The Brain Busters were a popular tag team that wrestled for Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, and WWE in the 1980s. The group consisted of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson while they were both in the Four Horsemen stable. Blanchard and Anderson were part of the original Four Horsemen stable, along with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Arn’s storyline brother, and original tag team partner Ole Anderson, and the group was led by JJ Dillon.
In 1987, Ole was kicked out of the Four Horsemen and replaced by Lex Luger. As a result of the personnel change, Luger remained as a singles wrestler, while Anderson and Blanchard teamed up as a tag team. In the same year the team was formed, Blanchard and Anderson would go on to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles by defeating the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express.
10/10 Left WCW after finding pay disparities
Before signing with WWE, Blanchard and Anderson held the NWA World Tag Team Titles. Anderson and Blanchard would defeat future Four Horsemen Barry Windham and Lex Luger to win the titles on an episode of the NWA television show. Despite being the tag team champions and working closely with world champion Ric Flair as part of the Four Horsemen stable, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson were unhappy with their salary in the NWA.
The duo left NWA and crossed over to WWE, which was enjoying a boom period thanks to Hulkamania and their WrestleMania bid. WWE was more than happy to take two of the NWA’s biggest stars off their hands, and he would be one of many NWA stars WWE would poach, including Ric Flair in the early 1990s.
9/10 I never defended WWE tag titles on PPV
The Brain Busters would win their first and only WWE Tag Team Championship in July 1989 on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event. The pair would hold the title for over two months before losing it and never holding it again in WWE. The year the Brain Busters won the title was also the same year WWE increased its number of pay-per-views per year from three to five with the introduction of the Royal Rumble and the one-off No Holds Barred pay-per-view. . to promote the Hulk Hogan movie.
The Brain Busters held the title prior to SummerSlam 1989, which was held at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey, and even appeared on the undercard against the Hart Foundation. Despite being on the card, in a tag team match and holding the titles, the Brain Busters did not have their titles on the line as they defeated The Hart Foundation in the longest match of the night.
8/10 Never lost on PPV
The Brain Busters were a successful tag team, both in the NWA and WWE territories. The duo were part of the Four Horsemen stable and enjoyed success alongside Ric Flair. When the duo moved to WWE, they also held the Tag Team Championships, taking the titles from Demolition. As part of their success, the pair never lost a single pay-per-view tag team match in WWE or NWA.
In WWE, the Brain Busters defeated the Strike Force at WrestleMania V and the Hart Foundation at SummerSlam 1989. The only time they lost a pay-per-view match was at Survivor Series 1989 as part of a tag team elimination match with Demolition. The Bolsheviks, The Conquerors and The Fabulous Rougeaus. The Brain Busters were eliminated by disqualification along with The Rockers.
7/10 He only wrestled at a WrestleMania PPV
Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson came to WWE less than a month after losing the NWA World Tag Team Titles to the Midnight Express on an NWA show in September 1988. Dubbed the Brain Busters, Blanchard and Anderson would make their debut in the WWE against an enhanced tag team. in an episode of Superstars. The following January, Blanchard and Anderson would make their Royal Rumble debut, wrestling in WWE as singles competitors for the first time in their careers.
The pay-per-view after Royal Rumble 1989 was WrestleMania V. At the event, the Brain Busters defeated the Strike Force after Tito Santana accidentally hit Rick Martel with a flying clothesline, and Martel left Santana to fight the Brains alone. Busters. This would be the first and only Wrestlemania that Anderson or Blanchard would be at, with Blanchard being released from WWE in November and Arn Anderson leaving a month later.
6/10 Broke Demolition’s record tag title reign
Before New Day broke it, Demolition had the longest previous WWE Tag Team Title reign at 478 days holding the World Tag Team Titles. Demolition’s long reign would begin at WrestleMania IV after they defeated Strike Force for the belts. Demolition would hold the titles until 1989, when they were defeated by the Brain Busters in the main event of Saturday Night. The match would be a 2 out of 3 falls match, in which the Brain Busters would win two falls to one.
Demolition would eventually get their revenge and regain the titles later that same year, defeating the Brain Busters on an episode of Superstars.
5/10 Blanchard was suspended for failing a drug test
Even before WWE instituted its Wellness Policy in 2006, wrestlers were still routinely drug tested, as required by certain state athletic commissions. If they fail a drug test, the fighter is likely to be suspended or fired, depending on their place on the card, importance to the organization, how egregious the drug use was, or how many times the fighter had failed. In November 1989, Tully Blanchard was told that he had failed a drug test and was suspended. This kept Blanchard out of that year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view, as Blanchard would wrestle his final WWE match at a house show on November 5, 1989.
Blanchard would later reveal that he and Anderson were working on a deal that would bring them back to WCW, which was revoked after news of his suspension became public. Arn Anderson would return to WCW, while Blanchard went to wrestle for the AWA.
4/10 Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard parted ways after WWE
As previously stated, Tully Blanchard would leave WWE after failing a drug test in November 1989, leaving Arn Anderson without a tag team partner. The failed drug test also soured a deal the pair were working on with WCW to return to the promotion and potentially reunite the Four Horsemen. Instead of wrestling for WCW, Tully Blanchard was signed by the AWA and wrestled there before making a special return to WCW in 1994 in a one-off match against Terry Funk. Blanchard would retire from wrestling full-time in 1998, occasionally making appearances at Legends events and promotions.
Arn Anderson would return to WCW and reunite with Ole Anderson and reform the Four Horsemen. Anderson would continue to wrestle until retiring from it in 1996 due to an accumulation of neck and back injuries. Anderson would continue to work for WCW until the promotion was sold to WWE in 2001, before working as a traveling agent for WWE until he was let go in 2019.
3/10 Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame
In 2012, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson were finally inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, however they were not inducted as Brain Busters, holders of the WWE Tag Team Title, but as members of the Four Horsemen stable. The duo was inducted alongside Ric Flair, Barry Windam and manager JJ Dillon by their old NWA rival Dusty Rhodes. The Four Horsemen’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, when they never appeared together for the promotion, seemed like a strange induction.
The iteration of the Four Horsemen that included Windham was not the first version of the group. However, many believe that the formation of Flair, Blanchard, Anderson and Windham is the best version of the group in its long history.
2/10 Reunited In AEW
In 2019, Shawn Spears would sign Tully Blanchard as his head trainer and manager at All Elite Wrestling. This would mark the first time Blanchard has worked for a major wrestling promotion since working for WWE as a producer in the early 2000s. Spears came to AEW after throwing a notoriously stiff chair punch at Cody Rhodes after the match. the latter at Fyter Fest against Darby Allin.
After being released from WWE, Arn Anderson would also begin working with All Elite Wrestling in 2019, siding with Cody Rhodes and attacking Shawn Spears with a Spine Buster during their match at All Out. They were joined at AEW by the manager of the original Four Horsemen, JJ Dillon, who was ringside for Tully Blanchard and FTR taking on the Jungle Express.
1/10 They both have children who fight
Being a second generation wrestler is a big deal as many of the greatest wrestlers come from wrestling parents, wrestlers like The Rock, Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect and others have multiple generations of wrestlers in their families and the same is true. . by Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Tully’s daughter, Tessa, has held multiple women’s titles in a variety of promotions and is a former Impact Champion, becoming the first woman to hold the title after defeating Sami Callihan at Hard to Kill 2020. However, due to Tessa’s accusations of racism, it appears that most wrestling companies have shunned her, even disappearing from the upcoming Women Of Wrestling promotion despite the company heavily promoting her inclusion.
Brock Anderson would make his debut on an episode of AEW Dynamite, teaming with Cody Rhodes against QT Marshall and Aaron Solow. While there have been many wrestlers billed as Anderson over the years, Brock and Arn are the only two Andersons who are related in wrestling, Ole Anderson being Arn’s kayfabe brother. After his debut, it was announced that Brock signed a contract with AEW, where he continues to wrestle under the management of his father, Arn.