Body Slam Brigade # 62 – What Wrestling News Do You Trust?

July 9, 2021

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Since I’m away on vacation this week, I thought I would dig into the list of topics that people have sent in!

In this issue, numbers one and two are short articles pertaining to questions and requests from readers. Number 3 is a news item.

Number 4 and 5 are some tips for analyzing pro wrestling news and some info on where I look for news.

On to today’s topics. 

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1. The Four Horseman – Historical Topic
Reader Tim Enedy asked for an article centered around the formation of the Four Horsemen and why the original group was not inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The original Horseman stable of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson, and JJ Dillon (as manager) formed in November of 1985 and remained together until March of 1987.

The stable’s formation came about organically. WCW had an open time slot, so they decided to send out all the champions (Flair, Blanchard, Arn, and Ole) as a group to talk.

During that interview Arn Anderson said: “The only time this much havoc had been wreaked by this few a number of people, you need to go all the way back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

The signature hand gesture of holding up four fingers is also attributed to Arn Anderson.

The name and gesture clicked with the fans, and they were off to the races.

In 2012, WWE decided to induct the group into their Hall of Fame, but they chose the third iteration of the group which included Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, and JJ Dillon.

This version of the group existed from April of 1988 to September of 1988. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer wrote in 2012 that “As far as working went, they [this version of the horseman] were the best version, four of the top wrestlers in the world in that period,” but he also wrote that “the first version was by far the most successful.”

So the question of why WWE chose to induct Barry Windham instead of Ole Anderson or Lex Luger (from the second iteration) most likely has to do with a couple of factors.

Ole Anderson and WWE have been on poor terms dating back to Ole’s business partners going behind Ole’s back and selling Georgia Championship Wrestling to WWE. McMahon would have a controlling interest, and he shut the company down.

Bitter things were said between Anderson and the McMahons at the time. If WWE wanted to offer Ole the Hall of Fame spot, most people believe that Ole would have rejected the distinction.

Mike Mooneyham asked Ole Anderson about the situation in 2012, and Anderson said, “Vince McMahon hates my guts, and I don’t like him. So that’s all there is to it . . . Vince McMahon is never going to call me. I hate his guts just like he hates mine. It’s no big deal.”

The reasons for not including Lex Luger likely pertains to bitterness on the WWE side regarding either the surprise appearance of Luger on the debut episode of Nitro, Luger’s real life involvement in the downfall of Miss Elizabeth, or both.

That left Barry Windham to stand on stage with the Horseman.

One final point of interest regarding the induction of the Four Horseman is that Ric Flair was a TNA contracted wrestler at the time.

TNA and WWE reached an agreement that included WWE sending a WWE contracted talent to do a talking head segment on a DVD release.

TNA probably could have negotiated for more considering the fact that WWE announced, advertised, and sold Hall of Fame tickets prior to even speaking to TNA.

In any event, the Horseman are recognized as WWE Hall of Famers – and you now know the story. 

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2. Karl Anderson Returns to New Japan
Reader Ronnie Nidiffer asked for an article on Karl Anderson.

Most everyone knows Karl Anderson from his WWE and Impact runs with his tag team partner Doc Gallows. While Karl is certainly considered one of the top tag team wrestlers working today, his most important contribution to pro wrestling occurred back in 2013.

In May of ’13, Anderson along with Prince Devitt (Finn Balor), Tama Tonga, and Bad Luck Fale formed one of the most well-known factions of all time: The Bullet Club.

The Bullet Club is in part responsible for launching New Japan Pro Wrestling to reach a global audience, and the Bullet Club logo is one of the most parodied symbols in all of wrestling (even I have a parody shirt for sale).

Prior to the formation of the Bullet Club, Anderson had a strong singles run in 2012 that included him wrestling his way into the 2012 G1 Climax finals by defeating the then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in his block final.

Anderson lost to Kazuchika Okada in the overall finals of that G1 Climax tournament.

Karl would also compete in a tournament to crown the first ever NEVER Openweight Champion, but he again lost in the finals of that tournament to Masato Tanaka.

Anderson (alongside Doc Gallows) will make his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling this August for the Tag Team Turbulence tournament and the Resurgence PPV.

Here’s a video interview that Anderson and Gallows did for New Japan hyping their return.

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3. Terry Funk
Earlier this week, PW Insider confirmed statements from Don Muraco pertaining to the current health status of Terry Funk.

Mike Johnson wrote, “Terry has been dealing with issues for some time that have gotten progressively worse over the last year in the wake of the passing of his wife Vickie.”

Best wishes to Terry Funk and his family.

In last week’s issue, I referred to this Twitter thread covering some of my favorite Great American Bash memories. The second item on that list happens to be my favorite Terry Funk memory.

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4. Three Tips for Reading Wrestling News
I spend a lot of time writing about and aggregating wrestling news items from around the internet. For my own credibility, it’s important to analyze each news item to determine whether I’m reading facts, analysis, speculation, opinions, rumors, or straight bologna. Here are three tips you can use to analyze the value of wrestling news.

1. If you see something on social media, check to see if the caption says “as reported by” or “we can confirm” or something along those lines. If you do see “as reported by,” go read the original news story.
2. Words matter A LOT. I know that is basic, but journalists break news items and they often also finish their news story with “this may indicate” or “x company often does this before” or “I take this to mean.” As consumers of wrestling media, we need to remember that the analysis is expert opinion, but not really news.
3. I look for double confirmation when possible. Sometimes a news outlet that I trust still puts out something that seems sensational. In those cases, I like to check other news outlets to see in they have also picked up the story. If two of my trusted wrestling news outlets report the same thing, it’s often true.

Those are just a few of the techniques that I use to sort through all the BS in wrestling news. None of it is rocket science, but pro wrestling is often over the top and sensational by its very nature. I hope these guideposts help.

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5. The Wrestling News Outlets I Use Most
The number of places you can find wrestling news on-line is ENDLESS. These are the ones I use most often.

• PW Insider – Very fact based reporting.
• Fightful – They break a lot of news.
• Wrestling Observer – A lot of people are triggered by this one, but Mr. Meltzer has compiled a fairly complete history of wrestling in the Wrestling Observer newsletter. You do have to pay attention to words, so YOU know the difference between when he’s reporting news and providing analysis.
• PW Torch – The Torch doesn’t seem to break a ton of news, but Wade Keller’s PW Torch provides a great historical account of the wrestling business.

I’m always on the look out for new sources. If you have a different website that you use (and rely on for factual reporting), shoot me an email, and I will give them a try. You can reach me at [email protected].

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Thanks for reading this week’s issue. I hope you found it helpful and insightful.

Everyone gets a topic request, so feel free to submit one to me via email at [email protected]. I have been getting some good ones!

Also – if you need or want clarification on a rumor or news story that you’ve heard, feel free to contact me at the same email or on twitter.

If you have a question, everyone else probably does too, so I’ll respond to you and talk about it on the Daily Wrestling News Show.

Have A Great Weekend!

Ryan

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