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131-473: The stable originated in Jim Crockett Promotions as part of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Flair and Arn Anderson were members of each incarnation of the group until Anderson's retirement after a neck injury. As of 2022, Arn Anderson has the ownership of the stable's trademark and other intellectual properties. Ric Flair

262-504: A ladder match between Eddie Guerrero and Rob Van Dam , a fan jumped the guardrail, got into the ring, and knocked over the ladder while Guerrero was climbing it. Guerrero noticed what was going on, landed on his feet, and kicked the fan a few times before security took him away. During a match with Bray Wyatt at a WWE house show in Victoria, British Columbia in August 2015, Roman Reigns

393-516: A shooter or shoot-fighter is not a wrestler with a reputation for being uncooperative but one who has legit hooking skills in their repertoire. These wrestlers often gain their skills from martial arts ( Ken Shamrock or Josh Barnett ), catch wrestling ( Lou Thesz or Billy Robinson ) or amateur wrestling ( Kurt Angle or Brock Lesnar ). These kinds of shooters are sometimes referred to as stretchers (from their ability to use legitimate holds on their opponents to stretch them). Despite

524-570: A television taping, production threw together an impromptu tag team interview of Flair, The Andersons, Tully Blanchard and his manager JJ. Dillon. In his autobiography To Be The Man , Flair claimed that it was during this interview that Arn commented: "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 !" Alternatively, Dillon and Blanchard stated during

655-543: A "reformed" version of the Four Horsemen. Flair had been loosely associated with A.J. Styles , Desmond Wolfe , Beer Money, Inc. ( James Storm and Robert Roode ) and Kazarian since April 5, 2010. Flair stated that whoever wanted to join Fortune would have to earn their place in the stable. On July 11 at Victory Road , Styles and Kazarian became the first official members of Fortune by defeating Samoa Joe and Rob Terry in

786-520: A Four Horsemen discussion panel, which took place at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame on July 24, 2016, that the interview where Arn had actually said the phrase, and also debuted the group's trademark four finger pose, was after the original four members wrestled in an eight tag team match and that the group's formation was centered around the original four members holding championships at

917-533: A Horseman. The others started to leave Ole out of things after he cost him and Arn Anderson the NWA Tag Team Titles at Starrcade in 1986. Eventually he was kicked out in favor of Luger that March. The fact that Ole missed a show to watch his son Bryant wrestle in high school was used against Ole in the split as Blanchard and Dillon questioned Ole's commitment and Blanchard called Bryant a "snot-nosed kid". During this time, they wrestled Rhodes, Nikita Koloff,

1048-551: A Horsemen T-shirt and money; after thinking it over, he closed the Haliburton briefcase and hit Greene with it, allowing Flair to score the pin on Greene. McMichael was officially inducted as the fourth Horseman, and in the process gave the group another ringside valet in Debra. The rumors said that Debra and Woman did not get along behind the scenes. This played out on TV, as they constantly bickered, and Benoit and Mongo had to step in. When

1179-550: A TV spot, according to Arn Anderson, Sting actually requested to be taken out of the group because he wanted to be on his own. Woman soon became Flair's valet. They feuded with Luger, Sting, Rick Steiner , Scott Steiner and El Gigante during this time. In May 1990, Ole retired from active competition and served as the group's manager, Barry Windham returned to WCW and the Horsemen on the May 5th NWA World Wide Wrestling , and Sid Vicious

1310-493: A brief feud with the Dungeon of Doom, including a feud between Sullivan and Benoit, which became one of the most talked about feuds of all time. In this feud, Woman , who was really married to Sullivan, left him for Benoit. However, life imitated art, and Woman actually left Sullivan for Benoit. This feud got heated and some of the matches were shoot-style with the performers using stiff or even full contact moves, rather than

1441-533: A drug test while still with the WWF. WCW heard of this, and decided not to rehire him. They were faces and feuded with Gary Hart 's J-Tex Corporation of Terry Funk , Great Muta , Buzz Sawyer and The Dragonmaster . At the culmination of this feud the group returned to being heels, kicking Sting out for daring to challenge Ric Flair for the World Title. "Sting, you never were a Horseman" Ric Flair would say afterwards in

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1572-476: A face, Luger a heel). Anderson went on to form a tag team with Larry Zbyszko called The Enforcers and later became part of the Paul E. Dangerously -led Dangerous Alliance with Zbyszko, Rick Rude , Madusa , Bobby Eaton , and Steve Austin . Anderson and Windham feuded during this time, beginning with an incident at Halloween Havoc where Arn and Zbyszko slammed a car door on Windham's hand. The next incarnation of

1703-418: A fan jumped the guardrail during a tense moment in the match. DiBiase, recalling the incident in his autobiography, yelled for Virgil (DiBiase's bodyguard, who was attempting to interfere in the match) to knock the man down, which he did, before security led the suspect away as the match played out as intended (Savage knocking the heads of DiBiase and Virgil together before escaping the cage). In 2002, during

1834-685: A feud with Kevin Sullivan , the leader of the Dungeon of Doom . Pillman ended up leaving WCW, going to ECW, and eventually the WWF in February. Leading towards Uncensored the Horsemen briefly joined forces with the Dungeon of Doom as the Alliance to End Hulkamania to battle mutual rivals Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage . The two stables were unable to coexist and lost the Tower of Doom Steel Cage . The Horsemen then engaged in

1965-404: A few seconds longer or had Puder not given up the hold. As you would expect, Kurt Angle was less than happy backstage at Smackdown after almost being forced to tap out to Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder. Downright ticked off would probably be the best way to describe his mood. The unscripted nature of the contest was the main reason that Angle was made to look so bad since Puder just reacted to

2096-508: A former American amateur wrestler and 1996 Olympic gold medalist , challenged the finalists to a squat thrust competition. Chris Nawrocki won the competition, and the prize Nawrocki won was a match against Angle. Angle quickly took Nawrocki down with a guillotine choke , but Nawrocki managed to make it to the ropes, forcing Angle to break the hold. Angle then took Nawrocki down with a double leg takedown , breaking his ribs. Angle locked another guillotine choke on Nawrocki, pinning him in

2227-500: A gun in a carnival target shooting game that did not have its sights misaligned. Terminology such as this reflects the professional wrestling industry's roots in traveling carnivals . Initially, the term referred to practice or ability in catch wrestling as a legitimate sport. It has since come to mean any legit attack or fight in professional wrestling regardless of the combat system employed, and its meaning has broadened to include unscripted events in general. The opposite of

2358-652: A handicap match at Clash of the Champions XXXI in which Vader defeated the team of Flair and Arn. Flair and Arn began to bicker, as Flair blamed Arn for the loss and Arn always felt he was doing Flair's dirty work; a feud developed that led to a match at Fall Brawl on September 17, 1995, in Asheville, North Carolina . Arn defeated Flair with the help of Brian Pillman . Flair begged Sting to help him against them and though Sting did not trust Flair he eventually agreed. Flair ended up turning on him at Halloween Havoc to reform

2489-512: A hiatus from the ring after a disagreement with WCW president Eric Bischoff. Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit kept going to Arn about reforming the Horsemen. He kept saying no. James J. Dillon, back in WCW's front office, even made a request. Arn eventually gave in and reformed the Horsemen with McMichael, Benoit and Malenko being presented to the ring before Flair finally being unveiled as the fourth Horseman, with Arn serving as its manager. They feuded with

2620-563: A high-profile debut match at Wrestlemania 34 before pursuing and winning the WWE Raw Women's Championship . Shafir eventually joined the WWE Performance Center , completing the foursome's transition to professional wrestling. The WWE female wrestlers Charlotte Flair (Ric Flair's daughter), Sasha Banks , Bayley and Becky Lynch have referred to themselves as "The Four Horsewomen" (originally "The Four Horsewomen of NXT" when

2751-511: A neck/back injury that did not allow him to wrestle. Curt Hennig took his spot as "The Enforcer". The next month, Hennig turned on the Horsemen and joined the nWo. Flair disbanded the group on September 29, 1997, and they went their separate ways. The last incarnation came in September 1998. On the September 14 edition of WCW Monday Nitro in Greenville, South Carolina when Ric Flair returned from

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2882-479: A number of its co-owners (including Barnett and brothers Jack and Jerry Brisco ), thus gaining control of GCW's flagship Saturday night time slot on TBS. This tactic—co-opting the time slots of rival territories in their own "backyard"/local TV markets—was part of the WWF's national expansion strategy. To McMahon's surprise, however, the move backfired with TBS. When the WWF aired its first show on TBS on July 14, replacing World Championship Wrestling , viewer backlash

3013-487: A part of a wrestling podcast . While shoot interviews generally occur outside a show, one rare example of a shoot interview during a televised show occurred on October 23, 1999, when Doug Gilbert , then with the Memphis independent promotion Power Pro Wrestling , turned a televised interview intended to further a feud with Brian Christopher into a shoot that soon led to the demise of the promotion. Gilbert publicly exposed

3144-445: A partnership, had also withdrawn from the NWA. JCP also began to run shows in new markets from coast-to-coast (often in less-than-sold-out arenas), greatly increasing travel costs and other overhead. JCP's first pay-per-view endeavor, 1987's Starrcade , was scheduled in its traditional Thanksgiving slot, but ran into unexpected competition from the WWF's inaugural Survivor Series PPV, which

3275-406: A possible full-time return of the faction. The original Four Horsemen, widely regarded as the greatest pro wrestling stable of all time, were innovative in developing and popularizing the concept of heel stables. On the 2007 Four Horsemen DVD , commentator Jim Ross stated "without the Horsemen there would damn sure be no nWo or no DX ". In 2003, rumors began circulating that Ric Flair (at

3406-479: A secondary company out of Knoxville, Tennessee . The promotion featured such stars as Mulligan; his son Barry Windham (then billed as Blackjack Mulligan Jr.); Kevin Sullivan ; Wayne Ferris ; The Mongolian Stomper ; Terry Taylor ; Tim Horner , and others. The enterprise lasted less than one year, however. By the 1980s, American professional wrestling was undergoing seismic and rapid change. The old, NWA-sanctioned system of separate, regional "territory" promotions

3537-496: A shoot incident. Jeff Hardy was scheduled to challenge Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but a heavily intoxicated Hardy had been in hiding for the duration of the event, arriving late and in doing so he evaded management before making his entrance into the arena and ring. Referee Brian Hebner quickly realised that Hardy was not in proper condition to wrestle and threw up the X sign prior to

3668-428: A shoot is a work or kayfabe . 'Shoot' may also refer to legitimate 'shooting' for a takedown , as in interscholastic, amateur, and Olympic wrestling. With professional wrestling's history of 'shooters' and 'hookers', wrestlers with elite grappling skills, and the recent rise of shoot style wrestling and mixed martial arts , this use of the term is growing. Professional wrestling is staged entertainment rather than

3799-452: A single supercard in 1985 and expanding to the full tour in 1986. By 1987, Crockett was elected to a third term as NWA President, and gained control (either through purchase or working agreements) of the St. Louis Wrestling Club , Heart of America Sports Attractions ( Bob Geigel 's Central States brand), Championship Wrestling from Florida , and Bill Watts 's Mid-South Sports (which operated under

3930-434: A sports competition. As such, virtually everything in it is worked (part of the show), and shoots rarely occur. Shoots in general are against the nature of the business, similar to an actor ad-libbing or dropping character during a performance. Performers who shoot during a wrestling event are often punished (often by lower pay or relegation to opening bouts) or even fired, since they cannot be relied on to act according to

4061-454: A tag team match. Early in 1989, Flair and Windham lost a televised tag match to Gilbert and a surprise partner, Flair's long-time rival Ricky Steamboat . An enraged and humiliated Flair immediately fired Dillon, who then left to take a front office job with the WWF, while Flair and Windham dropped the Horsemen name. Hiro Matsuda was hired as their new manager. For a short stint in JCP in 1987, Matsuda

The Four Horsemen (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4192-699: A tag team match. On the July 29 edition of Impact! , Flair made James Storm and Robert Roode the final two members of Fortune. However, on the August 12 edition of Impact! Douglas Williams , who had helped Flair defeat his nemesis Jay Lethal the previous week, and Matt Morgan were added to Fortune as the stable assaulted EV 2.0 , a stable consisting of former Extreme Championship Wrestling performers. Fortune later merged with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Immortal stable, but turned on them months later, splitting them into two feuding factions. Ric Flair would turn on Fortune and remain associated with Immortal. The stable

4323-533: A worked shoot occurred on the June 27, 2011 Raw Roulette , where CM Punk delivered a promo popularly known as a "pipebomb" promo. In it, Punk aired his grievances with WWE at the time and announced he would leave the promotion three weeks after his promo with the WWE Championship (Punk would sign a new contract during the time period); the promo was not cut off until Punk attempted to mention bullying issues within

4454-456: A wrestler. Fan interference and violence was prevalent in the northeastern and southern United States from the mid to late 20th century, where many wrestling territories became known for offering violent action to a rabid, fiercely loyal audience which largely believed in what it was seeing. In 1988, during a steel cage match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase at New York City's Madison Square Garden ,

4585-456: Is inspired by early professional wrestling shooters, who would often utilize these basic wrestling moves when shooting on an opponent (as opposed to the flashier takedowns used in worked matches, such as suplexes ). An example of shoot fighting happened on the November 4, 2004, episode of SmackDown! , taped in St. Louis, Missouri . During an unscripted segment of Tough Enough , Kurt Angle ,

4716-675: The Jim Barnett -controlled company would go national itself; GCW acquiesced to the World Championship Wrestling name change in 1982. Meanwhile, by 1983, JCP went from recording its weekly shows in a television studio to shooting on-location, in between matches at live arena events. After purchasing a mobile television production unit for $ 1 million, Crockett unveiled what became the NWA's dominant annual supercard, Starrcade . In 1984, McMahon's WWF purchased controlling interest in GCW from

4847-626: The Madison Square Garden , in which the latter team emerged victorious. Biographies Video Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina , United States. Founded in 1931, the promotion emerged as a cornerstone of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). By the 1980s, Jim Crockett Promotions was, along with

4978-623: The Mae Young Classic tapings on July 14, 2017, where Baszler defeated Zeda , Mia Yim , Candice LeRae and Mercedes Martinez to advance into the finals, losing to Kairi Sane . All four of the Four Horsewomen of UFC would reappear on WWE Evolution where Duke and Shafir interfered on Baszler's behalf to win the NXT Women's Championship from Kairi Sane and Rousey defended her WWE Raw Women's Championship against Nikki Bella . All four of

5109-592: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship during his presidency; by this point, JCP's top contracted performer, Ric Flair , was locked-in as the champion. Moreover, even though Flair was obligated to perform title-defense matches in each territory against the territory's own chosen star/challenger, any title changes only occurred between other performers also contracted to Crockett, such as Dusty Rhodes and Ron Garvin . Crockett's rapid expansion had significant financial consequences for JCP. By December,

5240-549: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Crockett joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1952, and his "territory" covered Virginia , North Carolina and South Carolina . The name "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" became JCP's primary brand name in print, radio, and other advertising (the name was also used for its main television programs). The business was incorporated in the 1950s. Jim Crockett died in 1973. He left JCP to his family, with his eldest son, Jim Crockett, Jr. , taking over as chief executive. Led by

5371-605: The New World Order (nWo) was founded the next month, the Horsemen became babyfaces along with the rest of the WCW roster. In September, Flair and Anderson teamed with their bitter rivals, Sting and Lex Luger , to lose to the nWo (Hogan, Scott Hall , Kevin Nash , and an impostor Sting ) in the WarGames match at Fall Brawl when Luger submitted to the impostor Sting's Scorpion Deathlock . This angered Anderson, and he feuded with Luger for

The Four Horsemen (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5502-588: The Revolution , thereby effectively ending the Four Horsemen. At Starrcast 2022, The Four Horsemen reunited. That July, Arn Anderson secured the copyrights to The Four Horsemen name and images. A tag team consisting of his son Brock Anderson and Brian Pillman Jr. , son of late Horseman Brian Pillman, "representing The Four Horsemen" was announced to wrestle at the Jim Crockett Promotions event " Ric Flair's Last Match " with Arn Anderson managing, signaling

5633-618: The Southeast eventually suffered, as some local fans vindictively withheld their support. Booking decisions also factored into the promotion's downfall. JCP flushed away a potentially profitable angle following the acquisition of Bill Watts 's UWF by " burying " the UWF's talent. Instead of portraying them as competitive with JCP wrestlers, the UWF's wrestlers and championships were portrayed as second-rate compared to those of JCP. Meanwhile, mid-carder Ron Garvin beat perennial champion Ric Flair for

5764-519: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Flair started looking for a new entourage. "Not since the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have so few wreaked so much havoc on so many." - Arn Anderson, 1985 The Four Horsemen formed in 1985 with Ric Flair, Ole and Arn Anderson (the latter brought in from Continental Championship Wrestling ), and Tully Blanchard from Southwest Championship Wrestling , with J. J. Dillon as their manager (Dillon

5895-496: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), one of the two largest promotions in the United States. The Crockett family sold a majority interest in the promotion to Turner Broadcasting System (which was acquired by Time Warner in 1996, later became WarnerMedia from 2018–2022, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery ), resulting in the creation of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988. In 2022, Jim Crockett Promotions Inc.

6026-422: The bookers ' wishes. Shoots can also occur when wrestlers stop cooperating in a match. This may occur to teach one of the wrestlers "a lesson" for whatever reason, or if a wrestler has an issue with the promoter and intentionally makes the match look bad. While the term technically applies only to wrestling performers, crowds also cause shoots by interfering in events, usually by assaulting or attempting to assault

6157-950: The 1980s, Crockett, Jr. began consolidating the Southern member promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance. Discarding the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling brand, he began promoting his events simply as NWA shows, although his promotion remained distinct from the larger NWA entity. In August 1980, Crockett, Jr. was elected president of the NWA, and the next year (the same year Crockett moved his TV show tapings from Raleigh to Charlotte), former (and future) Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) booker Ole Anderson took over as Mid-Atlantic's booker. In 1981, Anderson booked both JCP and GCW simultaneously. In 1982, Crockett partnered with wrestlers Ric Flair and Blackjack Mulligan to start Southern Championship Wrestling,

6288-481: The Four Horsemen, there is still debate whether to include Jarrett as a Horseman. In his biography, Arn Anderson states that "Jeff Jarrett was never a Horseman". His "membership" and his easy departure leave the situation ambiguous. The Four Horsemen usually picked their own members, but at the time, WCW held extreme control over storylines and this may have forced them to accept a member for those purposes only and not by choice. In August 1997, Arn Anderson retired due to

6419-642: The Gold . This group of Horsemen is considered by many wrestling fans to be the weakest incarnation of the group. They were faces again and feuded with Barry Windham and the Hollywood Blondes ( Steve Austin and Brian Pillman ). This group ended, due to Arn Anderson's stabbing incident with Sid Vicious during a tour of England in October, and Paul Roma turning on Erik Watts during a tag team match to join Paul Orndorff as

6550-487: The Horsemen with Arn and Pillman. They added Chris Benoit to complete the group. This version of the Horsemen feuded with Hogan, Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger. Flair eventually brought back Woman and Miss Elizabeth joined the group at Superbrawl VI when she turned on Randy Savage . Miss Elizabeth left the group in October 1996 to join the nWo and Woman left the group and WCW in July 1997. In early 1996, Pillman started his infamous "Loose Cannon" storyline and started

6681-523: The Horsemen, containing only three active members, was around for fewer than seven months in 1993. Flair returned from the WWF to WCW to rejoin Arn and they promised a Horsemen reunion at the Slamboree pay-per-view . Paul Roma became the third horseman after Tully Blanchard and WCW could not come to terms on a deal for him to return. Ole Anderson was on hand as the adviser but made only one appearance on A Flair for

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6812-533: The Horsemen. The pair even defeated Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the NWA World Tag Team Championship at Clash of the Champions I . In April 1988, Windham turned on Luger during a title defense against Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Windham then took his spot in the Horsemen. This particular lineup of Horsemen has been called the greatest faction as far as a group of technical wrestlers goes. It

6943-452: The Kimura, or keylock as Tazz called it, although Tazz didn't let on the move was fully executed. Not only was Angle not getting out of the move, but most MMA fighters would have tapped already. Angle couldn't tap for obvious reasons. The ref counted a three even though Puder's shoulders weren't fully down, trying to end the thing, because the reality was Angle would have been in surgery had it gone

7074-540: The Mid-South Wrestling, and later, upon expansion, Universal Wrestling Federation brand names). Despite Crockett now having six consolidated territories under his banner and leading the NWA, JCP and the NWA were still two separate entities, and Crockett—like all NWA promoters before and since—was simply licensing the NWA brand name, whose true value was as a credibility-infusing, fan-trusted brand name for wrestling championships. Still, Crockett had an iron-clad grip on

7205-533: The NWA in the mid to late 1980s. The departure of Anderson and Blanchard was huge at the time, Dillon and Windham's departure made it worse, and despite numerous revivals over the coming decade, things were never quite the same. The Horsemen reformed in December 1989 in the NWA/WCW. Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and long-standing rival Sting formed the group in a shocker. Tully Blanchard was set to return as well, but failed

7336-399: The NWA world title. Although Garvin was booked to be a babyface, many fans did not find him credible enough to be a serious threat to Flair. JCP apparently neglected to monitor its own lavish spending as well. Crockett flew himself and his top performers around in an expensive private jet. In addition to the expense of Crockett's personal jet, there were other extravagant purchases such as

7467-624: The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering in a series of WarGames matches . These matches were brutal and ended up with all five members of each team in the cage at the end trying to make somebody submit. During the first match in the Omni , Dillon suffered a separated shoulder from a botched attempt at the Warriors' finishing move, the Doomsday Device . Dillon landed directly on his right arm and shoulder, and

7598-607: The Saturday evening WWF show, and viewers clamoring for GCW's return, began to make the WWF's move a money-losing one. Eventually, McMahon cut his losses and sold the time slot to Crockett for $ 1 million. Although this gave Crockett vital national exposure, it also allowed McMahon to finance his own marquee wrestling event, WrestleMania . This chain of events was critical in Turner's eventual decision to purchase JCP and form World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1988. An extra sense of urgency

7729-475: The U.S. Title from Dean Malenko , with the help of Eddie Guerrero ; on the June 30, 1997 edition of Nitro he was kicked out of the stable by Flair, due to the instability Jarrett's presence caused the Horsemen. In a move uncharacteristic of the Horsemen, however, Jarrett was allowed to literally walk away, instead of receiving a beatdown as was expected. He eventually took Debra from Mongo, but Mongo took Jarrett's U.S. Title. To this date, amongst fans and members of

7860-530: The U.S. trademarks of Jim Crockett Promotions to David Crockett on August 1, 2022, after the conclusion of the Starrcast weekend. Shoot (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A shoot in professional wrestling is any unplanned, unscripted, or real-life occurrence within a wrestling event. It is a carny term shortened from "straight shooting", which originally referred to

7991-463: The WWE Four Horsewomen would be involved at the event as well: Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch competed in a Last Woman Standing Match while Sasha Banks and Bayley teamed with Natalya to take on The Riott Squad . The WWE Four Horsewomen would compete against each other with Banks and Bayley (as heels) taking on Lynch and Flair in a tag team match on the September 9, 2019 edition of Raw from

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8122-740: The WWF buyout of the Toronto territory occurred, as well as after the airing of the WWF program The War to Settle the Score on MTV to high ratings. Together with the Minneapolis -based American Wrestling Association (AWA), Championship Wrestling from Georgia, and Memphis -based Jarrett Promotions, JCP created Pro Wrestling USA . However, the organization fell apart in January 1986. Crockett bought out Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, on April 6, 1985, and

8253-449: The WWF was the uncontested #1 PPV content provider in America at the time, only a handful of companies committed to air Starrcade, devastating the event's profitability. After the cable industry warned McMahon to never again attempt such a move, Crockett felt it safe to restart his PPV attempts, and scheduled Bunkhouse Stampede in January 1988. However, the WWF again sabotaged JCP by airing

8384-505: The WWF's success, McMahon was financially able to lure the top talent away from rival companies. Because of this, JCP offered many of its stars lucrative contracts - paying them beyond their actual value - to prevent them from leaving the company. Another factor was the fans' exasperation with the " Dusty Finish " (a type of " screwjob " finish named after Rhodes, who did not actually invent the concept, but used it frequently for matches at regular house shows and PPV/major cards, alike). Due to

8515-440: The WWF, and were managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan . Flair, Windham, and Dillon continued to refer to themselves as "the Horsemen" and the NWA even flirted with the idea of bringing in new members. Butch Reed was signed to wrestle solo matches with Dillon as his manager. Then, in February 1989, Barry's brother Kendall Windham appeared to have joined them and even held up the four fingers after turning on Eddie Gilbert during

8646-455: The WWF, as WrestleMania IV's buy rate was much lower than that of the previous year's Survivor Series. However, Clash of the Champions was now the only thing Crockett could use to keep the NWA alive, though it was not even as highly watched as the WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event . On the verge of bankruptcy, Crockett sold Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in November 1988, and the promotion

8777-705: The broadcast to several local TV stations throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. In 1981, JCP moved to the WPCQ-TV studios in Charlotte (a station once owned by Ted Turner ). The local shows hosted by announcers like Billy "Big Bill" Ward (from WBTV in Charlotte) and Charlie Harville (at WGHP in High Point) gave way to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (known briefly in 1978 as Mid-Atlantic Championship Sports ). Mid-Atlantic

8908-566: The business was always called Jim Crockett Promotions, it used a variety of pseudonyms as brand names for specific TV shows, newspaper and radio ads, and even on event tickets, themselves. Among those brand names that JCP created were "Championship Wrestling", "All Star Wrestling", "East Coast Wrestling", "Eastern States Championship Wrestling", "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling", "Mid-Atlantic Championship Sports", "Wide World Wrestling", and "NWA Pro Wrestling", NWA World Wide Wrestling", and "NWA World Championship Wrestling" following its membership in

9039-519: The company had bought-out the rival UWF; Crockett even moved many of his administrative employees from his Charlotte base to the UWF's former offices in Dallas. Jim Crockett, Jr. and Dusty Rhodes personally manned the Dallas office, leaving Jim Jr.'s brother David Crockett in charge of the Charlotte operations. Bob Geigel, a former NWA President who bought his promotion back from Crockett in Febrtuary 1987 through

9170-681: The company. In order to provide an air of legitimacy, Punk received a kayfabe suspension from the company following the promo. A "shoot interview" is generally conducted and released by someone other than a wrestling promotion. They are conducted out of character with a wrestler, promoter, manager, or other insider generally being interviewed about their career and asked to give their opinion on wrestlers, promotions, or specific events in their past. While some wrestlers used these as an opportunity to insult people or promotions they dislike, many are more pleasant. These shoots are often released on DVD , end up on YouTube or other video sharing websites, or as

9301-728: The face with a sledgehammer and officially ending Evolution. At Raw 15th Anniversary , an Evolution reunion as faces took place, though then-heel Randy Orton refused to participate and instead challenged the face versions of Flair, Batista, and Triple H to a match in which he partnered with then-heel, Edge and Umaga, and at the same time reforming Rated-RKO for one night. On the March 31, 2008 episode of Raw , Flair delivered his farewell address. Afterward, Triple H brought out many current and retired superstars to thank Flair for all he has done, including Four Horsemen members, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, J. J. Dillon, and Dean Malenko. Also, it

9432-466: The fact that Jerry Lawler , previously the owner of the USWA, another significant Memphis-based promotion , was Brian's father—a blatant violation of kayfabe , the portrayal of events within professional wrestling as not being staged (in this case, Brian "not" being Jerry's son). He also made disparaging remarks about both Lawlers, as well as the promotion's booker Randy Hales. Drawing from this related term,

9563-467: The first-ever Royal Rumble on the USA Network opposite Bunkhouse Stampede, cutting into its buy rate. Crockett then attempted to use McMahon's tactics against him, airing Clash of the Champions I —featuring a PPV-quality card—on TBS in an attempt to draw viewers away from WrestleMania IV on PPV, which took place that same night. This was one of the few tactics to actually work for JCP in its war with

9694-511: The four had only been a part of that brand ), and posed in ring at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn , following a match between Bayley and Banks, each with four fingers held up. The WWE's Four Horsewomen were partly responsible for changing the WWE's Women Division from sex appeal to true athleticism. Banks and Bayley would later form a tag team known as the Boss 'n' Hug Connection . Both Four Horsewomen groups were at

9825-400: The group and Ric Flair's son David Flair , who wrestled with them and wore Horsemen shirts though never an official member. Ric Flair, the (onscreen) President of WCW at this time, had awarded him with the U.S. Title and had the Horsemen help David to keep it. Eventually, Benoit and Malenko left him in May in protest over Flair's selfishness, and joined Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn to form

9956-453: The hands of the Koloffs and Krusher Kruschev, with Ole and Arn Anderson then entering the ring and assisting Flair in breaking Dusty Rhodes' ankle and putting him out of action. During a promo where Rhodes was attempting to surrender his vacated NWA Television Title, Arn, who desired the title, would recruit Tully Blanchard, with the two then kicking Dusty's crutches away. Due to time constraints at

10087-461: The heavy overuse of this end-of-match sequence, many JCP fans started to expect the swerve at any moment, whenever a popular wrestler (usually a face ) appeared to win a title match and was about to be awarded the championship belt (or any similar situation), only to have the win overturned due to a technicality. As a result, attendance at live shows began to fall — even at venues where JCP had traditionally drawn well or extremely well. By 1988, JCP

10218-549: The issues that came with expansion was a lack of investing in the kind of marketing needed to make it successful. As mentioned, major cards such as Starrcade and the Bunkhouse Stampede did not draw as well when moved out of JCP's traditional territory. According to Rhodes, JCP failed to gain the national name recognition that McMahon achieved with the World Wrestling Federation. Rhodes also pointed out that with

10349-524: The late 1970s and early 1980s, it ran regular shows in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio . Crockett and Scott also bought minority shares of Frank Tunney 's Toronto -based promotion, Maple Leaf Wrestling . Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling also aired on a Buffalo, New York station, enabling the Tunney/Crockett/Scott enterprise to bring a full slate of shows to Ontario and upstate New York . In

10480-427: The limousines provided for various wrestlers and regular business parties held by officials throughout JCP's regional offices. In addition, the large amount of capital needed to take a wrestling company on a national tour and Crockett's aggressive territorial acquisitions had seriously drained JCP's coffers. In purchasing the UWF, JCP also took responsibility for the UWF's large debt from TV contracts, etc. Compounding

10611-408: The local stars could still be seen. Championship Wrestling from Georgia's television show (which had the same name as the promotion itself), along with that of Bill Watts 's Mid-South Wrestling (to whom Turner had also granted a time slot), easily surpassed the ratings for the WWF broadcast, which only featured clips and wrestler promos instead of original matches. The steep decline in ratings for

10742-461: The match starting. This caused an on-screen intervention from "general manager" Eric Bischoff and an instruction from Bischoff to Sting to immediately and legitimately pin Hardy. After a tie-up and a handful of punches, Sting performed his finisher on Hardy. Hardy did not understand what was happening and attempted but failed to kick-out with Sting holding down the pin, with Hardy losing the match in only

10873-407: The match to "go home" to the intended ending. Another way a referee may be involved is if there is an injury, or one of the wrestlers fails to respond to a 10 count or a pin. In some promotions referees are instructed to adjudicate regardless of the intended finish, resulting in a shoot ending with an "incorrect" winner, or one where the match finish is different. Shoots may also involve those outside

11004-434: The nWo and Eric Bischoff. In early 1999, the Horsemen turned heel again. Mongo had recently departed the wrestling world and they were down to Benoit, Malenko, Flair and Arn as the manager. They also had a referee biased to them, Charles Robinson , whom members of the Horsemen even referred to as "Little Nature Boy" (due to his resemblance to Flair). Flair's personal nurse, Double D (aka Asya), acted as an enforcer for

11135-531: The next month. In October, two developments occurred that affected the group. First, Jeff Jarrett came over to WCW from the WWF, and expressed his desire to join the Horsemen. He immediately gained a fan in Ric Flair, much to the chagrin of the other Horsemen. The next week, Miss Elizabeth joined the nWo. Flair finally let Jarrett join the group in February 1997 but the others did not want him. Jarrett began bickering with Mongo over Debra's attention, and in June won

11266-434: The process. After Angle defeated Nawrocki, Angle challenged the other finalists. Daniel Puder , an American professional mixed martial artist , accepted Angle's challenge. Angle and Puder wrestled for position, with Angle taking Puder down; however, in the process, Puder locked Angle in a kimura lock . With Puder on his back and Angle's arm locked in the kimura , Angle pushed Puder's shoulders down, pinning him. One of

11397-408: The promotion and show up in the WWF as "The Widowmaker." Kendall was not used as much more than a jobber and the group seemed like a shell of the unit it looked like on paper when it formed. They added Michael Hayes after Barry's injury, who feuded with Luger, but the group disbanded when Hayes reformed The Fabulous Freebirds in May and Matsuda left the promotion. The Horsemen concept helped define

11528-491: The ring for one last match under Jim Crockett Promotions, Ric Flair's Last Match on July 31, 2022. Shortly after Flair's announcement, David Crockett and Conrad Thompson of the Starrcast wrestling fan convention filed for U.S. trademarks on "Jim Crockett Promotions" and "JCP" with respect to wrestling events, news, and merchandise. During a media call promoting the pay-per-view, Thompson stated he will give his 50% percent of

11659-423: The ring while they were together. They lived the gimmick outside of the arena, as they took limos and jets to the cities in which they wrestled. Baby Doll was Flair's valet for a couple of months in 1986, after previously managing Tully Blanchard during 1985. In February 1987, JCP newcomer Lex Luger , who had come from Florida , was made an associate member of the group after he expressed his desire to become

11790-418: The ring. Sting attempted to slam Sid, but lost his balance and fell to the mat with Sid on top of him. Vicious got the pin and was declared the new World Heavyweight Champion. However, it was revealed that Barry Windham (in matching Sting gear and face paint) had inserted himself into the match and let Vicious pin him. When the real Sting showed up, the match was restarted and the real Sting defeated Sid to retain

11921-450: The sales profits just by providing the big viewing audience delivered by pro wrestling's loyal fanbase (wrestling generally did not attract large ad revenues at that time, due to negative industry perceptions of its lower-income target demographic). SuperStation TBS's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System , had asked Georgia Championship Wrestling to change its public brand name to World Championship Wrestling , helping fuel rumors that

12052-554: The situation and could have forced Angle to submit had the referees not thought quickly and counted a pin that wasn’t there on Puder. The term is also often used by wrestling fans, in another definition (in this case, also known as shoot wrestling ) to refer to mixed martial arts competitions, which, while superficially similar to wrestling matches, are actual athletic competition rather than sports entertainment . Example of spontaneous events that are not shoots include mistakes by wrestlers (these are known as botches ) or matches where

12183-407: The stage for a bantamweight title fight between her and Rousey at UFC 190 . Rousey knocked Correia out in 34 seconds. The group was shown at ringside during WrestleMania 31 , where Rousey was later involved in an in-ring segment with The Rock , Triple H and Stephanie McMahon . Baszler and Rousey first signed with WWE, where the former quickly became the NXT Women's champion , and the latter had

12314-484: The tag team of Pretty Wonderful . Flair went on to feud with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader . In 1995, Flair and Arn (back to being heels ) were teaming with Flair's former foe Vader to torment Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage . After Vader lost to Hogan in a steel cage match at Bash at the Beach , Flair entered the cage and lambasted him. Vader snapped and attacked Flair, and Arn came to his rescue. This led to

12445-566: The time working for the World Wrestling Entertainment ) was going to reform the Four Horsemen with Triple H , Randy Orton , and Batista . This group was eventually formed, but under the name Evolution instead of the Four Horsemen, and with Triple H as the leader instead of Flair. They served much the same function as the original heel Horsemen had, dominating the titles on Raw and feuding with that brand's top faces. The group slowly died between August 2004 and October 2005. Orton

12576-454: The time. The comparison and the name stuck. However, during a pair of television interviews before Starrcade 85, Arn Anderson came out and called them "The Four Horses". Then Tully did came out right after with Baby Doll and called the group the Four Horsemen, crediting Anderson for the name, though it was not the same one. Arn Anderson has said in an RF Video shoot interview that he, Flair and Blanchard were as close as anybody could be away from

12707-410: The title. The Horsemen line-up of Flair, Anderson, Windham, and Vicious eventually broke up and went their own ways. In May 1991, Sid left for the WWF. Flair was fired from WCW in early July and was in the WWF by August. Windham was part of a double turn at The Great American Bash shortly after Flair's firing, where he lost to Lex Luger in a match for the vacant WCW world championship (Windham became

12838-507: The titles in the NWA, and they often bragged about their success (in the ring and with women) in their interviews. The Four Horsemen moniker was not planned from the start. The origin of the stable dates to a Jim Crockett Promotions taping which was held in The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia in September 1985. During the event, Ric Flair turned on Dusty Rhodes after Rhodes saved him from a beatdown at

12969-432: The two referees in the ring, Jim Korderas , quickly counted three to end the bout, despite the fact that Puder's shoulders were not fully down on the mat, bridging up at two. Puder later claimed he would have snapped Angle's arm on national television if Korderas had not ended the match. Dave Meltzer and Dave Scherer gave these following comments: It was real. If you don't follow fighting, Puder had Angle locked in

13100-529: The typical North American style of softening maneuvers. In June 1996 at the Great American Bash , Flair and Arn Anderson wrestled former football players Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Kevin Greene . During the match, McMichael's then-wife Debra was chased to the back by Woman and Miss Elizabeth, but later came back with them and a steel briefcase, which she handed to her husband. Mongo opened it to reveal

13231-463: The value of professional wrestling for cable television in the early 1970s. WTCG aired Georgia Championship Wrestling's programming on Saturday evenings, and wrestling provided his then-fledgling enterprise (the future SuperStation WTBS ) a source of cheap live entertainment which was well-suited to the station's target demographics. Turner could run per inquiry advertisements (for products like Slim Whitman albums and Ginsu knives) and take part of

13362-477: The worked nature of the spectacle, shooters have been around since the beginning. Originally, the National Wrestling Alliance 's World Champion was typically a shooter or "hooker" in an effort to keep regional champions and other contenders from attempting to shoot on them and win the title when they were not scheduled to do so. The use of the term "shoot" to describe a single or double-leg takedown attempt (in legit fighting situations such as mixed martial arts )

13493-435: The wrestlers are good enough to not need to plan and rehearse beforehand. In such matches the wrestlers go into the match with only the length of the match and what the result should be, and work with each other off instinct and experience, often by "calling spots" in a voice low enough the crowd cannot hear until they reach the finish. The job of the referee will usually involve reminding them of time limits and often calling for

13624-518: The wrestling business. In 1984, while filming a 20/20 segment on professional wrestling, reporter John Stossel remarked to wrestler David "Dr. D" Schultz that wrestling was fake. Yelling "You think this is fake?", Schultz slapped him and knocked him to the ground twice. Stossel claimed that he still suffered from pain and buzzing in his ears eight weeks after the assault. Schultz maintains that he attacked Stossel because WWF owner Vince McMahon wanted him to. TNA Victory Road (2011) ended with

13755-424: The writers breaking the fourth wall and attempting to court the fans who are interested in shoots (i.e., events outside the traditional in-ring wrestling matchups). Notable characteristics of a worked-shoot include the mentioning of terms and information generally known only to industry insiders and "smart" fans. This community of "smart" pro-wrestling fans are sometimes referred to as " smarks ". A major example of

13886-692: The younger Crockett and under the guidance of a new creative force—former wrestler-turned-match- booker George Scott —the promotion moved away from generally featuring just tag teams , to primarily focusing on singles wrestling (although tag-team matches continued to play a big part in the company). By the early-1970s, JCP had gradually phased-out its multiple weekly television tapings in such cities as Charlotte, North Carolina , Greenville, South Carolina , and High Point, North Carolina , consolidating its production schedule into just one shoot (a Wednesday night videotaping at WRAL-TV in Raleigh ), and then syndicating

14017-822: Was a professional wrestling stable in Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling , and later Major League Wrestling , who disbanded in 2004. The group's name was in homage to the Four Horsemen, who in the 1980s were one of professional wrestling's top draws worldwide. The group came together in Dusty Rhodes ' Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, but the group later left Rhodes' promotion to join Major League Wrestling where Steve Corino and "The Enforcer" C.W. Anderson were joined by former ECW superstars Justin Credible and Simon Diamond . This incarnation

14148-500: Was added to Crockett's national expansion ambitions when, after Frank Tunney's death, his nephew and successor Jack joined forces with the WWF. Crockett would now have to either find other willing partner-promoters or buy them out if he wanted to run shows outside the Mid-Atlantic territory. This period also marked Crockett's first attempt to create a national promotion; Crockett and other wrestling companies needed this opportunity after

14279-655: Was added to fill out the group on the May 11th NWA Power Hour . They feuded with the Dudes With Attitudes which consisted of Sting, Luger, the Steiner Brothers, Paul Orndorff and Junkyard Dog . By the end of 1990, Ole and Woman left the NWA. In October 1990, NWA World Champion Sting defended his title against the Horsemen's Sid Vicious at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. During the match, Sting and Vicious brawled backstage. A few moments later, they returned to

14410-781: Was also hosted by the team of Rich Landrum and Johnny Weaver . In 1978, JCP later added a short-lived show, The Best of NWA Wrestling , which was taped at the WCCB studios in Charlotte (across the street from the now- Bojangles' Coliseum , a regular venue for Mid-Atlantic live events) and featured then-active wrestler Johnny Weaver sitting down with top stars in a "coach's show" format (in which host and guest did running commentary over 16 millimeter film footage of matches from local arenas). Rich Landrum and David Crockett appeared on "Best Of", doing promo interviews for local arena shows. JCP gradually began to expand, running shows in eastern Tennessee, parts of West Virginia , and even Savannah, Georgia . In

14541-865: Was at that time every major title was held by members of the faction: with Flair, as the World Heavyweight Champion ; Windham, as the United States Heavyweight Champion ; and Arn and Tully, as the World Tag Team Champions . In September 1988, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard left to join the WWF. This forced them to drop the Tag Team Titles at the last minute to the Midnight Express ( Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton ). Anderson and Blanchard were known as "The Brain Busters ", in

14672-440: Was basically a re-packaged version of Mid-Atlantic , and it was also announced by Billy "Big Bill" Ward. In 1975, JCP premiered a new, syndicated show, Wide World Wrestling (renamed World Wide Wrestling in 1978). The original host of this show was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral. Subsequent Wide World / World Wide announcers included Les Thatcher, George and Sandy Scott , and Dr. Tom Miller. It

14803-507: Was briefly managed by former Four Horsemen manager J. J. Dillon before Major League Wrestling ceased operations. Barry Windham also joined the group for a single War Games match. Corino has used the group name several other times with various teammates in other promotions. Fortune (originally spelled Fourtune) was a professional wrestling stable in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , started by Ric Flair on June 17, 2010, as

14934-542: Was collapsing under increasing competitive pressure from Vincent K. McMahon 's World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE )—itself a family-owned territory promotion covering the northeastern U.S. — which was aggressively expanding into a nationwide promotion. Crockett had similar expansion goals, envisioning a united NWA through JCP's buyout of or merger with all of the NWA's regional promotions. Ted Turner , whose Atlanta television station WTCG would become distributed nationally via satellite starting in 1976, had realized

15065-487: Was frequently referred to in the influential Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications by the WCW name or more commonly as "the World Championship area." As a result of the success World Championship Wrestling now had from acquiring the Saturday night time slots, Crockett (along with JCP booker Dusty Rhodes ) was able to establish an annual summer arena tour, " The Great American Bash " starting with

15196-420: Was hosted by Bob Caudle , (a longtime WRAL weatherman). Caudle was joined by a rotation of co-hosts (everyone from Les Thatcher all the way to Dr. Tom Miller ), before David Crockett (another son of Jim Crockett Sr.) became Bob's permanent co-host/ color commentary man (after ending a very brief career as a wrestler, himself). For a brief period, a secondary show, East Coast Wrestling , was taped at WRAL; it

15327-791: Was introduced to the storylines in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in the 1970s as a cousin of the Minnesota Wrecking Crew ( Gene Anderson and Ole Anderson ). After leaving the Crew he took on Blackjack Mulligan and Greg Valentine as his partners to feud with them. By 1981, when he became NWA World Heavyweight Champion , he and the Crew had reconciled, having their blessing to team with them as well as with Mulligan and Valentine to feud with top NWA man Harley Race and his Mid-Atlantic hitmen, Bob Orton Jr. and Dick Slater . When Mulligan retired and Valentine jumped to

15458-501: Was invoked by mixed martial artists Ronda Rousey , Shayna Baszler , Jessamyn Duke , and Marina Shafir ( Invicta Fighter ), who named themselves "The Four Horsewomen" in 2013, with the blessing of Anderson and Flair. After Bethe Correia defeated Duke, she held up four fingers and symbolically put one down. She did this again after beating Baszler. As Shafir is not in the UFC , these two wins set

15589-533: Was kicked out of the group after he won the World Heavyweight Championship , which Triple H coveted. In February 2005, Batista left the group after winning the Royal Rumble , in a storyline where Triple H tried to protect his title from Batista. During a Triple H hiatus, Flair turned face, and at Raw Homecoming , Triple H returned as a face, but turned heel by the end of the night, hitting Flair in

15720-606: Was managed by Dillon and considered an associate of the Horsemen. As a result of hiring Matsuda as their new manager the Horsemen changed their name to Yamazaki Corporation . Their major feuds were with Lex Luger , Eddie Gilbert , Ricky Steamboat , and Sting . After losing the United States Heavyweight Championship to Luger, Barry Windham left the group due to an injury. Windham suffered a broken hand which occurred in his match against Luger at Chi-Town Rumble and required surgery. This enabled Windham to leave

15851-408: Was on the verge of bankruptcy . In November 1988, Turner Broadcasting System purchased a majority interest in JCP for $ 9 million. The Crockett family retained a minority interest, with Crockett, Jr. becoming a consultant. Turner Broadcasting System ultimately rebranded the promotion World Championship Wrestling . In 1993, JCP ceased to exist. On May 16, 2022, Ric Flair announced he would return to

15982-488: Was originally serving as manager of Blanchard). They feuded with Dusty Rhodes (breaking his ankle and hand), Magnum T. A. , Barry Windham , The Rock 'n' Roll Express (breaking Ricky Morton 's nose), Nikita Koloff (injuring his neck), and The Road Warriors . Animal, Hawk, Ronnie Garvin and many others fought Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title during that time period. They usually had most of

16113-594: Was re-elected NWA President. This was to help counter the WWF, after it became America's dominant wrestling business in the wake of WrestleMania. Crockett then purchased both Saturday evening TBS time slots from Vince McMahon and filled the time slot with two hours of original programming filmed in Ted Turner's Atlanta studios . The programming aired under the World Championship Wrestling banner, which had been adopted by GCW before its demise. The entire company

16244-480: Was renamed the Universal Wrestling Corporation. Soon after, it was renamed again to World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The eventual downfall of JCP, leading to its eventual sale to Ted Turner (and thereby the birth of WCW) can be attributed to several key factors. Magnum T. A. — one of JCP's top babyfaces , and the performer scheduled to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion at Starrcade 1986 —

16375-540: Was replaced for the series of matches by the masked War Machine, later known as the Big Boss Man . Luger was later kicked out of the Four Horsemen. First, he blamed Horseman manager J.J. Dillon for costing him the U.S. Title when Dillon's attempt to help Luger win the match, by cheating, backfired. Lex subsequently did not allow Dillon to win a Bunkhouse Stampede match as the Horsemen had agreed to among themselves. In January 1988, he teamed with Barry Windham to feud with

16506-438: Was restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett . Jim Crockett (1909–1973) was a promoter of live events including professional wrestling , music concerts , plays , minor league baseball , and ice hockey . In 1931, he founded his own professional wrestling promotion , Jim Crockett Promotions. Crockett built JCP as a regional promotion centred on the Carolinas and Virginia . Although

16637-418: Was scheduled to air the same night. Not wanting to possibly lose to the WWF in a direct PPV competition, Crockett decided to move Starrcade's starting time to Thanksgiving afternoon instead of the evening. However, the WWF then threatened cable companies that if they chose to air Starrcade, they would not be offered future WWF PPVs, including that year's Survivor Series and the forthcoming WrestleMania IV . Since

16768-530: Was severe, as the show's Southern fans were incensed to see their beloved stars suddenly replaced—without advance notice—by an "invading force" of wrestlers from "up North", an event that has since become known in pro wrestling lore as Black Saturday . In response to the ensuing deluge of complaints, TBS granted an upstart promotion called Championship Wrestling from Georgia (backed by holdout GCW shareholder and NWA member Fred Ward and former GCW wrestler/booker Ole Anderson) an early Saturday morning time slot so that

16899-708: Was severely injured in a car accident over two months before Starrcade (October 14), and could never wrestle again. So, JCP turned major "heel" Nikita Koloff , into a face on October 25, to take Magnum T. A.'s place while still being able to have a profitable build-up to Starrcade's main event. JCP alienated loyal fans in the Carolinas by moving Starrcade '87 and the Bunkhouse Stampede to arenas in Chicago and New York City, respectively. JCP had no real history and market presence in either of these non-southern metro areas, and its ability to drawing sellout crowds for arena shows in

17030-466: Was struck in the head by a metal replica Money in the Bank briefcase thrown by a fan. Reigns was momentarily dazed by the incident, but was able to continue the match. Worked shoot is the term for any occurrence that is scripted by the creative team to come off as unscripted and therefore appear as though it were a real-life happening but is, in fact, still part of the show. This can be seen as an example of

17161-572: Was the night in which Evolution got back together in the ring, except for Randy Orton (who was outside the ring). This would mark the last time both groups would be in the ring together. On the April 14, 2014 episode of Raw , Triple H, Orton, and Batista reunited Evolution full-time, once again heels, to feud with The Shield . However, on the April 28, 2014 episode of Raw , Flair showed his endorsement for The Shield, effectively turning his back on his old teammates, thus not turning heel. The Xtreme Horsemen

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