luger was one of the first, back when he was a real killer. i think he might have replaced ole but don't quote me on that.
have you seen mongo lately? he sang the seventh inning stretch last year and the guy was easily a jillion pounds. debra traded up on that one.
on the fantasy booking tip, i'd like to see flair build up a new group of horsemen as the crown jewel of the smackdown group and feud with the raw group's nwo on the crossover pay per views.
It's just you against the group mind. I like weiners.
I just finished watching a tape of vintage Flair interviews from 1986-88 and it definitely made me wax nostalgic for the Horsemen. But I have doubts that it would work. The later versions of the Horsemen never seemed to get off the ground, and though some great wrestlers were members, they always seemed like a pale imitation of the original. Without Arn and Tully, it's not the Horsemen. The later incarnations were really just Ric Flair and a bunch of guys who couldn't talk.
I was wrong when it came to fans remembering the NWO, but I think it's doubtful that enough fans would remember the Horsemen for it to be worth doing. So I think that it probably wouldn't succeed, and even if it did, I'd rather remember the original Horsemen as they were than see yet another attempt at reviving a stable that peaked 15 years ago. Besides, I think it's better for wrestling if they'd try to create new stables instead of attempting to recreate the past.
"No one has a beer party at Scott Hall's expense!"
Originally posted by WTF13I just finished watching a tape of vintage Flair interviews from 1986-88 and it definitely made me wax nostalgic for the Horsemen. But I have doubts that it would work. The later versions of the Horsemen never seemed to get off the ground, and though some great wrestlers were members, they always seemed like a pale imitation of the original. Without Arn and Tully, it's not the Horsemen. The later incarnations were really just Ric Flair and a bunch of guys who couldn't talk.
I was wrong when it came to fans remembering the NWO, but I think it's doubtful that enough fans would remember the Horsemen for it to be worth doing. So I think that it probably wouldn't succeed, and even if it did, I'd rather remember the original Horsemen as they were than see yet another attempt at reviving a stable that peaked 15 years ago. Besides, I think it's better for wrestling if they'd try to create new stables instead of attempting to recreate the past.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying there WTF13 and there will never be another like the original incarnation of the Horsemen ,but I'm not against bringing them back . I would like to see Flair though , more in the Dillion role (with more stroke than Dillion had of course ) and Arn more in an advisor's role , then fill the stable with 4 credible talents ( I have no idea who ) and let em' be the asskickin sumbitches the horsemen use to be .
As far as trying to recreate the past , isn't that what wrestling has always been about , re cycling gimmicks for every generation that comes along ?
"Damnit Peggy , here I am trying to contain an outbreak and you're driving the monkey to the airport. " - Hank Hill
Yeah, there is definitely nothing really new in wrestling, but there's a difference between recycling basic ideas [a dominant heel stable] and recycling specific gimmicks [attempting to resurrect a specific heel stable for the umpteenth time, when none of the original members are credible as active talents.]
But I'd love to see Flair in a role similar to what you describe--I'd just prefer they leave the Horsemen name out of it. I'd also rather have Flair and Arn as heels--good heels are hard to find these days, and I never thought the Horsemen worked nearly as well as faces in the first place.
"No one has a beer party at Scott Hall's expense!"
Well, Horsemen have to be heel. It's a rule. So, I like the idea of the Canadian Horsemen. Jericho - Leader, Flair style. Test - Enforcer, Arn's job Storm & Christian - The Tag Team, the Helpers, the Guys Who Can Be Rotated Out. Anyway, I think this would seriously work. Heel stables have magical ways of getting over.
They missed the perfect chance to form a Horsemen group when the N.W.O. showed up and transformed from "promotion-killing disease" to "hey, look, it's those guys."
Now that apparently nobody gives a crap about them except for Rock, Austin, and the announce team, it's kind of moot, but when Flair was still involved he could've put a team together as a sort of last-ditch attempt to "save" the WWF. However, that may've been a bad idea, as the group'd have to have at least one top-level face in it... and none of the big three would fit.
A heel Horseman group could work.. but I think Christian and Storm are viewed as such non-threats that it'd take a good deal of "rehabilitation" on their characters, storyline-wise, to make it work with them in it.
See... the problem with thinking about a new Four Horsemen is that it tends to just turn into "make a stable out of your 4 favorite guys". Personally, I'd like to see a Horsemen made up of Jericho, Benoit, Guerrerro, and Tajiri. But, that could create a dangerously high level of dickishness.
Kansas-born and deeply ashamed The last living La Parka Marka: HE raised the briefcase!
The whole Undertaker/Flair angle is what has recently brought Arn and the Horsemen back into the spotlight.
I wouldn't be suprised to see the payoff to the respect angle have something to do with a new Horsemen, and of course a 20 minute promo with Flair crying and talking about Dick the Bruiser.
Sting was a Horseman, but at one Clash (I think) he got his ass handed to him by the other Horseman cuz he wanted a title shot against Flair or something like that. I could be wrong though.
They like suckered in Sting and acted like they were going to let him in, then brought in (Luger?) instead and totally killed Sting at the Bash in question.
I love the Four Horsemen, but they shouldn't bring them back. Really, all they would be bringing back is a stable with the name "Four Horsemen", not the real Four Horsemen. Arn can't wrestle, and Ric is very limited (and should be given his age), and without them, you can't have the Four Horsemen. Sure, you could stick them at ringside, but it wouldn't be the same (and it never has been the same).
At least if they brought back DX, they could bring back the original members.
Or maybe they could actually try to create a brand new stable.
Originally posted by SarumanThey like suckered in Sting and acted like they were going to let him in, then brought in (Luger?) instead and totally killed Sting at the Bash in question.
Yeah, Sting was offered a spot in the Horseman in early 1990. Later that same month at the Clash of the Chmpaions in Chorpus Christi Texas he was kicked out and beaten (it was an awesome beatdown) for accepting a title match with Flair. That same night he tried to climb a cage to get at the Horsemen who were fighting Funk, Muta and Sawyer and legit hurt his knee and needed surgery. It was written into the shows the following week that the Horsemen attacked him in the parking lot after the show.
He was scheduled to wrestle Flair at the next PPV (Wrestle War?), but the shot was given to Luger. Luger was heel at the time, but turned face to defend his hurt friend Sting. In fact, he only lost in the match with Flair because Sting came down to the ring on crutches, and was attacked. Luger got counted out trying to save him. There was an awesome sequence in that match where Flair's chops had no affect on Luger because the fans started cheering him. Trust me, it was cool. Sting's spot in the Horsemen was eventually taken by a returning Sid Vicious (he had been out with a punctured lung). This angle also led to Sting bringing in Robocop to protect him at the Capital Combat PPV in May of that year. Eventually Sting got better and got his shot at the Great American Bash (July), and defeated Flair for the belt. An awesome angle indeed (minus the Robocop shit).
"...the people ran, they ran all right, they ran right to the toilet, pulled their pants down, took one big Hulk-a-CRAP every time you opened your mouth!"
Since this thread started I've been thinking about this, and I really think that a real Horsemen stable, or one even resembling them, isn't really possible post-kayfabe. Heels don't really "heel" anymore, as Shane Douglas calls it. A successful heel stable today is more like DX. So maybe whether the WWF would bring back DX is a better question.
"No one has a beer party at Scott Hall's expense!"
The problem with that is that the last incarnation of DX was pretty lame, too. It wasn't anything more than a generic heel stable (they ought to have worn white shirts with black bar codes on 'em instead of green and black). Besides, Dogg's fired, Billy is off with Chuck, X-Pac hasn't been on TV in months, Triple H doesn't really need a stable any more, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for HBK to make anything more than the occasional ratings-popper guest appearance.
All these "reform an old stable" threads, whether about the Horsemen, DX, nWo, or Raven's Flock, are built on a belief that all you have to do is get together a certain group of people, give them the magic name, and pow, lightning will strike again. Doesn't work that way, and recent history is littered with enough crappy "new" versions of the nWo, DX, and the Horsemen to bear that out.
Saaaay, why doesn't anyone ever propose reforming the Ministry of Darkness? Or the Corporation? Or, hey, the Union? I -liked- the Union.
Well, the Radicalz were essentially the Horsemen 2K1 anyways...but I'd still love to see a Horsemen Reunion as long as it didn't suck like the Alliance did. I mean, just round up Flair, Benoit, and a tag team (like the APA?). Flair & the Tag Team are the wheelin', dealin', kiss-stealin' limousine riding, lear jet flyin' sons of guns, while Benoit is the BADASS who just beats the hell out of everyone. I mean, it's the way he got over in the first place!
Holden: Judging by the buzz, that movie's gonna make some serious bank. Jay: What buzz? Holden: The internet buzz. Jay: What the f*ck is the internet? [Holden (Ben Affleck) & Jay (Jason Mewes) in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back]
But in today's wrestling, where titles and face/heel turns are essentially meaningless, can you really do a Horsemen-type stable? I just don't think it can work these days. The Horsemen would hold on to titles for months, and in Flair's case, years. RVD's ECW TV title reign notwithstanding, can you imagine a wrestler today holding a title for even an entire year, much less almost two years?
I guess what I was saying earlier is that a DX-style stable would be more realistic today than the Horsemen. Not necessarily that they should bring back DX, but that a stable with "funny" heels that play to the crowd has more chance to succeed in wrestling today than one that is primarily wrestling-oriented.
I think the Radicalz might have had a shot at pulling it off, but I guess we'll never know.
"No one has a beer party at Scott Hall's expense!"
... Kevin Nash when he was doing those Vince McMahon impersonations on Nitro, with all that gawd-awful makeup on? Something tells me that it could be good for a laugh if Nash ever does return to the WWF. Lets' save it ... for the pay per view!