DEMOLITION
Ax, Smash and Crush
1987 - 1991
WWF World Tag Team Champions (three times)
Written by Canadian Bulldog
Admit it.... when you first read the title of today's tag team spotlight, you immediately began hearing the Rick Derringer-composed "Demolition" theme in your head. "Here comes the Ax/and here comes the Smasher/the Demolition/walking disaster/Pain and destruction is our middle name."
Not only is that catchy theme song proof of how over Demolition were in the late 1980s, but it's a staunch reminder of how a team of "Road Warrior ripoffs" ultimately prevailed and became the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWF/E history... a record that was only broken last year by The New Day.
I remember watching Demolition debut in the WWF in 1987 and the first time I ever saw theme compete live, I thought "these guys aren't very good". That may have been because they competed three times that night, in a tag team tournament just days before WrestleMania III, and weren't able to win any of them cleanly. But regardless.... I, like pretty much everyone else, initially saw Demolition as a poor man's Legion of Doom.
Demolition eventually changed many people's minds, having great matches with the likes of Strike Force, The Hart Foundation and even the LOD themselves when Hawk and Animal arrived in the WWF. Plus, who can ever forget that pivotal Royal Rumble moment where Ax and Smash were entered # 1 and # 2 respectively in the 1989 Royal Rumble? Instead of waiting for # 3 to enter the ring, the Demolition members were MEN about it and just beat the hell out of each other.
By 1990, Crush was added to the mix to cover for Ax's failing health, and of course the team lost a little bit of their magic. But for surviving longer than most other teams and proving themselves among a very crowded WWF tag team field, Demolition are true legends of tag team wrestling.