And here is the good stuff. Demolition clashes with Brainbusters for the first time and Strike Force for the last time.
Demolition vs The Brainbusters-WWF Tag Team Titles Uploaded by TSteck160. - More professional, college and classic sports videos. Demolition © vs BrainBusters SNME #21 4/25/89 (aired 5/27/89) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21zrr_de...sters-wwf_sport
MD: This is one of my favorite WWF matches of the 80s. It's just about the perfect mix of match and angle. That is, the angle stems from the work in such a cool, organic way. Let me try to explain.
We start off with an interview with the Brainbusters and Heenan. Tully is awesome, acting all earnest about how Bobby told them they could do anything if they believed in themselves. They're confident having gotten a title shot so early into their WWF run and they're going out to the ring thinking that they're going to win the titles. The Demos get interviewed and they're confident they're going to beat the tar out of the "eggbeaters." They just ran through Fuji and the Powers of Pain at Mania so there's little reason for them to think otherwise.
The match starts and it is ALL Demolition. Tully gets overpowered and beaten around the ring. Arn can do nothing. The initial Busters gameplan is a complete and utter failure. There's some great stooging in here with Smash attempting a double clothesline on Arn and Tully only to have Arn duck but then get nailed a second later. Fun stuff.
The Busters start to cheat like crazy and even then, none of it is working at first. Eventually, however, the eyepokes, the ref distractions, the illegal doubleteams, and the Heenan interference takes its toll and the Busters finally get on top. Once on top, they keep on cheating like crazy. There are over ten distinct acts of cheating in the ten minute match, including one of my favorite things in any match ever. Arn holds down Smash's leg and Tully hits the "Double Axe-Handle off the Top on a Prone Opponent." I swear that, for me, this was like seeing heel Flair hit a top rope move for the first time. It was an instant vindication of every time a heel flies off the top rope with a double axe handle only to have the face get his foot up and nail him. The move actually worked once! Amazing.
Anyway, back to the story of the match. Cheating. Lots and lots of cheating. The Busters came in confident. They quickly realized that on this night they simply could NOT beat Demolition. They weren't prepared. They weren't ready. They weren't doing the damage they needed to do. So the gameplan shifted. Instead of trying to beat the champs. They enraged them. Cheating. Aggravating. Cutting off the tag to Ax however possible, including running around the ring and pulling him off the canvas so that he's not there when Smash finally makes it. You can just see Ax getting more and more furious until finally he storms into the ring, tosses the ref out of the way and that's the match. Totally believable.
Brainbusters beat the champs by DQ. They get the winner's share of the purse. They get a rematch on their terms at a time of their choosing and guess what? When that happens, they win the belts. It wasn't their initial gameplan but the audible works great and it's just an awesome example of how smartly put together wrestling can tell a story all by itself.
VR: This is the first meeting of Demolition and Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson. Thinking about it, this would of been the WWF tag champions vs NWA tag champions a year before.
The story here is the Brain Busters can not match Demolition in power or brawling. But problems set in once they realize Demolition are equal in team work too. So you have Arn and Tully trying various methods to wear down Demolition. Tully getting frustrated and trying to trade punches with Ax. Which ends as well as you can expect. At one point Tully gets thrown from the ring on top of Bobby Heenan which looks like it hurt. Henan loses it and tries to fight Demolition with Tully and Arn holding him back.
There are a few no sell spots here. With Smash getting up after an Arn suplex. But what I like about Demolition doing it is it looks like it hurt but they are so tough they are shaking it off.
Eventually the Brain Busters gain control when Smash gets careless. Now the Brain Busters are in control and are working over Smash good. This is basic great tag team wrestling. Smash gets close to a tag a few times but the Brain busters cut him off.
Tully even attacking Ax on the outside before Smash can get past Arn. I actually use to do that on wrestling video games.This makes Ax go nuts and beat up Tully, Arn and the referee causing the DQ. Demolition is not satisfied and beat up the Brain Busters all the way to the back.
Demolition © vs Strike Force Oakland 6/1/88 (Aired PTW - 7/11/88)
Demolition vs Strike Force
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VR: Strike Force to me were visually the perfect arch rivals for Demolition. Wearing white trunks and boots. their peppy little theme song, completely bland and milquetoast. A really stark contrast to the face paint, the black S&M wrestling gear and heavy metal satanic theme song having Demolition. If tag team wrestling was this living being and was split into a good and evil half. Strike Force and Demolition is what you would have. At Wrestlemania IV Demolition won the tag team titles from Strike Force. They had a bunch of rematches in Philly, Boston and MSG. But they could not beat Demolition.
This match from Oakland California is the big tv rematch. This aired on WWF Superstars and was a huge deal for me because you never got star vs star matches on Superstars and sure as fudge did not get tag team title matches. This is the version from Best of the WWF #17.
Strike Force comes to the ring and there is something in the air that someone is getting hurt. This is going to be the last Strike Force/Demolition match one way or another. Match starts with Martel and Ax. Martel manages to get in the first hit on Ax, Catching him with a flurry of punches. But he gets cocky and Ax beats him down. Strike Force get the temporary advantage with some team work. This match is simular to the Brain Busters matches. Strike Force has no idea how to effectively deal with Demolition. So at most they contain them with arm bars trying to work a plan out. Demolition always regains the advantage. Whether its thru brute Force or with Fuji helping at just the right time.
They get Santana down and really work him over. My second favorite part of the match is Tito just barely dodging an elbow. But before he can get to his feet Ax punts him in the ribs. Ax always seems like the baddest man in any match regardless if he is Ax or the Masked Superstar. Tito gets worked over something good. Great thing about Tito in a tag team is he can hit the flying forearm at anytime to get the big tag. Martel clans house like at wrestlemania. He gets Ax in the Boston Crab like at Wrestlemania. But this time Smash knocks him out of the ring with a big clothesline. This brings in Tito who starts fighting both Demos at the same time. Hebner is trying to seperate Ax and Tito. Fuji has Smash clock Martel with a chair. He held it upside down so it looked really painful. Fuji goes and gets in the middle of the fracas, giving Ax the chance to go help Smash. Fuji and Demolition were a great pairing. They moved like a well oiled machine. The inteference comes across well in this with it looking like the referee was really distracted rather than I can't look at the ring now.
They hit Martel with the Demolition Decapitation on the floor. It looks brutal. Ax's elbow hits Martel's throat before he hits the floor. I have no idea how they did that without really injuring him. Its so brutal you believe it could take him out for nearly a year. Demolition return to their corner like clock work while Martel gets counted out. Watching it I don't blame Rick Martel for betraying Tito. This was his fault. If he had kept his firey temper in check, Martel would not of been
A: Hit by the chair that knocked him out.
B:Injured by the Decapitator on the floor.
Martel looks like he is really hurt. They are not moving him. Oddly their appears to be a little girl dancing in joy as the paramedics put him on a gurney.
MD: Vic was spot on when talking about the first part of the match. Strike Force is just trying to contain Demolition. You'll see that now and again with faces going up against them. They grab onto the arms for dear life because they know if Demolition gets the advantage, they're going to get clubbered to no end. It should be noted that Ax does do a great job selling Martel's flurry of punches early on, ending up draped in the ropes right before he starts pounding back. I also like how Strike Force goes to for cross body block twice. The first time Ax catches Martel only to get knocked over by a dropkick by Tito. The second time, it works. Strike Force is literally throwing themselves at Demolition since they know they can't hold back at all if they're going to have a chance.
Santana makes a great face-in-peril and Demolition lay into him and Martel is pretty good at the fiery babyface after the hot tag. I don't think we can go on enough about how great the Flying Forearm is as a lead in to the hot tag. Anyway, the finish is just amazing. It's got to be one of the nastiest WWF chairshots of the decade. It just looks all wrong and backwards and devastating. There's nothing held back. The angle is just a bit off from what you'd normally see and it's almost unsettling to watch it. Good camera work. And of course, it's followed by the Decapitation off of the canvas. Martel does a great little flip sell on it. This is my first time seeing this match. I started watching WWF a couple of years later, actually, and I'm glad, because I know I would have been a Strike Force fan as a kid and this was such an effective match/angle that I would have been completely and utterly traumatized by it. Good stuff.