Demolition’s Rise and Fall in WWE: Sean Mooney Shares All

Step inside the squared circle as Sean Mooney reveals the untold WWE story of Demolition – from their legendary run and broken records to the hidden health struggles behind the paint and leather. Discover how Ax & Smash built a lasting legacy that still echoes through pro wrestling history. This is the story WWE never fully told.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a prime time with Sean Mooney production.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Roger than the Fantasy Satan Doue Field History the gold Then.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Tell me.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
From face paint to health issues to being one of
the longest rating tag team champions of all time, We're
talking about Demolition right here on the Golden Era Podcast
with Shawn Mooney.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Seawan, where's your face paint and where's your mask?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
That's little early I figured, you know, after.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Noon, that's when I get the paint face going and
every you know, and get fired up. But right now
I'm just here to talk to you about, as you mentioned,
one of the greatest tag teams ever in the WWFWWE
and that is saying a lot. And you know, I
certainly haven't as I know Bill and very very well,

(00:58):
but they are.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
They deservedly have the right to say that they are.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Among the best, the elite in professional wrestling, not just
with the WWE.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I agree, because constantly when you bring up the Golden
Era of wrestling, you always hear names like the British Bulldogs,
the Heart Foundation, the Rockers. Demolition, I believe is number
one in that list because of their longest.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Title reign during that era. They had a distinct.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Look, they had great music, an amazing run, didn't have
any controversies surrounding them. To me, Demolition is the best
tag team all around for all those combos. But for
you you just said, is Demolition top five all time
tag teams?

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Oh yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:47):
And I wanted to add when you just listed all
those you know, accolades about them is the fact that
they had it all, even beyond it, like you said,
being the champions that they were, the look they had,
you know, but you have to also take into account
how good they were in the ring, that they can

(02:10):
work with anyone and you I would love to hear
somebody tell me different. And also they had this reputation
for they were everything about professional wrestling you wanted to
be in a sense, you know, we know professional wrestling,
especially in the early early days, was the wild wild West,
and you had these renegades out there, these rebels.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
And that is certainly part of the business.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
But as far as what you want to have tag
team in in a couple of professional wrestlers, they really
had it all. They were well respected by everybody they
worked with, and they were just down to earth, really
nice guys, and that's a big part of it too,
So they were the total package.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
And I would say, you know, when you.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Put that all together, they definitely, to me, are top five,
no question about it.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, because I think there's always arguments of like, well
they didn't some people didn't have the tag team tells
what they were the best team. I'm sorry, if you
don't have the tag team titles, you're not the best team,
because in reality, the best teams making the most money,
making the most merchandise, making towns, selling tickets. That's how
I view you as being the best. But also your look.
How cool is it to see a man with spikes

(03:25):
and black mask and makeup and kick an ass. To me,
it's like, if you're trying to get kids to watch this,
this is working.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
You just had the look, and the evolution of it
was pretty interesting too, you know. Of course it all
comes down to I guess people initially thought was this
knockoff of the Road Warriors, and that there was some
certainly some truth to that, but they were also very
different in their look. And when we'll get into how

(03:56):
this all started, the original idea apparently came from from
Randy Colly, who was the innovator of this and wanted
to be part of this tag teams that we're going
to get into. But you know, the way Bill Adie
talks about it too, is that the origins of it
were based on Mad Max movie that had come out,
you know, at that time.

Speaker 4 (04:17):
And they kind of mirrored that look.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And you know, not just anybody could pull that off,
and certainly Bill Eadie could. But Randy Colly was hoping
that he was going to be the other equation to this,
but it didn't work out that way.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, I'm glad you said that, because January fourth, nineteen
eighty seven, you have the Demolition's debut.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
But it's as the acts we all know in Love
in Smash, but not Smash.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's Randy and Randy used to be known as moondog
Rex and they would wear these tathered jeans with not
a real belt, a rope for a belt, weird wild hair.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Just caveman type of look, chewing on both.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
But yet when they make the debut, he has the
face being on, he has the regular Smash Charon. Somehow,
in Vinci Man's eyes, people could recognize Randy as moondog Res,
not connecting with this Smash character.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
He's replaced very.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Quickly with Barry, which ends up being the smash we
all fell in love with before we get the Barrys smashed.
How do you think Randy felt he had this idea
of a demolition. He's in the ring, he's going about
two weeks, then he gets replaced, his idea is taken,
and they're often running.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
How do you think Raindy has well?

Speaker 1 (05:34):
And you said, you know that Vince McMahon was saying, well,
he was thinking, oh, he's going to be recognizing that.
That really isn't what it came down to it. It
was the fact that as they tell the story that
one of the first times they went.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Out and they came out and.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
These plastic masks like hockey masks, and he takes it
off and immediately people like moondog and because as you
know you explained, he had this way over the top
character and so it was, you know, very difficult to
forget that. You know, maybe some other guys that maybe
had had some kind of a gimmick that wasn't as

(06:11):
recognizable might have gotten away with it, but he was
very well known and had been in a number of territories,
and you know, it was just very recognizable. Of course,
Bill had been out there, but he was the mass superstar.
He had a mask all the time for at least
that period of time in that run, so he wasn't

(06:32):
as recognized. And you know, I just have to think back.
You mentioned Vince, and you know he had wanted to
get the Road Warriors forever and it just never was able.
They weren't able to pull it together. They were making
too much money. They weren't really thrilled about the number
of dates that all these superstars were doing. So you know,

(06:54):
why the heck are they going to come and take
a chance where you've got to contracically says you're going
to earn what what comes into the houses.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
So I could just imagine when this idea came to him.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
It was kind of, you know, this knockoff of Road
Warriors and he could create his own team and he could.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
Also own it. Oh man, love it, get put it together,
what we got.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
You know, you could just see that he was salivating
and wanted this to work.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Loved the idea.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
You know, it took some time to figure out how
they were going to costume it and you know, put
it all together and U and then they do this
little debut and it's like wah, wah, wah, you know,
like crap, now what do we do? And Bill Edie
tells the story that he went to Vincent and he
recognized right away. It was like two nights. The first

(07:43):
night like, okay, maybe that's anomaly here. It's just kind
of a weird thing that happened. And the second night,
when we're in another place, when they do it again
and it's the same thing. The mask comes off moondog.
Everybody knows who he is. And Bill said, right then,
I knew the you know, great ideas. He knew it

(08:03):
would get over, but not with Randy, and he's you know,
and Randy knew it the way Bill tells it. And
they had this discussion and Bill says he went to
Vince and said, look, it's not going to work. And
know that it isn't. And I really appreciate it. I

(08:25):
like being here, but I can go back to Japan.
They loved me over there, and he always got you know,
and he spent a lot of time in Japan. And Vince,
I think was kind of panicking like, oh my god,
what are we going to do? I want this to work.
He knew Bill was a great half of this idea,
and so they had to come up with somebody else

(08:47):
that could, you know, And as far as Bill says,
you know, Randy colleague knew it and was very gracious
about it. I'm sure that it you know, just awful
for him to have to admit that that it wasn't
going it works, especially since he basically formed this idea.
And I'm sure years afterwards it ate him up even

(09:08):
more after we saw the success of demolition. But at
that time they you know, I think he gracially graciously
stepped aside. I know that Vince had brought him in
and allowed him to work for I don't know, another
extended period of time. But you know, how many people
remember moondog Rex. It's sorry to say. I mean, you know,

(09:29):
the ficionados certainly do. But it just never went anywhere
and eventually probably went off to you know, as they
did to other territories. But in the meantime, you know,
way back when they were they're like, we got to
do something. And Bill says, you know, there was four
or five other guys that were superstars, very but they

(09:50):
also he knew, like we can't do them, you know,
have them come because it's going to be the same thing.
Everybody knows who they are, it's just going to be
the same issue. And uh, that's when the seeds of
Barry Darco, who was very was young at the time,

(10:12):
had been in other territories and had cross paths with
Bill and had come along, you know, really well had
a lot of tag team experience that he had, you know,
that he had.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
To offer, and so he seemed like the perfect fit.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
And h Barry tells the story that he got the
call from Vince and uh, you know, he was working
pretty regularly and Vince said, I want to bring you
up here. I want to talk to you about an
idea that I have and Barry says, well, he said, well,
you know, Vince, I'm very busy. Kind of basically say no,

(10:52):
but when can I be there? And vinceaid, I got
a flight for you the next morning. And of course
when they when they they everybody got treatment when they
brought him in and you know, they bring them up
to Stamford. Uh, and they pick you up in the limousine,
you know, the driver would come and get you and
uh that had to be I mean, imagine back then

(11:14):
where this business was. It was certainly doing well. But
when you got the call, and I'll say, you know,
he's liking it to major League Baseball. When he got
called to the Big Show, that was like going from
Triple A to the major leagues.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
And and Vince.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Created that whole aura around it that you know, when
you got that call and you go to the airport
and you get off and there's this guy standing there
with the sign. I mean, they weren't used to that happening.
They're used to getting rental cars with four guys, and
you're get you're getting the special treatment, and uh, you know,
he had the conversation and he said that the first

(11:53):
thing when he got there is that Vince had him
sign a non disclosure before he even revealed this. They
didn't want this getting out, that they were forming this
tag team that would look like the professional wrestling world,
would rival the Road Warriors. And he said that he
kind of laid it out for him, but he didn't

(12:13):
tell him the name they that that they had come
up with, and that maybe even at that point they
didn't know.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
But he said to him, would you be interested in
being a part of this?

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Well, you know, Barry just wanted to he would he said,
I would have taken any gimmick and I even told.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Him I just want to work for you. I'm just
glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
And uh said, well, we're thinking, uh, you know, of
having you team up with Bill Eadie and Barry had
a lot of respect for Bill, and you know, Bill
had a great reputation and although they'd never worked together,
but they knew each other and as I said, he

(12:53):
had a lot of respect for him.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
And then said.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Great, let me just clear it with Bill, see what
he thinks. And Barry says, you know, a couple days later,
he got a call from Bill and you know, it
was off and running. He said, like immediately that you
know what. Bill wasn't calling really to feel about. It
was just say, hey, you know, I think we could
do this, and that partnership was born and it could

(13:19):
not have worked out better. And as we see to
this day, they're still still very close.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
They've got their own podcast.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
The Demo Pod, and you know, I ran into them
in Las Vegas at WrestleMania and it was just like yesterday.
I mean it was they They are just such great guys.
But we'll talk about that in a bit. But the
origins of this couldn't have been better and it Barry says,

(13:48):
you know, really the second they were in the ring,
he really knew that this was going to work. And
he went in with the right attitude. Like like I said,
he had such great respek BacT for Bill and knew
that he could learn a lot from him as he
had learned from his other mentors before that and.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
Understood how it works. You know, you know that.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
He says that a lot of the advice back then was,
you know, keep your ears open and your mouth shut.

Speaker 4 (14:18):
And he knew that he.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Could learn a lot from Bill and immediately made it
clear to Bill, Look, you're the captain of this team.
I'm just here and I am glad to be here,
and I think it's going to be awesome.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
And it was, yeah, right begining totally was because January fourth,
the debut January twenty six is when we shuffle the
deck and how have our new smash Bury and play
and off of the races we go and their look
we brought it up there.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
They have face paint the did you do mass face paint?
That's great.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
They have these black masks. We've seen black masks of
the years, but they have like little studs on him.
Eventually it's time to go on the assless chaps.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
And I think you're going a little far with that, Steve.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
They were asslets.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
I'm just I'm not saying it's a bad look. But
Sean Michael's woorn for years. He sold that shit. But
they wore that. They had the leather vests as well,
And I've heard so many comparisons of during this time
you have you know, heavy metal, you have metal music
and everyone's wearing leather and leather hats and the leather vest.
That's a big look during this time, so I can

(15:32):
see that happening. You have the hockey masks that are black,
which remind me of Jason the Horror film.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
So that all connects there.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Then you're bringing up how mad Max is brought into play,
but also that's how the World Warriors are brought into
play with that name. So there's a lot of connections
to a lot of things. So there will be a
discussion during this podcast about, you know, the comparisons of
Legion to Doom and Complition. But when we're off to
the races here, they have a manager. It's not mister
Fuji yet it's Lush's Johnny Valiant, who's more like a

(16:01):
Hey daddy, and he's very used car.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Dealership vibes I would get from him.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Why do you think he was brought in as a
manager because we're in a territorial we always need bad
guys to have managers. But also he, to me, is
not the right fit for this how scary looking team.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
No, and immediately I think you realized that before and
before we get into that, I just want to mention,
you know, you talk about the look that they had
and the spikes and the mask and you know everything. Uh,
and we've seen that before where you've got everything, you
got the look, you think you've got, the talent you've

(16:42):
got and for whatever reason, it doesn't work. Uh, this
was not the case. This was this was lightning in
a bottle. This was you know, two guys coming together
at the perfect time and we're a perfect match. And
it's funny to think that, like who came up with
that idea? Did they not have someone else to for,

(17:05):
you know, Johnny to be a part of or or
just like well he'll draw some attention to I don't know,
but it was pretty clear and they talk about that too,
and they have nothing but good things to say about luscious,
you know. But but they said it just didn't work.

(17:27):
And his shtick was he had to draw attention to
himself at a ringside. So here he's doing, you know,
there this intense, nasty, you know, giant killers in there,
and and you got this guy prancing basically up around
and look at me, look at me, look at me,
and is no, this ain't this ain't happening. This ain't

(17:48):
gonna work. And it didn't work for long. They figured
it out pretty fast.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, he sold his demolition contract to mister Fuji in
a storyline television. So now mister Fuji is here and
they're presented in storyline is destructive machines here here, Daddy
have them, and mister Fuji.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
We know, is quite decivious as his nicknames would go. Though.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
When we head into their first pay per view of
Demolition and mister Fuji, it's Survivor Series nineteen eighty seven,
it's all.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Of the tag teams that exist in the company.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
In one giant match, there are so many people that
the camera cannot see through the bodies because they're covering
the area. Can you imagine how crazy that would drive
Vince McMahon trying to re just all right.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
We're gonna shoot the action. Well we can't because every
wrestle is blocking every camera angle.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, and that's you know, as we saw the evolution
of how those those events would would go. And we
should talk quickly here though about mister Fuji.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
I don't want to know he's going to be talked
about a lot more.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah. Yeah, but as far as you know, pairing him
up with those guys, and you needed, you needed a hated,
nasty individual that's going to you know, manage them.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
It be just some huckster.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
You needed somebody, as you mentioned, uh, the seviousness that
he had.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
And he he would he fit the Bill perfectly. But also.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Barry talks about that, how how what a great fountain
of information of knowledge he was for them. I remember,
you know, Barry's about twenty five at this time. You know,
Bill has certainly been around. But when you get around
somebody who is just a master heel and uh and

(19:33):
and also just his experience.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
They talk about, you know, how much.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Mister mister Fuji improved them just in a sense because
he could break down their matches. He knew how it worked,
and they talk about those long car rides that they
would have was the way.

Speaker 4 (19:50):
It worked back then.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Uh, driving between these cities, and they were there was
a classroom, you know, even for somebody a veteran like
Bill learned so much from mister Fuji.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Now he was personally he was just nasty, you're gonna say.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
But as far as when it came down to business, Uh, yeah,
they were very fortunate that they crossed path with mister
Fuji and that he became much more than you know,
the manager role, became a mentor in a lot of ways,
especially for Barry. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
I can't only imagine though, being told you're gonna be
hooked up with mister Fuji. You also have to drive
with them, you also have to stay with them. But
you're also very aware that he is into ribs. So
I imagine you're sleeping with one eye open for the
rest of your life as long as mister Fuji is
in your hotel room. You know, you said you didn't
say it.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
I said it.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
He's a rotten human being. Did you even get ribbed
by mister Fuji?

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Oh No, I stayed very clear, mister Fuji.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I was you know, I was wisened up early on
by Gorilla and Alfred. And I remember Alfred basically just
say stay away from stay away from that man, just
because you know, I was fresh meat. Uh yeah. So
And and fortunately, as I mentioned on occasion, you know,
I was lucky that I wasn't. I wasn't on the

(21:16):
road all the time. You know, most of the time
it was like every three weeks to go to TV.
You know, I wasn't out there like Jean had initially done,
where he was basically traveling with those guys and doing
those interviews every day. So I was very fortunate in
that sense that I was in the protected circle in
a sense, you know.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
I was office.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
But yeah, that was that was one guy that was
on the list of you know, don't go near. It
was like the child at the playground, you know, stay
away from that man sitting over there on the bench.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
He has no kids, He did not bring any kids here.
I don't know what he's doing here.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh yeah, because his ribs are legendary and and evil.
I mean, he went it went be It was funny,
I mean he did. He would do some just awful things, the.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
One that always pops up and I interviewed, I think
Savio Vega, and I asked Hi about Fuji, and he
brought up this one that's out there obviously, where Fuji
helped him drunk man get back to his room, but
opened the window. So they went to his hotel room,
climbed out his room, climbed over to this guy's room
through the window, took a crap on his chest, then
went back out the window. And when the guy woke up,

(22:26):
he was convinced that mister Fuji, you know, did something
to him. He's like, you crept on my pant, you
crept on my chest, Like I was in my room.
Your door's locked. I don't know how I would get
in your room. That's some messed up stuff, man.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Yeah, that's some sick stuff.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
But on the positive side, on Demolition, yes, he was a.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Benefit, and you know they only have good things to
say about him.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
That's so anyway, we're uh.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Nineteen eighty seven, Demolition dominates.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Their first pay per view is at the Sarvis series
ninete eighty seven. We we just got us how all
these people just block the camera angles the entire time.
But when we fly into nineteen eighty eight, WrestleMania five,
it's for the championship excuse me, Wrestling of four to
the tag team titles.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
It strike Force versus Demolition.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Mister Fuji on the outside uses his cane boom Demolition
win their.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
First tag team titles.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Didn't Now after one year in the company, we're already
tag team champions. Like, clearly VisiC Man is seeing something
in this team. If he's doing this right away.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Oh god, guess that. I mean, that's the tell. Tell
is if you're being vaulted to that level. And they certainly,
you know, it did not take them long.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
To hit their stride.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
And as I mentioned, how you know Barry let Bill
lead and it just works so well. But you know,
go back and look at some of their matches. They
they just did. They were the sync that they had
with each other, and they were always studying. Uh, they
would go through their matches and uh, you know Bill

(24:03):
talks about he would keep a journal on stuff, you know,
and was big on that. And you know, when you're
doing so many cities and you had come from territories
where you know that weren't that big, so you would
be in cities repetitively, and so you always had to
be careful about what you did again, you know, you

(24:26):
don't want to be go back and you oh yeah,
nice finish.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
I remember you did that last week.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
And so they were always very conscious of that, and
they carried that with them into the wwf UH. And
so there were always awesome when they were at the
house shows, even no matter what it was, they were
always mixing it up and it's it's it's cool to see,
you know, all the different things that they could do
being you know, a big, giant, tough, nasty tag team,

(24:56):
but still being able to do a lot in there.
And as I said before, they could work with anybody,
and everybody wanted to work with them because they were
not They were.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
Not this selfish tag team, not just for each other.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
You know, Barry would say that we didn't care if
you know who, if one of us was going to
get pinned in the middle of the ring, whoever, didn't
matter if it was going to help us or move
the team along. And so they didn't have a problem
also putting over other tag teams, whether they beat them
or not, they would, but they would make them look
good too. So everybody wanted to work with them. And

(25:30):
so when they got to that position where to become
tag team champions. I don't think anybody had a question
about that. They deserved it.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
It's just crazy to think that you've had so many
other tag teams in your ranks, the rouge Os for
a one year Bulldog's Harp Foundation.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
You know, boy, that was the era too, Steve, remember that.
I mean the Ara tag time in professional wrestling. Have
you seen the popularity And that's what it was. That's
all driven by popularity, And we wouldn't have had the
number of tag teams we had in the WWE at
the time if they weren't popular.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
You know, you get people what they want.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
So it was an era where people just ate that
stuff up and because the guys.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
Were that good, right, and they had tag teams too,
Like you had main tag teams, you had mid car
tag teams, you had undercar tag teams. You have Canaan Connection,
you have the Islanders. You have so many other teams
that are losing to bigger teams, but these bigger teams
are helping these small teams look more important.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Young Stallions for one as well. Like there's a lot of.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Connections with tag teams in this timeframe. As years auld
go on to be like, all right, two singles wrestlers,
you can win the tag team titles together. That flatlined
the tag team division currently in my books. But this
time everyone is on fire and Demolition win the belts,
and you can clearly tell that the fans are going, well,

(26:54):
why we boon these guys like Tito and Rick Martel
to strike for us?

Speaker 3 (26:58):
And like everybody, we're gonna give a hundre ten percent.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
And people are like, yeah, that's great, but do you
see these guys in leather and spikes and they're beating
you up and talked about in sync. They usul to
do this double axe in the corner. Someone would get
in the ring and they'd be on their hands and
knees and they would both double acts, both of them
Doom Doom, and they'd go down slower slower and slower slower.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
They're finisher.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Get one guy in a backbreaker, second man goes on
the second rope, drop an elbow, they curl their body
over them. It looked devastating, but it also probably looked
very safe compared to say, you know, a pile driver
or a doomsday device. Yep, it was a great combo
But in the summer of nineteen eighty eight is where
things get a little strange because this is when vincek
Man you brought up earlier, is talking to Legend of Doom.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Hey, come on in, you should come on in.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
They're like, nah, we're good, we don't want to come
in for all those dates and the money. So Powers
of Pain get signed instead, Warlred and Barbarian they get
brought in. They're now your big strong, baby face tag
team with face paint as well. So they used had
a rivalry with Demolition. Now we have heard the discussion
for years and we're doing it right now. The comparison

(28:05):
Legion of Doom and Demolition are supposed to be, you know,
in sync. Demolition is supposed to rip off of Legion
of Doom. But in my book, even though Warlord said
this in an interview I talked to him about he
thinks Paros of Pain is the true ripoff or of.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
That's a good argument. Yeah, I think he was right.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Uh, there was a clear distinction I thought between the
Road Warriors, Legion of Doom and Demolition. But it was
it was almost it was kind of like and literally
it was you know, Vince's dream for Demolition on steroids.
You know it was I mean, like with Warlord, my god,

(28:46):
I don't know how much bigger he could have gotten.
I've never seen a human being that blown up and
literally and at Vince, you know, he always just keptaking.

Speaker 4 (28:58):
Like how big did it have to be?

Speaker 1 (29:00):
You know, like, oh, you know, like so yeah, I
think that that you're right? Uh, And there was and
there was plenty of room when when l Od did
show up. And you know, the way the kind of
the story goes is that Vince started to downplay Demolition,

(29:22):
almost basically pushing them aside, like what are you doing,
okay to capitalize on this?

Speaker 4 (29:29):
This is this is phenomenal that you know, who's.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
The true who the true Warriors? You know, who's the
t who's the true tag team Warriors?

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Let's see it?

Speaker 1 (29:38):
And uh, you know we certainly did, but uh to
hear what was going on behind the scenes of this,
Like what are you thinking? You've got the best of
both worlds? How could you not just ride this thing?

Speaker 2 (29:54):
You know you bought, you got everyone you always wanted. Yes,
you have all the toys you ever wanted to play with,
and now you're like, I'm interested in getting.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
And getting all that money for those toys because merchandise
was huge, you know, and here he'd created this with
Demolition and they were top sellers. Man, you know, everybody
loved them. He said, when you've got a couple of
superstars that people love to hate and then love to love,

(30:27):
you know, they just it was It's kind of the
stone cold syndrome, I guess you would call it, where
you know, they were bad guys in the sense that
they didn't give a damn what anybody thought, and yet
people were cheering for them. And so yeah, this this
whole scenario when it was coming.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Down, and I remember hearing the rumblings of it, going
like what this is. This is great to have.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
These two tag teams in the same place at the
same time.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
You came into the debut or you're that in nineteen
eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
That's when the Powers of Pain also come in and
that sets up SummerSlam nineteen eighty eight.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's Demolition versus Powers of Pain. Powers of Pain again.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Super over babyfaces they are they are, the crowd is
all in on them. But then this storyline keeps going,
keeps going. We flash forward to Survivor series nineteen eighty eight,
where no longer can the fans be quieter. They have
they want their Demolition as baby Faces, and this is
the double turn.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
We're out of nowhere again.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
There's no indication anywhere that Demolition is thinking about you
maybe leading mister Fuji or mister Fuji leaving them Powers
of Pain being mad guys. Nothing in this match. Mister
fujis randomly is like, up, I'm gonna I'm gonna hit
one of my guys with my cane and I'm gonna
help Powers of Pain. And then when Demolition attacks mister

(31:48):
Fuji on the outside, Powers of Pain's like, oh, let's
go help him up. And that's all it took for
mister Fuji, how decivious he was to walk over to
one team and go, I'm with you now, and so
teems like automatically Babyfaces parts the paint World said. He
was pretty pissed about this because when you're a heel,
little kids are not buying your merchandise, they're not buying

(32:08):
your T shirts.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Demolition now is baby Faces.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Their price is going up in stock obviously for merchandise,
T shirts, magazines, everything. Yeah, if you're Demolition, you must
feel great if your powers of paint.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
You must feel terrible about.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
This well, and you know, a lot of that was organic.
As you said, You've got people that were supposed to
be a lot of times cheering for this other baby
Face tag team and they're not. They're rooting for demolition
when they were supposed to be the heels. So when
it gets organic like that, you know, everything was reactionary.
And you know, Pat Patterson and Vince McMahon and Bruso

(32:45):
they were very sensitive to see to how you know,
and all the agents too.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
You know, they just knew.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
They've been around this business long enough that you feel
a tide or and when it happens night after night
after night, and you're like, okay, and then we gotta
do something about this, and this is this is a
good thing, as you said. Then then the rest of
it comes with it, and people are buying merchandise and
you know, and you can do a lot more other

(33:12):
things with them too. Uh So, uh yeah, I'm sure
Warlord might have been upset about it, but sorry. You know,
if if people felt the same way about you guys,
you would have gotten that that same push.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Now I agree with that, but at the same time,
and you.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Couldn't do a lot with them, you know, barb and Uh,
you know Barbarian and and Warlord. I mean, uh remember
their promos.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
I do, I do remember their promos.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Painful, painful, you.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Make it, you make a good plumb on the promo part.
It's just shocking.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
It was a big part of it, though, Steve, you
had to be able to well and and and uh
and we should talk about that too, with with demolition
that they were.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
They were.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
They don't get enough credit about how good they were
with their their promos that they did.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
And and and I know.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Bill, he talks about it, you know, how proud they were,
how they liked the fact that they were one take,
they were a one take duo. And and really from
the beginning they were always good, but they just got
better and better. And and for me, from my standpoint,
I thought, you know, I'm a big voice guy, and

(34:22):
I thought two of the best voices in the w
w E at the time, you know, we got Andy
and what he did and Jake, you know that's another
another guy. But I'm saying as far as just having
these tremendous deep, you know, and great voices and knowing
how to work it, you know Hawk was. I loved

(34:45):
his voice well, you know, like he had this distinct voice,
you know when whatever he said, and bill Edie was
the same to it was right right up there.

Speaker 4 (34:58):
I think Hawk is, you know, my my fave as far.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
As that whole thing, his voiceover, he would have been
a tremendous voiceover talent.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
But bill Edie was another one.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
And you know, Bill is great and the way he
could project and use his voice so and then and
the problems were fantastic, and Barry was very good too,
and so they were very, very proud of that. And
at the time that was a big part of selling you.
That was a big part of getting you over, and

(35:30):
you had to be able to do that, and Demolition
could on the other side of that with you know,
sorry Barbarian and Warlord, that just wasn't gonna happen. So
then you got to depend on a manager, and after
a while that gets a little tired.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
You know, you can't just have them carry you the
whole way.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
And mister Fuji is not like to weight it's a
Fuji is not the most fluent. So when when he's
out there saying things, you're like, okay, well, how long.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
I'm gonna listen to you for five minutes.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Funny, It's funny you mentioned with mister Fuji is that
it was Demolition who kind of had to carry him
in the promos. You know, like Food, it's never tremendous that.
I'm sure I'll get an argument. There's the people I
know loved what mister FOODI did. But I'm just saying
as far as being a wordsmith and not being able
to do all that, you know, uh, Bill and Barry

(36:15):
were really good and always ready, and and you talk
about it because you don't see how long it took.
You know, you can have this great promo. Well maybe
it took them a guy seven or eight times. Now, man,
they nailed it. They nailed it every time, and they
took great pride in that they.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
You're you're right about that.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
I'm so happy you said that, because they don't really
ever get brought up as top promos. It's always Jake
the Snake, you know, ma Cho Man Alton or being
crazy things of that nature. But Demolition, You're right when
they would speak, and it was always this is the
time of the kind of the pun. So they're Demolition
their acts and smashed so like.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
We're gonna just drive out, We're gonna smash out.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
We're gonna do this to you, all right, Like okay,
I'm in I'm in there, gonna do something terrible.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Shit to people.

Speaker 4 (36:59):
They're gonna do some destruction.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, here come and again their their look in their
music is part of this because when you hear the music,
D D D D you hear you know the music,
Here come the X, here comes a smash. It's one
of the best songs going because a lot of these
songs don't have lyrics. Macho man, mister perfect, don't have song,

(37:22):
don't have lyrics to sing to, you have words. And
Jimmy Hart is part of of making their amazing theme.
And Jimmy Hart again, I think in today's world doesn't
get a lot of credit because he created so many
entrance songs, especially around this time.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yep, Jim Johnson is certainly the the king of all that.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
But a lot of people realized the talents of Jimmy
Hart that you know, he came up and was you know,
singing pop way back in the day. And I had
a couple of charts charts songs that you know made
the list. Uh, people don't know about that, but music
was a big part of his life and he did

(38:04):
have you know, some input and a few well known
theme songs and that was one of them. And I
always thought, you know that I wasn't a metal guy,
but I thought that if they that was put out
on the you know, the top billboard charts or whatever,
I think that thing would have done well. I think that,
you know, people love that song, and even to this

(38:25):
day you hear it, you know, and I think even
if you're just a metal fan, you're like.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Man, it's got a good bang to it. It's good.
It really, Yeah, it was an awesome, awesome entrance song.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
And smashing his red tongue is always a nice touch
when they take their masks off and show their tongues.
But yeah, during this time frame we're discussing in when
they won the Tight Team Championships, they hold the belt
for four hundred and seventy eight days. That record would
stand until the New Day broke it with four hundred.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
And eighty three days.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Crazy can you imagine that over two decades of being
the nonumber one longest rating tag team in history.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
That's a feather in their cap.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
And also it really shows you that we're going to
keep on with this tag team because they're make it
us money and they let's keep the belts on them.
You think I'm proud they were of that, But the
fact is, for a long time, the WWF and E
would not acknowledge demolition for many different reasons. But the
fact that the fans always held on to, like this
is a record. You're the third longest reigning tag team

(39:26):
champion of all time in the WWE and WF history.
Number one USOS They went six hundred and sixty two days.
So in reality, you got USO's New Day Demolition. To me,
that has got to feel good for both members.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Demolition, Oh god.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yes, there's no question about it. And you know, people
have to look at it in this way, of course,
And I've had this discussion over the years. People now
there's always somebody so, well, you know, what did a
belt mean to somebody? So what was the big deal?
You know, it's all bake and was.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
It like I want to strangle you.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
It's a perfect lower back.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
I'll talk about it violence thepbox. I'm just saying that
the fact that they they say stuff like that, and
I'm just like you don't get it.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
It is a mark in the career of a professional
wrestler when you are given a strap and how it
represents that organization that you're working for. And it's also
this accumulation of the freaking you know, blood, sweat and
tears and the days and the you know, and when
you get to that level and you're awarded that that

(40:36):
is that it takes you to a level where you know, okay, now,
I you know, you know where you are. And then
and even getting that, just getting that recognition, some guys
you know, didn't certainly hold on to belt for very long,
but they reached that that that pinnacle they become part
of this club that uh, you know, shows you the

(40:59):
accomplishment of their profession. And then to be able to
hold onto it because so many things are happening along
the way.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
You've got new guys coming in.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
They need pushes, they you know what, You've got an
old tag team that you're trying. You know that that
really can dry be able to hold onto a belt
for a period of time and expend, especially at that length,
and then you know that you'll have you drop it
and then you get it back and because that shows

(41:30):
that they need you. You're you're still drawing, so all
of that. When you get to that point in your
career where you've got those straps on, that shows that you're.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
Among the best ever.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
And uh and and certainly, as we just said, you know,
you just meant that there's three three tag teams that
you know that that had that have those belts for
that length of time. That is a tremendous accomplishment, especially
for as long as they held that record.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Let mean think about it, it's pretty.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Amazor Again, over two decades, Demolition held on to that
record until the New Day did it. And I remember
when the New Day were about to beat that record
on television, there was some like rumor online people were
really hoping Demolition would be coming out for an open
challenge or something just to be like, no, you will not.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
Take back our streak. We will beat you tonight.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
It didn't happen, but it would have been a really
cool moment for at least for me.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
I don't know if newer.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Fans would even acknowledge it, but I love history and
I love wrestling history, so that's just part of it.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Though.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Moving into nineteen eighty nine, though, this is one of
our fun moments. We did a whole podcast about it.
Royal nineteen eighty nine. Number one is Acts. Number two
is smashed in the Royal Rumble. They actually fight each
other in it, which makes us Rumble even more impactful
because every man for himself tag teams are fighting each other.
Onto the Giant comes out number three, so you know,
obviously if they have to work together, but.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
It was a fun moment.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
They continue their story aligning with Powers of Pain at WrestleMania.
It's two members of Demolition versus Powers of Pain and
mister Fuji, who's back in action. At Wrestmania five, Powers
of Paying lose. They don't get the tag team titles
back though something happens. Yeah, they lose the tag team
titles in July of nineteen eighty nine to the Brainbusters,

(43:20):
who just came into the WWE a little while ago. Now,
why do you think this happened to the Brainbusters Because
you have a million oft tag teams. You have Twin
Towers Boston and a team Again. You have so many teams.
Why do you think the Brainbusters were the ones to
break this streak? Is it because they are maybe promises

(43:41):
to leave ww and wa.

Speaker 1 (43:44):
Well, yeah, I mean everything's a negotiation here, and you
know there's always an you gotta have some incentive there,
and you know, that's that's what's really behind this, that's
what it really always comes down to. And to have
those guys, uh you know that were this well first

(44:07):
great veteran team. Yeah, of course, that's that's that's how
it works. You know, there's a you know, got to
get a push. That's what it comes down to.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
Man, I'm just I'm not upset they won the tack
Team titles. I'm just more of confused, like, all right,
you just came in. We're going to establishing right away.
Because in July they come in with the Titan titles.
November Tully fell fell fail as a drug test.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
He's out of the company.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Yeah, but these are guys that you know right there,
they weren't some young green tag team unknown.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Now you think that audience knew who they were.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Well, I you know, it's kind of the Rick Flair idea,
you know, like, I'm sure there were a lot of uh,
you know, people who did know who they were, But
at the same time, they're probably a lot of many
that weren't. But as far as the companies think these
guys are really you know, established professional wrestlers.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
In they've worked everywhere.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
And you know that's going to bring clout to when
they come in. But in order to get them there,
they got to make some promises here to uh uh
you know, incite them to come in. And you know,
the the WWF is opportunity to you know, smack W

(45:27):
CW and any other organization. Uh so it's a feather
in their cap to get them up there. And uh
you know, uh I remember thinking at the time too,
I didn't know that much about them, but I was
I absolutely knew you know, who they were, and uh
you know that they were this They weren't these young

(45:48):
bucks coming in in a sense. So when they were
going to come in, they were going to prove right
away what they could do in the ring. They've been
very popular for years and years and years. So you know,
I don't think you know, it's even when when Rick
Flair came in, I did anybody doubt he wasn't going to, uh,
you know, do well in the rain or they're gonna
have to worry about if he's gonna have some audience

(46:12):
reaction or something like that. It was that question.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
These guys were veterans, and uh.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
In order to get them there, I think that there
had to be some, as I said, negotiations to make
the incentive for them because they you know things, you know,
there were other stuff where there was other stuff going
on behind the scenes there and unfortunately the situation with
Tully developed.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
But see that coming at the time.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
Yeah, you make a good point, I think.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Yeah, you're right about Vince Mandon being like, how do
we hurt the competition?

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, that was always the thing that was you know too,
and it was just business too. I mean it was personal,
but it was also business. You know that we take
away from them, it weakens them and helps us make
us look good. Yeah, they want to come.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
Here, cameraman, there's audio people, there's you, there's you know,
Lord Alfred Hayes Fink. Like, there's not just wrestlers on television.
There are people who work in the office backstage. And
if you can cut someone else's legs off and you know,
make more money on the other side, and it works
out for them.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
Summer Sam nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Though it's King Duggan in Demolition versus Onre the Giant
in the Twin Towers. Hacksaw Jim Duggan wears USA inspired
Demolition face paint on this Yeah, and it is wonderful.
You know, you had an amazing podcast with Hacksaw Jim
Duggan for a long time. Did he ever share you
stories about this night? Because it's one of those things.
Even in an action figure of Hacksaw Jim Duggan years

(47:36):
later wearing the face paint like Demolition.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Oh, I Jim loved it. You know, on any chance
that he was going to get a big push, he
was going to seize it. But I think he loved
the idea of you know, because you know, originally people
don't realize it, like, you know, Hackshaw is just he
was tax Jim Duggan, and they kind of made him

(48:02):
a bit of a comic book character. He was known
as a badass when he worked down in you know,
Mid South down there and all these other territories.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Man, he was just he was a.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Brawler, and he always said he was a brawler. So
to work with the tag team like Demolition, which that's
basically what they did.

Speaker 4 (48:23):
Uh, he loved it, you.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
Know, and and uh and he was always you know,
and Jim was always thinking of ways to remember the
one time we pay per view, it was when he
had the two by four of the flag. They had
like seven gimmicks, the characters.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
A crown, the crowd. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Yeah. Jim did whatever whatever he needed to do and
was always thinking of new ways to get himself over
and uh, you know that's why he lasted so long
and to this day, you know, he can go to Uh.
That was one of the reasons it was tough for
us to do a podcast together because he was still
doing events every single week. He was on the road

(49:08):
comic cons, you know, that's where he was able to
cross over. It wasn't just wrestling or remember you know
that type of shows. He was doing comic cons every week.

Speaker 4 (49:17):
If he wanted to.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Go to these, you know, and the people don't know
exactly what those are, but you know, that's where you bring.
It's like this just collection of entertainment and it has
a lot to do with you know, comics and comic
characters and cartoons and uh, and Jim would have a
table and do really well at those.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
So still does those too, which is crazy. He's still
he's still active.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Every weekend, he posts on it, he posts online I'm
guessing someone else's of him on an airplane like every
other weekend going somewhere else across the world.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
But I loved his face paint here.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
I thought it was.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
It was a great touch.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
To Yeah, he loved being able to you know, let's
let's go in there, let's let's mix it up.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
He is an accessory. You're right.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
He has a crown here, American flag, a two by
four masks.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Like he is man. Talk about a toy. Make that shit.
They made it, but they didn't give all the event, right, yeah, SummerSlam,
SummerSlam nineteen eighty nine. You're right, it is.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
It's it's this event where he has every single thing
you could think of.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
He's a hold of water everything.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
This hold that towards the end of a nineteen eighty
nine demolition and get the tag team Championships back from
the Brainbusters, and then of course Telly Blanche gets fired.
They also demolished team up with Hult Covid injac the Snake,
Robert's and an ultimate team against Zeus the Million Dollar
Man in Powers of Pain. So they're continuing their Powers
of Pain storyline again. We talked about that long form

(50:42):
nineteen eighty nine Survivors Series. It was a great event
throughout it as crazy controversies. Check that out though. The
Colossus Connection onto the Giant Hat Coup beat Demolition for
the tag team titles. It airs in January of nineteen
ninety where I have Andre win a championship when in

(51:03):
nineteen eighty seven they were worried about his health. Wrestling
Hulk Kogan WRESTLINGIA three now is a tag team champion.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
Yeah, well, maybe.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
Andre wanted to be able to have that distinction.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
It was just rare.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
You know, it took some extra leather to get a
belt that he could wear. But yeah, that's that. I
think a tip of the hat to him for his
contribution to the w WE. You know, Bill talks about
you know, Bill and Andre were great friends and that

(51:42):
Dayton went back to the.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
Early days when you know, Bill was in.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
A territory where Andre came in and he got you know,
and you know, Andre had this reputation of you know,
don't piss him off, and he liked to up a
few and and you never knew what was going to
happen in the ring. And he talks about how he
went in there, and uh, I can't remember what he

(52:10):
was drinking kognac or something like. He went through the
area where you liked cognac and was a little tipsy
in the ring and Bill says that he was trying
to put him up and I kind of stumbled and
he said that. You know, Bill said, I just put
my arm on his shoulder and I did basically my
own press to help him on it. And like this

(52:33):
was one of the I think one of the first
matches they ever had. And and Andre he said, you remember,
I'm up there, and Andrea looks up and thanks Bosh,
you know, like for doing that, helping him. And he said,
from that moment on, Andre always looked after him. And
when you know, when he would come to towns, you know,
Andrea would say, I want to I want to be

(52:53):
in the ring with him, he said, which was great
because you know, Andrea was a big headliner and would
make a lot or money. And this wasn't necessarily, this
wasn't when he was This is when he was able
to do other other you know, territories. But anyway, uh
so they had a history going back and I, you know,

(53:13):
I don't reck, I don't remember the the what was
surrounding giving the belts to Andre and Haku, which was
a well strange combination.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
I would say it's because wrestling is six.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
His demolition beats them again class connection for the championships.
Andre He's upset with Bobby heen and he blames Bobby.
Bobby blains Andre, Bobby slaps Andre, which sets up Andre
finally becoming babyface once.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
Again, turning on the Heenan family and leaving.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
So maybe the whole point was let's get to Andre
turning babyface, but how do we do it get the
tag team titles involved?

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (53:51):
And and I do I just do remember though, being
very happy for Andre to uh, you know, for them
to give him a belt because you know, he certainly
he didn't need him, He didn't need to. He's one
of those guys we've talked about before who didn't need
a championship belt or a strapper out of his waist.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
You know.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Can you imagine Andre the inter Continental Champion or something
like that. Yes, But but as I as we just
talked about though, it's it's just that recognition of you know,
your importance, you're you're the level you've reached in uh,
in the organization that you're with and to become a
champion is something they can never take away from you,

(54:33):
and it's it's in the record books and uh and
it's you know, you see how important that is to
everybody When you look back and they say, well, how
many times is he a champion? You know they six times?
Or when you're like, oh my god, you know, but
even to get it, you know one time, whenever you're
you've become part of an elite group because no, not

(54:54):
a lot of people get there.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Well, I think Demolition also deserves a lot of credit
here because think of on to the in storylines, hul Kogan,
take the Snake, Ultimate Warrior, Demolition. Those are your names
of people who had major storylines with Andre the Giant
during his last years in the w w E. To me, again,
that's really showing you that Andrea's friends with Bill, so

(55:17):
they're happy to work together. But also really shows you
that again Vince and the WWF believe in Demolition that
they're going to allow him. That'll give them like, hey,
you're gonna get to fight Andre. Not everyone gets to
fight Andre. Yeah, it's pretty important, I think And how.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Often do you see that with a tag team? Uh?

Speaker 4 (55:35):
You know, so Yeah, it showed their importance.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
And as I said, it was it was it was
always about business when it came down to it, as
you said, you know, Andre would have said, yeah, sure, yeah, sure,
but not necessary.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
You know, Vince isn't going to do something like that.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
He's not gonna put somebody up there that he doesn't
think deserve it and are going to get the reaction
that he wants to see happen. Yeah, and they were
that big and they you know, and that important to
the company.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
True.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Rasmania six is a huge event to in Toronto April first,
nineteen ninety. But in the spring of nineteen ninety Acts
develops an allergic reaction. He has heart concerns, he has
big health issues. So Vince McMahon adds Brian Adams Crush
into demolition. And you know, according to the stories and

(56:31):
maybe you will know too, is Bill he experienced serious
allergic reactions to shellfish during his tours.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
In Japan and so on one occasion was sent to
the hospital.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Yes, at one point he was nearly killed according to
stories on the table, and they saved them, thank god.
But yeah, they brought in Crush to fill in the
gaps where Acts no longer could compete as much as
he wanted to do you just break the team up
or is rushed the solution to keeping demolition going for

(57:02):
a little bit longer.

Speaker 4 (57:03):
Well, I think that was the plan.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
They were hoping that would happen, because you know, they
really like Brian Adams. He was had the look, you know,
he was really green at that time. He's one of
those guys that was just this, you know, such a specimen.
He was six six, I think, uh, you know, good looking,

(57:25):
good build, and you know, and they'd done the whole.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
Thing trying to put him over and it just wasn't happening.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
And and I was thinking about this this morning, Steve
that you know, people talk about it, you know, if
if you got it, and.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
And he did.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
He did have it, but not the you know, the
real the it factor, like the one that it's kind
of the unexplained that you know you're almost there, but
you just never you know, because I said, you know,
he was green, and but then he got better and
and uh, you know Bill and Barry talk about you know,
he was very receptive, very respect wanted to learn, and uh,

(58:07):
but if for whatever reason, it just just didn't work.
And one you know, one of the things that Bill
mentions is, h you know that they, as I talked about,
there their their promos. You know, their promos were so
good and uh one take, you know, they just had
that down. And then they brought Brian into this, and

(58:29):
Brian wasn't used to doing uh these kind of promos
and wasn't very good at it, and so you know,
you you, everybody had to say something and they'd go
through this thing and then they'd get to his line even.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Like oh you know, and and uh.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
You know Bill, they would and Barry whenever they you know,
no problem whatever. But you he could know they're thinking
like that boy, and they're trying to help them. And
then you know, you're in these rooms and it's not
just you, there's two other guys waiting to do theirs,
and you know, to get that pressure, and that would
get worse and then he would screw up even more.
And uh so I don't know if that was like

(59:09):
visible in those promos that they did to people that
he just was you know, hey, you got these guys
are so smooth, and then you got this guy.

Speaker 4 (59:16):
You could just tell us just not comfortable.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
And I think maybe that there was a little bit
of that in the Ring too, that you're here, you've
gotten used to this machine and then you put in
and uh you know there's another part that you add
to it and it's just not sinking up and.

Speaker 4 (59:35):
Uh are are also you know, just people get.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Used to seeing the two guys. You know, you couldn't
have thrown somebody else in there. May was they just
get this idea, let's bring Randy Colly back and see
how you know it just that those are your guys.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Loved to see that, you know.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Uh So for whatever reason, it didn't work. And I
don't know, you know, like I said, he had it,
but I don't know if he had it, you know,
like the it factored it. Just it just never He's
one of those guys that was got very good, you know,
did get better at doing promos, but it just never
happened for him.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
And unfortunately, like Bill had these issues at the time, and.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
They were kind of trying to phase him out a
little bit. He was going to work as an agent.
They were going to you know, like front office stuff
because he was a you know, a wealth of information
and knowledge and great with the guys.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
Everybody loved him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
And I could talk to them and would mentor people anyway,
and but he talks about how where they you know,
it was this great deal and he's like, you know,
maybe that work. And then it kept you know, a
couple of months go by and nothing would happen, and
then you know, the deal just kept getting and finally
he just said, no, you know, I'm not doing that.
You know, it's not not worth it. And I don't
trust him at this point. But it's interesting though that

(01:00:58):
you know that that he did have pretty serious health
issues and it was just kind of this from eating
a strange fish in Japan.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
Yeah, it ruined his heart, did something to his heart.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Well, you know, he came back, I got better out
of it, and you know, would end up working a
lot after that, and he's now in his seventies.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
I was just say, yeah, he's still a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Yeah, I mean, thank god, and he's in you know,
decent shape and he's still doing everything he's doing. But
it's the timing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
Of it was was terrible really for them, because I.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Think they were kind of at that point, you know,
they were they could have kept going for a long time.
Then we certainly got into we we'll talk about with
the Legion of Doom, and somehow Vince didn't think that
that you couldn't have you couldn't have two great tag
teams like I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Know, yeah, yeah, and Demolition again around this time, like
when you would go to the door and buy say
like sheets or pillowcases for your bed as a kid,
Demolition we're on all those That's who you would see.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
There was a combo of certain people.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
You'd always see Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Demolition, and they throw
in like Jake or someone else. So they were part
of this cycle of your childhood memories, your core memories,
things of that nature.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
But they bring in Crush out of nowhere.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
They do this promo on television where they now this
is not from a crowd, this is just one of
those backstage promos where accent smatch and now it's a
Crushes part of Demolition and now they're bed. They just
abruptly are like, now we're eviler. And that is also
around the time they bring in Legion of Doom. If
I'm Demolition, I would be certainly pissed off, just like

(01:02:44):
Warlord and Barbarian were, because after this I do still
have it somewhere there's blankets and Legion of Doom. Now
we're in the spots of Demolition on these blankets and
pillowcases and stuffed animals and Teddy bears whatever you saw
talking about phasing out Demolition for Legion of Doom. Is
it shocking to think that you can't have two really

(01:03:05):
good performers and two, well, two groups of performers actually
make you twice the amount of money, not just one
pile of money, one, not two.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (01:03:14):
Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
And you know, I remember thinking of the time when
they're coming in, this is going to be awesome, because
this is what I've been waiting for, you know, to
see these guys. And at that point, to me, they
were distinctly different. You know, Demolition had carved out their
own place, not just in the w w E, but
I mean in professional wrestling.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
And and then you bring in these.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Rivals, you know, and they could have made that great
Let the let the fans choose.

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
Who's the good guy, who's the bad guy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Or does there even have to be one? You know,
they could you know, turn who. To me, it was
just this, this is gonna be awesome money. You know,
everybody's going to have their favorite. No matter what baby
face or heel, it doesn't matter. You're gonna have your favorite.
And let these guys beat the living daylights out of
each other for months, and you know, the tag team

(01:04:11):
championship on the line, back and forth, back and forth.
I just thought it was was tremendous. I don't know,
and I don't get it as far as you know,
the genius that we had in that front office and
the guys because they they they didn't hit on everything,
but most of the time they knew what they were doing.
And as I said, they would listen to what was

(01:04:31):
happening in those arenas and go with it. And yet
it was purposeful to do this. It didn't make any
sense to me at all, like capitalize on it. This
is going to be great for everyone, for both tag teams.
Do you think you have to squash one of them
to get the other one over?

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
That's the problem I have with all this too, is like, yeah,
you clearly are our favorite one team, which is fine whatever,
because you just added a third number to Demolition six,
so you're kind of worried about that. So maybe you're
trying to be like, oh, well, I don't have any
more faith in this Temp team because his health issues.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
We have this other guy and he's.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Doing fine, and and maybe but it yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 (01:05:12):
It certainly could have been a part of it. That
certainly could have been a part of that. Vince was
worried that, you know, Bill wasn't going to be able
to do what he needed to do in the ring,
and then he sees that it's not that Crush is
not getting over with this team. I don't know, but
as I just said when we were talking about it,
I mean, perfect case scenario, if Bill's healthy and you've

(01:05:36):
got Mary Darco and these guys, Demolition going up against
the Legion of Doom was you know, it just.

Speaker 4 (01:05:47):
Lays out right there in front of you. How you
know how this thing can go?

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
And instead we saw what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
This is as close as I think you're going to
get to say the Rick Flair versus Ho Cogin match,
Why did happen? I think this is one of those
also questions of why didn't Demolition fight lead to Doom on
a pay per view in a big style match? And
they do fight each other in multiple occasions in Survivor series.
They fight each other in three on three matches on
Sun Night's main event, but they never have this huge

(01:06:16):
blowoff moment. Instead, we get SummerSlam nineteen ninety with a
Heart Foundation beat Demolition for the tag team titles because
Legion of Doom came down to help the Heart Foundation
outnumber the three team of the Free Bird Rule. But
yet so we get Heart Fundations of tag team champions.
Now you would think that would change, it does.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
Not, And yeah they do. They do have a match
Survivor Series again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
I brought up a thousand times the greatest Survivor series
of all time. It's nineteen ninety. It's Ultimate Warrior, It's
Texas Tornado. It's Legion of Doom versus Missed a perfect
in Demolition, all three members. It's a great match, but
that's really as close as you're gonna get to do
something like that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
Besides, they have Saturday Night's main event.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
It's leading a Doom and Warrior versus all three members
of Demolition, So like they're doing something, but they're not
doing much. Also, mister Fuji becomes their manager again for
just reasons. They said they weren't feeling as vicious as
they once were, so now Master Fuji is back in
the ranks of our tag team. Is it because this

(01:07:25):
new addition of Crush isn't working, So like, all right,
how much how much he can we get?

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
Let's bring it mister Fuji back too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Yeah, I think so, And say, in the perfect world,
you know, everything would have been the way it should
have been with new Bill and Berry, no outsider coming
in and both of them are healthy, and then we
get to see this great run. But that wasn't the case,

(01:07:53):
and all these other things are going on and it's
not happening with.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
Crush and yeah, and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
So they bring it Fuji to raise the intensity, I guess,
But that's I think that's what it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:04):
All came down.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
It was just all these other circumstances that were happening,
and you know, that's the way it played out.

Speaker 4 (01:08:12):
And they thought that Heart Foundation was going to be
a better choice.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Well, Heart Foundation eventually loses to the Nasty Boys, who
eventually lose the Legion of Doom the tag team championship.
So eventually just all comes right around. Maybe Legion of
Doom has falling the same path as Demolition. Where Demolition
first came in, do a run for a year, then
you get the Belts.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
I guess it has a legion of doom.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
Yeah. And also on the other side of this, I
think the legion of Doom suffered for they because it
never really got to that point for them either. So
I think that you know that l O D Demolition,
if it would have gone down the way we would
have liked to have seen it happen, I think it

(01:08:54):
would have elevated both of them. And I think that
l D's run would have been and would have gone
differently because you know, you need that. You know, Hulk
had ultimate Warrior, however you want to look at that,
but he had somebody could stand toe to toe with
him that they got a lot of mileage out of that.

(01:09:15):
That could have gone better. But at the same time, no,
it did. It did raise both of them, and you
need that competition. It's like with anything else, you know,
the like the boxing. You know Ollie would needed Frasier,
you know, then you need that someone to be that
will that's worthy of standing before you. And demolition was

(01:09:36):
was it to me for for the Road Warriors for
LD And I think it hurt you know, Joe and
Mike as much as it did Demolition in the end.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Yeah, Survivors Series nineteen ninety acts that's his official last
match in the WWF. He's phased out, and there is
a sign years later in the crowd. It says, why
did his hair looks so good at Savivageries nineteen ninety
Well because he knew I think that it was going
to be his last match in the w W.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
On TV, though he didn't want to put the go in,
he looked, he looks great. He was very literally like, yeah,
I think that was It was subtle, but there was.

Speaker 4 (01:10:21):
A message there. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
He admits that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
He admits that it's so funny though, and on TV
Jack Tunny, for storyline reasons, explains why AXI is gone
because it can only be two members of Demolition.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
No more of this freebird rule slidding underneath the ring.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
So again Jack Tunny, I salute you, sir for stepping
up with the authority and making sure that we as
fans weren't going to be tricked by these devious demolitions.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Yeah, so I'm just saying, uh.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
And then it's over for Demolition Wrestling. The Seven Crush
and Smash lose to Tenru and uh.

Speaker 3 (01:10:57):
Cato, and it's gone. It's done. It's over.

Speaker 4 (01:11:00):
It's uh, you know, President Tunney was its biggest noriega.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
I heard that from Bobby Heenon. It's a it's a
direct quote.

Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
I'm sorry, I.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Heard that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Rusmania seven is the end of demolition in the WWE.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
You know it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
It's it's sad because eventually you do get Repo Man smashes, repackages,
Repo Man.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
Axe is gone and.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
Crush becomes He's still Crushed, but now in promos in
nineteen ninety two, he's telling me that he's from Hawaii
and he loves Hawaii. And that's all he tells me
over and over and over, how much he loves Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Bruda Crush does fight.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
Repo Man in a one on one match, so it's
kind of like a little mini demolition reunion.

Speaker 3 (01:11:41):
But that is the end.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Ax goes on to the indies trying to kind of
use the demolition gimmick and uh, you know, you can't
do that, unfortunately in this world when someone owns your IP,
and that's the end of demolition in the dome.

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
And also it didn't work any of it wasn't going
to work any other way. Uh you know, it's uh
ld the Road Warriors did the same thing, but without
you know, Joe and Mike together, they weren't the same.
You know, Mike went off and did stuff in Japan
and teamed up with people and they did the kind
of warrior gimmick whatever. But yeah, some some guys you

(01:12:16):
know there. I mean, it makes sense. Once you become
that established and you're that good together, nothing really fills
that hole anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:12:25):
And that that was the case with Demolition. It was
it had to be Bell and Barry. I know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
It's it sucks that, you know, shellfish, you know, just
just a freak accident leads to one of the greatest
tag teams having to switch things up, which means turning face,
I mean, turning heel, getting this Fuji back, adding a
new member. That's a lot of shits to change, and
like your favorite band, removing members of your favorite band
and adding new ones and like.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
It's the same, don't worry, still enjoy it. No, it's
not the same.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
That's a good analogy, you know, like to you know,
some great band and then they bring some new lead singer.
Then it's just not the same. So it wasn't going
to you know, and it led. It's unfortunately you and
that choice of a meal ended up leading to the
demise of Demolition.

Speaker 3 (01:13:15):
That's why I'll never eat shellfish.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
Yeah in Japan, Japan, Yeah, yeah, don't talk to me
about when I go to restaurants.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Now, I no, you know, if you eat this, there's
a fifty to fifty chance that if they don't prepare
it right, you'll die at the table. You know.

Speaker 4 (01:13:29):
I think they have dishes over there that you know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
Yeah, I will have the pork chops instead, just to
make sure that I will not die fifty Maybe I will,
maybe I won't, But no, it really sucks.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
I know. That's why I want.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
I love Demolition, but I think they're one of the
greatest teams of all time. Again, their look, their music, acts,
and his tongue and his red tongue. They're finisher the package.
It's such a perfect package and such a perfect time
for the Golden Era to have that team. And I'm
glad we finally kind of clarify fight here that Demolition
are not a ripoff of leading to a doom. There's

(01:14:04):
just kind of a different version of something that Vince
McMahon wanted but he couldn't have, so he didn't create it.
Someone else created a Demolition Okay, folks, so calm down.
Warlord admits probably Powers of Pain. There was a ripoff,
not Demolition. And who didn't wear makeup in tassels in
the eighties or you know, or masks and makeup.

Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
Kiss Okay, okay, come on, come on, folks.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
And those assless chaps Shaw Michael stole from Demolition.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
I wonder how if sales and assless chaps went up.

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
In nineteen eighty seven and nineteen eighty eight. You bet
your ass they did. All those little kids going to
school and their leather vs.

Speaker 4 (01:14:41):
Masks.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
Johnny, Little Johnny wore something that school that hit me.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
He wore an S and M gear with a gimp
mask on, and we were a little upset about this.
That's what's funny too, is online people were like, you know,
they're wearing like SNM gear, Like I just saw leather
pants and leather jacket.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
And think there was a character with the village people.
I think that was perhaps so yeah, that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
Was just the village people. You're right, they were just
the village people.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
It worked, Okay, let's just leave it at that. And
I like to think of mad Max. That's my that's
the way I the origins of that and and initially
it was we should say, you know it, We're not
saying it wasn't supposed to be kind of a ripoff
or a knockoff of the Road Warriors, very own gimmick

(01:15:34):
and uh and did it their way and made it
their own. And that's why I say when when they
did come to the WWE, that they were two very
distinct different tag teams, very different from the other. And
I think it would have been a tremendous run if
everybody was healthy and circumstances were were perfect for this,

(01:15:56):
I think it would have been great.

Speaker 3 (01:15:58):
Great.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
You know, being in Robin with Under the Giant really
shows you that vinsick Man, the WWF believed in you.
And having a four hundred and seventy eight day reign
as Tag team Champions, three times as champions, and especially
during the time we had so many great tag teams.
They held it for over a year again holding that
record for over two decades until the New Day pulled

(01:16:19):
this off and then the USAS beat them. Three teams,
two modern teams, one from the Golden era third longes.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
They deserve and I'll say it here right now, they
deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, yes, and
I am happy. I was when I saw them and Vegas.
I congratulated them for being back in the fold that they.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
Have, you know, religions, contracts, and.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
That's another discussion of yeah that you know, the circumstances
that went on that kept them away from the WWE
for a long time, and it's it's great to see
that they're they're back and I hope it happens this
next year. They deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, agreed,
And the sooner the better because they absolutely deserve it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
The Demolition the Walking Disaster. We've talked about him up
and down Hall of Fame. It's well earned and should
be coming very soon. But again, thank you everyone for
listening to us talk about demolition.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
I am the X, I'm the smash No, but.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
I'm Steve he Shall Mooney, have a wonderful day and
we'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
Bye bye,