The Four Horsemen in the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame
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| The Horsemen of 1988: Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and their manager JJ Dillon. |
Diamonds are forever and so are the Four Horsemen. Now they will be a part of wrestling forever as the Horsemen will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. The Horsemen began in 1987. They ran hard with different variations until 1999. Some of the different members along the way included the likes of Lex Luger, Sid Vicious, Sting, Chris Benoit, Paul Roma, Brian Pillman, Ole Anderson, Steve McMichael and Dean Malenko. Although all of these men were Horsemen many have said the 1988 version of the Horsemen were the best. I, for one, happen to agree.
The Four Horsemen of 1988 held all the titles in NWA/WCW and were selling out arenas all over the country. They feuded with the likes of Magnum T.A., Lex Luger, Sting, Dusty Rhodes and the Road Warriors. Every member brought a different level of importance to the group. Many say it was all about Ric Flair, but I don’t think Flair would have been as successful if he wouldn’t have had the Horsemen behind him. The members of the 1988 Horsemen had over 20 title reigns when they were together.
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| Evolution was the modern day Four Horsemen |
They were the most vilified group at the time but now have become the most respected and loved for what they brought to the business. If it weren’t for the Horsemen, there would be no DX, nWo, or Evolution. The Four Horsemen were so influential that WWE had its own version in the form of Evolution which consisted of Ric Flair, Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista. Both the Horsemen and Evolution were about money, women, parties, power and prestige. Both groups held all the major titles their respective companies possessed. The other thing they each had was star power. Each stable had members that brought different elements to the group. Many think Evolution was about Triple H but in the end it was about Randy Orton and Batista becoming bigger stars. That’s what the Horsemen was about; it helped Blanchard, Anderson and Windham become bigger stars.
I personally think that this is long overdue and was happy to see the Horsemen reunite in 2008 for Ric Flair’s WWE farewell. I knew then that those men who stood side by side with the Nature Boy should be in that same Hall of Fame. Individually, all four men were great, but collectively, the Four Horsemen were untouchable.
I am proud, honored, and privlaged to be able to write about the greatest wrestling stable of all time. Congratulations to The Four Horsemen on being in the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame. Diamonds are indeed forever and so are the Four Horsemen. “Whether you like it, or you don’t like it, learn to love it! It’s the best thing going today!”
