MMA’s Four Horsewomen have made a significant impact on WWE. Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir have joined their Four Horsewomen teammates Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler in making the move from mixed martial arts to sports-entertainment, reporting for training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla.
Ric Flair, throwing up the Horsemen's signature hand gesture, in November 2019
The stable originated in Jim Crockett Promotions as part of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Flair and Arn Anderson were members of each incarnation of the group until Anderson's retirement after a neck injury.
The Origin of the Four Horsemen
The Four Horsemen moniker was not planned from the start. The origin of the stable dates to a Jim Crockett Promotions taping which was held in The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia in September 1985. During the event, Ric Flair turned on Dusty Rhodes after Rhodes saved him from a beatdown at the hands of the Koloffs and Krusher Kruschev, with Ole and Arn Anderson then entering the ring and assisting Flair in breaking Dusty Rhodes' ankle and putting him out of action.
It has been alleged that due to time constraints at a television taping, production threw together an impromptu tag team interview of Flair, The Andersons, Tully Blanchard and his manager JJ. Dillon. In his autobiography To Be The Man, Flair claimed that it was during this interview that Arn commented: "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!"
Alternatively, Dillon and Blanchard stated during a Four Horsemen discussion panel, which took place at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame on July 24, 2016, that the interview where Arn had actually said the phrase, and also debuted the group's trademark four finger pose, was after the original four members wrestled in an eight tag team match and that the group's formation was centered around the original four members holding championships at the time.
The comparison and the name stuck. However, during a pair of television interviews before Starrcade 85, Arn Anderson came out and called them "The Four Horses". Video footage from the October 26, 1985 episode of NWA Worldwide showed Arn, who had possession of the stolen NWA Television Championship, calling himself, Ole, Tully and Flair "The four horses, the four people that make things happen." Immediately after Arn departed, Tully came out with Baby Doll and called the group the Four Horsemen, crediting Anderson for the name, though it was not the same one.
The Four Horsemen formed in 1985 with Ric Flair, Ole and Arn Anderson (the latter brought in from Continental Championship Wrestling), and Tully Blanchard from Southwest Championship Wrestling, with J. J. Dillon as their manager (Dillon was originally serving as manager of Blanchard). They feuded with Dusty Rhodes (breaking his ankle and hand), Magnum T. A., Barry Windham, The Rock 'n' Roll Express (breaking Ricky Morton's nose), Nikita Koloff (injuring his neck), and The Road Warriors. Animal, Hawk, Ronnie Garvin and many others fought Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title during that time period.
The MMA Four Horsewomen
The hottest thing in women's MMA these days is “The Four Horsewomen.” Ronda Rousey, Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke have developed a tight bond post-The Ultimate Fighter and have taken from the greatest stable in all of professional wrestling history-The Four Horsemen.
The fighters, and pro wrestling fans, have taken the moniker and implemented it into their social media profiles. Ronda Rousey has posted videos on her Instagram account of their professional wrestling moves.
Jessamyn Duke
The 5-foot-11 Duke fought professionally from 2012 to 2016, competing in the bantamweight class for organizations including the UFC. She was also a member of the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality competition series in 2013, as part of “Team Rousey.” To date, Duke’s last victory came at the TUF 18 Finale in November 2013, defeating Peggy Morgan by unanimous decision. She would go on to lose her final mixed martial arts fights, three in the UFC and the final two for Invcita FC, including a first-round submission loss to Cindy Dandois last July.
Marina Shafir
Shafir, an accomplished judoka known by the nickname “The Supernova from Moldova,” stands 5-foot-7 and has fought under the banners of Invicta and Lights Out Promotions. Shafir hasn’t competed in MMA since in almost three years as she gets ready to transition into her new career in professional wrestling. “The Supernova From Moldova” finished her professional career with a professional record of 1-2. She is also engaged to NXT Superstar Roderick Strong and has been seen at ringside for many of The Messiah of the Backbreaker’s matches.
Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 34
Ronda Jean Rousey was born in Riverside, California on February 1, 1987, the youngest of three daughters of AnnMaria De Mars (née Waddell) and Ronald John Rousey, after whom she was named. Her mother, a decorated judoka, was the first American to win a World Judo Championship (in 1984, as AnnMaria Burns). For the first six years of her life, Rousey struggled with speech and could not form an intelligible sentence due to apraxia, a neurological childhood speech sound disorder. This speech disorder was attributed to being born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
Rousey began judo with her mother at the age of 11. Rousey trained with her mother until she was 13, when she accidentally broke her mother's wrist. At 17, Rousey was the youngest judoka to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Rousey lost in her first match to eventual silver medalist Claudia Heill in the 63 kg bracket.
She was the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in judo by winning bronze at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Rousey retired from judo at 21 after the Olympics. When Rousey started learning judo, her mother took her to judo clubs run by her old teammates. Rousey went to North Hollywood, Los Angeles Hayastan MMA Academy, which was run by Gokor Chivichyan, where she trained with fellow future MMA fighters Manny Gamburyan and Karo Parisyan. Rousey trained mostly with males bigger than she was and often got frustrated and cried when she got thrown and could not throw somebody.
Rousey made her mixed martial arts debut as an amateur on August 6, 2010. Rousey faced Taylor Stratford in the Tuff-N-Uff tournament semi-finals on January 7, 2011, and won by technical submission due to an armbar in 24 seconds. Rousey made her professional mixed martial arts debut on March 27, 2011, at King of the Cage: Turning Point.
In November 2012, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that Rousey had become the first female fighter to sign with the UFC. Rousey originally opposed using the nickname her friends gave her, "Rowdy", feeling it would be disrespectful to professional wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.
Rousey is well known for her skill in grappling and is particularly noted for her string of victories by armbar. During early fights in her MMA career, Rousey mainly used striking to set up judo. She became a more proficient striker following her UFC debut, leading to her first wins by way of stoppage. Rousey is notable for introducing trash talking to women's MMA.
The Rise and Fall of Ronda Rousey in MMA
Rousey began a career in professional wrestling in 2018, signing with WWE, and debuted at WrestleMania 34. She won the Raw Women's Championship at that year's SummerSlam, and headlined Evolution, which at the time was WWE's first all-women's pay-per-view. There, Rousey defended the title. Rousey lost the title in the first women's WrestleMania main event at WrestleMania 35. Rousey returned at the 2022 Royal Rumble, winning the women's Royal Rumble match. That year, she would win the SmackDown Women's Championship twice, making her an overall three-time women's world champion in WWE. She became the eighth Women's Triple Crown Champion when she won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with Shayna Baszler. Rousey and Baszler also unified the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.
Shayna Baszler
Baszler is one of the longtime vets of women's MMA. She has fought a who's who-from Cris “Cyborg” Justino to UFC contenders Sara McMann and Alexis Davis. Baszler is a competent grappler with a growing striking ability.
WWE and the Four Horsewomen
The WWE Universe no doubt remembers the Four Horsewomen’s standoff with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Bayley - three-quarters of WWE’s Four Horsewomen, alongside Sasha Banks - at last year’s Mae Young Classic. On July 13, 14, and September 12, 2017, the Horsewomen appeared in the audience of the Mae Young Classic to support their compatriot Shayna Baszler, who was making her WWE debut in the tournament.
It was then reported in 2017 that Rousey had signed with WWE on a full-time basis and had been training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Rousey made a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, confronting Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Asuka, who had just won the inaugural women's Royal Rumble match.
Rousey made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34, WWE's flagship event, in a mixed tag team match pitting Rousey and Kurt Angle against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. At WrestleMania on April 8, Rousey submitted McMahon with her trademark armbar submission hold to secure the win for her team. Her debut performance was widely praised by both fans and wrestling critics, with wrestling veteran Jim Cornette calling it the greatest debut ever.
The Washington Post noted the positive fan reaction, stating "The match exceeded expectations, with fans firmly behind Rousey" and "[fans were] surprised [at her] high-level coordination and quality of wrestling. For her first singles match and title opportunity, she was once again praised by fans and critics for her performance, with CNET stating "For the first time, [WWE's] biggest mainstream star is a woman". They believed that despite "worry was that the match would expose Rousey's own inexperience, which would greatly damage her aura and star power", she "came across as a formidable, believable star wrestler.
The seeds for a program pitting Raw’s Rousey, current NXT Women’s champ Baszler, Duke and Shafir against Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch were planted at the Mae Young Classic (MYC) last summer. Rumors persisted WWE wanted to do a match at a “Big 4” pay-per-view (PPV), but eventually they went with a different plan for Ronda at Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 34 while Baszler climbed the ranks of the black-and-yellow brand.
WWE’s press release about Shafir and Duke reminds fans about the Four Horsewomen stand-offs from 2017, so expect to hear more and more about that now that all eight are officially in the sports entertainment fold.
tags: #mma #four #horsewomen