Tully Blanchard

Tully Arthur Blanchard (born January 22, 1954) is a Canadian-American professional wrestler and manager.

Blanchard was trained to wrestle by his father and José 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 by tag teaming with his father in a feud against Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk.

Between 1978 and 1983, Blanchard held the SCW Southwest Television Championship and SCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship on seven occasions.

He formed heel tag team with Gino Hernandez, "The Dynamic Duo".

He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s as a member of The Four Horsemen and The Brain Busters.

Championships held by Blanchard over his career include the NWA World Television Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, WWF World Tag Team Championship, and NWA United States Heavyweight Championship.

They held the Texas All-Star USA Tag Team Championship on five occasions and the SCW World Tag Team Championship on one occasion in the early 1980s.

In 1984, Blanchard left SCW for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Blanchard came to Jim Crockett, Jr.'s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (MACW) in early 1984.

Blanchard immediately entered into a feud with Mark Youngblood over the NWA 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 at Starrcade '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 of Baby Doll for 30 days.

In the mid 80s Tully Blanchard had a series of matches with World Wrestling Council (WWC) Universal Champion Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico and the Continental United States.

After Blanchard's feud with Rhodes ended, he soon found himself immersed in another high-profile feud over the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship held by Magnum 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 at Starrcade '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 with Dusty 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 included Ole Anderson, who had long since become a legendary figure in the Mid-Atlantic and Georgia territories, rising star Arn Anderson and Ric Flair, the biggest star in the promotion and NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

In early 1986, the foursome became a solidified group and called themselves the Four Horsemen.

The group quickly established dominance within the territory by capturing numerous championships with Arn being the NWA World Television Champion simultaneously, Blanchard winning the NWA 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, and The 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 with Lex 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 the NWA 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 with Barry 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.

After clashing with Jim Crockett and booker Dusty Rhodes about their pay, Blanchard and Arn Anderson left the NWA for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on September 10, 1988, losing in an 11th-hour title change to the Midnight Express tandem of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane after a brief feud.

Fellow Horseman Barry Windham and manager J. J. Dillon would leave later for similar reasons; Flair, meanwhile, considered leaving but decided to stay when the NWA signed his old friend Ricky Steamboat and put them in a program together.

In the WWF, Blanchard and Anderson were dubbed "The Brain Busters" and paired with heel manager Bobby Heenan.

He was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.

As the son of wrestling promoter and former American Wrestling Association star Joe Blanchard, 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 attended West Texas State University, where he played American football, first as a quarterback and then as a defensive end, alongside fellow future wrestlers Tito Santana and Ted DiBiase.