The Context 

Here we have Tully Blanchard talking about Barry Windham joining the Four Horsemen in 1988, which happened very soon after the NWA Main Event episodes reviewed here yesterday (where we watched Tully vs. Barry on opposite sides). Tully talked about “barely being able to get out of town” the night Barry turned on Lex in Jacksonville. He said Barry brought the group to another level as a Horseman, and said he didn’t mind sliding over as a tag team with Arn in the Horsemen because of what Barry could be as a singles in the stable. Tully then talked about how upset he was to have later failed a drug test in the WWF on his way out of the promotion since the whole company was on drugs, and Tully discussed how that test failure affected Arn’s money with WCW when they signed him as a singles instead of as a tag team with Blanchard. 

Analysis 

I’m not sure if the heat was so bad when Barry turned, they could barely get out of town, but it’s tough to argue with how good the 1988 version of the Four Horsemen actually was. Tully moving over to the tag team with Arn happened while Luger was still part of the group, but in that context, it’s tough to imagine anyone else on the roster being a better in-ring fit for the group than Barry Windham. As far as the drug testing goes, yes, WCW did use Tully’s cocaine failure as a reason to cut Arn’s salary in half when he returned to Atlanta in 1989, since he had “less value” as a singles wrestler than as a tag team with Blanchard. As much as people said the Turner people weren’t wrestling people, that’s some pro wrestling carny shit, because instead of spending $500k a year on a tag team, they got Arn for $125,000 as a solo wrestler, despite still being someone who was coming back to be a Horseman. 

The Video