Today in Wrestling History

Today is the 10th anniversary of Chris Benoit’s second championship reign.

TWFR Episode 3 WWE NetWork

Do you have the WWE Network? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it?

The Four Horsemen ride into the WWE Hall of Fame (Part Two)

Symbolically!

They are going to become members of the Hall of Fame symbolically this is the term I am using for certain members of the Four Horsemen,  Paul Roma will never be inducted as a singles competitor, and Chris Benoit career is no longer part of the history of the WWE. So this is the closet they we ever get to HOF.

Sting (1989–1990)

Sting joined the group when Arn Anderson made his returned from the WWF. He was picked for an angle, during this time Sting was the hottest babyface and he was going to face the World Champion, Ric Flair. So the group picked him as their fourth member in order to keep him away from the title. The fact that he was a member of the Horsemen didn’t stop him from wanting to become the World Champion,

The Four Horsemen ride into the WWE Hall of Fame

The Four Horsemen

The Original Five

The Four Horsemen are being inducted into the WWE Hall of fame and I am super excited about this. I have posted an article before on this faction, and they are my ultra favorite stable. They were the innovators of the heel stables, they captured all the gold in the NWA/WCW and they were the main attraction in many of the old territories. The fact that they are being inducted as a group benefits many of the members because most of them would not make it on their own merit. I am not diminishing their own accomplishments, but most of them were mid-card wrestlers whom the WWE will never acknowledge as great wrestling superstars. So symbolically they will all become Hall of Famers after The Four Horsemen get inducted on April 2012. The group had many different members. Some of them were superstars in the raising, like Sting, and Lex Luger.  Guys like Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Chris Benoit, and Brain Pillman were wrestlers that were never given the opportunity to shine on their own in WCW. WCW and the creative team or Eric himself played a huge joke on the fans, with some of the members they chose for the group, such as Steve “Mongo” McMichael and Paul Roma. I am going to run down a list of all of the members of the Four Horsemen and their own accomplishments. I am going to start with the original five and two other members:

Ric Flair (1986–1991, 1993–1999)

Ric Flair

What can I really say about Ric Flair? He has carved out a legacy in pro wrestling that will never be forgotten by any wrestling fans.  He is the 16 time World Champion, and he is the leader of the Four Horsemen. Flair has held over 20 different titles (in the NWA, WCW, and WWF/WWE).  This is why he was inducted into WWE Hall of fame back in April 2008. Now Flair has the honor to join his fellow Horsemen as they all will be inducted into the Hall of Fame of 2012, he is setting another record for being the only man to be inducted twice. All challengers knew that if they were going to take the title away from Flair; they would have to take on all the members of the Horsemen. The group structure was always the same, Flair was the World Champion and the Horsemen were there to keep the title on him. He has been a member to many copycat groups like “Fortune” and “Evolution”, but he will always be remembered as the heart and soul of the Four Horsemen.

Arn Anderson (1986–1988, 1990–1999)

Arn Anderson

‘The Enforce’ Arn Anderson was a tag team specialist. He also was the man that named the group. During the 80’s they didn’t have enough air time to promote three upcoming matches, so they paired up all four men to do an interview. During this interview Anderson states “Never in the history of Wrestling has so few, wreak so much havoc, you would have to go back in history, to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.  The Four Horsemen were born on that day and history was made. Anderson alongside other members of the Horsemen held the NWA/ WCW tag team titles on numerous occasions. He held the WCW Television Championship title four times, but he never held the world title. Anderson had many accolades during his career, but most of them will never put him in the Hall of fame as an individual wrestler. In my opinion he was always under the Nature Boy’s shadow. Anderson and Blanchard were the first horsemen to jump ship, they left WCW and joined the WWF and became known as the Brainbuster. While in the WWF they captured the Tag Team Championship titles. While Anderson was away the group was trying to stay afloat, they attempted to add Windham’s little brother Kendall Windham, but that didn’t work. The Horsemen never made him an official member this is why Kendall is not on this list.

Tully Blanchard (1986–1988)

Tully Blanchard

In my opinion Tully Blanchard was one of the best technical wrestlers of his time. He captured the NWA/WCW Television Championship title three times. He was the NWA/WCW United States Champion, NWA/WCW Tag Team Champion twice, the NWA National Heavyweight Champion, and a WWF Tag Team Champion (W. Arn Anderson). Blanchard won so many different championships that he should be recognized by the WWE and should be enter into the Hall of Fame on his own, but then again he didn’t shine as bright as other superstars did. After, the stint in the WWF, Arn and Tully were schedule to come back to the newly created WCW, but he failed a drug test and the company reneged on the deal. Tully wasn’t seen in wrestling after that incident. I can remember watching great matches between him and the ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes.

Ole Anderson (1986–1987; 1990; 1993)

Ole Anderson
&
Arn Anderson

Ole Anderson was one of the original four, he later left the group and Lex Luger took his place. Ole Anderson and his brother Gene Anderson were the Minnesota Wrecking Crew, and at that point in time they were synonymous with Tag Team wrestling. They both captured so many different titles that I would have to write on for about another 2 more pages. In that group he captured another tag team championship with Arn Anderson. He was a perfect fit for the Four Horsemen, in my opinion he gave some legitimacy to the young talented group. I also believe the WWE would never induct Ole on his own merit.

James J. Dillon (1986–1989)

James J. Dillon
&
Tully Blanchard

J.J. Dillon is a former wrestler who later became the manager to one of the best heels faction in the history of Pro-Wrestling. He was an accomplish wrestler in his own right. He was crowned “King” James Dillon while wrestling in the Florida territory and he was also the International Heavyweight Champion in the Nova Scotia territory. Dillon will always be remembered as the Manger of the Four Horsemen.

Lex Luger (1987)

Lex Luger

“The Total Package” Lex Luger was the man who took over Ole Anderson’s spot in The Four Horsemen. Luger was a young, upcoming wrestler that was being prep to become the Hulk Hogan of WCW. The only thing that stood in his way was the lack of charisma and the total absence of his mic skills. This factor didn’t stop WCW in making him a great superstar in wrestling. Luger has held the WCW Television Championship title twice and has held the WCW United States Championship on five different occasions. He is a former two times WCW World Heavyweight Champion and he got his first taste of fame while he was a member of the Four Horsemen. He also joined the WWF in 90’s but the only thing he won was the Royal Rumble, but so did Bret Hart that year. (There were two winners in 1994)

Barry Windham (1988–1989; 1990–1991)

Barry Windham

Barry Windham is the son of wrestling legend Blackjack Mulligan, so it comes to no one’s surprise that he was trained by his legendry father and the most feared man in wrestling at the time Harley Race. When Luger left the group he needed a partner to help him take on the Horsemen. Windham joined Luger on his quest and helped him defeat the Horsemen for the Tag Team Championship title. Two weeks later Windham turned on Luger and joined the Horsemen. By turning on his former partner, Windham allowed the Horsemen to regain the tag team gold. This was another young wrestler that used the fame he gather from being a part of such a successful group, to become a wrestling superstar. He captured many titles in the NWA/WCW such as the US title, TV title, and Tag Team titles. Windham also won the main prize the NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

To be continue…

Harrington Bayas

Monday Night Raw (August 29, 2011)

Monday night Raw started off with Triple H in the ring announcing that he is going to combine the two brands from now on. What does this mean to Raw & SmackDown, are we going to have one champion?

Picture of the Week

The Four Horsemen where the greatest stable of all time. All the members of the Horsemen have gone on to become superstars in their own right. This picture shows you the members during 1995, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit.

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ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling ) Part Two

The night Wrestling became Extreme.

Hello again wrestling fans. Ernesto Heleno wrote an article on missing the ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) style and I must agree that a different style of wrestling was exciting. I recall staying up until 2 am to watch the show, the one person that stood out to me was “The Franchise” Shane Douglas. He was the main reason why I watched the show. The Franchise gave great promos that made me want to attend live events. He was a great champion and he held the top two titles for single competitors in ECW. He formed a stable called the Triple Threat, with “No Gimmick Needed” Chris Candido, “The Beast from the East” Bam Bam Bigelow and Francine. As of matter of fact Shane, started the extreme movement, by crowning himself the new ECW World Heavyweight champion, on August 27, 1994. I remember that night like it was yesterday, he cut a perfect promo that made history, by denouncing the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight title. I respect all titles from all the wrestling organizations, but what he did that night made me a true fan of The Franchise. Here is the back story for what happen on that night. ECW was member of the National Wrestling Alliance, which means they were a wrestling territory for the NWA. ECW had a champion, but only recognized the NWA title as World Heavyweight Championship. On that night, Paul Heyman, Tod Gordon and Shane Douglas where the only people that knew he was going to denounce the NWA title and that ECW was going to separate themselves from NWA. This is a clip of the promo Shane gave that night.

*Note the first members of the Triple Threat were Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko.

Written by Harrington Bayas and The Wrestling Fans Review

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These are 15 fun facts about wrestling part three

1 Chris Benoit won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and next day he quit to join WWF.

2 Chris Benoit was the second champion to leave their wrestling organization to join another as champion.

3 Medusa was the first Champion to leave their wrestling organization to join another as Champion.

4 Medusa was the only Champion to ever through her WWF women’s title in the trash bin on a WCW TV show. (I don’t think she going to the Hall Fame)

5 Kurt Angle was Intercontinental Champion and Eurocontinental champion at the same time.

6 Booker T was the last WCW World Heavyweight Championship, before WWE bought WCW.

7 Booker T was the last WCW United States Champion, before WWE bought WCW.

8 Rhino was the last ECW champion (the company closed down 2001)

9 Chris Jericho and Chyna held the Intercontinental title, they were co-Champion.

10 Terry Funk was the oldest ECW champion at 53 years old

11 Three women held the Hardcore title Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, and Cynthia Lynch (Godfathers Ho)

12 Edge retires as World Champion on 4/11/2011.

13 Rob Van Dam was the only wrestler to hold both the ECW and WWE championship,

14 "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers was the first WWE (WWWF) Champion.

15 Mike Awesome appeared in WCW as the ECW Champion.

ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling)

I really miss the original ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling). The matches were always fast paced, mature, and emotional. They took professional wrestling to a whole new level. ECW, not only started the whole hardcore/attitude era, they also started the cruiserweight/luchador style. You have to understand that when ECW started, we were introduced to great legends and legends to-be. Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Chris Jericho, just to name a few. The feud with Tommy Dreamer and Raven, Raven and Sandman, ECW and "the Network" was so emotional and different from WWE and WCW at the time. Until this day, Rob Van Dam is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. His style was so creative and original, that I couldn't help but pay close attention to his matches. Being at a live ECW show was one of the best times I've ever had. It had its own cult-following. It was a group of misfits, all working together to keep the ECW organization alive. They held on as long as they could until the end, but ECW will never die. It still lives inside the hearts of all the true wrestling fans. Everyone knows whenever you see a chair, a ladder, a table being used in a match; you can't help but chant ECW! ECW! ECW!

These picture are from a live event in the 90's at the Elks Lodge in Queens, New York.

  

 

 

Written by, Ernesto Heleno Jr. and The Wrestling Fans Review.

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Tough Enough Trainer Booker T

Hello again wrestling fans, I am going to take this time to write a quick bio on one of the Tough Enough trainers Booker T. He is a highly skilled wrestler that has held numerous titles, in different Wrestling companies. Booker T has wrestled in WCW, WWE (at one point was named WWF) and TNA. The competitors of Tough Enough are in good hands with Booker T, he has held about thirty titles in his Pro-wrestling career, not many wrestlers have accomplished fiat.  He is also a Triple Crown Winner in WCW and the WWE. (A Triple Crown Winner is a Wrestler that wins the three major titles a specific Wrestling organization)

 Booker T started his Pro-Wrestling career in WCW in the Early 90’s with his brother Stevie Ray as part of Harlem Heat.  They faced many great tag teams, such as The Nasty Boys, Lex Luger & Sting , The Outsiders(Scott Hall & Kevin Nash), and  The Steiner Brothers, just to name a few. As member of Harlem Heat they won the WCW World Tag Team Titles, ten different times.

There after he became a single competitor and held the WCW World Television Title on six separate occasions. Booker T had a feud with The Crippler Chris Benoit, which led to one of the most exiting matches in WCW history, the matches were called Best of Seven Series. These matches culminated with a three way match for the title, in which Booker T was victories. Booker T also won the United States Heavyweight Championship belt by defeating Rick Steiner. He held the US title only once in his WCW career, but to his credit he was the last US Champion in WCW history.

Booker T became WCW World Heavyweight Champion at Bash at the Beach, by defeating Jeff Jarrett in an impromptu match. The original main event of the night was Hulk Hogan vs. Jeff Jarrett. The match needed to be changed because Hogan was fired live on the air by Vince Russo, after refusing to lose to Jeff Jarrett. Booker Held the WCW World Title on five separate occasions.  His fourth and final WCW World title was won on the darkest day in Pro-wrestling history, it was the last Monday Night Nitro on March 26, 2001. Booker T defeated Scott Steiner, and became the last WCW World Heavyweight Champion.  Booker reappeared on the WWE as the WCW champion as part of the Alliance. Booker T went back to his tag team roots and won the World Tag Team titles once with Goldust and once with Rob Van Dam. He won an eight man elimination match and became the WWE United States Champion. He held United States title three separate times. He also held the Intercontinental Championship once.

Booker T defeated Bobby Lashely and became King Booker, by winning the king of the Ring Tournament. King Booker formed "King Booker's Court", which included Queen Sharmell, William Regal, and Finlay. King Booker won the World Title by defeating Rey Mysterio at The Great American Bash, and proclaimed to be the King of The World. Booker T also was the first Champion of Champion, when he defeated the ECW Champion, The Big Show and the WWE Champion, John Cena at Cyber Sunday. He later left WWE and joined TNA. In TNA Booker T invented a title for himself, it was called TNA Legends Championship. He also joined the Main Event Mafia, where Scott Steiner and booker became the TNA Tag Team Champions, by defeating Beer Money Inc. Then he left TNA.

Harrington Bayas