Mike Rickard
Great Moments in Wrestling: Justice-Four Horsemen Style
By Mike Rickard II
Apr 23, 2007, 13:48

As far as the Four Horsemen were concerned, Dusty Rhodes was a bad sport.  After several attempts onto run Rhodes out of professional wrestling, “The American Dream” had the audacity to injure one of their own, knocking Tully Blanchard out of action with a nasty leg injury.  Naturally, the Horsemen were upset and they decided to take matters into their own hands.  The day the Horsemen extracted their own brand of justice on Rhodes became a Great Moment in Wrestling.

One of the keys of successful storytelling is creating strong and credible antagonists for your protagonists to do battle with.  This applies as much to professional wrestling as it does to tv, books, and film (after all, professional wrestling is another form of drama).  In the early days of comic books, Superman battled everyday crooks but it didn’t take the writers long to figure out that if a guy can leap a tall building with a single bound, there’s not much drama in seeing him handle garden variety bank robbers.  Before long, larger than life villains such as Lex Luthor and the Ultra Humanite showed up to give the Man of Steel a real run for his money. 

Successful wrestling promoters knew this principle to be true and they applied it by pitting their babyfaces against strong heels.  Only then could they get the maximum impact i.e. strong ticket sales out of the various rivalries set up between their faces and heels.  Nowhere was this better seen than in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) where babyfaces like Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., and the Rock and Roll Express had their work cut out for them against one of the greatest heel stables of all time; the Four Horsemen. 

Since their formation in 1986, the Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and Ole Anderson) had run roughshod in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) cheating their way to title victories and sidelining the region’s babyfaces with diabolical attacks.  Each Horseman was a force to be reckoned with in their own right but together they became a force of nature, taking out anything which stood in their path.  Factor in the crafty managerial assistance of James J. Dillon and it looked like nothing could stop them.                                                                                       

This scenario created the perfect opportunity for JCP to pit its top babyface against its all-star assemblage of heels.  “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes had become the promotion’s lead babyface and given his behind the scenes duties as head booker for JCP, a showdown with the Horsemen seemed inevitable.

Even before the debut of the Horsemen, Rhodes had done battle with some of their members before.  There had been bad blood between Rhodes and the Horsemen ever since the Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Arn and Ole Anderson) and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair teamed up to break Rhodes’ ankle in one of wrestling’s most infamous assaults.  From there, Rhodes had waged a back and forth war against NWA Champion Ric Flair and more recently, NWA Television Champion Tully Blanchard.

Things got even hotter when Flair, Blanchard, and the Andersons teamed up to become the Four Horsemen.  Rhodes was now facing four opponents instead of one.  As the Horsemen often said, “Jump on one of us, jump on all of us”.  The Four Horsemen had no problem using their numerical advantage to secure victories against their opponents whether it was in the ring or outside the ring.

Dusty Rhodes was no stranger to fighting against the odds.  His war in Florida Championship Wrestling (WCW) with Kevin Sullivan and his satanic cabal of wrestlers was legendary and a hard fought struggle that Rhodes had gone on to win.  Despite his previous success, Rhodes knew he faced an even harder battle as he squared off against four of the most dangerous men in professional wrestling.

Knowing who he was facing and the fact that the Horsemen would resort to underhanded tactics to win, Rhodes showed the Horsemen no mercy.  One particular encounter saw Rhodes hold nothing back against Tully Blanchard, asking for no quarter and giving none.  When the smoke had cleared, Blanchard was left lying on the mat and forced to seek medical treatment. 

While Rhodes had done nothing the Horsemen hadn’t tried against him, Blanchard’s partners in crime were outraged that no disciplinary action was taken against “The American Dream”.  With their fellow Horseman Tully Blanchard forced to hobble around on crutches, something had to be done and if Jim Crockett Promotions wouldn’t take action, then the Horsemen would do so themselves.

Fans first became aware of the Four Horsemen’s revenge during an episode of JCP television.  JCP announcers Tony Schiavone and David Crockett announced that the Horsemen had struck again, injuring Dusty Rhodes.  To make matters worse, the Four Horsemen had purchased television time in order to show their revenge on Rhodes.  Not only had the Horsemen injured one of the promotion’s top stars but the fans would have to sit through it! 

The well-crafted angle played out as video was shown of the Horsemen following Dusty Rhodes’ car.  During the video, it was revealed that the Horsemen had hired a cameraman to shoot their extracurricular activities.  The cameraman wasn’t sure why he was there but the Horsemen (led by manager James J. Dillon) told him to film the events as they transpired. 

The Horsemen followed to the offices of promoter Jim Crockett in two separate vehicles.  The first vehicle blocked Rhodes in the parking lot and as he emerged from his car, he was attacked by the Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Arn and Ole Anderson).  The cameraman couldn’t believe what he was seeing and he protested the attack.  His pleas fell on deaf ears as James J. Dillon joined in on the attack and Tully Blanchard limped out of his car to watch his comrades exact revenge on Rhodes.

Before long, Rhodes found himself tied to a pickup truck as Ole Anderson waved a baseball bat menacingly in front of him.  By now, the camera man had been beat up for refusing to film anymore of the attack and James J. Dillon took over filming the attack.  With both arms tied to the pickup truck, Rhodes was helpless to do anything against his attackers.  Then in one of the most brutal attacks in JCP history, Rhodes’ right hand was broken as Ole Anderson smashed the baseball bat into it.  As Rhodes writhed in agony, Ole reminded him that the Horsemen had promised to end his career in 1986.  Now, it looked like they’d succeeded.

Naturally, Rhodes’ battles with the Horsemen were only beginning.  The attack would lead to additional matches with the Horsemen, culminating in WarGames: The Match Beyond; an epic steel cage match between Dusty Rhodes and his allies against the Four Horsemen. 

For pictures, click http://www.wrestleinfo.com/Four%20Horsemen%20Justice.html

For video, Click Here For Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen on DVD