RIP Ole Anderson
Hey Wrestle Talk Fans! This week, the wrestling world lost a true old school legend of this sport. He was one of the founding members of the legendary Four Horsemen and his name was Ole Anderson.
Ole, born Alan Robert Rogowski, passed away on February 26, 2024 at the age of 82. He was a founding member of the Four Horsemen and started his career in 1967 with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), wrestling under the name Rock Rogowski. Around 1968, he started wrestling for Jim Crockett Promotions, which was based in the Carolinas. There he worked in the legendary tag team The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, with his partner Gene Anderson. They both portrayed themselves as real life brothers, The Andersons.
After he successfully ran with Jim Crockett Promotions, he started working for Championship Wrestling from Florida in 1971. This is where Ole became the NWA Florida Television Champion and one half of the NWA Florida Tag Team Champions. In 1972, he returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, and worked for Georgia Championship Wrestling, and he built an incredible record of becoming a Tag Team Champion with The Minnesota Wrecking Crew, winning the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship seven times. He worked with various wrestling legends as Greg Valentine, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Dusty Rhodes and Wahoo McDaniel. Ole also worked behind the scenes as a booker, and put together, at the time, a host of great matches by bringing various talent from different NWA territories.
As we mentioned, he was known as a founding member of the Four Horsemen, with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and manager James J. Dillon. This heel faction turned out to be one of the most successful wrestling groups in wrestling history. They were the pinnacle of heel wrestlers and set the standards that to this day are followed by heel factions throughout Wrestling Promotions, all over the world. Around 1987, Ole retired from wrestling stating he wanted to have a more of a hand in his son’s amateur wrestling career. But in 1989, he returned to wrestling and reformed the Four Horsemen with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Sting. In 1990, he retired again and took a backstage role with World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Ole, unfortunately, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis later in his career which caused a decrease in his mobility and memory loss and took him away from pro wrestling. But Ole left his mark in pro wrestling. He was known as a no-nonsense man who was either loved or hated. But he was a straight shooter and told you what you were doing wrong and what you could do to fix it. He is definitely one of the last in his class and from the Golden Years of professional wrestling.
We here at Wrestle Talk send our condolences to his family and friends. Thank you for the memories, Ole.
If you have a question or comment, please send it to eavil183@yahoo.com and have a great weekend!
