Alan Rogowski, better known by his ring name Ole Anderson, is a retired professional wrestling performer and a promoter. He held numerous NWA World Tag Team Championships with Gene Anderson who was portrayed as his brother.

Career

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

He went on to work National Wrestling Alliance-sanctioned promotions such as Jim Crockett Promotions (out of Charlotte, North Carolina) and Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he adopted the ring name Ole Anderson, and formed what became a legendary tag team called the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with his "brothers" Gene Anderson and Lars Anderson. Lars left the team in the early 70's and the team of Ole & Gene became synonomous with tag team wrestling in JCP and GCW for many years running.

The Andersons feuded with such stars as Mr. Wrestling & Mr. Wrestling II, Wahoo McDaniel, Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, Tommy Rich, Johnny Weaver, Dino Bravo, Paul Jones, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, Rufus R. Jones, The Mongols, and Thunderbolt Patterson throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Behind the scenes, Anderson was also the primary booker for Georgia Championship Wrestling and also had a stint in 1981/82, booking Jim Crockett Promotions. For a time he even booked both companies simultaneously, often times combining both rosters for supercards which were noted for offering some of the best action in the business at that time. He later left JCP to book and wrestle for GCW full-time.

When owners Jack and Jerry Brisco sold that promotion to Vince McMahon, Anderson resisted the change, and joined forces with longtime NWA-sanctioned promoters Fred Ward and Ralph Freed to start a new company called Championship Wrestling from Georgia.

In April 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions and Championship Wrestling from Georgia essentially merged. Anderson was teaming with Thunderbolt Patterson in CWG just as Arn Anderson was debuting in JCP. It seemed like a natural fit to put the two "Andersons" together. Anderson soon turned on Thunderbolt and teamed with Arn as the Minnesota Wrecking Crew.

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

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

Anderson returned to wrestling with WCW in 1989 to reform the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn and Sting. They quickly kicked Sting out of the group, and Anderson retired again to manage the Horsemen, who by then also 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 Pay-per-views (PPVs) under his real name, Anderson was responsible for some of the more infamous creative ideas tried by WCW. Among his creations were The Black Scorpion, which was intended to be a nemesis from Sting's past. The poorly-conceived gimmick (originally voiced by Anderson) was intended to be a vehicle for bringing in The Ultimate Warrior, but Warrior had no interest in leaving the World Wrestling Federation (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 was fired from the company by new WCW head Eric Bischoff when he tried to get his son a job in Smoky Mountain Wrestling after his son got fired by Bischoff while training at the WCW Power Plant and letting Smoky Mountain head Jim Cornette on WCW property to consult with him. He is now mostly retired from wrestling, although he does make frequent appearances as wrestling conventions and other gatherings.

Managed by Ole

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• Arn Anderson
• Bryant Anderson
• Wayne Bloom
• Paul Ellering

• Mike Enos
• Ric Flair
• Michael Hayes
• Samoan Afa

• Samoan Sika
• Sid Vicious
• Barry Windham

Factions

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• Four Horsemen
• Minnesota Wrecking Crew

Managers

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• James J. Dillon

Championships and accomplishments

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• 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
  • 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)
  • 1-Time Georgia Television Champion
• Halls of Fame
  • Ole was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1994.
• National Wrestling Alliance
  • 10-Time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson 9 times and Stan Hansen once)
  • 5-Time NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Champion (with Gene Anderson)
  • 1-Time NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Champion
  • 1-Time "NWA" Mid-Atlantic Television Champion
  • 2-Time "NWA" National Tag Team Champion (with Arn Anderson and Thunderbolt Patterson)
• 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.
• Southeast Championship Wrestling
  • 1-Time NWA Southeast Heavyweight Champion

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • 1982 Tag Team of the Year (with Stan Hansen)

Championship succession

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NWA World Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
- First w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Wahoo McDaniel & Paul Jones Preceded by:
Wahoo McDaniel & Paul Jones Second w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Steve Keirn & Tiger Conway, Jr. Preceded by:
Steve Keirn & Tiger Conway, Jr. Third w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Wahoo McDaniel & Rufus R. Jones Preceded by:
Wahoo McDaniel & Rufus R. Jones Fourth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Mr. Wrestling & Dino Bravo Preceded by:
Mr. Wrestling & Dino Bravo Fifth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Ric Flair & Greg Valentine Preceded by:
Ric Flair & Greg Valentine Sixth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Mr. Wrestling & Mr. Wrestling II Preceded by:
Mr. Wrestling & Mr. Wrestling II Seventh w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Slater Preceded by:
Dusty Rhodes & Dick Slater Eighth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Ric Flair & Greg Valentine Preceded by:
Paul Jones & Masked Superstar Ninth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
- Preceded by:
- Tenth w/ Stan Hansen Succeeded by:
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Johnny Weaver & George Becker First w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Paul Jones & Nelson Royal Preceded by:
Johnny Weaver & Art Neilson Second w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Jerry Brisco & Thunderbolt Patterson Preceded by:
Jerry Brisco & Thunderbolt Patterson Third w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Sandy Scott & Nelson Royal Preceded by:
Brute Bernard & Jay York Fourth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers Preceded by:
Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers Fifth w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Johnny Weaver & George Becker First w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Paul Jones & Nelson Royal Preceded by:
Johnny Weaver & Art Neilson Second w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Jerry Brisco & Thunderbolt Patterson Preceded by:
Jerry Brisco & Thunderbolt Patterson Third w/ Gene Anderson Succeeded by:
Sandy Scott & Nelson Royal NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Championship Preceded by:
- First Succeeded by:
Danny Miller NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Championship Preceded by:
Jerry Brisco First Succeeded by:
Jerry Brisco NWA National Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin First w/ Thunderbolt Patterson Succeeded by:
- Preceded by:
- Second w/ Arn Anderson Succeeded by:
-

Trivia

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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

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

American professional wrestlers | AWA alumni | 1942 births | Living people | Professional wrestling managers and valets | People from Minneapolis, Minnesota | Anderson wrestling family | Professional wrestling executives | Professional wrestling referees | The Four Horsemen | Polish-Americans