Ole Anderson

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Alan Rogowski
Statistics
Ring name(s)	The Rock Rock Rogowski Ole Anderson
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	256 lb (116 kg)
Born	September 22, 1942 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Trained by	Verne Gagne
Debut	1967
Retired	1993

Alan Rogowski, better known by his ring name Ole Anderson, is a retired professional wrestling performer and a promoter. He held numerous NWA World Tag Team Championships with Gene Anderson who was portrayed as his brother.

Contents 1 Career 2 Wrestling facts 3 Championships and accomplishments 4 Trivia 5 Books

[edit] Career

Anderson started wrestling in 1967 in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as Rock Rogowski, where he held the AWA Midwest Heavyweight and the AWA Midwest Tag Team Titles.

He went on to work for National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned promotions such as Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP, out of Charlotte, North Carolina) and Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), where he adopted the ring name Ole Anderson, and became a member of the legendary tag team called the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his "brother" Gene Anderson after Lars Anderson left the team in the late 1960s. The team of Ole & Gene became synonymous with tag team wrestling in JCP and GCW for many years running.

The Andersons feuded with such stars as Mr. Wrestling & Mr. Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Tommy Rich, Johnny Weaver, Dino Bravo, Paul Jones, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Rufus R. Jones, The Mongols, and Thunderbolt Patterson throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Behind the scenes, Anderson was also the primary booker for GCW and also had a stint booking JCP in 1981-82. For a time he even booked both companies simultaneously, often combining both rosters for supercards which were noted for offering some of the best action in the business at that time. He later left JCP to book and wrestle for GCW full-time.

When owners Jack and Jerry Brisco sold that promotion to Vince McMahon, Anderson resisted the change, and joined forces with longtime NWA-sanctioned promoters Fred Ward and Ralph Freed to start a new company called Championship Wrestling from Georgia.

In April 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions and Championship Wrestling from Georgia essentially merged. Anderson was teaming with Thunderbolt Patterson in CWG just as Marty Lunde was debuting in JCP as Arn Anderson. It seemed like a natural fit to put the two "Andersons" together. Anderson soon turned on Thunderbolt and teamed with Arn as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.

In 1986, Anderson became part of the original Four Horsemen, a heel stable, with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and manager James J. Dillon. During his time in the Horsemen, Anderson feuded with Magnum T.A., Dusty Rhodes, The Rock 'N Roll Express and the Road Warriors. Anderson was later kicked out of the group in favor of Lex Luger in early 1987.

Anderson retired in 1988, when his son, Brian, was starting his own amateur wrestling career. Brian would wrestle later in WCW as Bryant Anderson.

Anderson returned to wrestling with WCW in 1989 to reform the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn and Sting. They quickly kicked Sting out of the group, and Anderson retired again to manage the Horsemen, who by then also included Barry Windham and Sid Vicious.

By 1990, Anderson had been chosen to head the booking committee for WCW, which was at that time beginning to phase out the use of the NWA name on its television programming. Appearing in the credits for WCW Pay-per-views (PPVs) under his real name, Anderson was responsible for some of the more infamous creative ideas tried by WCW. Among his creations were The Black Scorpion, which was intended to be a nemesis from Sting's past. After several miscues, the Scorpion's identity was eventually revealed as Ric Flair, in a ploy to confuse Sting and force him to lose the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

When Eric Bischoff took over control of WCW in 1993, both Anderson and his son became a casualty of his "house cleaning" when Bischoff fired Bryan while he was training at the WCW Power Plant. This prompted Anderson to call Smoky Mountain Wrestling head Jim Cornette to try to get his son a job. Anderson's judgment to deal with Cornette, someone Bischoff was on bad terms with, on WCW property, was the factor that led to his firing. Infamously, Bischoff fired Anderson over the phone, even though he spoke to Anderson face-to-face the day before.

Since that time, Ole has stayed away from the business, but wrote a book on it entitled Inside Out. He has also hinted at having heat with former partner and friend Ric Flair by criticizing that Flair has wrestled the same match for years [1].

[edit] Wrestling facts

• Managers
• James J. Dillon

• Factions
• Four Horsemen
• Minnesota Wrecking Crew

• Wrestlers managed

Arn Anderson Bryant Anderson Wayne Bloom Paul Ellering

Mike Enos Ric Flair Michael Hayes Samoan Afa

Samoan Sika Sid Vicious Barry Windham

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA Midwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• AWA Midwest Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Ox Baker (1) and The Claw (1)

• National Wrestling Alliance
• World

• NWA World Tag Team Championship (10 times) - with Gene Anderson (9) and Stan Hansen (1)

• National

• NWA National Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Arn Anderson (1) and Thunderbolt Patterson (1)

• Regional

• NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Championship (5 times) - with Gene Anderson
• NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ron Garvin
• NWA Florida Television Championship (1 time)
• NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (16 times) - with Gene Anderson (6), Ivan Koloff (5), Lars Anderson (2), Rene Goulet (1), Ernie Ladd (1), and Jerry Brisco (1)
• NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA Southeast Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA World Television Championship (1 time)

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1994)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him #74 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.
• PWI ranked him #66 with Stan Hansen of the best tag teams during the "PWI Years".
• PWI ranked him #79 with Arn Anderson of the best tag teams during the "PWI Years".
• PWI Tag Team of the Year award with Gene Anderson in 1975.
• PWI Tag Team of the Year award with Gene Anderson in 1977.

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • 1982 Tag Team of the Year (with Stan Hansen)

[edit] Trivia

Rogowski is not related to Ric Flair or any of the Andersons. His son, Brian Rogowski, wrestled as Bryant Anderson in WCW. Brian is Rogowski's only real relative involved in professional wrestling.

[edit] Books

Autobiography: Inside Out, 2003 with Scott Teal, ISBN 0-9745545-0-2