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Ole Anderson

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Ole Anderson
Birth nameAlan Robert Rogowski
Born (1942-09-22) September 22, 1942 (age 82)[1]
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ole Anderson[1]
Rock Rogowski[1]
Billed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Billed weight256 lb (116 kg)[1]
Trained byVerne Gagne[1]
Gene Anderson[1]
Debut1967[1]
Retired1990

Alan Robert Rogowski (born September 22, 1942), better known by his ring name of Ole Anderson, is an American retired professional wrestler, referee and promoter.[1] Part of the Anderson family, Anderson was a founding member of the influential stable The Four Horsemen.

Professional wrestling career

American Wrestling Association

Anderson started wrestling in 1967 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as Rock Rogowski, where he held the AWA Midwest Heavyweight and the AWA Midwest Tag Team Titles.

National Wrestling Alliance

He went on to work for National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned promotions such as Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP, out of Charlotte, North Carolina) and Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), where he adopted the ring name Ole Anderson, and became a member of the legendary tag team called the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his "brother" Gene Anderson after Lars Anderson left the team in the late 1960s.[2] From the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, The Minnesota Wrecking Crew became synonymous with tag team wrestling in the Georgia and Mid-Atlantic territories by capturing the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship and the Mid-Atlantic territorial version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship 7 times each.[2] The Andersons feuded with such stars as Mr. Wrestling and Mr. Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Tommy Rich, Johnny Weaver, Dino Bravo, Paul Jones, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Rufus R. Jones, The Mongols, and Thunderbolt Patterson throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.[2] Behind the scenes, Anderson was also the primary booker for GCW and also had a stint booking JCP in 1981-82. For a time he even booked both companies simultaneously, often combining both rosters for supercards which were noted for offering some of the best action in the business at that time. He later left JCP to book and wrestle for GCW full-time. When Jack and Jerry Brisco sold their majority interest in the GCW promotion to Vince McMahon, Anderson resisted the change, and joined forces with longtime NWA-sanctioned promoters Fred Ward and Ralph Freed to start a new company called Championship Wrestling from Georgia.[2]

Teaming with Arn Anderson

In April 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions and Championship Wrestling from Georgia essentially merged. Anderson was teaming with Thunderbolt Patterson in GCW just as Marty Lunde was debuting in JCP as Arn Anderson. It seemed like a natural fit to put the two "Andersons" together, especially considering their extremely similar facial appearance. Anderson soon turned on Thunderbolt and teamed with Arn as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.[3]

The Four Horsemen

In 1986, Anderson became part of the original Four Horsemen, a heel stable, with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and manager James J. Dillon.[3] During his time in the Horsemen, Anderson feuded with Magnum T.A., Dusty Rhodes, The Rock 'N Roll Express and The Road Warriors. Anderson was later kicked out of the group in favor of Lex Luger in early 1987.[3] Anderson retired in 1987, when his son, Brian, was starting his own amateur wrestling career. Brian later joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) wrestling under the ring name of Bryant Anderson. Anderson reappeared in 1988 when he rescued Lex Luger from a beating by their former Horsemen brethren.

World Championship Wrestling

Anderson returned to wrestling with WCW in 1989 to reform the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn and Sting.[4] They quickly kicked Sting out of the group, and Anderson retired again to manage the Horsemen, who by then also included Barry Windham and Sid Vicious.[4] By 1990, Anderson had been chosen to head the booking committee for WCW, which was at that time beginning to phase out the use of the NWA name on its television programming. Appearing in the credits for WCW pay-per-views (PPVs) under his real name, Anderson was responsible for some of the more infamous creative ideas tried by WCW. Among his creations were The Black Scorpion, which was intended to be a nemesis from Sting's past.[5] After several miscues, the Scorpion's identity was eventually revealed as Ric Flair, in a ploy to confuse Sting and force him to lose the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[5] Around 1991, Anderson became a referee. After Bill Watts was ousted, Anderson took control of WCW.

Dismissal

When Eric Bischoff took over control of WCW in 1993, both Anderson and his son became a casualty of his "house cleaning" when Bischoff fired Bryant while he was training at the WCW Power Plant.[5] This prompted Anderson to call Smoky Mountain Wrestling head Jim Cornette to try to get his son a job. Anderson's decision to deal with Cornette, someone Bischoff was on bad terms with, on WCW property, was the factor that led to his firing. Bischoff fired Anderson over the phone, even though he spoke to Anderson face-to-face the day before. The chain of events was covered in a "shoot" interview by Cornette. In his book, Controversy Creates Ca$h, Bischoff noted that Blackjack Mulligan once overheard Anderson trash-talking Bischoff to other WCW staff. Mulligan, who was loyal to Bischoff for giving him a job when he needed the money, promptly thumped Anderson.

Retirement

Since that time, he has stayed away from the business, but wrote a book on it titled Inside Out.[6] He has also hinted at having heat with former partner and friend Ric Flair by criticizing that Flair has wrestled the same match for years. In his WWE Bio Ric Flair stated that after he left the WWE via a loser leaves town match with Mr. Perfect, that Ole who was running WCW asked him what good he was to WCW after he lost to Mr. Perfect on national TV. Flair took this as a personal attack and lead to him ending their friendship.[7] In July 2007, Gerweck.net reported that Anderson has been suffering from multiple sclerosis and had gotten worse with decreased mobility and memory loss. Anderson has also been vocal about his personal issues with Vince McMahon, Michael Hayes, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, Tully Blanchard, Bruiser Brody and Lex Luger.

On February 27, 2011, it was announced that Ole Anderson had been nursing broken ribs due to a fall he suffered from earlier that day, as well as a broken arm.[8]

Bibliography

  • Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling (2003)

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ole Anderson profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-11-16.
  2. ^ a b c d Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "Top 20: #6 The Minnesota Wrecking Crew". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 42–46. ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6.
  3. ^ a b c Cawthon, Graham (2013). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 3:Jim Crockett and the NWA World Title 1983-1989. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 149480347X.
  4. ^ a b Cawthon, Graham (2014). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 4: World Championship Wrestling 1989-1994. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1499656343.
  5. ^ a b c Wrestlecrap – the very worst of pro wrestling. ECW Press. 2003. ISBN 1-55022-584-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Ole lets loose in new book - SLAM! Sports
  7. ^ Wrestling Observer
  8. ^ "Ole Anderson Suffers Nasty Injury".
  9. ^ "Finishing Moves List". Other Arena. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  10. ^ AWA Midwest Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  11. ^ AWA Midwest Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  12. ^ NWA Florida Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  13. ^ NWA Florida Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  14. ^ NWA Columbus Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  15. ^ NWA Georgia Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  16. ^ NWA Georgia Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  17. ^ NWA Macon Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  18. ^ NWA Macon Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  19. ^ NWA National Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  20. ^ NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title (Georgia) history At wrestling-titles.com
  21. ^ NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  22. ^ NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  23. ^ NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  24. ^ NWA World Tag Team Title (Mid-Atlantic/WCW) history At wrestling-titles.com
  25. ^ WCW Hall of Fame history At wrestling-titles.com
  26. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2010-09-15.
  27. ^ NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com

See also

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