Vintage Wrestling: Who Should Have Been a Horsemen?

[kdawg32086]

It's no secret that The Four Horsemen were one of the most iconic stables of the 80s and very early part of the 90s, with some of the greatest wrestlers of that era being members (along with some terrible inclusions like Roma, Mongo, Sid).

Who was never a Horsemen that you think would have been a good fit for the group?

For me, I think these all would have been solid members:
-Curt Hennig (I think they messed up with having him join the nWo).
-Ray Traylor (IMO, I would've put him in over Mongo)
-Paul Orndorff
-Rick Rude
-The Rock & Roll Express (would've been great to add them in 93 instead of Paul Roma. A heel run could've been great for them here.)
-Chris Jericho (I would've had Benoit turn face in 99 and challenge Flair, with Jericho being his replacement).

[Pharaoh]

Curt & Jericho obviously

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[daoneandonly]

I respectfully disagree on Jericho. He's not exactly the suit and tie, champagne, limo guy the Horsemen were supposed to be, which is why I felt Benoit never belonged. Steven Regal of Bobby Eaton would have been interesting additions.

[kdawg32086]

I respectfully disagree on Jericho. He's not exactly the suit and tie, champagne, limo guy the Horsemen were supposed to be, which is why I felt Benoit never belonged. Steven Regal of Bobby Eaton would have been interesting additions.

It's probably the recency bias of seeing him in a suit and tie lately, but I feel like he could have pulled it off like this or with his hair in a ponytail:


For me as a booker for WCW, my timeline for the Horsemen would have been:

1993: Flair and Arn add the now heel tag team of the Rock n Roll Express to complete the stable, instead of adding Roma and becoming the 3 Horsemen. R&R was incredibly over as faces in the 80s, so this would be a nice changeup like when Hogan turned heel and joined the nWo.

1995: Flair and Arn get jealous of the Rock n Roll Express and their in-ring tag team ability, turning on them and replacing them with Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit, just like what happened in real life. This sets up a nice feud where Arn and Pillman can team against R&R.

1996: When Pillman leaves WCW, he is replaced by Ray Traylor (Big Bubba) as the new 4th member of the Horsemen, instead of Mongo. Much better worker than Mongo, and he was affiliated with the Horsemen in the 80s before he ever went to WWF.

1997: When Arn retires, they add Curt Hennig, who becomes a permanent member of the group instead of joining the nWo. He is their new enforcer and Arn takes a JJ Dillon type role with the group.

2000: Benoit wins the title, angering Flair and he is kicked out of the group and replaced with Chris Jericho who becomes Flair's protege.

[daoneandonly]

I respectfully disagree on Jericho. He's not exactly the suit and tie, champagne, limo guy the Horsemen were supposed to be, which is why I felt Benoit never belonged. Steven Regal of Bobby Eaton would have been interesting additions.

It's probably the recency bias of seeing him in a suit and tie lately, but I feel like he could have pulled it off like this or with his hair in a ponytail:


For me as a booker for WCW, my timeline for the Horsemen would have been:

1993: Flair and Arn add the now heel tag team of the Rock n Roll Express to complete the stable, instead of adding Roma and becoming the 3 Horsemen. R&R was incredibly over as faces in the 80s, so this would be a nice changeup like when Hogan turned heel and joined the nWo.

1995: Flair and Arn get jealous of the Rock n Roll Express and their in-ring tag team ability, turning on them and replacing them with Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit, just like what happened in real life. This sets up a nice feud where Arn and Pillman can team against R&R.

1996: When Pillman leaves WCW, he is replaced by Ray Traylor (Big Bubba) as the new 4th member of the Horsemen, instead of Mongo. Much better worker than Mongo, and he was affiliated with the Horsemen in the 80s before he ever went to WWF.

1997: When Arn retires, they add Curt Hennig, who becomes a permanent member of the group instead of joining the nWo. He is their new enforcer and Arn takes a JJ Dillon type role with the group.

2000: Benoit wins the title, angering Flair and he is kicked out of the group and replaced with Chris Jericho who becomes Flair's protege.

ROck n ROll Express would have definitely been interesting as Horsemen. And yeah, Mongo sucks, Boss Man would have been far better.

[kdawg32086]

ROck n ROll Express would have definitely been interesting as Horsemen. And yeah, Mongo sucks, Boss Man would have been far better.

Yeah, my thinking with the Express was that they were working in SMW, but they beat the Heavenly Bodies in a cross-promotion match at SuperBrawl III in February 1993. It would be a good way to spin that they caught the attention of WCW management again, and of Ric (who had just returned from WWF) and Arn. They promised a reformation of the Horsemen at the next ppv, Slamboree in May and so it would have been nice to see them return at the ppv and then beat the Hollywood Blonds for the tag team belts and start a feud.

The reason given for them joining the Horsemen is that they don't need the fans anymore because they're the best tag team in the business and they want to align themselves with the rest of the best in the business. The feud between them and the Blonds could have been epic.

Also, instead of the epic Fall Brawl War Games failure with the Shockmaster, they could have gone with Flair, Arn, Morton, and Gibson vs. Rick Rude, Ricky Steamboat, and the Hollywood Blonds.

[Pharaoh]

I love the fantasy booking so:

How is Steamboat teaming with the Blondes and Rude? They're heels - or you turning all 3 face to go against the Horsemen?

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[kdawg32086]

I love the fantasy booking so:

How is Steamboat teaming with the Blondes and Rude? They're heels - or you turning all 3 face to go against the Horsemen?

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Turning the Blonds and Rude into faces. Rude would have been just returning from a neck injury around the time the Horsemen got back together, so I think the timing sets up for bringing him back as a face and testing the waters there. WCW was lacking top faces at the time outside of Sting and Steamboat (who was 40 at the time), which I believe is why Flair came back as a face which didn't really work. If Rude as a face doesn't work, then it's pretty easy to turn him by having him attack Steamboat or something.

With the Blonds, I think it would be pretty easy to get them over as faces and then have one of them turn on the other down the line to get them both over as singles wrestlers.

[kdawg32086]

To build on this, my fantasy booking of the 1993 Horsemen angle would have built up to this at Starrcade 93:
1) 2 Cold Scorpio vs.Marcus Alexander Bagwell
2) The Nasty Boyz vs. Pretty Wonderful
3) Davey Boy Smith vs. Larry Zybszko
4) Barry Windham vs. Lord Steven Reagal for the TV Title
5) Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman
6) The Rock n Roll Express vs. Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Titles
7) Sting vs. Ron Simmons
8) Ricky Steamboat vs. Vader for the US Title
9) Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the World Title

[Pharaoh]

To build on this, my fantasy booking of the 1993 Horsemen angle would have built up to this at Starrcade 93:
1) 2 Cold Scorpio vs.Marcus Alexander Bagwell
2) The Nasty Boyz vs. Pretty Wonderful
3) Davey Boy Smith vs. Larry Zybszko
4) Barry Windham vs. Lord Steven Reagal for the TV Title
5) Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman
6) The Rock n Roll Express vs. Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Titles
7) Sting vs. Ron Simmons
8) Ricky Steamboat vs. Vader for the US Title
9) Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the World Title

Dude if you want to do a fantasy booking thread I'd read it!

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[kdawg32086]

To build on this, my fantasy booking of the 1993 Horsemen angle would have built up to this at Starrcade 93:
1) 2 Cold Scorpio vs.Marcus Alexander Bagwell
2) The Nasty Boyz vs. Pretty Wonderful
3) Davey Boy Smith vs. Larry Zybszko
4) Barry Windham vs. Lord Steven Reagal for the TV Title
5) Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman
6) The Rock n Roll Express vs. Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Titles
7) Sting vs. Ron Simmons
8) Ricky Steamboat vs. Vader for the US Title
9) Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the World Title

Dude if you want to do a fantasy booking thread I'd read it!

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Haha, I might actually do that but would make it a fantasy booking thread where everyone could post how they would have booked certain events.

[MoreyWins]

In 2002 there was a chance for a Flair, Arn, Guerrero, Benoit Horseman group. When Benoit returned in 2002 he aligned himself with those three in a beat down against Austin. That fell through when Austin walked out and Benoit/Eddie were sent to Smackdown.