Ole Anderson, a legendary professional wrestler best known as a founding member of the popular Four Horsemen faction alongside Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, and Tully Blanchard, has died. He was 81. WWE confirmed Ole’s passing on Monday, first online and then on-air during Monday Night Raw, referring to the iconic grappler as a “prolific and decorated tag team wrestler.” A cause of death was not given. “A founding member of The Four Horsemen, Ole’s hard-nosed style and gruff demeanor helped define the group as one of the greatest stables in sports-entertainment history,” WWE shared in a statement. “Trained by WWE Hall of Famer Verne Gagne, Anderson was a prolific and decorated tag team wrestler, most famously alongside Arn Anderson in The Minnesota Wrecking Crew,” the statement continued. “When the duo then joined forces with Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and manager J.J. Dillon, they established the iconic stable known as The Four Horsemen.
- 2/28/2024
- TV Insider
WWE Network
Unsurprisingly, Vince McMahon has a whole lot in common with Ted Turner, his self-selected nemesis during the nineties. Both McMahon and Turner took their father’s names and, later on in life, their businesses, and each man transformed that business from a success into a massive corporate leviathan.
Turner and McMahon clashed for the first time in the 1980s when the WWF was in the throes of trying to go national. McMahon bought a controlling interest in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1984 specifically to gain access to their two hour Saturday evening timeslot on TBS, Turner’s cable network. That, plus his own USA Network deal, would have given him control over all nationally televised wrestling.
Unfortunately, McMahon reneged on a specific promise to air original programming, sending in shows culled from matches already shown in syndication (also known as repeats). The event, pivotal in the history of the era,...
Unsurprisingly, Vince McMahon has a whole lot in common with Ted Turner, his self-selected nemesis during the nineties. Both McMahon and Turner took their father’s names and, later on in life, their businesses, and each man transformed that business from a success into a massive corporate leviathan.
Turner and McMahon clashed for the first time in the 1980s when the WWF was in the throes of trying to go national. McMahon bought a controlling interest in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1984 specifically to gain access to their two hour Saturday evening timeslot on TBS, Turner’s cable network. That, plus his own USA Network deal, would have given him control over all nationally televised wrestling.
Unfortunately, McMahon reneged on a specific promise to air original programming, sending in shows culled from matches already shown in syndication (also known as repeats). The event, pivotal in the history of the era,...
- 1/26/2016
- by Ben Cooke
- Obsessed with Film
Copyright: The History Of The WWE Blu-ray
The great Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot.” That’s a nice way of putting it… another way is to suggest that there’s nothing new under the sun: everything’s a rehash of a Xerox of a reboot of a copy, especially in the cheerfully plagiaristic world of professional wrestling.
Then there’s the times that life simply hiccupped and ran the same piece of bad luck all over again, because life’s like that sometimes. Or there are the weird coincidences that plague us all – like the fact that in the entire state of Ohio in 1895 there were only two motor cars, yet they still managed to hit each other.
Plagiarism, bad luck voodoo, bizarre coincidences – these are the times that, in the screwed up world of pro wrestling,...
The great Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot.” That’s a nice way of putting it… another way is to suggest that there’s nothing new under the sun: everything’s a rehash of a Xerox of a reboot of a copy, especially in the cheerfully plagiaristic world of professional wrestling.
Then there’s the times that life simply hiccupped and ran the same piece of bad luck all over again, because life’s like that sometimes. Or there are the weird coincidences that plague us all – like the fact that in the entire state of Ohio in 1895 there were only two motor cars, yet they still managed to hit each other.
Plagiarism, bad luck voodoo, bizarre coincidences – these are the times that, in the screwed up world of pro wrestling,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Ben Cooke
- Obsessed with Film
WWE.com
If you want to make it in pro wrestling, you’ve got to have a gimmick…
In fact, your level of career success can depend greatly on your gimmick.
If you’re lucky enough to be Mark Callaway, you get to become The Undertaker, being presented to fans around the world as the ultimate badass for 20+ years.
However, if you’re Fred ‘Shockmaster’ Ottman, they simply squeeze you into an effeminate fur coat, give you a Star Wars helmet covered in glitter and get Ole Anderson to do his cookie monster impersonation whenever you’re supposed to be talking.
Then, you’re pretty much boned.
Whether you’re Perry Saturn being told that you’re about to embark on a televised love affair with a mop, Shawn Stasiak getting the nod to play an underwear model, or Chris Kanyon being packaged as a Mortal Kombat character, a bad gimmick is a bad gimmick.
If you want to make it in pro wrestling, you’ve got to have a gimmick…
In fact, your level of career success can depend greatly on your gimmick.
If you’re lucky enough to be Mark Callaway, you get to become The Undertaker, being presented to fans around the world as the ultimate badass for 20+ years.
However, if you’re Fred ‘Shockmaster’ Ottman, they simply squeeze you into an effeminate fur coat, give you a Star Wars helmet covered in glitter and get Ole Anderson to do his cookie monster impersonation whenever you’re supposed to be talking.
Then, you’re pretty much boned.
Whether you’re Perry Saturn being told that you’re about to embark on a televised love affair with a mop, Shawn Stasiak getting the nod to play an underwear model, or Chris Kanyon being packaged as a Mortal Kombat character, a bad gimmick is a bad gimmick.
- 11/3/2014
- by Chris Quicksilver
- Obsessed with Film
The Killers
Written by Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks and John Huston
Directed by Robert Siodmak
U.S.A., 1946
Without question, Robert Siodmak was one of the great stylistic directors working in Hollywood during the 1930s, 40s, 50s and even into the 60s. Arriving from Europe as so many of his continental colleagues did during the period when the indescribable of evil of Nazism, had begun to spread its tentacles across their homelands, Siodmak brought with him to the film industry a stunning ability to construct rich films which balanced sharp storytelling and brilliant German Impressionistic visual allure, the latter which helped pronounce the often dire, sad, paranoid tone the stories themselves championed. The excellent thriller The Spiral Staircase (1945) and the underseen noir Phantom Lady (1944) are but two examples of Siodmak working in remarkable harmony with strong scripts and his cinematographers to produce not merely gripping tales, but gripping cinematic experiences of the classic period.
Written by Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks and John Huston
Directed by Robert Siodmak
U.S.A., 1946
Without question, Robert Siodmak was one of the great stylistic directors working in Hollywood during the 1930s, 40s, 50s and even into the 60s. Arriving from Europe as so many of his continental colleagues did during the period when the indescribable of evil of Nazism, had begun to spread its tentacles across their homelands, Siodmak brought with him to the film industry a stunning ability to construct rich films which balanced sharp storytelling and brilliant German Impressionistic visual allure, the latter which helped pronounce the often dire, sad, paranoid tone the stories themselves championed. The excellent thriller The Spiral Staircase (1945) and the underseen noir Phantom Lady (1944) are but two examples of Siodmak working in remarkable harmony with strong scripts and his cinematographers to produce not merely gripping tales, but gripping cinematic experiences of the classic period.
- 7/12/2013
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
Lancaster in director Robert Aldrich's superb 1972 Western Ulzana's Raid, one of many films to be screened in tribute to the Oscar-winning screen legend.
In-person:
Joanna Lancaster, Susie Lancaster, actor Ed Lauter and author James Naremore (4/5); actress Terry Moore (4/8); author Alan K. Rode (5/4).
Burt Lancaster was an American original. Born in 1913 in the melting pot of East Harlem, he first acted on the stage of the Union Settlement House before his natural athleticism drew him to a successful career as a circus aerialist. The strapping, blue-eyed, blonde with the legendary grin later referred to Hollywood as “nothing more than a big circus” and when fate brought him into the big top, he seized center ring. A chance meeting with a theatrical agent in 1945 (while picking up his future wife, Norma, for lunch) led to an appearance on Broadway and a contract with producer Hal Wallis who planned to introduce him...
In-person:
Joanna Lancaster, Susie Lancaster, actor Ed Lauter and author James Naremore (4/5); actress Terry Moore (4/8); author Alan K. Rode (5/4).
Burt Lancaster was an American original. Born in 1913 in the melting pot of East Harlem, he first acted on the stage of the Union Settlement House before his natural athleticism drew him to a successful career as a circus aerialist. The strapping, blue-eyed, blonde with the legendary grin later referred to Hollywood as “nothing more than a big circus” and when fate brought him into the big top, he seized center ring. A chance meeting with a theatrical agent in 1945 (while picking up his future wife, Norma, for lunch) led to an appearance on Broadway and a contract with producer Hal Wallis who planned to introduce him...
- 4/3/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Following this year’s Survivor Series PPV it would seem that a new stable has been born and is enjoying a successful genesis on WWE television. If rumours are to be believed then the trio of Nxt ‘rookies’ consisting of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns will form a new faction under the leadership of Cm Punk and Paul Heyman – an exciting prospect if the angle and the group are handled correctly. With sufficient build up this could lead to big things for the likes of Rollins who would likely be the breakaway star of the group and ultimately feud with Punk somewhere down the line. But for now all we can do is speculate on where this all is leading. To celebrate the most exciting stable in recent memory as well as the release of the Nwo DVD we take a look at some of the best – and...
- 11/24/2012
- by Matt Aspin
- Obsessed with Film
As well as Edge, also announced on last night’s Raw for the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012 was The Four Horseman. From the way it was portrayed last night they will be inducted as a group consisting of J J Dillion, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and the already inducted Ric Flair. No Ole Anderson.
The decision to induct The Four Horseman as a group was rather interesting because Ric Flair is currently working and signed to a deal with rival company Tna. He was explicitly shown and mentioned in the promo video for the Class and photographed as being inducted so the WWE decided not to shy away from celebrating the Horseman without him.
So it will be interesting to see how they will handle this come the night before WrestleMania’s ceremony but maybe they will skirt around the issue then and just not mention Flair works for another company.
The decision to induct The Four Horseman as a group was rather interesting because Ric Flair is currently working and signed to a deal with rival company Tna. He was explicitly shown and mentioned in the promo video for the Class and photographed as being inducted so the WWE decided not to shy away from celebrating the Horseman without him.
So it will be interesting to see how they will handle this come the night before WrestleMania’s ceremony but maybe they will skirt around the issue then and just not mention Flair works for another company.
- 1/10/2012
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
In Ernest Hemmingway's short story "The Killers," the reader is presented with a character, Ole Anderson, who knows he is to be killed by two hit men yet goes gently into that good night. The story, which was directly adapted into two American film noirs, once by Robert Siodmak (1946) and once by Don Siegel (1964), unnerves because of its existential nature: The protagonist acknowledges that it is meaningless to flee, as he will ultimately die at one time or another. How can you escape the inevitable? Why not cut to the chase and meet it head on? Siodmak's adaptation follows an insurance investigator who essentially wants to discover the reason why Ole was killed. Siegel's adaptation follows the hit men (Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager), one of whom is startled by and becomes obsessed with his target's resignation towards life. Essentially, Siodmak's adaptation takes the form of a mystery while Siegel's...
- 6/24/2010
- by Drew Morton
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