Tully Blanchard

Early life As the son of wrestling promoter and former American Wrestling Association star Joe Blanchard, Heenan replaced Blanchard as part of the Heenan Family team at the Survivor Series five days later.

Late career (1989–2019) Blanchard debuted in the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association (AWA) in March 1990, aligning himself with the Destruction Crew. At SuperClash IV on April 8, 1990, he defeated Tommy 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 at Slamboree 1993. Blanchard did not accept the offer, considering the offer to be too low, and WCW replaced him with Paul Roma. One year later, at Slamboree 1994, Blanchard appeared with WCW for a single night, wrestling Terry Funk to a double disqualification.

In January 1995, Blanchard debuted in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, wrestling ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane 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 with Tom Prichard in a four-way tag match as The Brotherhood (Knuckles Nelson and Eric Sbraccia) and won the NWA Tag Team titles.

He defeated Stan Lane at the Heroes of Wrestling PPV on October 10, 1999.

In the mid-2000s, Blanchard briefly worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a producer.

On January 29, 2005, at WrestleReunion, Blanchard lost to Jeff Jarrett. On August 10, 2007, he lost to Dustin Rhodes at an National Wrestling Alliance Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He appeared prominently in the 2007 DVD Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen. On the March 31, 2008, edition of WWE Raw, Blanchard reunited with Arn Anderson, J. J. Dillon, and Barry Windham to salute the recently retired Ric Flair. In November 2008, he hosted part 2 of the 5 part Essential Starrcade series on WWE 24/7 Classics on Demand as well as appearing in one of the matches. On March 31, 2012, Tully Blanchard was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of The Four Horsemen.

Blanchard was the head booker of the NWA New Beginnings territory in Charlotte, North Carolina and was a backstage agent for the wrestling shows staged as part of the 2010 and 2011 NWA Legends Convention.

On April 27, 2016, Blanchard appeared alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in an episode of Table For 3 on WWE Network, where the three former members of the Horsemen discussed their lives during and after their years as a team.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–2022)

Managing FTR (2019–2022)

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. It was announced the following day that Blanchard had signed a multi-show deal to serve as an "exclusive advisor" for Shawn Spears in All Elite Wrestling. At All 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. At Full Gear, Blanchard helped Spears defeat Joey 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 the COVID-19 pandemic and Blanchard being unable to appear on television. On the June 3 episode of AEW Dynamite, Blanchard returned and berated Spears for making a joke out of himself at Double or Nothing. He then presented Spears with a black glove similar to the one worn by Blackjack Mulligan and Ted Dibiase. Blanchard officially aligned with FTR on August 22, leading Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler to defeat Kenny Omega and Adam Page for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at All Out. On the March 3, 2021, special episode of Dynamite (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 by J. J. Dillon. On March 10, Blanchard, Spears and FTR joined the faction led by MJF named The Pinnacle. 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.

Tully Blanchard Enterprises (2022) After getting fired by FTR, Blanchard was moved to AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). In ROH, Blanchard managed the Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun) and Brian Cage, collectively known as "Tully Blanchard Enterprises". However, the marriage ended in divorce on June 30, 1980.

Blanchard later married Courtney Shattuck. Together, they had four children: Taylor, Tanner, Tessa and Tally. They later divorced with Courtney marrying another former wrestler, Magnum T. A., in March 2005. 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 a born-again Christian on November 13, 1989. He currently has a prison ministry, where he preaches to inmates. In 2010 Tully Blanchard joined International Network of Prison Ministries, where he serves on the Board of Advisers.

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club Iron Mike Award (2017) Central States Wrestling NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling NWA World Television Championship (3 times) NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)1 NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid Atlantic version) (1 time) NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (2 times) – with Arn Anderson National Wrestling Alliance NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament (1997) NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2009) New Dimension Wrestling NDW Heavyweight Championship (2 times) NWA All-Star Wrestling (North Carolina)2 NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Barry Windham Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI Feud of the Year (1987) Four Horsemen vs. The Super Powers and The Road Warriors PWI Tag Team of the Year (1989) with Arn Anderson PWI ranked him #52 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 Southwest Championship Wrestling SCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship (6 times3) SCW Southwest Television Championship (3 times) SCW Southwest Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Gino Hernandez World Wrestling Federation/WWE WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Arn Anderson WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2012) as a member of The Four Horsemen Wrestling Observer Newsletter Worst Feud of the Year (1988) vs. The Midnight Rider