 Blanchard in 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tully Arthur Blanchard (1954-01-22)January 22, 1954 (age 71)[1] |
| Alma mater | West Texas State University |
Spouses | |
| Children | 4; includingTessa |
| Family | Joe Blanchard (father) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | The Midnight Stallion[1] The Outlaw Tully Blanchard[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 225 lb (102 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | San Antonio, Texas Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Trained by | Joe Blanchard[1] José Lothario[1] |
| Debut | 1975[1] |
Tully Arthur Blanchard (born January 22, 1954) is an American-Canadianprofessional wrestler andmanager. He is best known for his appearances withJim Crockett Promotions and theWorld Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s as a member ofThe Four Horsemen andThe Brain Busters.[1][2]Championships held by Blanchard over his career include theNWA World Television Championship,NWA World Tag Team Championship,WWF World Tag Team Championship, andNWA United States Heavyweight Championship. He was inducted into theNWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and theWWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
His daughter,Tessa Blanchard, is also a professional wrestler, and is signed toTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
As the son of wrestling promoter and formerAmerican Wrestling Association starJoe Blanchard,[1] Tully Blanchard was involved in professional wrestling at a very young age. He began selling programs and refreshments at the arenas at the age of ten, and worked as a referee when he was older.
Blanchard attendedWest Texas State University, where he playedAmerican football, first as aquarterback and then as adefensive end, alongside fellow future wrestlersTito Santana andTed DiBiase.
Blanchard was trained to wrestle by his father andJosé Lothario, debuting in 1975 in his father's promotion,Southwest Championship Wrestling, where he also held a number of backstage production and creative positions. He began his career as a face bytag teaming with his father in a feud againstDory Funk, Jr. andTerry Funk.
Between 1978 and 1983, Blanchard held theSCW Southwest Television Championship andSCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship on seven occasions. He formed heel tag team withGino Hernandez, "The Dynamic Duo". They held theTexas All-Star USA Tag Team Championship on five occasions and theSCW World Tag Team Championship on one occasion in the early 1980s.
In 1984, Blanchard left SCW forJim Crockett Promotions.
Blanchard came toJim Crockett, Jr.'sMid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) in early 1984. Blanchard immediately entered into a feud withMark Youngblood over theNWA Television Championship, which would later be renamed the NWA World Television Championship and WCW World Television Championship. Blanchard won the title on March 28, 1984, and defended the title against some of the top contenders in the territory such as Ricky Steamboat, whom he faced atStarrcade '84.
After Steamboat departed JCP for the WWF, Blanchard and Dusty Rhodes began a feud for the TV title. On March 16, 1985, Rhodes defeated Blanchard to win the NWA Television Championship, ending Blanchard's 353-day reign. The title would soon be renamed the NWA World Television Championship and the two continued to feud throughout the first half of 1985 with Blanchard regaining the title and losing it back to Rhodes in early July 1985 at the Great American Bash inside a steel cage; Rhodes also won the services ofBaby Doll for 30 days.
In the mid 80s Tully Blanchard had a series of matches withWorld Wrestling Council (WWC) Universal ChampionCarlos Colon inPuerto Rico and the Continental United States.
After Blanchard's feud with Rhodes ended, he soon found himself immersed in another high-profile feud over theNWA United States Heavyweight Championship held byMagnum T. A. Much like his feud with Dusty Rhodes, Blanchard's rivalry with Magnum escalated into a series of bloody and brutal matches, and became one of the top feuds in the NWA. On July 21, 1985, Blanchard defeated Magnum for the U.S. Championship by punching him with a foreign object in his hand given to him by Baby Doll, who came to ringside dressed as a security guard.
The feud culminated atStarrcade '85 during a brutal and extremely bloody "I quit" match held inside of a steel cage for the title. The match ended with Magnum driving a piece of a broken wooden chair into Blanchard's forehead, which was already deeply cut and bleeding profusely, forcing him to submit.
In late 1985, Blanchard fired Baby Doll as his manager, slapping her during an interview segment and ignited a feud withDusty Rhodes, who came to her aid.J. J. Dillon then became Blanchard's manager.
Throughout the latter half of 1985, Blanchard and a number of high-profile wrestlers in the company had often competed together, usually in variations of tag team matches or interfering in one another's matches if they appeared to be losing. These wrestlers includedOle Anderson, who had long since become a legendary figure in the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories, rising starArn Anderson andRic Flair, the biggest star in the promotion andNWA World Heavyweight Champion. In early 1986, the foursome became a solidified group and called themselves theFour Horsemen. The group quickly established dominance within the territory by capturing numerous championships with Arn being the NWA World Television Champion simultaneously, Blanchard winning theNWA National Heavyweight Championship in March 1986 and with Flair as the NWA World Champion. The Horsemen feuded with the top baby faces of the territory including Magnum T. A.,Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes,Wahoo McDaniel,The Rock 'n' Roll Express, andThe Road Warriors.
The Horsemen continued to feud with the other top stars of the NWA throughout 1986 and 1987, particularly after forcing out Ole Anderson and replacing him withLex Luger. By mid 1987, Blanchard and Anderson began competing regularly on the tag team circuit and quickly entered into a feud with the Rock 'n' Roll Express over theNWA World Tag Team Championship. The feud culminated in late September after Blanchard and Anderson won the titles after a number of high-profile matches.
Toward the end of 1987 Lex Luger defected from the Horsemen and feuded with all of them over the course of the next several months. Luger quickly formed a partnership withBarry Windham and competed in the tag team division as well. The new duo defeated Anderson and Blanchard on March 27, 1988, though they would lose the titles back to them a little more than a month later after Windham turned on Luger and became the newest Horseman.
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After clashing with Jim Crockett and bookerDusty Rhodes about their pay, Blanchard and Arn Anderson left the NWA for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) on September 10, 1988, losing in an 11th-hour title change to theMidnight Express tandem ofBobby Eaton andStan Lane after a brief feud. Fellow HorsemanBarry Windham and managerJ. J. Dillon would leave later for similar reasons; Flair, meanwhile, considered leaving but decided to stay when the NWA signed his old friendRicky Steamboat and put them in a program together. In the WWF, Blanchard and Anderson were dubbed "The Brain Busters" and paired withheelmanagerBobby Heenan. The team defeatedDemolition for theWWF Tag Team Championship on July 18, 1989 (aired July 29 onSaturday Night's Main Event XXII), ending Demolition's historic first reign, but lost the titles back to Demolition on October 2, 1989 (aired November 4 onWWF Superstars of Wrestling).
Blanchard and Anderson were planning to sign with a new wrestling organization known asWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). As a result, the WWF pushed a break up angle between Heenan and the Brain Busters on the November 25, 1989Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV (taped October 31, 1989). Around that time, Blanchard failed adrug test, testing positive forcocaine and causing his premature departure from the WWF and the withdrawal of an employment offer with WCW by WCW headJim Herd, which in turn caused him to also reduce Arn Anderson's contract offer from $250,000 per year to $150,000.[3]
Bobby Heenan himself replaced Blanchard as part of the Heenan Family team at theSurvivor Series five days later.
Blanchard debuted in theMinneapolis,Minnesota-basedAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) in March 1990, aligning himself withThe Destruction Crew. AtSuperClash IV on April 8, 1990, he defeatedTommy Jammer. He made his final appearance with the AWA in May 1990.
In 1993, World Championship Wrestling offered Blanchard a US$500 per appearance contract to reform The Four Horsemen atSlamboree 1993. Blanchard did not accept the offer, considering the offer to be too low, and WCW replaced him withPaul Roma. One year later, atSlamboree 1994, Blanchard appeared with WCW for a single night, wrestling Terry Funk to a double disqualification.
In January 1995, Blanchard debuted in thePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania-basedExtreme Championship Wrestling promotion, wrestlingECW World Heavyweight ChampionShane Douglas to a time limit draw. He challenged Douglas again in February and March, losing on both occasions.
On September 12, 1998, Blanchard teamed up with fellow Four Horseman alumnus, Barry Windham, and defeated the Border Patrol to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles.
In October 1998, he appeared at the NWA 50th Anniversary Show, teaming withTom Prichard in a four-way tag match as The Brotherhood (Knuckles Nelson andEric Sbraccia) and won the NWA Tag Team titles.
He defeatedStan Lane at theHeroes of Wrestling PPV on October 10, 1999.
In the mid-2000s, Blanchard briefly worked forWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as aproducer.
On January 29, 2005, atWrestleReunion, Blanchard lost toJeff Jarrett. On August 10, 2007, he lost toDustin Rhodes at anNWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He appeared prominently in the 2007DVDRic Flair and the Four Horsemen. On the March 31, 2008, edition ofWWE Raw, Blanchard reunited withArn Anderson,J. J. Dillon, andBarry Windham to salute the recently retiredRic Flair. In November 2008, he hosted part 2 of the 5 part EssentialStarrcade series onWWE 24/7 as well as appearing in one of the matches. On March 31, 2012, Tully Blanchard was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame as a member of theFour Horsemen.
Blanchard was the head booker of NWA: New Beginnings territory in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been a backstage agent for the wrestling shows as part of the 2010 and 2011 NWA Legends Convention which were in Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.
On April 27, 2016, Blanchard appeared alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in an episode ofTable For 3 onWWE Network, where the three former members of the Horsemen discussed their lives during and after their years as a team.
Blanchard made a surprise appearance during a sit down interview with Jim Ross and Shawn Spears on AEW's "Road to All Out" YouTube series that premiered July 17, 2019.[4] It was announced the following day that Blanchard had signed a multi-show deal to serve as an"exclusive advisor" forShawn Spears inAll Elite Wrestling.[5] AtAll Out, Blanchard accompanied Spears for his match against Cody, but in a losing effort after interference from Blanchard's former Four Horsemen stablemate,Arn Anderson, who delivered a spinebuster on Spears and chased Blanchard out of the arena.[6] AtFull Gear, Blanchard helped Spears defeatJoey Janela by delivering an assisted piledriver on the concrete. In February 2020, Blanchard and Spears began a campaign to recruit a new tag team partner for Spears. However, the angle was dropped due to theCOVID-19 pandemic and Blanchard being unable to appear on television. On the June 3 episode ofAEW Dynamite, Blanchard returned and berated Spears for making a joke out of himself atDouble or Nothing. He then presented Spears with a black glove similar to the one worn byBlackjack Mulligan andTed Dibiase.[7] Blanchard officially aligned withFTR on August 22, leadingDax Harwood andCash Wheeler to defeatKenny Omega andAdam Page for theAEW World Tag Team Championship atAll Out.[8] On the March 3, 2021, special episode ofDynamite (entitled"The Crossroads"), Tully had his first match in 14 years, teaming with FTR to defeat Jurassic Express in a match where they were managed byJ. J. Dillon.[9] On March 10, Blanchard, Spears and FTR joined the faction led byMJF namedThe Pinnacle.[10] On the March 9th, 2022 episode of Dynamite Tully was fired by FTR as their manager after a disagreement of what FTR's focus as a team should be.
After getting fired by FTR, Blanchard was moved to AEW's sister promotionRing of Honor (ROH). In ROH, Blanchard managed theGates of Agony (Toa Liona andKaun) andBrian Cage, collectively known as "Tully Blanchard Enterprises".[11] During the July 23, 2022, Death Before Dishonor, a storyline revealed thatPrince Nana had purchased Tully Blanchard Enterprises from Blanchard. It was soon revealed that the group would now be going underThe Embassy name, the long-time group associated with Nana dating back to 2004.[12] Blanchard subsequently departed AEW and ROH.[13]
Blanchard was first married on May 7, 1978, to Elizabeth Diane Boyles inBexar County, Texas.[14] However, the marriage ended in divorce on June 30, 1980.[15]
Blanchard later married Courtney Shattuck. Together, they have four children: Taylor, Tanner, Tessa and Tally. They later divorced with Courtney marrying another former wrestler,Magnum T. A., in March 2005.[16] He says it took him twenty years to come to terms with his and his wife's falling-out and his relatively sparse presence in his children's lives.
Blanchard became aborn-again Christian on November 13, 1989. He currently has aprisonministry, where he preaches to inmates. In 2010 Tully Blanchard joinedInternational Network of Prison Ministries, where he serves on the Board of Advisers.[17]
1Typically defended in Georgia, the title was won after Georgia Championship Wrestling was purchased by theWorld Wrestling Federation.
2Not to be confused with the Vancouver, British Columbia based promotion that existed from the early '60s to the late '80s. This North Carolina promotion lasted from March 1998 until January 1999.
3The last TV title he won on January 12, 1979, was renamed to Heavyweight title in February 1979.
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