The Anderson family is a group of

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, a part fictional, part real,

extended family An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem ...

largely consisting of brothers, cousins and children.

Gene Anderson

NWA Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. Inductees receive commemora ...

r Gene Anderson (the only actual 'Anderson' of the original group), born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

, started his professional wrestling career in 1958. Gene was trained by

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when André the Giant was posthumously i ...

r Vern Gagne.

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew

After spending a few years working for WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart's Canadian wrestling promotion

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the pro ...

, Gene started working for Verne Gagne's Minneapolis, Minnesota based

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part ...

(AWA) in 1961. In 1965, Gene formed the

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew with fellow Minnesota native Larry Heiniemi, who had started his professional wrestling career that same year.

Lars Anderson

Larry, who had been performing under his real name, became Lars Anderson and was billed as being Gene's brother.

Ole Anderson

In 1968, while working for Paul Jones' Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), Gene invited Alan Rogowski, who had been wrestling as Rock Rogowski since he started his professional wrestling career the year prior, to join the team. Alan began performing as Ole Anderson, the brother of Gene and Lars. The three would team together in different combinations until Lars moved to Hawaii in 1969. After Lars moved, Gene and Ole continued the team and Lars would only make sporadic appearances from then on. Gene and Ole remained a team until 1982.

Arn Anderson

While working for Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling Association (MSW) in 1983, Martin Lunde, who started his professional wrestling career in 1981, was sitting in the locker room during an MSW event when Watts was having a conversation with Matt Osborne, Ted DiBiase and Jim Duggan. The three men Watts were talking to were nearing the end of their run with MSW and Watts was sending them to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

to work for GCW, which was owned by Jim Barnett at the time. Watts told Osborne that he was going to be managed by Paul Ellering and that he would be performing as a part of a tag team. Watts explained that they needed to find Osborne a tag team partner when Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog), who was also in the locker room, suggested that since Martin strongly resembled Ole Anderson, who was currently working in GCW, he should be sent over to GCW as an Anderson and be Osborne's tag team partner. Watts looked over at Martin and agreed that he did in fact look a lot like Ole and then made the decision to send him to GCW as well. When Martin arrived in Atlanta he introduced himself to Ole who immediately reacted to the fact that Martin did in fact look like him. Ole gave Martin, who had previously wrestled under his real name and Super Olympia, the new name

Arn Anderson Martin Anthony Lunde (born September 20, 1958), better known by the ring name Arn Anderson, is an American professional wrestling road agent, author, and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a ...

. Arn was ultimately billed as the brother of Gene, Lars and Ole but at other times he was billed as a cousin or nephew. Ole and Arn would start teaming together later that year, shortly after Arn's tag partner Osborne was released from GCW. Ole and Arn would remain a team until Ole retired in 1987. While he is not related to Ole by blood, Arn did marry Ole Anderson's daughter, making Ole his father in law. In combined total, the four original Andersons were tag team champions 41 times, winning 12 different tag team championships across the United States. Several modern tag teams have taken names similar to the Minnesota Wrecking Crew as an homage to the group.

Ric Flair

As early as 1974, the 2 time WWE Hall of Famer

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...

was being billed as the cousin of Ole and Gene, teaming with them sporadically until 1977. In 1977, Flair teamed with

Blackjack Mulligan Robert Deroy Windham (November 25, 1942 – April 7, 2016), better known by his ring name Blackjack Mulligan, was an American professional wrestler and American football player. He was the father of wrestlers Barry and Kendall Windham, father-in ...

and

Greg Valentine Jonathan Anthony Wisniski (born September 20, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine. Over five decades, Valentine held more than 40 championships ...

in a feud against his storyline cousins Gene and Ole. In 1981, Ric reunited with Gene and Ole. In 1985, while working for

Southeastern Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wr ...

(SECW), Arn was asked by SECW promoter Robert Fuller to ride with Flair while he was there working for the promotion. Arn, who was a fan of Flair, gladly accepted. Flair later convinced Arn to make the move from SECW, where he was very comfortable in his position in both his wrestling career and living situation in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...

, to Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW). Arn would once again need Flair's convincing when Arn was prepared to leave MACW after receiving a payout that was less than he was making with SECW. During this time in MACW, Flair began working as a team with Ole and Arn in different combinations in a feud against WWE Hall of Famer

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who most notably worked for the National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crocket ...

, Magnum T. A.,

Billy Jack Haynes William Albert Haynes III (born July 10, 1953) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Billy Jack Haynes. Professional wrestling career Early career (1982–1984) Haynes started wrestling in 1982 at the ag ...

and Manny Fernandez.

Rip Hawk

In 1974, at the same time as being billed as an Anderson cousin, Flair was also being billed as the nephew of American professional wrestler Rip Hawk. Rip Hawk was by extension billed as related to the Anderson family.

The Four Horsemen

In June 1984, Flair began a feud with WWE Hall of Famer Tully Blanchard, until November 1985 when they became a team. In early 1986, Flair and Blanchard allied themselves with Flair's storyline cousins Ole and Arn. Shortly afterward, J. J. Dillon, who was already managing Blanchard, joined the team as their manager. According to Arn Anderson, the team finally felt complete when Dillon joined the group. During an impromptu interview after an 8 man tag team match that the group won, Arn said, "The only time this much havoc had been wreaked by this few a number of people, you need to go all the way back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". The name The Four Horsemen stuck and the team used that name going forward. Over the following years the team would change in combination of different variations of existing and new members, including;

Lex Luger Lawrence Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and football player. In 2011 he began working with WWE on its wellness policy. He is best known for h ...

Barry Windham Barry Clinton Windham (born July 4, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). ...

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

Sid Vicious John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...

, Paul Roma, Brian Pillman,

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestlin ...

, Steve McMichael,

Curt Hennig Curtis Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003) was an American professional wrestler. He performed under his real name for promotions including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) ...

, Dean Malenko and

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father ...

. Flair and Arn were part of every iteration of the team until August 25, 1997 during

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW)'s

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television over the Internet when content or programming is played continuously (not on deman ...

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

of their TNT Network program

Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT in the United ...

, Arn formally announced his retirement from in-ring work. The stable was a major influence on professional wrestling in North America, creating the blueprint for future groups such as the New World Order, The Triple Threat,

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, The Four Horsewomen, The Pinnacle and

The Extreme Horsemen The Four Horsemen was a professional wrestling stable in Jim Crockett Promotions as part of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling. The original group consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tull ...

Anderson children

Brad Anderson

Gene Anderson's son Bradley followed in his father's footsteps and became both a professional wrestler and a promoter. Bradley performed as Brad Anderson. Brad was a multiple time champion across many professional wrestling promotions throughout his career.

Bryant Anderson

Ole Anderson's son Bryant also pursued a career in professional wrestling. Bryant, working as

Bryant Anderson Bryant Alan Rogowski (born November 6, 1970) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Bryant Anderson. He is the son of professional wrestler Ole Anderson. Anderson wrestled for World Championship Wrestling (WCW ...

, had a short career spanning from 1993 to 1995, working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and various independent wrestling promotions before being forced to retire.

Ric Flair's children

Ric Flair's sons David and Reid, as well as his daughter Ashley also pursued professional wrestling careers and can be counted as part of the Anderson family by extension.

David Flair

David Flair is best known for his work performing in

(WCW) where he held the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and World Tag Team championships.

Reid Flair

Reid Flair was working performing for various companies on the independent circuit and for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba ...

before he died suddenly in 2013.

Charlotte Flair

Inspired and determined to keep her brother Reid's professional wrestling legacy alive, Ashley started training to become a professional wrestler. Ashley now performs for

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWE) as

Charlotte Flair Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (born April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair. She is currently inactive. She is a second-genera ...

and is a multiple time WWE champion holding every Women's Championship title throughout her career.

Brock Anderson

Arn Anderson's son Brock asked his father to help him become a professional wrestler. Arn agreed under the condition that Brock finish college. After Brock graduated from

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

he began training at the Nightmare Factory, AEW's training facility. Brock made his debut during a taping of

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

(AEW)'s television program

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germany, and patented in 1867. It rapidl ...

on June 6, 2021 performing as

Brock Anderson Brock Alexander Lunde (born February 28, 1997), better known by the ring name Brock Anderson, is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson. Professional wrestling car ...

. Brock is the newest addition to the Anderson family to date.

Other storyline relatives

Other professional wrestlers, under the Anderson heritage popped up on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

in the 1990s.

Rocky Anderson

Rocky Mills was the head trainer at Gene Anderson's gym. Rocky wrestled on the independent circuit as

Rocky Anderson Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson (born September 9, 1951), from the United States, is an attorney, writer, activist, civil and human rights advocate. He served two terms as the 33rd Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 2000 to 2008. He is now running f ...

, a member of the Anderson family.

The Andersons

Pat Anderson

Rocky was contacted by

Ivan Koloff Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship. Early life Perras was ...

who told him he had been training a guy named Pat Connors, who both looked and wrestled like an Anderson. Rocky attended a show in

Monroe, North Carolina Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population increased from 32,797 in 2010 to 34,551 in 2020. It is within the rapidly growing Charlotte metropolitan area. Monroe has a council-manager ...

to watch Pat perform. Rocky was impressed and with the blessings of Gene he allowed Pat to use the Anderson gimmick. Pat worked his entire career as Pat Anderson.

C. W. Anderson

Shortly afterwards Pat met Christopher Wright at a show he was working at for Carolina Championship Wrestling Alliance (CCWA). Pat was impressed with Christopher's skills and looks, so before approaching him Pat asked the CCWA booker Jim Massingale if he could work as a tag team together with Christopher. Pat and Christopher had a conversation and Christopher agreed to the tag team work. Gene Anderson had died at this point so Pat called Rocky to ask for permission to make Christopher an Anderson. Rocky told Pat to use his judgement and Christopher began performing as

C. W. Anderson Christopher Wright (born January 7, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, C. W. Anderson. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2001. Early life Wright grew up ...

. During their time as a tag team Pat and C. W. were tag team champions 9 times, including the NWA World Tag Team Championship titles and they held 3 tag team championship titles from 3 different promotions concurrently.

Andrew Anderson

Andrew Koloszuk had been performing as The Siberian Tiger, a

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

era gimmick he adopted while working as a tag team with WWE Hall of Famer Nikolai Volkoff. Later in his career, professional wrestler and promoter Angelo Savoldi influenced Andrew to change his gimmick as the Cold War era was over. Savoldi told Andrew that he looked a lot like Arn Anderson. Andrew from then on until today performs as Andrew Anderson.

Karl Anderson

Karl Anderson Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980), better known by the ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), ...

distanced himself from the storyline relationship not long after adopting the name.

TC Anderson

TC Anderson is an independent wrestler.

Unaffiliated Andersons

When professional wrestler Ken Anderson joined WWE he used the last name Kennedy to avoid confusion with the Anderson family (as well as the former

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

of the same name), despite Anderson being his actual last name. He subsequently wrestled under his real name for other promotions, though he remained unrelated to any member of the Anderson family in either reality or in storyline terms. WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin's last name at birth was Anderson before being adopted and having his last name changed to Williams. Though having the last name at birth, Austin is not in any way related to Gene or any other Anderson family members.

Anderson family members

*Storyline brothers: ** Gene Anderson ** Ole Anderson (Alan Rogowski) ** Lars Anderson (Larry Heiniemi) **

(Marty Lunde) *Storyline uncle ** Rip Hawk (Harvey Evers) *Storyline cousins: **

(Richard Fliehr) ** Pat Anderson (Pat Connors) **

(Chris Wright) *Children: ** Brad Anderson on of Gene Anderson/small> **

(Bryant Rogowski) on of Ole Anderson/small> ** David Flair (David Fliehr) on of Ric Flair/small> ** Reid Flair (Reid Fliehr) on of Ric Flair/small> **

(Ashley Fliehr) aughter of Ric Flair/small> **

(Brock Lunde) on of Arn Anderson/small> *Other storyline relatives: **

(Rocky Mills) ** Andrew Anderson (Andrew Koloszuk) **

(Chad Allegra) ** TC Anderson

Championships and accomplishments

References

External links

Glory Days - Classic Anderson Brothers page
{{Anderson Family American families Anderson family