Favorite Incarnation of the 4 Horsemen?

[Italian9979]

So since this is the Old School Wrestling thread I thought I would ask a question of my other posters...

What would be your favorite incarnation of the one of the greatest stables in all of wrestling...The Four Horsemen?

 

[matt_hud]

I am a fan of most incarnations of the horseman... I will say I didnt much care for Sting, Luger, or Vicious, being Horseman... They already had their spot and there was no realistic reason behind it... Those guys were doing main events... The Horseman have always been about Flair doing the main events and the others providing back up or support depending on if they were face or heel at the time... I guess the argument could be made for Sting since he was new to the company during his Horseman days, but his look just wasnt right... He had a look unique to himself, when standing with the Horseman he was that sore thumb... All the other Horseman blended in together, even Flair seemed to blend in which made them look more like a united force...

I loved the original Horseman, however I am in the minority here when I say my favorite Horseman team was

Flair, Anderson, Beniot, and McMicheal...

I know Mongo gets so much shit because he "didnt" deserve the honor of being a Horseman... But I disagree and fell he was a perfect Horseman...

The Horseman have always had the defined leader in Flair, the Enforcer in Anderson, and then various guys who could step up and fill in the role of being a solid team member who knew what was best for the group was to stay back, take direction do as told and kick a little ass...

To me Mongo and Beniot did that perfectly... They let Flair & Anderson run the group and make he decisions while they stayed back and provided muscle and support...

They knew what their jobs were and they worked them perfectly...

 

[trinerigelado]

First of all Luger and Windham were never paert of the Horsemen togegether. Secondly how can I vote for my favorite incarnation when you don't have the Windham, Flair, Arn, and Tully incarnation? But then again you are missng a few incarnations. Why have the pole when you don't have all the lineups? And Matt_Hud the three guys in the Horsemen not named Flair had two roles make sure Flair is the champ and win any other title you can.

But the Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Windham lineup was near perfection, Flair being Flair, Great tag team in Blanchard and Anderson, and a guy in Windham who worked perfectly in a stable as a guy going after secondary titles.

 

[steinerscrewdriver]

Flair, the Andersons, and Tully are the best IMO but the question is my favorite so I am going a little off the wall and going Flair, Arn, Benoit and Malekno. 3 of my 4 all time favorites in the ring together as horsemen (Arn, Ric and Dean always prefered in to Benoit) was one of the best factions ever. Flair, top 2 or 3 in the sport all time, Arn the perfect enforcer, Malenko and Benoit could be the best two technical wrestlers in the world at the time equals my favorite by far.

 

[matt_hud]

trinerigelado pardon me for saying exactly what you just said but not saying it exctly as you said... Second of all Itallian is correct Windham & Luger both were briefly Horseman at same time.. That is what lead to Luger being removed and Windham added... Do some research my friend

 

[TheLoneLegend]

trinerigelado pardon me for saying exactly what you just said but not saying it exctly as you said... Second of all Itallian is correct Windham & Luger both were briefly Horseman at same time.. That is what lead to Luger being removed and Windham added... Do some research my friend

Luger was kicked out for first blaming Horseman manager J.J. Dillon for costing him the U.S. Title, when his attempt to help him win by cheating backfired, and subsequently, not allowing Dillon to win a Bunkhouse Stampede match as the Horsemen had agreed to among themselves. In January 1988, he teamed with Barry Windham to feud with the Horsemen. The pair even defeated Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at the inaugural Clash of the Champions. In April 1988, Windham turned on Luger and took his spot in the Horsemen during a title defense against Anderson and Tully Blanchard.

Research Done. As you can see they were NEVER Horsemen at the same time. Need more clarification.....

Lex Luger (1987)
Barry Windham (1988–1989; 1990–1991)

The years both men were members of the Four Horsemen. As you can see once again, they were never Horsemen at the sametime.


NOW! As for my opinion as for what was the best combination of 4 Horsemen. It's the obvious and the only real answer. The Orginal Four Horsemen were by far the rest. Future members would come close to matching their predecessors role in the Horsemen, but no one did it as well as the Original.

 

[LynchCats]

I was a little too young to watch the Original Horsemen (Flair, Blanchard and the Andersons), but the ones I will ALWAYS remember and will ALWAYS have the most respect and admiration for is Flair, Arn, Tully, and Windham. They always had that "cool" factor about them, whether they were heels or whether they were faces. As a 12 year old kid watching the NWA for the first time, my memories are full of Sting and Luger, and the Four Horsemen.

 

[VABurghman]

Having seen all incarnations of the Horsemen I would have to no doubt vote for the original. Much like the Road Warriors comments when Demolition arrived "Often imitated, never duplicated". The original Four Horsemen stand above all other incarnations. There was something about the chemistry of Flair, Blanchard, and the Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Ole and Arn) with JJ Dillon that no other incarnation could even come close to. Those four guys were believable. When they made their presence it was felt. As they tried to adjust the group in later years it was more like a gimmick.

 

[GameOver]

I liked 2 - The Andersons, Flair, Blanchard and Malenko/Benoit/Anderson/Flair

Both for different reasons

the orignal was an overall great team, Great Workers/Great promo guys and believable as a dominating force and kicked ass in ring and on the promo's

Benoit/Malenko/Anderson are great technicians aswell but at the time of that incarnation WCW was losing it's way

I'd go with the original 4 Horsemen.

 

[VABurghman]

I liked 2 - The Andersons, Flair, Blanchard and Malenko/Benoit/Anderson/Flair

Both for different reasons

the orignal was an overall great team, Great Workers/Great promo guys and believable as a dominating force and kicked ass in ring and on the promo's

Benoit/Malenko/Anderson are great technicians aswell but at the time of that incarnation WCW was losing it's way

I'd go with the original 4 Horsemen.

Yeah, if I were to pick a second favorite I agree on the Benoit - Malenko incarnation. Those guys were as close to Ole and Arn as you could get and made sense in fitting in with the group.

Sting was way too flashy for the group. Luger too much of a poser. Never understood Windham as he was more like Dusty Rhodes and should have fit an anti-Horsemen persona. Sid Vicious should have never been made to be part of a group. Psycho Sid made extremely no sense in fitting in. Roma, Pillman, and McMichael just never asthetically worked for me with the group. Finally, Curt Hennig did make sense with the group but by then Wrestling was moving on from being Wrestling and just being entertainment.

 

[Italian9979]

There were a few incarnations that got left off due to the poll not being 12 choices long lol....tried to stick with the longest runs...

there were others but the tended not to last too long...

among some of the few were...when Curt Hennig joined for less then a few months...

The Mongo versions cuz they didn't stay consistent too long...with a couple of member changes in a short period of time...

The Paul Roma version...

and a few others including a point when there was only 3 Horsemen for a while so I apologize if there was a version that got left off the list...it wasn't a sign of disrespect it was simply based on longevity...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I thought the original Four Horsemen line up was a perfect mix of established stars and young up and comers. Evolution reminded me a lot of this line up in similar terms.

Ric Flair at the time was a multiple time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, was the biggest star in any NWA affiliated promotion & had been for years and was achieved tremendous success within Crockett Promotions during the 70s prior to becoming NWA WHC.

Ole Anderson was a 20 year veteran and tag team specialist at this time. He'd had a legendary career as a tag team wrestler, particularly in the Georgia & Mid-Atlantic areas.

Tully Blanchard didn't have established roots in the Carolinas as Flair & Anderson did but he was young and he definitely had the talent. He'd grown up around wrestling as the son of Joe Blanchard, cut his teeth working in various promotions in Texas including the one owned by his father before eventually heading east. He'd been a very solid mid-card wrestler for close to 2 years in the company before the Horsemen officially became a group.

Arn Anderson had an advantage of resembling Ole Anderson and had that same Anderson style inside the ring. Anderson was only in his mid 20s at the time and got an astounding rub from teaming with Ole Anderson and they were a successful team. Arn had the talent in the ring and he certainly had the talent on the microphone.

If there was any weakness that this particular incarnation of the Horsemen had, some might say it was that they didn't really have a power guy. But there was so much talent there within the group that they didn't really need it. My only complaint is that being part of the Horsemen ultimately wound up pegging Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard as mid-carders for life in the company. I think both of them were main event caliber talents and, Blanchard especially, would have made a great heel World Champion.

Still, even though they were relegated to mid-card status in general, Arn & Tully still made more of a lasting impression than a lot of main eventers.

 

[The Crock]

The original four were by far my favorite. Ric, Ole, Arn, and Tully. They were, to me, the most "brutal" incarnation. They injured Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Ricky Morton, while the whole time having huge success and carrying belts left and right and just being THE BEST. On top of that, not only did they use the gimmick in the ring, they believed it outside of the ring. The women, the jets, the limos, they were on top of the world. This shaped their careers, this left a lasting impact on all four men. It gave Tully and Arn a platform to work from, while giving Rick and Old a dominant spot. Perfect.

 

[wrestling89]

Wow, people actually thinking that Lex and Barry were Horsemen at the same time. Very sad. Where do you guys get this information from?

The most solid group was the Flair, Barry, Tully, Arn group. They held all the titles. Had all the top feuds. All were in their primes (Ole I feel was too old by the time he became a Horsemen.) They were pretty unstoppable because they all worked together. Since Luger was a hot head and wanted to do thing his own way, it didn't work. The Barry 88 version was like a well oiled machine.

The most entertaining group was the Flair, Arn, Pillman, and Benoit group. On paper this was the best group, because Flair and Arn were the brains and experience. Benoit and Pillman were the hungry young guns who could mix it up with anybody.

But the whole loose cannon - Arn - Kevin Sullivan - Dungeon of Doom angle was one damn entertaining feud.

The worse Horsemen? Obviously the Roma, Arn, Flair, Ole group. And if you want to count it, the Kendall Windham, Barry Windham, and Ric Flair Yamazaki Corporation version was a joke. But I guess you can't really call that one a Horsemen group.

 

[Dagger Dias]

My favorite incarnation of the 4 Horsement was Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard! They had the World Champion, a tag team, and an enforcer. Every single version of the 4 Horsemen had their share of cool moments, but the original horsemen were the best because they had lineup that nearly every single stable after them was modeled after. You can't argue with a legendary history making group like that.

 

[MrGrizz]

The original version to me was the best. Seeing these guys come out and kick everyone's behind for no reason was great.

The only other version i liked was the one with Pillman & Benoit