Pro wrestling hall of famer and original member of the Four Horsemen Ole Anderson has passed away at the age of 81. Born Al Ragowski, he started his wrestling career in 1967 and retired in 1990. He held numerous territorial titles for the NWA and Mid-Atlantic and held many jobs in the wrestling business such as booker, promoter, and referee. Renamed Ole Anderson, he teamed with Gene Anderson as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and dominated the tag team competition for the NWA in the 1970’s.
As promoter, it was Ole who put together the Road Warriors Joe Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand and renamed them Animal and Hawk. Then he discovered a young wrestler named Martin Lunde and renamed him Arn Anderson because they looked alike and became the new Minnesota Wrecking Crew. Ric Flair would be their cousin thus brings the genesis of the Four Horsemen. Together with Tully Blanchard and manager JJ Dillon they dominated the NWA from 1985-87, where Ole was kicked out of the group and was replaced by Lex Luger. Ole would feud with the Horsemen as revenge.
In 1990 he returned to the Four Horsemen and became a manager and his spot was taken by Sid Vicious. The lineup was Ole as manager, Arn, Flair, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious. In the next four years, Ole was working behind the scenes until he was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1994.
Ole was said to be very outspoken and challenged anyone to take down he and Gene or he and Arn. In recent years, Ole attended many wrestling conventions and did shoot interviews, along with the Four Horsemen reunions. Ole Anderson’s contributions to the wrestling business is cemented and gave us memories from the Four Horsemen that will never be duplicated. He will be greatly missed by all.
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