As you may know, I am a lover of professional wrestling. I mostly watch older AWA matches on ESPN Classic and hunt down stuff on YouTube. You’d be amazed at how much 80s wrestling is available out there.
Anyway, I’ve always been a fan of tag teams. When I was growing up, we had the Legion of Doom, Demolition, the Hart Foundation, the British Bulldogs, the Powers of Pain, the Natural Disasters, the Islanders, the Bushwhackers, the Rockers, and so many more. That got me thinking … what tag teams never happened, but would have been great? Here’s a look at just a few of the pairings which piqued my interest.
Sabu/Mick Foley Are there any two wrestlers willing to sacrifice their bodies more than these two? Seriously … Mick Foley took a dive from the top of a steel cage and Sabu once had to close a huge gash in his arm – caused by barbed wire – with duct tape so he could finish the match. Seriously, these two would probably die together in the ring, but it would be one hell of a match to watch! And if you don't know about Sabu, you are missing the the most homicidal, suicidal and genocidal wrestler of all time.
Hulk Hogan/Ric Flair Imagine two of the top stars from the sport wrestling together. They’d be unstoppable. Flair getting a figure four on an opponent, with Hogan simultaneously doing the big leg drop? The only problem I see is the two getting along. I doubt they’d be able to work together, both thinking he’s better than the other. It would be hard to argue with either of them. WOOOOOOO!
Rick Rude/Curt Hennig These two were best friends and were two of the best wrestlers in the business. Although, their combined arrogance could outshine their in-ring ability. Easily two of the best on the mic and in the ring. I can’t imagine many more tag teams that could work a crowd as well as they could. You know you would love hating them. I also enjoy mentioning Rick Rude in all of my wrestling blogs because he's probably my favorite wrestler of all time. NOW HIT MY MUSIC!
Andre the Giant/Big Show Big Show was billed as Andre the Giant’s son when he appeared in WCW. Imagine the two wrestling together! Each over seven feet tall and a combined weight of almost 1,000 pounds! They would have been unreal. But after a while, the guys in the back would probably not want to continue taking a pounding from these two. Imagine getting hit in the chest with a ham 10 times a day. NO THANKS!
Juventud Guerrera/Super Crazy And finally ... if I’m gonna do a blog about fantasy tag teams, I’ve got to get some luchadors in there! Juvi Juice and Super Crazy were some of the best high flyers I’ve ever seen and can’t begin to envision how these two would work together. It would go so fast, you wouldn’t even know what the hell just happened, but you sure as hell would be telling everyone you know about how insane the match was!
While doing research for the NFL Draft, I came across the name of Dexter Manley II, son of the former Redskins great. The younger Manley played college football at Santa Monica College, Oregon and West Texas A&M. He probably won't get drafted, but it's possible he could get a shot to make an NFL team as a free agent.
But this isn't why I'm writing this blog. No, I am writing about West Texas A&M, which was formerly known as West Texas State. You're probably wondering why anyone should care about West Texas State. It's simple. West Texas State was a hub for professional wrestlers in the 1970's. Let's call it Bodyslam U.
If you aren't too knowledgeable about professional wrestling, many wrestlers started out as football players. Leon White, who is known to the wrestling world as Vader, was a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams after a standout career at Colorado. Ron Simmons, who was wrestling's first African American heavyweight champion, was a defensive tackle at Florida State and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. And the most famous of them all, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was a defensive tackle for the Miami Hurricanes before some guy named Warren Sapp took over the position.
While schools like Miami and USC churn out professional football players, West Texas State is the Mecca for football players who went on to professional wrestling fame.
While individual performers are a huge part of the success of professional wrestling, to me, stables are the lifeblood of sports entertainment.
When you look back over the years, federations were defined not only by their top stars, but also by those stables that dominated the ranks. The NWA in the 80's was led by the Four Horseman. Other than Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock, the WWF of the 90's was symbolized by Degeneration-X. And at the same time, the nWo was the reason for the WCW's success.
Aside from those three groups, you have other legendary factions like the Heenan Family, the Hart Foundation, the Million Dollar Corporation and Raven's Nest. While there have only been a few stables that are remembered long after their time, there have been many good ones that have been forgotten. This list is for the factions that you may have forgotten about.
Dangerous Alliance circa 1991 -- Ravishing Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, Stunning Steve Austin (pre Stone Cold), Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Paul E. Dangerously. What a retardedly awesome group of wrestlers. Rude was the US champion, Austin was the TV champ and Anderson and Eaton were the Tag champs. Rude's in-ring skill and mic work were second to none. We all know what Steve Austin became and what Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton were before joining the Alliance. The faction started out in a feud with Ricky the Dragon Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham and won Wrestling Observer Newsletter's 5-Star Match of the year (1992) when they took on Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, and Nikita Koloff in a WarGames match at WrestleWar.
The Radicalz -- Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn. This group left the WCW due to their inability to grab main event status. They blamed it on the older wrestlers in the WCW that booked themselves in all the top matches. Chris Benoit also had real heat with the WCW's top booker, Kevin Sullivan. So instead of continuing to get jobbed, they left for the greener pastures of the WWE. Benoit was the Intercontinental Champion, Guerrero was the European Champion and Malenko was the Light Heavyweight Champion. While the group didn't stay together long, each went on to achieve big success in the WWE.
Yep, I'm a dork. I'm willing to admit it. I'm willing to bet a bunch of you out there are dorks as well.
Why am I a dork? It's quite simple really. I can't get enough of the old school wrestling I keep seeing on TV. Tonight, I watched Curt Hennig, who you may know as Mr. Perfect, wrestle in a 1986 match. It's crazy to think that he's been dead for almost six years. His father, Larry "The Axe" Hennig was in attendance and spoke about how proud he was to see his son wrestle and can only imagine how he felt when Curt went on to be one of the sport's top stars.
In the past few weeks, I've watched tons of classic matches from Stan Hansen, Shawn Michaels (his first match on a national stage), Nikita Koloff, Scott Norton, Larry Zbyszko and so many more.
It takes me back to those days 20 years ago before wrestling got totally out of hand. Nowadays, wrestling isn't about the in ring work, it's about the spectacle. I get that. People need to be entertained constantly and need something crazy happening. But back then, all you got was action when watching a wrestling match. Sure, there was plenty of work on the mic, but the real action happened in the squared circle.
These matches are great because of multiple things. One of those things is the crowd reaction. Today, all the fans want is to be seen on TV with their dumb signs. Back then, you could see the people in the audience get visibly offended and angry with the wrestlers. They would scream at the top of their lungs when the heels would take down their favorite stars. I mean, we all know it's fake, but these people couldn't care less. They wanted to see The Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey/Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton) go DOWN!
And where else can you see such in-ring psychology? The slow, methodical approach to beating your opponent, not just physically, but mentally as well. And watching the masters do it so long ago is a treat for any wrestling fan. Jake Roberts used Damien as an absolute mind F!
