Arn Anderson On Working For WWE & NWA In The 80’s, Four Horsemen, War Games

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson was the latest guest on the The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. On this episode, Double A relives some of the Four Horseman’s most classic feuds and matches in a staple area for the Crockett territory as well as shares what the modern day wrestling convention means to the “old timers.” He also dives deep into the formation of the Horseman, the promos they cut and what made them become such a dominant group in the business. Here are some highlights the show sent in:

Working for both the NWA and WWE in the 1980’s:

“In those days if you lived up North and you didn’t have TBS you were WWF fans at the time (obviously now WWE) and they didn’t get a lot of stuff unless it was syndicated Crockett stuff. There were definitely two distinct audiences. People still come up to me now and know me in The Brain Busters. It is not so much the Horseman (of course they know about it) but they were Brain Buster fans or they hated The Brain Buster’s guts. The cross pollination of all of that with the brands being consolidated and it is always somebody that has a different story but I think everybody understands that Crockett was something pretty special and a lot of major talent came from that company and that era and I will be forever grateful because that is where I cut my chops and figured out what to do in this business and how to grow, excel and add to the business itself and contribute.”

His favorite incarnation of the Four Horsemen:

“The first will always be special just because it was the first. It was unique. I would say that I agree with the fans that say the Barry Windham incarnation was probably the most functional and most fun to watch and most exciting and best group bell to bell. You can probably name any other grouping and it is open to conjecture but certainly the first one and the Barry Windham version would be the top 2.”



Getting a chance to wrestle fellow Horseman and best friend Ric Flair during a brief program in 1995:

“A lot of people go to talk about the Ric Flair and myself match in Asheville, North Carolina on a pay per view. I don’t think that match was one of my favorites and I didn’t particularly enjoy it. It is kind of hard to pound a knot in your best friend even if he is acting up and showing his ass and doing a lot of things that are disrespectful to you. I guess we had to have that match and get it out of our system.”

The lasting legacy of War Games:

“It was a full days work that is for sure. A lot of nights I thought that this was a hard way to make a living. When you are trapped in that cage with Dusty, Nikita, The Road Warriors, Luger and whoever else it was like a Barry Windham or Ricky Steamboat it is a hard 35-40 minutes. But it also played perfectly into what we were and we always said and we made no bones about it, if you jump on one of us you will jump on five of us. We were in our element and I can’t remember a War Games where we got dominated. I don’t if we won (if we won any) but the fact is if you ask anybody today who won War Games in a particular town that they were in that night now I am not sure if they can tell you but they would say; “My God what a blood bath and what a war”. That is what sold tickets and to be able to pull off 22 out of 36 days one summer where we went on tour in the stadiums and all of us almost bled to death that summer. It was something special and has also stood the test of time and that is one of those instances where adversity introduces you to yourself and in one of those War Games matches is probably where that quote came from.”