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Ricky Morton announced the passing of Ole Anderson this evening via his Instagram account, writing:
"Rest in Paradise, Ole Anderson.
You taught me so much in professional wrestling. You were tough as nails.
You will be missed, my friend. ❤️"
Anderson, real name Alan Robert Rogowski, was 81 at the time of his passing today.
While best remembered nationally as one of the founding members of the Four Horsemen, Anderson was one of the definitive heels of the Carolinas, especially when teaming with his "brother" the late Gene Anderson. Behind the scenes, Anderson was a booker for both Jim Crockett Promotions and Georgia Championship Wrestling. He was the last holdout when Vince McMahon purchased GCW from all other partners in the promotion, setting the stage for Black Saturday, where WWF programming replaced Georgia on WTBS before Jim Crockett Promotions later paid WWF $1 million to gain the timeslot for themselves.
When McMahon took over GCW from under Ole's control, according to Anderson's version of events, Vince offered to make Ole more money than he'd ever make but Anderson told him to go f*** himself. Later, he told Vince that he and Linda McMahon could both go f*** themselves, to which McMahon then stated Ole would never work for him. All the way to his passing, Anderson refused any WWE-related overtures, even for documentaries and the WWE Hall of Fame, snarkily commenting that he didn't want to make McMahon a liar by working for him.
A gruff, no nonsense individual who held nothing back verbally when it came to his opinions, Anderson would later end up in a position of power behind the scenes in WCW, and would co-author an incredible book with Scott Teal in 2003, Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling.
Originally trained by Verne Gagne and Dick the Bruiser, Anderson debuted in the late 1960s under the ring name Rock Rogwoski for the AWA. After working there and Stampede Wrestling, he soon moved to Jim Crockett Promotions, where he and Gene Anderson teamed as the Minnesota Wrestling Crew. Their heel run was legendary as the villains breaking down the extremities of their opponents, a methodical roughhouse team that radiated legitimate evil for that era. They were so great at their job that in 1976, while returning from an match, a fan named Oscar Ramsey in his 70s stabbed Anderson in the chest with a knife in Greenville, South Carolina. Anderson was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent a four-hour surgery to repair tendons in his arm. He suffered multiple wounds to his arm and chest in the attack.
The Minnesota Wrecking Crew were the team to feud with and beat in the area, holding the NWA Tag Team Championships in that territory seven times, as well as the Georgia Tag Team Championship. If you were a babyface in that area, you feuded with the Andersons. It was as much a vote of confidence as much as a rite of passage - from Ric Flair to The Briscoes to Dusty Rhodes to Johnny Weaver to Mr. Wrestling I and II, you were programmed with the Andersons if you were making money in that territory.
When Anderson was booking Georgia Championship Wrestling, it was airing on WTBS, which gave national exposure to tons of talents and the opportunity torun a lot of markets tha GCW never would have touched, including Ohio and lots of other places. After the death of GCW and with Jim Crockett gaining the slot, Ole ended up back with JCP, where he and his "nephew" Arn Anderson were put together, including a feud with The Rock N' Roll Express.
If The Minnesota Wrestling Crew were GCW in that era, then The Four Horsemen - The Andersons, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard with manager JJ Dillon - were truly Jim Cockett Promotions. The muscle to protect then-NWA World Champion Ric Flair, the Horsemen battled Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Magnum TA and more as JCP battled the WWF. While Anderson was turned babyface and kicked out of the group in favor of Lex Luger, he was done with wrestling full-time as a performer by 1987 but did later return to the ring, including a 1990 run in WCW.
Anderson would return with Arn and Flair to reform a babyface version of The Four Horsemen with Sting, with the idea that when The Horsemen would turn on Sting, Sting would become the new titleholder, but a torn ACL that same night pushed the title change back from February 1990 to July of that year at The Great American Bash. Ole worked as manager for the Horsemen and was handcuffed to the late El Gigante that night.
Behind the scenes as head of a WCW Booking Committee, Anderson later mockingly suggested The Black Scorpion character to Jim Herd, who was running the promotion and to Anderson's bemusement, Herd liked the idea. Anderson provided the voice for the masked character's promos. The story had no real planned ending when it began and it ended up being revealed it was all a Flair ruse. That night, it was either going to be Flair, Barry Windham or Arn Anderson and Flair decided to take the bullet.
When Eric Bischoff was placed in control of WCW, Anderson was assigned to the WCW Power Plant to oversee training. On one fateful day, he was giving his opinion, as he always did, but was knocking Bischoff. Blackjack Mulligan, who Bischoff had hired and placed at the facility in part because he was hurting financially and needed help, proceeded to punch out Anderson. Anderson was soon gone from the company.
After that WCW run ended, Anderson operated a saw mill that he owned and occasionally made convention signings in the Carolinas, including Horsemen reunions. He was one of the shining stars of the first-ever Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest promoted by Greg Price, where he tore apart corporate wrestling, got emotional about how much he missed Gene Anderson and knocked Ric Flair for doing the same match with everyone. In all of his appearances, Anderson was surrounded by fans and well wishers, many of whom ended up getting roasted by him verbally.
Anderson had been battling multiple sclerosis in recent years. PWInsider.com is told Anderson had been under hospice care for several weeks.
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to Anderson's family, friends and fans.
Condolences for Anderson's family can be left at this link. Thanks to Greg Price.
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