Thursday, September 7, 2017

The Last Match: WWE Tag Team's of the 80's Part II

Welcome to Part 2 in my The Last Match retrospective looking at the WWE Tag Team's of the 80's!  Make sure you check out part one here: WWE Tag Team's of the 80's Part I


Demolition: Ax & Smash
October 28, 2016 CWE Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
with Wildman Firpo defeated The Cannon Clan: Bobby Collins, Kevin Cannon, & Rob Stardom

One of the most dominate teams of the WWE in the late 80's they sadly fizzled out at the end of their first run.  Ax had left the WWE in November 1990 while Smash and Crush continued as a team until May 1991. 

Seventeen years later on September 29, 2007 Ax & Smash reunited to defeat the Christopher Street Connection to win the UXW Tag Team Championships.  Over the next nine years the duo continued to compete around the world much to the delight of their fans.


The Bolsheviks: Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov
April 24, 1990 Wrestling Challenge San Antonio, Texas
defeated by The Rockers: Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels

Zhukov joined the WWE in October of 1987 after touring the territories since his debut in 1978.  He was using the Russian gimmick in the AWA prior the coming to the WWE where he was teamed with Nikolai.  For two and a half years the duo wrestled primarily has enhancement talent however did receive a couple title matches with Strike Force.  Including a two out three falls match at Saturday Night's Main Event.

After the duo split up they feuded briefly before Nikolai left the promotions.  Zhukov continued on his own until he too left the WWE in February 1991.

The Dream Team: Brutus Beefcake & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
June 15, 2013 Liberty States Wrestling, Oakland, New Jersey
defeated by Andrew Anderson & Kraig Stagg


The Hammer kicked Beefcake out of the team in favor of Dino Bravo at WrestleMania III in 1987.  The teamed up again in November 2003 at the Road Warrior Hawk memorial show defeating the Powers of Pain.  Over the next ten years they teamed up again thirteen times winning more often than losing.

The Powers of Pain: Warlord & The Barbarian
April 16, 2016 WrestleMerica, Gastonia, North Carolina
defeated by The Rock n' Roll Express: Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson in a steel cage match


Warlord and Barbarian first began teaming in Jim Crockett Promotions in January 1988 before joining the WWE in June of that year.  In March of 1990 they parted ways reuniting for a match in 1991 & 1992 in the WWE.  At the end of 1995 beginning of 1996 the wrestled a couple matches under masks as The Super Assassins in WCW. 

They didn't team again until 2003 and did so a couple dozens times over the next 13 years including wrestling five steel cage matches with the Rock n' Roll Express in 2016. 

The Rockers: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty
March 14, 2005 Raw, Atlanta Georgia
defeated La Resistance: Rob Conway & Sylvain Grenier

They first began teaming in the AWA in 1986 until 1988 winning the AWA World Tag Team Championships two times.  They joined the WWE in 1988 and were a very successful tag team for the next 3.5 years even though the never officially captured the WWE Tag Team Championships.


We all know how the team ended, it's a pretty historic moment in wrestling.  In 2005 Michaels was feuding with Kurt Angle leading up to WrestleMania and Marty Jannetty was brought in to have a match on SmackDown with Angle.  To set that up the Rockers reunited on Monday Night Raw for a tag team match.  It was really cool them coming out to the Rockers music and Lilian Garcia announcing them as The Rockers.  For not having teamed in 14 years they looked great even hitting some classic tandem offence.


The Conquistadors: Uno & Dos
March 19, 1989 WWE, Hartford, Connecticut
defeated by The Young Stallions: Jim Powers & Paul Roma

Jose Estrada & Jose Luis Rivera had both been in the WWE for over a decade when they were teamed together and repackaged as The Conquistadors in November 1987.  They were essentially a jobber tag team picking up only a handful of wins in the 16 months there were together.

Their best showing together was at the 1988 Survivor Series when they were the last team eliminated on the heel team by the winners the Powers of Pain.  Other men donned the golden hoods as The Conquistadors but never again was it the original team.


Power and Glory: Paul Roma & Hercules
October 9, 1991 WWE house show, Paris, France
defeated by The Rockers: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty

I can't put my finger on it as to why but I just really like these two guys together as a team.  They only teamed together for 18 months, and they lost more than they won, but they had some great matches with The Rockers and the Hart Foundation. 

They just jelled as a team and it would have been cool to see them get a tag team title run.  After this match Hercules continued a singles run while Roma took almost two years off before returning in 1993 in WCW.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment, read my other posts, and like my blogs Facebook page and while you at it check out my weekly podcast Podcast of 1,000 Holds on the Nerdy Legion Podcast Network. 

Later Readers!

2 comments:

  1. Demolition wrestled on March 18th, 2017 at the NCWA Ivan Koloff Memorial Tag Team Tournament in Clayton, North Carolina. They teamed with George South and were defeated by The Rock N Roll Express with Bobby Fulton. I know because I was there to see it happen!

    And kudos for putting the most appropriate and awesome picture of Brutus and The Hammer up for their match.

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  2. Thanks for the update! Yeah when I saw that circulating around I knew it had to be the one.

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