NAME: OLE ANDERSON

REAL NAME: ALAN ROGOWSKI

HOMETOWN: MINNEAPOLIS, MN

 Wrestler Ole Anderson was a member of two of the most famous wrestling teams in history- the Minnesota Wrecking Crew and the Four Horsemen.   His methodical style of wrestling where he would concentrate on wearing down one part of an opponent's anatomy won him many a match.

Ole Anderson was a mainstay in both Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW).  In MACW he teamed with his "brother" Gene Anderson to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship on several occasions as "The Minnesota Wrecking Crew".  The Anderson Brothers defended the tag straps against MACW's top heel and face teams but their most famous feud was unquestionably with the heel team of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

Ole Anderson often proved that blood was thicker than water throughout his career.  When his "cousin" Arn Anderson entered GCW, Ole turned on his longtime tag team partner Thunderbolt Patterson to work with Arn.  And while Ole had had his share of battles with another "cousin" Ric Flair, he eventually formed one of the most elite groups in professional wrestling the Four Horsemen.  Lastly, when his son had an amateur wrestling meet that conflcted with his schedule as a Horseman, he attended it, much to the dismay of the Horsemen who kicked him out of the group (although Ole would return to the Horsemen a few years later).

In addition to his time as a wrestler, Anderson also served as a booker for GCW and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).   Anderson was part-owner of GCW and booked the territory for close to ten years.  However during Vince McMahon's national expansion during the mid 1980's, Anderson was stunned when GCW was bought out from under him by Vince McMahon.  McMahon offered a job to Anderson but Anderson wanted no part of the offer.  Instead, he started his own wrestling promotion Championship Wrestling from Georgia.  The promotion was short-lived and folded into Jim Crockett Promotions. 

Ole Anderson served as a booker for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) but the changing face of professional wrestling as well as the influx of corporate figures like Jim Herd soured him to the business.  Anderson's gruff ways made him few friends in upper management and he was slowly phased out of booking and put in as a trainer at the facility that would become the WCW Power Plant.  Eventually, clashes with WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff saw Anderson part ways with WCW.

In 2003, Anderson's book Inside Out: How Corporate America Destroyed Professional Wrestling was released.  In it, Anderson gives a caustic look at how wrestling changed over the decades with some pointed commentary on many of the wrestlers he worked alongside and booked.