Why Paul Roma Was Such A Failure As Part Of WCW's Four Horsemen, Explained
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In 1993, WCW put the Four Horsemen back together after they broke up a few years before. However, while fans excitedly watched Nature Boy Ric Flair return to WCW after leaving to win a pair of world titles in WWE, things went south fast. That is because Flair chose WCW newcomer Paul Roma to be one of the new members and fans never accepted it from the start. This seemed like a good move at first, because Roma was a minor star in WWE and brought some shine from up north. However, fans didn't care, no one accepted Roma as a member of the Horsemen, and some count this as the worst version of the Four Horsemen in history.
The Four Horsemen Broke Up In 1989
The biggest breakup of the Four Horsemen came in 1989. The group was originally formed as a faction whose purpose was to protect "Nature Boy" Ric Flair as the NWA World Champion. However, everyone had success in the group. Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, and Barry Windham all won singles titles as members of the group. The Anderson brothers were tag team champions, as were Tully and Arn. However, in 1988, the unit fractured. Tully and Arn left for WWE and became the Brainbusters. Flair tried to keep the Horsemen together and brought in Barry Windham's brother Kendall Windham, but it never worked. Flair finally changed the group's name to Yamazaki Corporation with Hiro Matsuda as their manager. In 1989, they tried to regroup with Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, and Sting, but this ended in 1991 when Flair left for WWE.
RELATED: Barry Windham's Forgotten NWA World Title Reign In WCW, Explained
Paul Roma Became A Tag Team Star In WWE
Paul Roma got his start working in WWE in 1984. After working as a lower mid-card wrestler for a few years, he found his place in WWE in 1987 when he teamed with Jim Powers as The Young Stallions. It took a few months before WWE gained trust in them and the two earned a victory in a non-title match over The Hart Foundation. This started a push that turned them into a babyface team that fans got behind. However, their push ended in 1989, and they broke up. After a failed singles run, Roma teamed with Hercules Hernandez. Once again, this was a team not meant to be much, but fans latched onto them, especially with this highly underrated finishing move, the Power-Plex. While they were highly entertaining, Power and Glory also never won tag team gold, and after nine years, Roma finally left WWE.
Fans Turned On Paul Roma's Introduction Into The Four Horsemen
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair showed up in WWE and won the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. He then lost it to "Macho Man" Randy Savage before winning it back. After losing the title to Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Flair returned to WCW. He reconnected with Arn Anderson in WCW, but Tully Blanchard wasn't there anymore after they couldn't come to a financial agreement. With only two members and Ole Anderson in a managerial role, the group promised to reform the Four Horsemen.
They brought in a third member, with Paul Roma making his WCW debut. Fans hated it, even when the faction had success after Anderson and Roma won the WCW Tag Team Championship. However, the fans never wanted Roma in the Four Horsemen. They wanted Tully back in the group, and he was even advertised to return before Flair introduced Roma. WCW fans hated Paul Roma, formerly a disappointment as a former WWE wrestler who never won big matches, and rejected the new version of the group.
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Roma said in a shoot interview that it didn't go over well because he came from WWE, and he wasn't a top or bottom card guy. He said that WCW wanted a good-looking guy who could put women in the seats, and that was him. However, he said that he didn't know what kind of group The Four Horsemen were because he didn't watch them in the past. "I think in the beginning [Flair and Anderson] were not happy with it," Roma remembered. He said he spoke to Ole Anderson, who took him to the side and said he didn't know anything about him, and the group didn't really clue him in on how he was supposed to act as a Horseman. It seemed Roma was set up to fail from the beginning, and it wasn't until he left the Four Horsemen and formed Pretty Wonderful with Paul Orndorff that he finally saw real success in WCW.
