Bruce Prichard Says Legendary WWE Tag Team Was 'Boring'
Wrestling, like any art form, is subjective. The work of its performers in the ring will almost never reap universal praise, even if those wrestlers happen to be WWE Hall of Famers. WWE executive Bruce Prichard admitted during a recent "Something to Wrestle" that while he enjoyed their work outside of WWE, he was not a huge fan of the tag team of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson that WWE packaged in the late '80s, known as The Brain Busters.
"I think that Tully was an excellent wrestler, I think that Arn was an excellent wrestler. I think that when they got together as a tag team that they became very bland," Prichard said.
In the fall of 1988, Anderson and Blanchard left Jim Crockett Promotions to join Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, whereupon they formed an on-screen alliance with heel manager and mouthpiece Bobby Heenan. According to Anderson, they were explicitly told to make no references to their former Four Horsemen stable whatsoever — although they were allowed some creative freedom to deliberate on a new name. But whether it was that new name, or perhaps another facet entirely, something about the Brain Busters didn't click for Prichard.
"When the Horsemen had all the individual titles, I thought that was cool, because you had guys that had individual programs," Prichard said. "Arn could stand on his own, Tully could stand on his own. I think when Tully and Arn were together as a tag team that they were out there to get beat. Big fan of them, working-wise, in the ring. Individually. Look, they were a great a tag team, I just thought they were boring at times... individually, either one of them could've headlined. As a tag team, they couldn't."
If you use quotes from this article, please credit "Something to Wrestle" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.