Profile of Ole Anderson on Famous Like Me

Alan Rogowski (better known as Ole Anderson) was a professional wrestling performer and promotion executive. He held numerous NWA World Tag Team Championships with his "brother" Gene, and was "related" to Arn Anderson.

Profile

• Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
• Weight: 256 lbs.
• Birthday: September 22, 1942
• Hometown: Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Other Names: Rock Rogowski
• Nickname: "The Rock", "Douchebag McGee"
• Trainer: Verne Gagne
• Managers: James J. Dillon
• Wrestlers managed by Ole: Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, Barry Windham, Mike Enos, Wayne Bloom, Bryant Anderson, Samoan Afa, Samoan Sika
• Factions: Four Horsemen, Minnesota Wrecking Crew

Career

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

He went on to the National Wrestling Alliance where he adopted the ring name Ole Anderson, and formed a legendary tag team called the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his "brother" Gene Anderson. They feuded with Mr. Wrestling, Wahoo McDaniel, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Tommy Rich and Thunderbolt Patterson throught the 1970's and early 1980's.

Behind the scenes, Anderson was also the primary booker for Georgia Championship Wrestling. When owners Jack and Jerry Brisco sold the promotion to Vince McMahon, Anderson resisted the change, later starting his own promotion.

In April 1985, Anderson was teaming with Thunderbolt Patterson when Arn Anderson debuted in the NWA. Anderson soon turned on Thunderbolt to team with Arn as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.

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

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

Anderson returned to WCW in late 1989 to reform the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn and Sting. They quickly kicked Sting out of the group. Ole soon retired from wrestling to manage the Horsemen, who by then had 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 PPV's under his real name, Anderson was responsible for some of the more infamous creative ideas tried by WCW. This included The Black Scorpion, which was intended to be a nemesis from Sting's past. The poorly-conceived gimmick (originally voiced by Anderson) was originally intended to be a vehicle for bringing in The Ultimate Warrior, but Warrior had no interest in leaving the WWF. 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.

Anderson briefly appeared on WCW TV in 1993 during a short-lived Four Horsemen reunion, but quickly disappeared from television soon after. He is now mostly retired from wrestling, although he does make frequent appearances as wrestling conventions and other gatherings.

Championships/Accomplishments

National Wrestling Alliance

• 10-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson 9 times and Stan Hansen once)
• 3-Time NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson)
• 1-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Champion
• 1-Time NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Champion
• 2-Time NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson)
• 2-Time NWA National Tag Team Champion (with Arn Anderson and Thunderbolt Patterson)

American Wrestling Association

• 1-Time AWA Midwest Heavyweight Champion
• 2-Time AWA Midwest Tag Team Champion (with Ox Baker and The Claw)

Florida Championship Wrestling

• 1-Time Florida Tag Team Champion (with Ron Garvin)
• 1-Time Florida Television Champion

Georgia Championship Wrestling

• 1-Time Georgia Television Champion
• 16-Time Georgia Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson 6 times, Ivan Koloff 5 times, Lars Anderson 2 times, Rene Goulet once, Ernie Ladd once and Jerry Brisco once)

Southeast Championship Wrestling

• 1-Time NWA Southeast Heavyweight Champion

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked Ole #74 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also named to two of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was #66 with Stan Hansen and #79 with Arn Anderson. His team with Gene Anderson was before the "PWI Years", so they did not qualify.
• Ole also won two PWI Tag Team of the Year awards with Gene. They were in 1975 and 1977.

Halls of Fame

• Ole was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1994.

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.

Books

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

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Ole Anderson