The Four Horsemen were the elite wrestling entity in the ’80s and ’90s. Their legacy has spawned many years with various members, but today we take a close look at the founding four. In their own words, each original member reveals the story of their creation, demise, and madness experienced on the road together.
The Four Horsemen: In Their Own Words
J.J DILLON:
“When the Four Horsemen were formed, I actually was only managing Tully Blanchard at the time.
He was a Champion, Ric Flair was the World Champion, the Andersons were Tag Champions, and we were doing TV every week for World Championship Wrestling on the TBS Network. We had two hours [to shoot TV] every week, and there was a time slot there that wasn’t filled, so they said, ‘Why don’t you guys just all go out there?’
They said, ‘You got the bragging rights – talk about where you’re going to be this coming week.’
In the course of that interview, it was actually Arn Anderson that looked at the camera and said, ‘Never in the history of wrestling have so few wreaked so much havoc over everyone else – that you’d have to go back in history books to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’ And he held up 4 fingers.”
ARN ANDERSON:
“At that time, we had been dropping people left and right, and that passage in the Bible came up about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It was really by chance, but the interview just stuck. Tony Schiavone said afterward, ‘You’re on to something there. You just named you guys. You’re the Four Horsemen.’
From that day forward, we just were.”
RIC FLAIR:
"We were like The Beatles, Elvis, and The Rolling Stones all wrapped into one. Wrestling was on fire; it was just unbelievable.”
JJ DILLON:
“And the young kids in the audience just picked up on it, and every time one of us went out there, they started yelling out ‘Four Horsemen’ and holding the 4 fingers up. It became an interactive thing and just grew from that. So I ended up becoming the leader of the whole bunch, and it just grew and grew. I always like to say that the stars and the moons and the planets were all in perfect alignment, and it was just one of those magical moments that just happened.”
TULLY BLANCHARD:
“You know you have something special when you have the whole second row at the Greensboro Coliseum with a fraternity dressed up in coats, ties, and sunglasses, and holding up flashcards that say ‘Four Horsemen.’
The thing that a lot of people talk about is when we attacked Dusty in the parking lot.
That was a great angle, and once we were over and we had all the championships, you could actually schedule guys against us without an angle, and it made money. Especially if it was with someone that the people liked, like Robert and Ricky [the Rock n Roll Express] or The Road Warriors. We never did a big angle with The Road Warriors; we just scheduled them for the belts. And when the belts mean something, the matches mean something, and those things are very profitable.”