WWE superstars have to be on TV, and travel all over the world every night, killing themselves. I don’t see why anyone would be upset with Cena. Like it or not, Cena is always there. Night after night, week after week, Cena is always there and always ready to perform to the highest level. Don’t get me wrong, I know the Rock can make (and has made) way more money in Hollywood, and doesn’t run the risk of permanently injuring himself, but I can respect a guy like Cena, who I’m sure has had a few offers from Hollywood too (he has done 2 major motion pictures), but he has never missed time as the biggest star in the company, unlike the Rock.

The Rock says that Cena does not talk to him like a grown man. I could agree with the Rock on this one last year, but this year, there has been no rapping, no hat backward, no nothing. Cena has come on and said what he felt about the Rock. And last week to me Cena fired the shot heard around the world. Cena did something that not only have I never seen, but I never ever thought I would ever see; and that was a punk the Rock on the microphone. Last week on Raw Cena came out to the ring, that the Rock was already in, and told him where to go and how to get there, and he left the ring, leaving the Rock speechless.

Lastly Cena says the Rock never speaks to any of the guys backstage. Now I am not sure if that is the Rock’s responsibility to do so. Rock said no one did that for him, so why should he do that for the guys in the back. I am not sure. I would like to think that a guy like the Rock, who most of those guys look up to, would be willing to pass on some knowledge to the next generation of superstars, but I am not him. I can’t say what he would do. But I do know that if you are a guy that only comes around during WrestleMania, or when it can benefit you, then you will start to rub people the wrong way, and I’m sure you will become a bad guy.

I know a lot of people hate John Cena. It seems like that is the cool thing to do now. Like I have said before, I think Cena has earned our (fans) respect. Unlike the Rock, when Cena was on top, he was still there every single night, closing out the show, giving it 100%. I know we all love the Rock, he was the man that got a lot of us to become fans in the 1st place. But where is the respect for a man who has all but carried WWE for the last 7 years, traveling from city to city, while the Rock makes his once a year appearance, and gets so much love from the people. I just don’t understand it, but if lines were drawn and we had to pick a side, I am choosing Cena. Sorry Rocky.

DAMN!

Hello all

As I watched wrestling this week, I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw on Raw. I have to say it was a very good episode. It reminded me of the glory days of wrestling (you know, back in the days of the Monday Night Wars, when you would watch one show the entire way through. You would not turn away). I watched the entire time, and could not turn away, it was that riveting.

Anyway, as I watched wresting, I saw that the next person to be elected into the WWE Hall of Fame was Ron Simmons. Simmons is one of the most influential men in wrestling history. Why, you ask? Simmons was the 1st black man to ever win the World Heavyweight Championship, for a major company. When I saw this, I thought to myself that I should write a blog about him. But I thought that I already wrote one about him. But I luckily for all of us, I had not.

Ron Simmons was born in Perry Ga. Simmons was a football player growing up. He attended Warner Robbins high school, where he played tight end and linebacker. After high school, Simmons went to Florida State University. At FSU, Simmons was an all-American. He was one of the greatest college football players of his era; he led the team to straight trips to the Orange Bowl. Simmons later went on to be the 1st FSU player to have his jersey number retired. After college, Simmons went on to play pro football for a few years. Then when he was done with football, he took up the sport of professional wrestling.

Simmons joined WCW, and became a part of a tag team with Butch Reed, called “Doom”. When Doom 1st started out they wore dark black masks. So you could not see their faces, you just saw these 2 big dudes, who at the time, were managed by a very tiny lady named, Woman. Having achieved minimal success with Woman, and after losing a match to the Steiner Brothers, where they had to lose their masks, they decided to go a different route as far as management. They hired Theodore R. Long as their manager.

Under new management and with a new look, Doom set their sights on becoming the best tag team in the world. They challenged the Steiner Brothers for the Tag Team titles and won them in May of 1990. They would go on to have a great nine month title reign, defeating some of the biggest teams of that time in WCW. They defeated the likes of the Steiner Brothers, Rock and Roll Express, and the Four Horsemen. Early in 1991 Doom lost their World Tag Titles, and Reed turned on Simmons which made Simmons a singles competitor. Simmons would defeat Reed, and begin his singles career.

After the feud with Reed, Simmons would have good matches with some of the other up and coming guys in WCW at that time. He would wrestle and defeat Hall and Nash, as their former personas, the Diamond Stud, and Oz. Then at Halloween Havoc 1991, he challenged the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger, though he was not successful. After that Simmons went back down the ladder in WCW as far as the world title race.

Then in 1992 Simmons fortune would change. The WCW world champion at this time was Big Van Vader. Vader had been involved with a long battle with Sting over that title. They would battle most of 1992, and 1993 for the title. One night in August, Vader had a title defense against Sting, but Sting could not wrestle that night, so there was a raffle held to see who would face Vader for the title, Simmons won the raffle. Then later that night Ron Simmons powerslamed Vader, and pinned him to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

Simmons held the title for five months. He defeated some of the guys who may not have been big names at that time, but would go on to become the bigger names in the business, like Rick Rude, and Mick Foley(Cactus Jack). In December of 92, Simmons would lose that would title back to Vader. Though he was a very good and fighting champion, Simmons was never a major player in the World title picture again.

In 1994 Simmons left WCW. He went to ECW, where he spent a year. But again he was not a major player. So in 1996 he went to WWE. In his beginning in the WWE, he was known as Faarooq. In WWE, Faarooq formed a faction called the “Nation of Domination”. The Nation was a group that started the careers of most of the members of the group. The main group members have all gone on and done great things after they left the group, including the 2 guys who went on to become world champions, The Rock, and Mark Henry. After being kicked out of the group, Faarooq went on to team with another future champion, JBL (simply known as Bradshaw at the time), to become a team known then as the Acolytes, later known as the APA. With Bradshaw, Faarooq would go on to win the World tag team titles, on 3 different occasions. That group would stay together for years, until they were broken up during the Brand Extension when the Raw and SmackDown rosters became exclusive.

Ron Simmons is one of the most influential men in this business. Think about it. Even now in 2012, there have only been 5 black world champions. He is not the most electrifying man in sports entertainment, he is not a 5 (I guess now, 6 time world champ), he is not the world’s strongest man, and he is not a rapper, but someone had to be the 1st. Someone had to be the one to show the world that someone other than Sting, Vader, Flair, Hogan, Race, Funk, and anyone else who was on top at the time could be champion. That they could look outside of the box at that time, and show that the world was ready for a little bit of color, in the world title.

He's the man called Sting!

Hello all

As I was watching wrestling this week, I was trying not to write about the main company. Though I saw some very intriguing things happening this week. I feel like I always write about them, and I do not want to make this my personal blog to them. This is about pro wrestling, all of it (at least everything I see on TV), so I would love to talk about something more than them.

Anyway, as I was watching TNA, I saw someone who has been in wrestling for years. Someone who is a living legend. Someone who I don’t think gets his due as far as what he has done for this business that we all love so much. He may be the biggest star in the modern era (the era of wrestling with a few big companies, and not a number of small territories) to have never worked in WWE, and still be a big star. They call him the icon in TNA; yes I am talking about Sting.

Sting started wrestling in 1985 in the Continental Wrestling Association. He was in a tag team with the Ultimate Warrior. They were not in that promotion for long, until they moved to the Universal Wrestling Federation. They wrestled under the tag team name the “Blade Runners”. Soon after they got there the Warrior left to go to the WWE, leaving Sting alone in UWF. Sting did find another tag team partner, and would win the UWF tag team titles. In 1987, the UWF was in the process of being bought out by the NWA. So Sting was moving to the big stage of Jim Crockett Promotions, later known as WCW.

In WCW (I know it was still the NWA at the time, but since it is the one company Sting was with the most, I didn’t see a reason not to just do it that way) Sting became a big star right away. At the very first “Clash of the Champions” (the Clash was pretty much a Pay per View style of show that came on once a month on TBS), Sting was in the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair. Though Sting did not win the match, it ended in a 45 minute draw(which was just what Flair did back then; he was the king of the time limit draw), Sting had earned the respect of the fans and more importantly the other wrestlers, including Flair.

In 1989 Sting tasted his 1st piece of championship gold. He defeated Mike Rotunda (IRS) in March of that year to win the World TV title. He had a pretty decent run with the title, before losing it to the Great Muta. Later that same year Sting would come to the aid of his former rival, Ric Flair. The 2 men formed a tag team to fight Terry Funk and Muta at Halloween Havoc ’89. After they were successful at that event, Sting was officially asked to join the 4 horsemen.

In Starrcade of ’89 there was an Iron Man tournament held. In the finals of that tournament Sting defeated Flair, making him the #1 contender. At the “Clash? In Feb of 1990, Sting was asked by the horsemen to give up his shot at the title. Sting refused, and was beat up by, and kicked out of the horsemen’s faction. Sting suffered a knee injury during (or shortly after) this attack, and was forced to sit out while his friend Lex Luger challenged Flair for the World title. At the next 2 pay per views, Flair and Luger were in the main event, and at the end of both, Flair was still the champ.

After Sting was finally healed from his knee injury, he came back and had his match verse Flair, and at the “Great American Bash” ’90 Sting pinned Flair to win his 1st World Heavyweight Title. His 1st title reign lasted about 6 months, with Sting defending his title verse any and all comers. But in Jan. of ’91, he lost the title to Flair in their return match. In ‘91 Sting went on to win the US title and the 1st ever “Battlebowl”. Sting would go on to win the World title again, and he would enter into a feud with one of his biggest competitors, Big Van Vader.

Vader and Sting would go back and forth with the World Title for much of 1993. Sting lost the title to Vader in July after months of successful defenses. In a European tour, Sting defeated Vade for the title in London, only to lose it back to Vader 6 days later in Dublin. At this point Ric Flair had returned to WCW, and he and Sting renewed their rivalry. They would fight for the world title with Sting just coming up short. At this time, Hulk Hogan had joined WCW, with the Macho Man soon to come. So for the next 2 years Sting was pretty much being over looked for all of the new influx of talent. Also this was the beginning of WCW Monday Nitro. Then Kevin Nash and Scott Hall joined the company, and with the help of Hogan formed the NWO. As the NWO got bigger and more and more wrestlers were jumping ship from WCW to join NWO. At this time Luger, Flair, Arn Anderson and a number of WCW guys were wondering where Sting’s loyalty lied. This upset Sting so much that he left the WCW and did not wrestler for more than a year.

As the NWO was running wild in the WCW, Sting would appear in the rafters at WCW event. He had a new persona. He did not have the blond spiked haired and multi colored face paint. He was dressed like the lead character in the movie “The Crow”. He let his hair grow really long, and he stopped dying it, and he painted his face white and black (similar to the NWO). He would not say anything, and he would not wrestle. Sting would not be in the ring again until December of 1997 at Starrcade. Sting would defeat Hogan, and win the WCW title, a big victory for WCW.

In the 4 remaining years of WCW, Sting would go on to win the world title 3 more times. Then after WCW closed Sting would wrestle for the World Wrestling All-Stars for a little while, even winning their world title, before that company went out of business. Finally in 2003 Sting Joined TNA. It took Sting a long time to work his way up the ranks in TNA. He spent most of his first few years feuding with Jeff Jarrett, and trying to find his way in the company, until in 2006 when he captured the TNA title. Since then he has been a fixture atop the TNA ladder, winning their title 4 other times, as recently as July of 2011. Sting’s character now is the boss of the everyday operations of TNA.

Sting is one of the biggest stars to ever wrestle. He is a man who has been at the top of the world of pro wrestling for the last 23 years, minus the year he spent becoming the crow. Not bad for a man in his 50s. I know there are plenty of guys who would say this, but Sting has been a big influence on all of us fans who grew up in the 80s, watched in the beginning of the 90s, and became addicts during the “Monday Night Wars”. Although I would love to see what his career would be like (and how famous he would be) if he had ever gone to the WWE. Vince McMahon has a way of making stars (i.e.: Steve Austin, Mick Foley), and keeping stars shining bright (i.e.: Ric Flair), but Sting has made it his way, and there is nothing bad about that.

Rumble Review

Hello all

Today I am going to do something a little different. I am going to do a Rumble Review. This was requested by one of our loyal followers. He asked for a review of the events of last week’s rumble, which will be leading us into the “Elimination Chamber” Pay per View, and of course the “Grand Daddy of them all” WrestleMania.

Some important things that we need to know about the events from last week. Daniel Bryan is still the World Heavyweight Champion. This is big news because, I am going to be honest with you, I have no idea why he is still champion. Sometimes the WWE puts a title on someone, they realize immediately that they made a mistake by putting the belt on him, and they take the belt off of him. But Bryan has kept the belt for two months. I don’t see what they have to prove by keeping the belt on him any longer. But I also do not see them putting the belt on anyone else. The people in the match are the same guys who have been on top of SmackDown for the last year and two men who he just survived a cage match with. If the Big Show and Mark Henry could not beat him in a cage match, why do I think they can beat him in the Chamber? So I say all of that to say that I believe that Bryan will be the World Heavyweight Champion going into Mania.

Next was the WWE Championship. CM Punk successfully defended the title vs. Dolph Ziggler. Now, I think Ziggler is the future of this business, and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for them to put the title on him and start his career as a champion. But Punk is still pretty hot because of the things he said and the WWE fans will be in love with him for a long time because of that. And so going into the Chamber PPV, Punk is the favorite to retain his title. Again just like the SmackDown match, the RAW one will contain all of the guys who have been on top of Raw for the past year, except John Cena. They have Cena involved in a feud with Kane, and they won’t put him in the Chamber because of that. But I think that with all of the same guys in the Raw main event, you will see Punk walk out of the Chamber with the WWE title in tow.

This leads us to the winner of the Rumble. Shamus won the 30 man-over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match. This is somewhat strange to me. Shamus has been doing a lot in the past year and a half. He has won the US title, the “King of the Ring”, and since being drafted to SmackDown, he has become one of the top guys on that show. But, the reason why it is weird to me is because Shamus is already a two time WWE champ. There is no reason to have him win the Rumble to get him to the main event at Mania, to get him over. Normally the Rumble winner is a guy who is finally going to get over with the fans, to get ready for the new World Champion i.e.: Batista ’05, Rey Mysterio ’06 or even Stone Cold ’98. Also it can be for guys who are just coming back from injury and need to be brought back into the minds of the WWE fans, i.e.: Edge ’10, Randy Orton ’09, John Cena ’08. But Shamus is already over with the fans. He could have won the World Championship, and been in the same spot as Daniel Bryan, and no one would have thought twice about it. Also he is not coming back from injury. Shamus has been working for more than a year straight. One last thing about this, I guess the thing that is bothering me the most is the fact that I can’t remember a great match that Shamus has had. As you all know, I watch a lot of WWE, and a lot of their old matches. Every match that I have seen with Shamus was good, but not great, and any time I have thought that he was in a great match, it was his opponent who I thought was great, not Shamus.

The Rumble this year is over, and now we are on our way to WrestleMania. I have thoughts about what I have seen going on after the Rumble. I could be wrong, but this is what I see happening. I bet you are wondering who I think Shamus will face at Mania? Well I think the Daniel Bryan is not much a champion. I think that will be the person everyone wants to see lose his title. So that is my prediction.

Is this something new, or something we have seen before?

Hello all

So as I was watching wrestling this week, I saw something that caught my attention on WWE. I am really trying to be unbiased, and write about all wrestling and not just WWE, but I have not seen much in the way of TNA for me to comment on, and there are no other companies on TV. So it is hard for me to keep up with them without me going on line and finding out some behind the scenes information that this blog is not based on. I write this from my own point of view. I try not to read too much of anyone else’s online stuff, because I don’t want my blog to become that.

So this week I was watching WWE, and was starting to notice something. I am noticing that they are starting to do something that is maybe four years past due. They are trying to turn a character around. I for one do not know if they will be a success. As I stated earlier, this move would have been better served if they would have done it four years ago.

This week on RAW, Jack Swagger beat Zack Ryder for the US championship. Well, after that John Cena spoke to the RAW General Manager, John Laurinaitis. Cena asked if he could have a match with Swagger. The G.M. agreed and they were set. Swagger was in the ring, and Cena came out to meet him. But instead of them having a match Cena beat the crap out of Swagger. He got to a point where it looked like he almost snapped. He picked up the steel stairs and almost bashed Swagger’s head. Then there was a video from Kane, telling Cena to embrace the hate.

From all that happened on RAW, it looks to me that the WWE is looking to turn Cena in to a heel. As I said earlier in this blog I think it may be a little late to be making this move. There was a time when he was so hated (for lack of a better term) that they could have turned him bad, and made him a huge star. But they waited too long.

Back in 2004 after he won the US title at WrestleMania, he was one of, if not the most popular superstar in the WWE. He was different, and cool. He came out every week in a different sports jersey, and later that year he even created his own US title spinner belt. It seemed like a very natural move to make him the face of the company.

After the very next Mania, they did just that. Cena was the WWE champion. Created a brand new spinner WWE title (which is still being used today, though it does not spin), and was off and running. In his 1st reign as the WWE champion he defeated just about everyone they put in front of him, for almost a whole year. He beat Kurt Angle, he retired Chris Jericho, and he even won an elimination chamber match, after he was one of the 1st two men to enter (which up to that point no one had ever done). And it lasted for a long time (almost a year).

After his 1st reign lasted so long, the only man to beat him, Edge, had a title reign of less than a month. Cena won the belt back and people started to turn against him. We as fans were getting tired of seeing Cena have matches with other wrestlers who were better than him, but always coming out in the end.

Over the years more and more people started to turn against Cena. This would have been the perfect time to turn Cena heel. Instead of making him almost superhuman. As I talked to some of my friends who were wrestling fans, someone compared him to Hulk Hogan. That is a perfect comparison. Hogan would have title so long, no one else had a chance to become the champ, and become a star. The same thing happened when Cena was the champ. This should have been the time when they turned Cena heel. If a heel keeps winning the title we all watch to see him lose. But with Cena being a face, we still wanted him to lose. Also, Cena is so good on the mic; he would do a great job. Think in the same mold of CM Punk, this past summer, how they gave him the mic, and it was TV gold, it would be the same if Cena was a heel.

It does seem like WWE is going to make this move. But I am not sure if it will have the same success as Hogan going heel. That was something we thought we would never see. We did not think we would see the greatest wrestling hero of all time, turn into a villain, and spit in the face of all of his fans that he worked for years to build up. But because it was new, it worked. But would it work now. Remember, they tried it with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but that did not work so well. Eventually fans came back. Now I think this will work for the people out there who were fans, but now hate Cena, but in the long run, I think they’re just a little too late.



AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The Enforcer!!!!!

Hello all

This week as I was watching wrestling I noticed that WWE is getting ready for the Royal Rumble. As I have told you all before, this is my favorite time of the year. It means we are getting close to WrestleMania. Along with the Rumble, there are a few other things that have come out to symbolize that it is Mania time. One thing that I have started to look forward to as well is the announcement of the WWE Hall of Fame inductions.

This past week on RAW they did something that I don’t think they have ever done before. They have chosen to announce 2 inductions on one show. The 1st person they showed was Edge. I do have some question about that. Not that I don’t think he deserves to be there, because I do. I think he is along the lines of Shawn Michaels, and Brett Hart. A guy who did everything you could do as a tag team wrestler, then won the intercontinental championship, and waited a long time before finally winning the WWE title. He would go on to become a multi-time world champion. His career was cut short because of injury. Now my only question is, is it too early to induct him? I mean he just retired last year. But I will save that, maybe for another blog.

The next induction was not for a person, but for a group of people, “The Four Horsemen”. It is very obvious that the Horsemen are very deserving of their spot in the Hall. During Ric Flair’s introduction speech, Triple H said that he should have his own wing in the Hall. Well if that’s the case, then there should be a “Faction’s Wing” in the Hall, and of course the Horsemen would have their own.

Every one of us wrestling fans at one point or another (if we were old enough) was fans of the Horsemen. They were the best talkers, best dressers, and more importantly, the best wrestlers. If not for the Horsemen, there would be no NOW, or DX, 2 factions that changed pro wrestling.

Now, I know everyone was probably Ric Flair fans when he was a part of the Horsemen. He was their main guy, the world champ and a legit main eventer. But I will be doing my blog today about a guy who should, himself, be a Hall of Famer. A guy who has been a tag team champion in every company he has been in, and though he never won the world title, he is still someone who deserves the respect that one would get as a champion. And this man is “The Enforcer” Arm Anderson.

Anderson started off his career in 1982, working for a few indie promotions, before winding up in Southeastern Championship Wrestling, an NWA affiliate. He worked there and won their tag team titles a few times.

In 1984, he went to work for Jim Crockett Promotions Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, which we all know as the precursor to WCW. While wrestling there, he caught the eye of very experienced wrestler, Ole Anderson. Though they have a few striking resemblance, and they wrestled as brothers, they really are not related. Ole liked what he saw in Arm, and he was in need a new tag team partner, since his partner, Gene Anderson (who was really not his brother either), was retiring.
The newly formed team became known as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, which was the name of the tag team of Ole and Gene. They work extremely well together. So well in fact, that it took them no time to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles. The team was becoming a dominate force, but they were starting to develop some new enemies. The Road Warriors and the Rock and Rock Express. But the tag team was not the only enemies they made, because they started to make enemies of Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA, 2 of the biggest single competitors in the company at the time. Lucky for them, they got some help from 2 other guys who had similar enemies, Ric Flair and Tally Blanchard.

These 4 started to work together a lot. They also did a lot their interviews together. They would run in on each other’s matches to help the other hold on to their titles, or to beat down the good guys. One day as the 4 of them were doing an interview, all 4 men draped in championship gold, Arm said a statement that pretty much gave them their name. He said (and I am paraphrasing) Not since the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse have so few men, done so much damage. From that day forward the 4 men were known as the 4 Horsemen.

The original Horsemen would go on to have some of the more epic battles with those wrestlers I mentioned earlier. Ole and Arm were front and center in the tag team division. Arm also was trying to make a name for himself in the singles division, in the beginning of 1986; he won the World TV championship. So the 4 horsemen were riding high, until Ole and Arm lost to the Rock and Roll Express, at Starrcade 86’. After that Pay Per View, the Horsemen decided that Ole was the weak link in their chain, and decided to replace him with Lex Luger.

After losing his TV title, and tag team partner, Arm and Tally Blanchard decide to form a tag team to bring the belts back to the Horsemen. They did that, defeating the Rock and Roll Express in 1987. Though the Horsemen dominated the NWA (and the world of pro wrestling for that matter), Arm and Tally both felt they were under paid. So they both decided to move to New York (what everyone in the business referred to the WWE at that time). Their last match as NWA champs was against that Midnight Express in September of 88.

Arm and Tully went to the WWE and became known as the Brain Busters. In WWE they were a very formidable tag team. Remember back in those days, the WWE had plenty of tag teams that could give them a good fight, and vise verse. The Rockers, The Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, Demolition, just to name a few. And the Brain Busters were a team to be reckoned with. They climbed up the WWE tag team ladder, and even won the titles from Demolition. They held those belts for 3 months, before they dropped back to Demolition. They both decided they wanted to go back to Jim Crockett Promotions (which was now WCW), but Tully failed a drug test, and never got a chance to come back to the big time as a pro wrestler.

Anderson came back and set his sights on the WCW TV title. He won it in January of 1990, and held it till January of 1991. He lost the belt to the “Z-Man” Tom Zenk, and won it back a week later. Then he lost the belt again to a former tag team champ, and his future tag partner, “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton.

After losing the TV title, he would go back to tag team wrestling. From 1991-1997 Anderson held the tag titles with 3 different partners and also became a member of another successful faction, the Dangerous Alliance. Anderson may have gotten his shot at the WCW title (I mean David Arquette won that title), but Anderson’s body broke down on him in 1997.

Anderson stayed on WCW television all the way until before the company went out of business. He was on one of the biggest rating nights that WCW had ever had, the night the 4 Horsemen were reformed, with a whole new cast, except for Ric Flair, of course. When WCW was purchased by WWE, Anderson became a road agent for WWE, and he still does that now, as well as mentoring some of the up and coming talent now.

I think Arm Anderson is one of the more underappreciated guys to ever lace up boots. As a multi-time champion, holding every belt in WCW except for the US and World titles, I think he is one of those guys who should have, and maybe even would have, been given the title and a chance to carry the company. Maybe back in those days they did not understand that these former tag team guys, who were not very big, were still great workers, could tell a story, and could keep the prestige of the world title. Despite him never winning a world title, I think deserves to be a Hall of Famer, all by himself.


AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LLLLIIIIIINNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!